LEARNING HOW TO TEACH - The upgrading of unqualified primary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa
because they could not be replaced. The federal government decided to offer a fast-track programme to ensure that all teachers with TC2 were upgraded to NCE level within two years. This was the Special Teacher Upgrading Programme (STUP). Without this external governmental pressure and support, many TC2 teachers would not have been interested in upgrading themselves. (35: STUP coordinator and assistant coordinator, NTI)
The STUP programme – a description STUP is a two-year intensive government programme for public primary schools coordinated by the National Teachers’ Institute. It aims to upgrade holders of TC2 to the required NCE standard and to eventually remove the teachers who do not have the NCE qualification. The understanding is that, with the introduction of STUP, the federal and state governments would stop recruiting new teachers below NCE level. The STUP model is a combination of three components: face-to-face sessions, instructional modules, and integrated school experiences.128 Face-to-face sessions are held in the 188 special STUP training centres (with boarding facilities). These are weekly sessions on Fridays and Saturdays, as well as sessions during each school break and long vacation. The course facilitators for the face-to-face sessions are selected from tertiary educational institutions based on their area of specialisation. Furthermore, students receive instructional modules for self-study at home; two hours daily of self-study are expected in addition to the study time in the face-toface sessions. The content is based on the regular training curriculum for the NCE certificate and exemplifies “constructivist principles aimed at promoting mastery of content and improved learning outcomes.”129 Apart from various subjects focusing on (primary) education, each student chooses one teaching subject for specialisation. Within this selected teaching subject, students have to do a written assignment, for instance on curriculum development in the subject chosen for specialisation. The third component, the “integrated school experience,” focuses on the students’ normal teaching work, which is considered adequate and sufficient to attain the NCE level. Mentors visiting the students’ schools provide individual support to students at their workplace, establishing an “organic link between the theoretical component of the course and what happens at school and classroom level.”130 The classroom visits are scheduled in two six-week periods every year. The complete STUP programme enrolled two batches of students, starting in 2007 and 2008. Participants were TC2 teachers who passed a screening selection. The first batch (2007-09) contained 26,760 students; the second batch (2008-10) counted 25,938 students. By the end of 2010 the second batch will be finished and STUP will come to an end.
77