Abstract:

Teacher education is affected by changes in priorities regarding the requirements and expectations associated with education and upbringing; and such changes have as much to do with teacher professional efficiency and government policies for teacher preparation, as with the existing socio-political climate. In this paper, the UK and Germany teacher education models are reviewed in light of improving teacher education in Uganda.

Uganda pursues a one-phased concurrent model where two-thirds of the training time is spent at university and less than a third at school for practice. As a result, there has been public outcry concerning the quality of teachers prepared, arguing that these are more theoretical and less practical (MISR 2001; Namubiru 2000; Abidi 1991). On the other hand, England pursues a one-phased concurrent and integrated model in which for instance, beginning teachers pursuing a Post Graduate Certificate in Education spend two-thirds of their training in partner schools. Germany pursues a two-phased consecutive model in which university-based studies provide a theoretical background and orientation to the professional studies at teacher study seminaries.

This paper was borne out of a review of sampled primary and secondary literature, to explore the best relationship between university (theory) and school (practice) in teacher education, and design a teacher education model for Uganda. It was found out that while the UK model had metamorphosed into a more liberal and practical-oriented model, the Ugandan model still reflected the old British model 45 years after independence; a model that could not measure to the many changes introduced in primary  and secondary  schools, where trained teachers would be posted after graduation. Phase 2 of the Germany model had a strong attachment to schools (mentorship) where teachers had autonomy regarding the subject matter they taught. Drawing from this review, an integrated model was proposed for Uganda with the hope that it would promote quality pre-service and in-service teacher education to enhance the MDGs reflected in Ugandan schools.

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Ssentamu, Namubiru (2007). Teacher education models and their implication to teacher training at the School of Education, Makerere University Presented at the The Southern African Comparative and History of Education (SACHES) Society Annual Conference, Lesotho, 22 July 2007.