Inservice teacher education at a distance: Trends in Third World development

Abstract

The majority of developing countries are experiencing increasing pressure on already taxed education resources. Contributing factors include spiralling population growth, government policies to achieve universal primary education, attempts to reduce high teacher-pupil ratios, and the shortage of professionally trained and/or academically qualified teachers. Strategies that have been adopted to remedy teacher shortages include the use of: 1) double shifts with increasing teacher-pupil ratios, 2) expatriate teachers, 3) increasing female participation, 4) home- or community-based school equivalency programmes, 5) in-school equivalency programmes, 6) school broadcasts, and 7) inservice teacher education through distance teaching. The University of Nairobi currently provides correspondence courses, which include radio broadcasts and face-to-face teaching during occasional residential sessions. The University of the South Pacific has Extension Centres in 10 of the 11 participating countries that are linked to the main campus in Suva through satellite audio-teleconferencing. The University of the West Indies (UWI) also uses satellite teleconferencing to offer courses for the 14 English-speaking Caribbean islands. Three main campuses are located in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados, and University Centres are maintained in each of the 11 other countries. Carefully designed and implemented distance education programmes can provide effective parallel systems to traditional training patterns, and are likely to remain a continuing solution well into the future