Teachers’ support from the regional or local school management

The teachers indicated the need for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in teaching multigrade classes. Although there are regional Advisory Teachers (AT’s) for Lower Primary schools and for various subjects from Upper Primary to the Secondary Phase, these AT’s rare visit the multigrade schools to give assistance. Since independence, teacher support has played an important role in teaching and learning. However, none of the teachers knew about regional initiatives of training programmes for multigrade teaching. Teachers meet regularly in cluster meetings, but they hardly discuss issues pertaining to this model. In many cases, they feel isolated as there is no one to share with the multigrade problems at cluster, circuit or regional level.

Jatty is the only teacher in her cluster who teaches mathematics in a multigrade class at Upper Primary Phase. She knows some of her colleagues who have the same problems, but these teachers do not even belong to their cluster or to their region. Teachers in her region who have multigrade classes in the Upper Primary Phase are in other clusters. This makes it difficult for

As I told you the visitors were here but then I do not know what their mission was. I do not know what they have accomplished now. They did not come back to us. I think they were in the process of drafting something for multigrade as a whole.

Even if the multigrade teaching is not prioritised by the regions, some teachers used to assist each other at school level, sharing their experiences and the difficulties of teaching in multigrade classrooms.

Among each other, we are talking about [multigrade]. I have a problem we talk during intervals or come together and say how can I challenge that? What can I do? How can I solve this problem? Just internally. No activities going on at cluster, circuit or region. They came for a workshop and they do not mention multigrade teaching. They are handling us as if we are single grade.

Teachers indicated different needs in the teaching of combined grades. They talked about issues relating to multigrade teaching with other teachers at their schools. At cluster level, teachers discuss mathematically related problems, but not in multigrade classes because many of them have no combined grades at their schools. Bibi is also lucky to have some principals in her cluster who have a multigrade school. If there is a problem, they share ideas and try to find a solution.

I think we get support from, say here. Other colleagues, it is a, we know what it is. What effort it takes you to take care of such a class. From my inspector, there is a lot of support from his side and [what is the English of [“Begrappe”] Understanding for what happens in this class. I got a support from this side here also.

Janet, being an experienced multigrade teacher who has taught in combined grades for a long time and has also taught multigrade classes in different communities, indicated her contentment in handling and teaching combined grades. This allows her to not seek support because she feels that she can do better on her own with the assistance of her principal. She also wonders if people would be able to help her. This is how she put it:

I don’t know but to actually look for support is perhaps a different. But I mean our principal has been involved with multigrade all the years so many years what I have been involved and so on, but I must say I haven’t really look for support anywhere but no I don’t know where one would ask for support. So I don’t know

what type of support they will give you because something mathematics as well do you need to keep the children busy. You need to do your things really. I do not really need something like the work sheet or something like that, that can always help.

The above-mentioned quote has revealed a little information about teacher support at Janet’s school. Although Janet’s school has no written policy document about teacher support at school level, once they realised that there was a need for it, they acted accordingly.

The new teacher came in and after the first week we saw that she couldn’t cope with the combination. It was just too difficult for her. Not the physical teaching, but working out, getting the syllabus to connect and you know to get all your bit and pieces together. We took the grade two back to grade one class because that teacher taught the combination for a long time the ones and twos. And then she actually sat and observed for three weeks only how it was done and hear when they gave lessons as well. But in the end we put the ones on their own, the two on their own and then we combined the three and the fours.

Researchers (Kilpatrick et al., 2001; and Simmons, 1993) indicate the need for teachers to have good subject knowledge as well as knowledge of the curriculum for them to be able to teach well. Janet’s school observed how new teachers suffer in multigrade teaching situations. In the same vein, Bibi and Jatty also suggested that content and syllabus knowledge could be very helpful when teaching combined grades. But teachers need to assist each other and share ideas in order to cope with the situation of teaching combined grades.