For four decades, distance education has helped reduce shortages of primary school teachers. Distance education allows teachers to train without leaving their homes, families and jobs. How does this benefit the wider community within which the teacher lives?

Research has suggested that as many as half of the developing world’s teachers may be unqualified by their own countries’ standards. Increasing the numbers of qualified teachers in developing countries is an enormous task, especially taking into account the high cost of traditional teacher training. If governments are to meet the Education for All targets, they will need to consider alternative, cost-efficient ways to train sufficient numbers of teachers.

In the past ten years, distance education for teacher training has become widely used in many developing countries. A number of challenges remain for this form of teacher training, such as how to train students in the practical side of teaching, and what methods could better promote two-way interaction between students and their tutors. By exploring possible solutions to these issues, distance education programmes reach out into the community.

A study by the International Extension College (IEC) in Cambridge examines how training teachers by distance education reaches beyond the students themselves and aids development in the wider community. Local researchers undertook studies in Guyana, Uganda and Nigeria, each of which has differing experiences of using distance education to train their teachers. The research found that:

• Teacher training through distance education produces credible and competent teachers and promotes change and development in the teachers, their schools and communities.
• Distance education study was found to promote family stability, which is considered to be very important, given the critical roles and obligations of individuals in the extended family group.
• However, current students who were studying at home indicated that they were spending less time with their families, and that study strained their relationships with their spouses.
• Distance education-trained teachers became more involved in community activities such as community development associations, youth clubs, religious groups and local politics.
• Teachers who qualified through distance education earned their communities’ respect, pride and confidence in recognition of their success in training.

A wide range of people who benefited indirectly were also identified, including conventional teacher educators, local head teachers, teachers, inspectors and local administrators. The study lists a large number of implications for policy, including the following:

• Policymakers should think about integrating local community development initiatives: for instance, planned use of distance education resource centres for supporting other community-based initiatives.
• Distance education promotes equal opportunities in education, which in turn will create a demand that policymakers need to recognise and respond to.
• Distance education does not require much physical infrastructure, but there is a need to redefine job descriptions for positions that can offer support and skills in delivery of training.
• Governments should consider giving their official approval and funding to support the distance education approach to teacher training.

Source(s):
‘Teacher Education at a Distance: Impact on Development in the Community’, DFID Researching the Issues Series No. 64, The UK Department for International Development, by Felicity Binns and Tony Wrightson, 2006 Full document.

Funded by: UK’s Department for International Development ED 2000/114

id21 Research Highlight: 28 November 2006

Further Information:
Felicity Binns
EID Department
Cambridge Education
Demeter House
Station Road
Cambridge
CB1 2RS
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1223 463755
Contact the contributor: felicity.binns@camb-ed.com

International Extension College, Cambridge, UK

Tony Wrightson
633 Marine Parade
Napier 4110
New Zealand

Tel: +64 6 8354087
Contact the contributor: tony.wrightson@xtra.co.nz

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