The majority of teachers in South Sudan are underqualified, underpaid and work in overcrowded and under-resourced classrooms with multi-age and multi-level students who speak a multitude of languages, attend classes without a... [ view full abstract ]
The majority of teachers in South Sudan are underqualified, underpaid and work in overcrowded and under-resourced classrooms with multi-age and multi-level students who speak a multitude of languages, attend classes without a meal and are raised by mostly illiterate parents in economically and security-challenged households. Support to teachers is very limited, teacher guides and teaching and learning materials are few, salaries are extremely low in value (2.5USD per month), parental involvement is restricted to modest financial support to schools and to providing children with school uniform and copy-books. Training and professional development opportunities for teachers are few and fragmented, while training needs are vast and growing in the context of armed conflict which has caused displacement, famine, high turn-over of teachers and economic downturn.
Programmes that seek to improve teacher performance struggle to find a balance between attracting teachers to training, preserving already low class time, creating meaningful professional development opportunities for teachers and retaining teachers in training in the logistically and security-challenged environment.
Based on the findings from teacher needs assessments, the paper will present some of the constraints that teachers face in making a shift from a “talk and chalk” teaching method that limits pupils’ participation in lessons and contributes to their underperformance. The paper will discuss teacher training, materials development and teacher pay improvement efforts of the DFID-funded Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS) programme and other partners of the MoGEI. Using the evidence from programmes’ evaluation and lesson observations, the paper will present what has worked in improving skills of primary teachers in South Sudan and what remains a challenge. School-based, technology enhanced and in-service approaches to teacher training will be discussed, and suggestions for improvement of teacher training efforts will be debated.
