The Development of Teachers Centres: Some Comparisons of the English and Kenyan Situations

Abstract

No initial teacher training can impart the complete knowledge that a teacher will require in the field. The development of Teachers* Centres is often considered to be one of the outstanding innovations in the post-training education of teachers. Whereas their establishment has been widely implemented in many countries in the world, the mode of approach in their developmental pattern differs considerably in various countries. Whereas in England the Centres evolved from an established system of education, in Kenya the innovation had to be transplanted, though not without proper modifications to suit the situation. The first chapter of this dissertation will try to show why it was necessary to establish Kenya*s Teachers' Advisory Centres with an orientation towards the service of the country’s primary school teachers.1 The success of a Centre, whether in Kenya or England, depends on the successful achievement of its deliberations. One of the immediate aims of the Centres is to help teachers to keep abreast of the rapid changes which are happening all over the world and which invariably affect their profession. The second and third chapters examine some of the major elements of the activities at a Centre^ such as:in-service education, organisation of resources, communication, general management, centre based curriculum StiU^AYlQfl UriftARJ, - 5 - development projects and the constraints the projects may pose. While in the present relatively young stage Kenya’s Teachers* Advisory Centres may have little to offer in the organisation of the foregoing aspects, there is every reason to believe that their future will be busy and very demanding in the rapidly expanding structure of Kenya*s education. Much can be learnt from the experience through which the English Centres have passed in order to avoid a repetition of the same problems they encountered in their earlier stages, \ The final chapter looks at many of the constraints which may affect the organisation of Centres; including the level of education at which students start training, the large number of the temporarily indispensable untrained teachers in Kenya, financial constraints, high pupil teacher ratio and over-stretched resources etc. Suggestions, but not easy solutions, are made for the Kenyan situation. Emphasis is put on research into teacher effectiveness that can be imparted by the organisation of such Centres in order to facilitate improvements as befits a predominantly rural society.