Teachers, Classrooms, Basic Facilities and the Use of Instructional

that an analysis of where resources are needed most can be undertaken. It examines the overall situation of teachers, classrooms, basic facilities and use of instructional technology. Another aim is to highlight the disparity of these factors between the capital and the atolls.

Teachers

To reiterate what has been highlighted in Chapter 4, “one consistent finding emerging from research is that teacher quality strongly influences student outcomes” (Hanushek and Wößmann, 2007, p. 1). This being so, the low achievements rates of the Maldives can be due in part to teachers and their quality of teaching.

As indicated in Figures 1.9 and 1.10, the country has a high reliance on expatriate teachers and untrained teachers (34 per cent and 31 per cent respectively). The number of untrained teachers is highest in the primary grades, where 42 per cent of primary teachers are untrained or temporary. In particular, the schools in the outer atolls suffer more due to a lack of trained teachers. Thirty per cent of all teachers in the atolls are untrained whilst the figure for the capital is 8 per cent (MOE Maldives, 2010b).

High numbers of expatriate teachers may also affect the quality of teaching. Zahira (2005) drew attention to issues faced by Majeediyya School, a lower secondary school exclusively for boys, which employs twice as many expatriate teachers as local teachers48. Not only do these teachers find it difficult to relate their subject content to local culture and values, they also encounter more behavioural issues. Zahira’s study, which focuses on challenging behaviours, found that the mean number of behavioural cases per period (observed in classes taught by expatriate teachers) was 20.749, whilst

48 _{School employs 34 local teachers and 62 expatriate teachers.}  49 _{Five teachers and two sessions each making a total of 10 sessions.} 

that of local teachers was 11.650. Zahira (2005) stresses the importance of PD for teachers in order to deal with this issue.

Professional Development for Teachers

The importance of professional development for teachers both to improve student performance and to retain teachers in their profession has been highlighted in section 4.3.1. Based on their research on different issues, Zahira (2005) and Shareef (2008) have concluded that PD is also a vital requirement for Maldivian schools. Zahira (2005) stressed the importance of PD for secondary school teachers, particularly in the area of behavioural management. This was an urgent and immediate requirement faced by teachers, to overcome the behavioural issues that sometimes take up almost half of the class time. A range of behavioural problems including, ‘goofing off’, class disruptions, defiance and aggression have been observed. Although there are several reasons for this, Zahira (2005) states that it can be reduced through PD for teachers. Teachers need to develop their classroom management skills and be able to help students deal with anger. The expatriate teachers though may be better qualified, need PD to learn the values in the culture and be able to relate their teaching subject area to the local context.

It is worth noting that the ‘Bachelor of Teaching Secondary Programme’ offered by the FE includes three compulsory modules: Adolescent Issues, Introduction to Counselling and Guidance, Classroom Management. These modules need to address the issues highlighted by Zahira (2005) to equip teachers with precise strategies with which to deal with these challenges. It is also necessary to highlight the need to strengthen these modules at FE.

Shareef (2008) emphasised the need for PD for teachers especially when introducing new strategies to develop classroom teaching and learning. She draws these conclusions based on her research, which found that PD not only improves teaching but it also improves teachers’ motivation and confidence. She believes that the current PD programme is ineffective in addressing problems faced by teachers in classrooms. It is limited to a one-off development seminar each year and a series of in-school supervision sessions. Furthermore, the majority of the island schools rarely receive any

professional development and (according to Ali 2006, p. 26), “schools and teachers are very much left to get by themselves”.

Classrooms and Basic Facilities

According to Zahira (2005), almost all schools face problems of crowded classrooms, even with double-shifts. In order to describe the nature of classroom structure and school buildings, she takes the example of Majeediyya School, a lower secondary school in the capital, exclusively for boys51. Typical of all Maldivian schools this one suffers from a lack of space which is evident from the school and classroom structures. Classrooms are distributed within three or four storied buildings. They are open (no outside walls behind the balconies or corridors) and they adjoin each other in rows. These classrooms are small and congested with rows of desks separated by a narrow passageway. This classroom structure imposes several difficulties for the learning environment within the schools. Students and noise from other classrooms can easily disrupt lessons (Booth et al., 1998; Zahira, 2005). Figure 5.7 is included to indicate the open structure of the classrooms.

Figure 5.7: Open structure of classrooms

Source: Personal Photograph.       

The situation in the atolls is much worse where often the blackboard is used as a partition to separate teaching areas. According to Ali (2006) these schools are often in bad repair and lacking in furniture. She describes the much worse situation of community schools in the atolls:

Physical facilities in general are basic, multipurpose open plan, with a small hall and space for three classrooms divided by makeshift black boards: these rooms cannot be closed or locked. There are no spaces for a staff room or toilets in many schools, and teachers and pupils have to go out of school for basic needs. (p. 26)

Use of Instructional Technology

Interview Information revealed that some schools used computers and other instructional technology in teaching. This was more evident in schools in the capital. However, according to Zahira (2005) and Didi (2007), the most dominant mode of teaching in Maldivian schools is “chalk and talk”. While the effectiveness of using instructional technology was emphasised in Section 4.3.1, it also highlighted the difficulty of adopting this method in developing countries.

This section briefly examined the situation of teachers, classrooms and basic facilities and the use of instructional technology in Maldivian classrooms. There is an urgent need to train local teachers in order to reduce the reliance on expatriate and untrained teachers. In addition, schools need to strengthen PD for their teachers to reduce loss of time due to behavioural issues and also to familiarise them with new pedagogy. The classroom situation and how it influences the learning environment was highlighted along with the urgent need to upgrade classrooms and basic facilities in the atolls. The use of instructional technology in teaching and learning was found to be limited.