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Abstract:
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According to Altbach and Kelly (1978), the aim of the colonizer was to create schools to fit people into their world-creating an estrangement from their culture and heritage and reinforcing European traditions. This study explored teaching and teacher education in postcolonial Jamaica, based on arguments that education and teacher training are constructed on its colonial past and rely heavily on knowledge from the West. It provided a rich description of the shared teaching experiences of teacher educators in Jamaica, answering the research questions: (a) What do teacher educators understand to be the impact of colonization on education and their teaching (teacher education), (b) How do they describe their practice? Framed on a qualitative research design, a phenomenological perspective was used to uncover the lived experiences of 14 teacher educators. Findings indicated that teacher educators saw the impact of colonialism as having an inherent value in the construction of knowledge; it is historically and socially embedded, reproduced, and fostered dependency. They find benefit in adopting new approaches, in particular, student-centred classrooms, critical thinking, and critical pedagogy. This however is not without challenges. Their classroom practice and preparation of pre-service teachers is innovative, facilitative, structured, and consultative |
