Teachers' Response to Curriculum Innovation: The Sierra Leonean Experience
Keywords:
Curriculum Evaluation, Educational Innovations, Educational Reform, Primary School Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Sierra LeoneAbstract
This paper reports the views of primary school teachers as implementers of an innovative primary school curriculum in Sierra Leone, a reform initiated by the national government to repudiate the Eurocentric colonial education model; a model that was viewed not only as grossly inadequate but predominantly formal. Teachers confirm that substantial progress has been realized in an attempt to develop and implement a culturally and environmentally responsive curriculum. The success of the reform is attributed to factors such as the nature of the reform advocated, government commitment, external assistance, community-based actors, college lecturers and students, and school teachers. Some teachers were critical, and identified factors that impeded the reform. The study concludes that in spite of the progress realized, it will all be futile unless the national government demonstrates willingness and ability to sustain the reform with material support and continued emphasis on training and monitoring. The lessons learned from this study are not only crucial for the reform under investigation, but for similar planned educational changes in developing countries, including Trinidad and Tobago.Downloads
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).