A Study On Basic Educaiton Teacher Diploma Programme In Namibia

Namibia is one of the African countries who gained independence later than others. At the independence, Namibia inherited the legacy of apartheid education system which hindered the development of teacher education to a large extent. After the independence, the government carried on a series of teacher education reform plans, but still couldn’t meet the needs of the new nation’s. So in1993the Ministry of Namibia implemented the Basic Education Teacher Diploma Program, the program was initial for the teachers from grade1-10which provided pre-service education to them for three years, then expanded to the in-service education. The BETD Program emphasizes on learner-centered education and it aims to train the ability to reflect critically, to improve teacher’s action research capabilities and the ability to integrate theory with practice. It abandons the old ideas of the past and introduces the new ideas which in line with the international trend of teacher education reform, and it fits the needs of the development of basic education of Namibia. It emphasizes not only the development of academic knowledge, but also focuses on training professional skills. Many graduates of BETD Program think the BETD Program improves their teaching ability, they can focus on knowledge acquisition and construction of learners in the teaching process, in order to take a more effective way to promote learners. However, the early independence of Namibia is undergoing social transformation, also the dramatic change from the apartheid education system to democratic and open education system. Many new concepts such as "action research","learner-centered","critical reflection","participatory learning" which BETD Program introduces produce a sharp conflicts with the apartheid ideological, many people can not accept these new concepts, thus causing questioned, especially the white people. They think the BETD Program does not give too much attention to the subject knowledge. And the BETD Program also arises some problems during the implementation. Therefore, this paper aims to have a comprehensive and systematical research about the BETD Program, including the background, the philosophy,the objects and the content of the program. The paper also elaborates how the program is implemented and how is the effectiveness, what’s the characteristics and the problems of the program.The BETD Program has been implemented for more than20years, it can be said to have achieved some success, although there are some problems during the implementation, such as the insufficient financial support and uneven distribution, the lack of teacher training and poor management of teachers, etc. But overall, the BETD Program has played a positive role in improving the knowledge, skills and attitudes of basic education teachers which promote their professional development. It expands the entire teachers of basic education, strengthens the foundation of education throughout the country.