tutors' and principals' perceptions of the effectiveness

TUTORS’ AND PRINCIPALS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A QUALIFICATION-BASED IN-SERVICE PROGRAM FOR MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHERS Mdutshekelwa Ndlovu Stellenbosch University Centre for Pedagogy (SOUTH AFRICA)

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine tutors’ and principals’ perceptions of the effectiveness of a postgraduate Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) program offered at a South African university. The ACE reported here was a qualification meant to prepare practicing teachers to be more effective practitioners of Mathematical Literacy, Life Sciences or Physical Sciences in the Senor Phase (Grades 7-9) and Further Education and Training (FET) phase (Grades 10-12). The study involved soliciting tutors’ and principals’ perceptions through and a survey questionnaire regarding the effectiveness of the program in terms of its fitness for purpose. The primary purpose of the program was to upgrade or to reskill teachers for these crucial subjects in the midst of a gripping mathematics and science education crisis and a rapidly evolving curriculum in the country. A 5-point Likert-type semantic scale version of the student questionnaire was adapted to evaluate the perceptions of graduates’ principals as major consumers and an interview schedule based on the questionnaire was prepared and used to collect interview data from the full time and part-time tutors who facilitated in the program. Findings were that although there were contextual, process, content and outcome aspects of the program that were rated positively by both tutors and principals and, to that extent, needed to be consolidated, there were some aspects, such as subject matter knowledge that needed re-configuration. On balance there was a relatively high approval of the program in terms of meeting its purpose of preparing teachers to cope with the current curricular changes and classroom proficiency demands. The findings also corroborated the experience of professional growth in teaching competencies reported by graduates in a separate study [1].

1

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this article is to report on the perceptions of tutors and school principals on the effectiveness of the Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) in Mathematical Literacy, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences, offered by a South African university, with a view to improving the program offering. The ACE is a 120-credit part-time in-service professional development program for practicing teachers who want to improve their qualifications to attain National Qualification Framework (NQF) Level 6, obtain a further professional qualification or to provide access to NQF Level 7 [2]. Thus the ACE is a continuing professional development (CPD) qualification with the express purpose of developing educators’ pedagogical content knowledge and skills, change their career paths and/or adopt new educator roles. The program investigated in this study targeted group consists of teachers from historically disadvantaged schools who have many odds staked against their efforts to deliver quality education. By focusing on the CPD of teachers this study acknowledges and concurs with [3]’s contention that the effectiveness of the individual teacher is one of the most powerful school-level factors that have an impact on student learning. The most effective teachers are, therefore, the most important tools schools and systems can use to lift the science and mathematics achievement of socio-economically disadvantaged students. This study focused on the critical exit level outcomes of the ACE and the programmatic context, content and processes adopted to attain them. The exit level outcomes for the ACE programs include inter alia that candidates must, in their area of study, demonstrate: a) sound mastery of subject matter knowledge; b) practical competence in pedagogical content knowledge c) sound didactical skills and d) a commitment to ongoing professional improvement [2]. Accordingly, a meaningful professional development program should systematically provide teachers with an opportunity to interact meaningfully with content, teaching or learning (e.g. [4]) which resonates with [5]’s coinage of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) which, according to [6] can be split into subject matter knowledge (encompassing common content knowledge, disciplinary knowledge at the horizon and specialized content knowledge) and pedagogical content knowledge (encompassing knowledge of students, knowledge of content and teaching and knowledge of the curriculum). Fig. 1 is a schematic

Proceedings of ICERI2014 Conference 17th-19th November 2014, Seville, Spain

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ISBN: 978-84-617-2484-0

representation of Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK) and PCK in the context of mathematical knowledge for teaching proposed by [6] to refer to that knowledge of subject matter which teachers use in the classroom.

Fig. 1: The Ball MKT Framework (adapted from [6]). This study was a sequel to a previous study that focused on student perceptions of the effectiveness of the ACE program as articulated in [1].

2 2.1

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Global competitiveness

Improving mathematics and science education is often a priority for developing countries in their quest to promote long-term economic development [7]. The race for global competitiveness explains in large measure why both government and non-government sponsored initiatives aimed at improving science education proliferate around the world. For instance, professional studies in science and mathematics have helped to maintain the USA’s global competitiveness [8] while New Zealand and England have aggressively promoted science and technology education in response to the challenges of rapid globalization [9]. In particular, a mathematics, science and technology teacher fellowship program was found to be contributing significantly to New Zealand’s economic growth and to the program’s own status as a rewarding and worthwhile career option [10]. The frenzy with which results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) have been received and interpreted adds fervor to the competitiveness euphoria. Global Competitiveness Reports (e.g. [11]; [12]; 13]), which claim to be the most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness worldwide list the quality of mathematics and science education among the key elements of higher education as an economic efficiency enhancer. This further signifies the extent to which mathematics and science have transcended the sphere of education to become a centerpiece of global economic competitiveness in the wider realm. Although mathematics, science and technology education have already been a national priority for several years in South Africa [14] the country’s global competitiveness remains extremely low (e.g. [13]) leaving much space for in-service programs such as the ACE to play a significant role in ameliorating the situation. The potential to improve teacher quality through in-service education is documented even in some local studies (e.g. [14]; [15]; [16]). It is however critical to continually review in-service program effectiveness to provide further scope for innovation. An on-going challenge in the South African context, for example, is of ensuring that both pre- and in-service teachers come to grips with rapidly shifting expectations in a fluid curriculum and assessment policy environment where virtually every new minister of education has rebranded the curriculum since the advent of democracy - for better or for worse.

2.2

Quality provisioning and accountability in higher education

Excellence in educational quality provisioning and accountability is an obligatory function of higher education [17]. This is also borne out, as already noted in [13] above, by the categorization of the quality of mathematics and science education under the global competitiveness economic efficiency enhancer of higher education and training. Similarly, when pointing out why the quality of higher

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education has become such a high profile issue [18] bemoans traditional approaches to evaluating the quality of education for relying on proxy measures such as increases in financing and personnel statistics. Such proxy measurements seem to sidestep the crunch about educational quality as they fail to correlate decisively when other criteria such as knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behavior are applied (e.g. [17]; [18]). Proxy approaches to educational quality measurement can, accordingly, be interpreted as a form of inattentiveness of higher education research to inquiry into and about teaching and learning (e.g. [19]). Although large chunks of educational research done by academics in SA higher education institutions focus on investigations at university classroom levels, not a single one of the eight primary themes investigated by [10] directly involved an enquiry into the quality of teaching and learning contexts, processes and outcomes. In other words the paucity of research inside the classroom inadvertently colludes with proxy measurements by dwelling on the peripheries both from within and without the classroom. However, subsequent to that earlier study, [20] investigated and identified seven themes discernible in South African teacher education namely: the reconceptualization of teachers as facilitators, the problems and possibilities of cooperative learning or group work, the use of educational support materials and resources, the idea of ‘teaching for learning’, the importance of context, the nature of continuous assessment, and debates on teacher evaluation. The effectiveness of qualification based in-service training remains in the periphery. In this study an investigation of tutors and principals’ perceptions should, hopefully, fill a perceived gap unaccounted for by both proxy measures, student feedback, and the seven themes alluded to by [20].

3

CONTEXTUALIZING THE PERCEPTIONS OF TUTORS AND PRINCIPALS

Reflections on tutors’ own practice are a cornerstone to their own professional development. [21] argue that the concepts, beliefs and understandings of local and non-local teacher educators are grounded in their own cultural cognition and antecedents. In their study they present the viewpoint that contemporary notions of good practice propose that university tutors and future researchers ought to re-conceptualize good teaching practice within a context that gives it meaning and purpose. [10] on the other hand, investigated the gap between the theory and practice of teaching in teacher education and found dimensions of inconsistencies in the conceptions of teaching in relation to pre-training experience, teaching context and student needs. The finding could be relevant to qualification based in-service education programs such as the ACE. [22] found that teachers engaged in continuing professional programs aspire to develop expertise, motivation and opportunities and to that extent adjudged it a moral and academic duty of providers to ensure that program offering enable teachers to attain those capacities. The findings concurred with those of [23] who found that teaching in higher education coupled with research and scholarship, underpins professional practices. Both these studies highlight the potential contribution that reflective inquiry among higher education practitioners can make to the enhancement of the quality of academic program offerings. [24] explored discourses of research in the ‘academization’ of teacher education and used the Foucaultian concepts of power and knowledge as an analytical framework for moves to incorporate teacher education in the university. The study acknowledges current international discourses where there is an accelerated imperative for research-based teacher education. That discourse is relevant to South Africa where such academization is already taking shape with varying research foci including the professional and organizational identities of teacher educators [25], teacher educators’ views on curriculum reform addressed by [26], and professional development of teacher educators [27]. There is, however, little in the direction of discourses involving third party stakeholders such as principals. Among the few available is [15]’s alluded to earlier where principals attested to the differences they observed between the graduates and other teachers who had not been exposed to such a program. Suggestions for improvement included the introduction of subjects taught at school as areas of specialization, involvement of school principals in the assessment of enrolled students, visits to schools by the tutors, and exposure of students to the optional contact sessions offered by the program. The involvement of school principals in the current study is therefore a felt need to obtain legitimate third party opinion when reviewing an in-service model of professional development such as an ACE, with a view to making it more responsive to school level requirements and expectations.

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4

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The main research question guiding this research study was: what are the perceptions of the tutors and principals about the effectiveness of the ACE program in mathematics and science teaching? More specifically: What are the full-time tutors’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the program in Mathematical Literacy, Life Sciences or Physical Sciences? What are the perceptions of the ad hoc tutors? What are the perceptions of the school principals of the ACE graduates as the product of the program? How do the perceptions of the tutors and principals compare?

5 5.1

METHODOLOGY Research design

A survey approach, involving closed-ended questionnaires, was used for this study leading to both a qualitative and quantitative analysis making this a mixed methods design.

5.2

Sampling and instruments

Five full-time tutors of the ACE program voluntarily responded to a 5-point Likert-type semantic scale questionnaire similar to one that was administered to students in an earlier study (see table 2). The response rate represented a 100% return rate. A further five ad hoc tutors responded to a slightly modified version of the questionnaire with irrelevant items deleted (50% return rate). Only those ad hoc tutors who could be reached responded. It was important to get opinions from the ad hoc lecturers separately as they were in a position to give a (second) more independent opinion. Eighteen principals of the ACE graduates responded to a version of the questionnaire similarly adapted for their roles in order to obtain a third opinion (60% return rate from an expected maximum of 27 schools in which the 2009 cohort of ACE graduates had been deployed). The complexity of educational challenges to improve mathematics and science teacher quality calls for the construction of policy by multiple constituent groups (e.g. [28]) of which this sample is a significant stakeholder.

5.3

Data collection procedures

Data collection was done in three different stages, all of which were very similar Likert-type 5-point semantic scale questionnaires for full-time tutors, ad hoc tutors and principals/supervisors of the ACE graduates. In the first stage, data were collected by email from the ACE tutors. In the second stage data were also collected from ad hoc tutors by email. In the final stage data were collected by fax from the ACE graduates’ principals/supervisors.

5.4

Data analysis procedures

The data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively using appropriate statistical measures and categorisations.

6 6.1

RESULTS Overall picture

Table 1 shows the Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients, the split-half correlations, SpearmanBrown’s prophecy, raw mean scores, standard deviations and the overall percentage approval ratings for full-time tutors, ad hoc tutors and principals’/supervisors’. The full-time lecturers’ questionnaire had a high reliability. One question (Q. 5 on suitability of the text book) had to be deleted from the tutors’ questionnaire to obtain the given Cronbach’s alpha which is still relatively low but acceptable. No question was deleted from the principals’ questionnaire. Overall the approval ratings were more or less even.

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Table 1: Questionnaire results Full-time Tutors’ Responses

Ad hoc tutors’ responses

Principals’/ supervisors’ responses

N=5

N=5

N=18

Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient

0.847

0.663

0.639

Split-half (odd-even) correlations

0.994

0.365

0.685

Spearman-Brown Prophecy

0.997

0.535

0.813

Mean Score (Raw)

99.8

80.2

86.2

Standard Deviation

7.25

11.93

3.207

Mean approval rate

80.0%

80.2%

82.1%

Statistic (Index)

Fig. 2 shows the graphical comparison of the ratings for the three groups.

Fig. 2: Overall percentage approval of the ACE program

6.2

Perceptions of the full-time tutors

High approval: The use of different tutors in a subject area received the highest approval rating from the full-time lecturers together with the perceived fairness of the examinations in assessing students’ knowledge and skills. The convenience of the school holidays was perceived very positively as well as the amount and the utilization of the contact session time. Equally rated were perceptions of subject knowledge gains by the students and changes in understanding of the outcome-based education (OBE) approach to the curriculum in South Africa. Moderate approval: The importance of classroom visits, improvement in subject didactical skills, and improvement in the students’ views of their own professional development and opinions about changes in learner enthusiasm/participation/attitude/interaction in the educator’s subject were moderately perceived. Low approval: Transport and accommodation arrangements for the students were perceived as needing improvement. The lecturers were also less certain about improvement in students’ implementation of OBE, improvement in the way the students are perceived by their colleagues, subject advisors or principals, and about improvement in learners’ enthusiasm/participation/ attitude/interaction in educators’ subject(s).

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6.3

Perceptions of the ad hoc tutors

High approval level: The administrative arrangements for the program received the highest approval rating from the ad hoc lecturers/tutors. The suitability and accessibility of university teaching and laboratory facilities were perceived very positively. The convenience of school holidays for contact sessions, the value of using ad hoc subject experts, importance of assignments and the overall effectiveness of the ACE program also received high levels of approval from the ad hoc tutors. Moderate approval level: Perceptions about students’ motivation to increase their knowledge and skills, gains in subject knowledge, fairness of examinations in assessing students’ knowledge and skills, growth in students’ teaching skills, and improvement in attitude towards the profession were moderate. [29] argue that whereas teachers are highly competent in preparing students to take ‘onetime off’ practical tests which are crafted and marked by an external examination syndicate, changing from this ‘fail-safe’ mode poses challenges to limited time, fairness, validity, reliability and accountability or even to their dual identity as teachers and assessors, leaving them with little time to reflect on their practices. Low approval: There were low perceptions about the impact of the program in improving the practical skills and subject didactical skills of the students, sufficiency of holiday contact time, improvement in students’ relationship with colleagues teaching the same subject in other schools and the value of individual classroom visits. Students’ prior knowledge and suitability of the prescribed text book were rated the least by tutors and these questions had to be deleted to increase the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Prior to the deletion of these questions the overall approval of rate of the ad hoc lecturers was 81%.

6.4

Perceptions of the graduates’ principals

High approval: The convenience of contact sessions being conducted during school holidays received the highest approval rate from school principals and/or supervisors of the ACE graduates. Individual classroom visits by lecturers were perceived to be highly valuable while subject knowledge gains were equally appreciated. In some of the comments appended to the questionnaires, some principals felt they needed to have a role in the assessment of the students’ classroom effectiveness. Moderate approval: The growth of student’s understanding of OBE (e.g. in terms of learnercenteredness, continuous assessment, etc.), improvement in student’s implementation of OBE, improvement in educators’ contribution to subject/cluster meetings, improvement in the way the educators’ colleagues/subject advisors/principals perceive them, improvement in learners’ enthusiasm/participation/attitude/interaction in educators’ subjects, were positively perceived. Low approval: The principals of the ACE graduates were more reserved about improvement in students’ relationship with educators teaching the same subject in other schools, improvement in learners’ academic achievement in the educators’ subjects, and sufficiency of contact time for the ACE program.

7 7.1

DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS Views on holiday contact timing, duration and utilization

There appears to be overwhelming consensus that school holidays are the most convenient times for conducting the contact sessions. In a previous study of students’ perceptions, the approval rate for holidays compared with weekends, or midweek sessions was equally strong. The amount or sufficiency of the contact time was also, by consensus, perceived with some circumspection. This is an issue with no immediate solution in a part-time context save to be compensated by more time for self-study as a significant part of the mixed-mode delivery model. Additionally it might be important to induct students in time management as typically important in such mixed design or blended contexts. The university’s teaching and library facilities were highly rated to be adequate and suitable for inservice training in the ACE. However, both full-time tutors and the graduates’ principals were unanimously dissatisfied with accommodation arrangements which were the responsibility of the Department of Education. They were split on the suitability of transport arrangements which were also beyond their mandate.

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7.2

Views on assignments, classroom observation visits and examinations

Assignments were generally perceived, by both full-time and ad hoc tutors, to be relevant for consolidating learning in the ACE and as a fundamental way of keeping students connected and engaged with the study material as well as in linking theory to practice and vice versa. Both the fulltime and ad hoc tutors viewed examinations to be fair and relevant in testing students’ knowledge and skills with ad hoc lecturers rating examinations highly when compared with the former. The views of the tutors coincided with those of the students ascertained in an earlier study. There was however a divergence of opinion regarding the importance of classroom visits. Full-time tutors and the ACE graduates’ principals placed a much higher premium on classroom observations than did ad hoc tutors. In their additional comments, some of the principals expressed their desire to be involved in the practicum assessment of ACE students in order to have a more meaningful involvement in their inservice training and ultimately to offer a more informed opinion on the effectiveness of the program. The involvement of school-based mentors in pre-service training is widely practiced in schooluniversity partnerships and in some instances, has been found to be mutually beneficial. For example [30] undertook a large-scale evaluation of their school-university partnership scheme in which the majority of mentors claimed that they had benefited professionally from mentoring. From the mentors’ responses they propose learning through self-reflection, learning from student teachers, learning through mutual collaboration, and learning from university tutors as constructs that lead to professional development. The use of different subject experts was viewed favorably by both the full-time and the part-time tutors.

7.3

SMK and PCK gains and improvement

Full-time tutors and principals felt that there were very high subject knowledge gains for students in the program whereas the ad hoc tutors perceived the subject knowledge gains to be moderately high. The ad hoc subject specialists were dissatisfied with the levels of prior knowledge possessed by the students but were non-the-less satisfied that the content in the modules linked well with the grade 1012 (FET phase) syllabuses that the teachers were teaching or supposed to teach. This reinforced the belief that there might be a large number of under-qualified mathematics and science teachers who lack both ‘the knowledge of the academic discipline and that of the subject at school’ [31]. To that extent the ACE program was fulfilling a felt need for improved subject matter knowledge and subjectspecific-pedagogical content knowledge in the marginalized schools from which the teachers practiced. This finding thus concurred with [32]’s conclusion that teacher understanding of student learning and effective instructional approaches are inextricably linked to their content knowledge. Practical skills which were perceived to be lowly achieved by the program are an important part of science teacher preparation. In a physical science course for pre-service and in-service science teachers, [33], for example, report that from a detailed analysis for tutoring discussions between the instructor and the participants they discovered that the challenges in practical or laboratory work consisted of the limitations of the laboratory facilities, an insufficient knowledge of physics, problems in understanding instructional approaches and the general organization of practical work.

7.4

Understanding and implementation of outcome-based education principles

From the point of view of full-time lecturers, students’ understanding of OBE improved remarkably but improvement in implementation was perceived less enthusiastically suggesting that there could be a gap between understanding and implementation. This differential between theory and practice was also evident in an earlier study of the perceptions of the students themselves [1]. The discrepancy between ‘talking the talk’ and ‘walking the talk’ is not new in describing the mismatch that often occurs between espoused pedagogical beliefs and enacted classroom practices [34] or between what teachers learn in teacher education classes and what they transfer to their own classroom settings. [35] reiterate this perception with respect to integrating Science, Technology and Society (STS) when they point out that the greatest problem with shifts to STS teaching is the failure of most teachers to have personally experienced study and learning as STS learners. A major feature of OBE in South Africa was a reform in assessment practices to drive student learning. Similar to the findings in this study previous research shows that changes in policy do not always influence instructional practice as anticipated [29]. The majority of mathematics and science educators in this study were themselves taught in the traditional rather than the OBE way. From the principals’ point of view improvement in both understanding and implementation of OBE was, however, perceived to have been moderately

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high after graduation. This question was not posed to ad hoc subject specialists because they were less involved with school curriculum issues. An overriding concern, however, is that OBE was underpinned by student-centered learning, students taking responsibility of their own learning and the belief that all learners can succeed. Although there is no unanimity with regards to the last principle OBE as a whole has recently suffered some setbacks and its mention is discretely avoided in policy discourses (e.g. Angie Motshekga, the new Minister of Basic Education admitted in 2010 that OBE had failed and would be phased out, [36]). Some major reasons have been lack of teacher involvement in the policy-formulation process, inadequate preparation of teachers for new roles, and under-resourcing of the school system (e.g. [37]; [38]). In other words, by promising every student unconditional success, and placing the responsibility of that success solely on the school, OBE lied to itself. It remains imperative, nonetheless that the pedagogy proposed by a program such as the ACE should on the one hand conform to the curriculum policy of the moment while also simultaneously preparing teachers to be critical consumers of the curriculum they are expected to implement.

7.5

Improvement in learner participation and achievement

Full-time tutors and graduates’ principals were unanimous in viewing, improvements in learner participation, enthusiasm, attitude and interaction, as moderately high. This coincided with earlier findings by [1] about students’ perceptions. The constructivist approach was encouraged in the ACE program because it is first and foremost student-centered [39] and to that end supportive of active learning, retention and transfer of learning. [40], however, lament the fact that practical applications of constructivism have led to some misuses of constructivist principles because lesson plans that novice teachers identify as being constructivist often do not include sufficient characteristics of constructivist theory. This implies that student participation should be complemented by: a) attaching value to quality of learning instead of quantity and focusing on the learner, not the subject; b) promoting social interactions, providing meaningful experiences, and helping learners elaborate on their prior knowledge; c) fostering inquiry-learning and self-regulated learning, and d) requiring teachers to be tutors (e.g. [40]; [41]). Both full-time lecturers and principals were cautious about the impact of the ACE program on learners’ academic achievement. This view also affirmed earlier findings about students’ perceptions of their own learners’ academic achievement [1]. To make a judgment on the impact of a professional qualification such as an ACE on student achievement in public examinations would, on the one hand, be as contentious as counting one’s chicks before the eggs hatch, given the limitations of time and the multiplicity of impacting learner performance. This question was not posed to ad hoc lecturers as they were not involved in teaching practice supervision.

7.6

Improvement in professional identity and practices

Both full-time and ad hoc lecturers were unanimous with principals that there were modest improvements in the ACE students’ professional identities and practices in terms of their attitudes towards themselves and the profession. However there seemed to be limited opportunities for interactions with colleagues teaching the same subjects in other schools. This finding was a vindication of ACE graduates’ own perceptions reported in [1]. [29] also refer to a study which found that (mathematics) teachers who were able to go beyond the boundaries of their individual classrooms by mobilizing social resources – involving discussion with and support from colleagues and using prior knowledge, skills and experience - were better positioned to enact instructional practices aligned with policy reforms than their counterparts who were unable to do so. In a sense, the school system should provide for more intra-, inter- and trans-school professional interactions among teachers in line with the theme of ‘teaching for learning’ identified by [20]. Extended collegiality is a critical foundation for developing collective professional identities, responsibilities, autonomy and conscience that have a more lasting influence on professional practices. For as long as teachers feel that change is dictated from outside or from above, desired change in professional practices beyond their comfort zones remains at risk. By contrast, since teachers enrolling for the ACE did so out of their own volition, this is tantamount to teachers initiating and enacting change for themselves and fits within [41]’s redefinition of (lasting) teacher learning as a (self- initiated) process of sense-making relating to current practices and adjustment to suit novel situations.

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7.7

Limitations of the study

Given the small sample sizes of principals who responded to the survey questionnaire, the results obtained should be treated with circumspection that they cannot be generalized to larger populations without prejudice. Similarly although the response rate from tutors was high the absolute numbers were too small to be generalized to similar ACE programs.

8

CONCLUSION

This study focused on the effectiveness of the ACE program at a university in South Africa from the point of view of the program tutors and ACE graduate principals and supervisors. There was broad consensus that the program met its objectives of increasing teachers’ subject matter knowledge and didactical skills in Mathematical Literacy, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences at the FET level in spite of some administrative contextual challenges and the time constraints experienced by working and studying at the same time. Research studies on teacher education argue that the structure and approach of teacher preparation programmmes shape opportunities to learn and may influence teachers’ knowledge, practice, and presumably, pupil learning (e.g. [42]; [43]). However, [42] insist that teacher educators can be seen as the most important agents in shaping the teacher education curriculum. Hence, regardless of structure, their views play a pivotal role in guiding what transpires in teacher education classes. Alternatively, if teachers’ views of teaching and curriculum content are influenced by years of education and teaching experience [32] and, if at all, in turn, these years of education and teaching experience encourage teachers to teach the manner they were taught [44], that challenges teacher educators to model best teaching practices in their own classrooms or practicum observation visits. With their emphasis on conceptual understanding and learner-centered approaches, constructivist and neo-constructivist theories have been widely adopted as reform signature pedagogies replacing traditional-behaviorist, teacher-centered, rote-learning approaches, even in the ACE. In sum therefore it can be concluded from this study that the ACE in science and mathematics education deserves a further lease of life in its current or metamorphosed future form to continually service learners in disadvantaged schools.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author is extremely grateful to the inputs and suggestions from the SUNCEP staff that made this article possible.

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