IMPROVING COURSEWORK AND PRACTICUM FOR A BETTER INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION IN ZAMBIA

Abstract

The article aims at proposing the improvement of initial teacher education in Africa. The authors used desk research to put together the arguments contained in this article. The main proposals of the chapter are two-fold. Firstly, the article proposes expansion of the teacher education coursework to include action research, African knowledge systems and intercultural education. Secondly, the article proposes a versatile practicum for initial teacher education. The practicum must be used for assessment and for professional development and teaching purposes. This chapter concludes that to produce the teacher of the 21st century, teacher preparation programmes must focus on active intellectual engagement by which teachers are equipped with requisite professional knowledge and skills. This agrees with the constructivist teaching/learning theory and participatory teaching methods, which advocate for active participation by students in the learning process. In this theory, learners are supposed to take charge of their learning through inquiry or discovery. To concretise this knowledge and skills acquisition through the practicum, the authors recommend for Zambia and indeed Africa, the school-based model. This preference for the school-based model is anchored on the fact that it is a much better model because, by attaching students to schools right from the first year of the programme, they will have adequate time for combining theory and practice and for developing correct professional dispositions.