Teacher professional development as a mechanism to advance education for sustainable development (ESD) integration in Namibia: a senior primary English language case study
- Shangheta, Miryam Keshityeni
- Authors: Shangheta, Miryam Keshityeni
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Career development , Teachers In-service training , Education for sustainable development , English language Study and teaching Namibia , Pedagogical content knowledge
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/463603 , vital:76424
- Description: Namibia is a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030 and responds to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development by incorporating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into its education curriculum and policies. In 2020, Namibia launched its National Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development Policy. Despite these policy commitments, research indicates that most teachers continue to struggle with integrating ESD into their teaching practices. The integration of ESD in English language teaching classrooms is no exception. This qualitative case study is an attempt to understand how a Teacher Professional Development programme named Teach for ESD offered by NaDEET, a non-governmental organisation in Namibia, aided three Senior Primary Phase English Language teachers to integrate ESD into their teaching practice. The study also aims to unveil the teaching practice of the selected English Language teachers in the Otjozondjupa region who participated in the Teach for ESD programme. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews (three interviews per teacher), document review, and lesson observation (one per teacher). Theoretically, the study is framed by socio-cultural learning theory after the work of Lev Vygotsky, supplemented by Mavhunga and Rollnick’s (2013) account of Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK). The qualitative data was analysed inductively to identify themes and sub-themes relevant to the research questions. The study findings might be of value to NaDEET as they implement future TPD courses in ESD, and they may also be of interest to English Language Teaching stakeholders as Namibia implements the EE and ESD Policy in the national school curriculum. The findings showed that the English Language teachers need ESD training; ESD-oriented teaching and learning materials; continuing support for monitoring and evaluation of their ESD practices; and more time allocated to English Language teaching in the timetable so that the environmental / sustainability content can be explored in more depth alongside the development of English Language skills. The study recommends that further research be conducted into effective ways of teaching English Language skills through environmental themes (developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge); and exploring up-scalable models of teacher professional development so that more English Language teachers can receive ESD training. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Secondary and Post-School Education, 2024
- Full Text:
- Authors: Shangheta, Miryam Keshityeni
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Career development , Teachers In-service training , Education for sustainable development , English language Study and teaching Namibia , Pedagogical content knowledge
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/463603 , vital:76424
- Description: Namibia is a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030 and responds to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development by incorporating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into its education curriculum and policies. In 2020, Namibia launched its National Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development Policy. Despite these policy commitments, research indicates that most teachers continue to struggle with integrating ESD into their teaching practices. The integration of ESD in English language teaching classrooms is no exception. This qualitative case study is an attempt to understand how a Teacher Professional Development programme named Teach for ESD offered by NaDEET, a non-governmental organisation in Namibia, aided three Senior Primary Phase English Language teachers to integrate ESD into their teaching practice. The study also aims to unveil the teaching practice of the selected English Language teachers in the Otjozondjupa region who participated in the Teach for ESD programme. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews (three interviews per teacher), document review, and lesson observation (one per teacher). Theoretically, the study is framed by socio-cultural learning theory after the work of Lev Vygotsky, supplemented by Mavhunga and Rollnick’s (2013) account of Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK). The qualitative data was analysed inductively to identify themes and sub-themes relevant to the research questions. The study findings might be of value to NaDEET as they implement future TPD courses in ESD, and they may also be of interest to English Language Teaching stakeholders as Namibia implements the EE and ESD Policy in the national school curriculum. The findings showed that the English Language teachers need ESD training; ESD-oriented teaching and learning materials; continuing support for monitoring and evaluation of their ESD practices; and more time allocated to English Language teaching in the timetable so that the environmental / sustainability content can be explored in more depth alongside the development of English Language skills. The study recommends that further research be conducted into effective ways of teaching English Language skills through environmental themes (developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge); and exploring up-scalable models of teacher professional development so that more English Language teachers can receive ESD training. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Secondary and Post-School Education, 2024
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Exploring how the use of a mini-ecosystem enables and/or constrains grade 5 learners to make sense of scientific inquiry
- Authors: Tobias, Ruusa Taimi
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Science Study and teaching (Elementary) Namibia , Health education (Elementary) Namibia , Education for sustainable development , Sensemaking , Inquiry-based learning Namibia , Terrariums , Social learning Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/405423 , vital:70170
- Description: The Namibian Science curriculum clearly states that learning of science should be promoted through using inquiry-based approaches. However, it does not state how teachers should go about promoting inquiry-based approaches in their classrooms, especially in under-resourced rural schools. This is exacerbated in part by the fact that there is inadequate or lack of professional development for science teachers which focus in particular on promotion of inquiry-based approaches. As a result, science teachers tend to ignore inquiry-based approaches in their classrooms. It is against this background that my study sought to explore how the use of a ‘mini-ecosystem’ enables and/or constrains grade 5 learners from an under-resourced rural school to make sense of scientific inquiry. The study is underpinned by an interpretive paradigm. Within the interpretive paradigm, a qualitative case study approach, using the Predict-Explain-Explore-Observe-Explain (PEEOE) framework was adopted. This case study was carried out in an under-resourced rural Namibian school and the participants were grade 5 Natural Science and Health Education learners. I also invited a teacher from the school to be my critical friend and a participant observer. Data were generated using the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire, observations, focus group interviews and learners’ reflections. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory was my theoretical framework, and within this theory, I used mediation of learning, social interactions, the zone of proximal development and self-regulation as lenses to analyse my data. A thematic approach to data analysis was adopted. That is, qualitative data were analysed inductively to come up with sub-themes and thereafter common sub-themes were combined to form themes. The findings of the study revealed that the observation of mini-ecosystems enabled learners to interact and participate with each other in their respective groups. Moreover, learners were able to identify some scientific concepts such as evaporation, condensation, water cycle and rainfall. These findings are in contrast with the fact that they seemed to struggle to answer the VASI questionnaire that was conducted prior to observation. The study thus recommends that science teachers should make efforts to use easily accessible resources such as a ‘mini-ecosystem’ to promote scientific inquiry amongst their learners. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2022
- Full Text:
- Authors: Tobias, Ruusa Taimi
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Science Study and teaching (Elementary) Namibia , Health education (Elementary) Namibia , Education for sustainable development , Sensemaking , Inquiry-based learning Namibia , Terrariums , Social learning Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/405423 , vital:70170
- Description: The Namibian Science curriculum clearly states that learning of science should be promoted through using inquiry-based approaches. However, it does not state how teachers should go about promoting inquiry-based approaches in their classrooms, especially in under-resourced rural schools. This is exacerbated in part by the fact that there is inadequate or lack of professional development for science teachers which focus in particular on promotion of inquiry-based approaches. As a result, science teachers tend to ignore inquiry-based approaches in their classrooms. It is against this background that my study sought to explore how the use of a ‘mini-ecosystem’ enables and/or constrains grade 5 learners from an under-resourced rural school to make sense of scientific inquiry. The study is underpinned by an interpretive paradigm. Within the interpretive paradigm, a qualitative case study approach, using the Predict-Explain-Explore-Observe-Explain (PEEOE) framework was adopted. This case study was carried out in an under-resourced rural Namibian school and the participants were grade 5 Natural Science and Health Education learners. I also invited a teacher from the school to be my critical friend and a participant observer. Data were generated using the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire, observations, focus group interviews and learners’ reflections. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory was my theoretical framework, and within this theory, I used mediation of learning, social interactions, the zone of proximal development and self-regulation as lenses to analyse my data. A thematic approach to data analysis was adopted. That is, qualitative data were analysed inductively to come up with sub-themes and thereafter common sub-themes were combined to form themes. The findings of the study revealed that the observation of mini-ecosystems enabled learners to interact and participate with each other in their respective groups. Moreover, learners were able to identify some scientific concepts such as evaporation, condensation, water cycle and rainfall. These findings are in contrast with the fact that they seemed to struggle to answer the VASI questionnaire that was conducted prior to observation. The study thus recommends that science teachers should make efforts to use easily accessible resources such as a ‘mini-ecosystem’ to promote scientific inquiry amongst their learners. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2022
- Full Text:
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