| Zambia is committed to educational provision for all school-aged children in the nation. However, due to the pervasiveness of poverty and HIV/AIDS throughout the country, in addition to insufficient teacher training and teacher deployment to schools, educational provision for both primary and basic school students is severely compromised. The purpose of this research was to examine whether a specific in-service, on-site teacher training program had an impact on the teaching concepts of basic school teachers in rural and urban schools in Choma District, Zambia. A mixed methods design incorporating pretest, teacher training seminars and posttest with 148 participants from six schools (three rural and three urban schools) was conducted, in addition to 36 interviews of headmasters and teachers. A questionnaire was developed and pretested to assess teacher understanding of learning concepts, teaching methods and techniques, teacher/student interaction, and teacher use of available resources. Results showed that there were significant differences in teacher responses in each of the four content areas. Additionally, results of the interviews disclosed four main themes which were discussed: the excessive delay in teacher postings, the high frequency of curriculum changes, the acute lack of material and infrastructure resources, and the difficulties of distance learning for diploma and degree programs. The results of both the quantitative and qualitative analyses were discussed in terms of how this approach to teacher training might facilitate the attainment of the Ministry of Education's Education for All objective and the Millennium Development Goals agenda. This research was unique in utilizing both quantitative (teacher-response questionnaires) and qualitative (teacher interviews) methodology to investigate the provision of in-service, on-site teacher-training for basic school teachers in Choma District, Zambia. |
