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| Friday, 23 April 2004 |
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A recent study has found that a new culture of learning was emerging in the Central Province, with the intervention of education authorities and support from the Education Ministry's Basic Education Sector Programme/ Teacher In-service project, states a press release by the Sri Lanka-German Development Cooperation. The study revealed this new culture of learning was characterized by cooperation and happiness of sharing ideas and materials. Also behaviour changes of personnel, such as divisional officers and principals/section heads, who traditionally used to be more involved in administrative functions, have taken place. School families, advocated by the education reforms have been filled with life. The In-service Advisors (ISAA) who are most likely the key group of trainers have become more active, efficient and effective in guiding teachers. This was revealed when the Central Province Ministry of Education along with The Teacher In-Service Project - Central Province (TIP-CP), presented the findings of an Impact Study conducted to find out the developments in primary education resulting from project intervention, on April 20 at the Education Resource Center in Kandy. TIP-CP is a component of the Basic Education Sector Programme of the Ministry of Education. It is supported by funding from the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany and is implemented with assistance of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). In 2000/2001 TIP-CP conducted the Base Line Study on the Training Needs of Primary Teachers and Future Role of In-service Advisors (Primary) as a joint venture of the Provincial Ministry/Department of Education, the GTZ assisted Teacher In-service Project - TIP and researchers of the Department of Education, University of Peradeniya, Kandy headed by Prof. Asoka Jayasena. The study found out that primary teachers in the Central Province were not teaching to the desired state of art, i.e. according to what is expected of them under the new education reforms. Based on a stratified random sample of 43 classrooms in 35 schools it was revealed that teachers applied learner-centered methods in only 11.6 per cent of the lessons. The teaching-learning process was rather passive with little interaction between teacher and individual pupils, little positive reinforcement or attention was given to weak pupils. Three years later, when the same 35 schools were visited, it was encouraging to realize that learner centered teaching has become a common feature in primary classrooms of the Central Province by more than 70 per cent of teachers. Likewise attention to weaker pupils has also risen significantly from below 10 to above 75 per cent. This development is attributable to a great extent to the development and implementation of training manuals developed by BESP/TIP, especially the Joyful Learning manual. Comparative data collected from observation of teachers who have, for one reason or another, not been involved in the BESP/TIP training in the Central Province and in Sabaragamuwa Province are a reliable proof. |
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