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I I E P • I N T E R N A T I O N A L I N S T I T U T E F O R E D U C A T I O N A L P L A N N I N G
G u i d e b o o k f o r p l a n n i n g e d u c a t i o n i n e m e r g e n c i e s a n d r e c o n s t r u c t i o n
TRAINING BILINGUAL TEACHERS IN GUATEMALA In Guatemala, Save the Children Norway together with other donors are supporting a
programme that focuses on the education and certifi cation of educatorsteachers who work with indigenous Maya refugee children in the areas where they live comunidades de
retornados The intention is to enable them to obtain the title Bilingual Teacher in Primary Education, which comprises two and a half years’ training. Another objective is to strengthen
the teachers’ association.
To reach the objective, education materials have been developed based on Paulo Freire’s approach. The Ministry of Education has approved this experiment under the country’s
offi cial teacher-training programme. The curriculum includes:
• One semester study of basic education.
• Basic cycle of bilingualism Maya and Spanish – prepare three courses of four months each.
• Professional studies adapted to the teacherseducators, which consists of psycho- pedagogical and didactic material.
When these courses have been completed, the teachers are qualifi ed to receive the certifi cate of ‘Teacher in Primary Bilingual Education’. Eighty-nine teachers were trained in 1998, and 85
in 1999. The project is part of the educational reform initiated by the government.
9. Train bilingual teachers where necessary.
•
Provide additional training for teachers in national languages of instruction, as necessary.
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Take steps to enable the early years of primary education to be conducted in the child’s mother tongue, so far as practicable.
10. Facilitate the training of teachers and volunteers for early childhood
development and pre-school programmes.
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The education of teachers for early childhood and pre-school education should focus on:
• How the child develops socially, intellectually, emotionally, physically, and morally.
• Methods adapted to the child’s development emphasizing play, drama, games, artistic expression, gross and fi ne motor activities not lectures.
• Basic concepts as a basis for later formal instruction in the subjects.
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Community members may volunteer as facilitators of playgroups and pre-school groups. They should not normally be remunerated, but this will not be sustainable
over the longer term; there may be a need for full-time paid teachers to train the volunteers and support the functioning of the groups.
• Consider involving the community and training mothers as facilitatorsteachers.
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I I E P • I N T E R N A T I O N A L I N S T I T U T E F O R E D U C A T I O N A L P L A N N I N G
C h a p t e r 1 8 : T e a c h e r t r a i n i n g : t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g m e t h o d s
TEACHER IDENTITY In Ethiopia, especially, teachers felt that they could not be good teachers until they
completed their own education, regardless of the amount of in-service training they had received. Women teachers in particular who generally have lower levels of education
than the men, were very aware of their limitations and lacked confi dence in their abilities. Teacher’s self-image plays an important role in delivering quality education and must be
taken into account in designing teacher development programming.
Source: Winthrop and Kirk 2004: 19.
11. Plan for the renewal of full-time pre-service teacher education and
