Teacher development in preparation for pedagogical reform associated with the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) of Swaziland.

Abstract

Swaziland changed its pedagogy from the teacher-centred O level to IGCSE which is learnercentred. In preparation for a pedagogical change, some logistics were put into place; amongst these, teacher development. Research points out that what the teacher does in class is significant and has a bearing in the learner’s outcomes, therefore appropriate and adequate teacher training should be afforded to the implementers of a new pedagogy. This study seeks to find out how Swazi teachers were trained in preparation for the pedagogical change. The study was done in a qualitative manner, whereby semi-structured interviews were used as a method of collecting data. The study revealed that even though teachers were trained for the implementation of the new pedagogy, the training was not effective because it was for a few days, no effective follow up was made and it also did not take into consideration the teachers’ pedagogical needs, it assumed a one-size-fit all approach.