Teacher Training Colleges

In December of 2004 one of the teacher training colleges (School of Future Teachers) from Humana People to People, in Angola and Mozambique, celebrated graduating the 3,000th teacher from one of these schools. Actually  they have 3.600 student graduates. More than 90% of the graduated teachers are working in primary schools in rural areas improving education in Angola and Mozambique.

These teachers can train in 6 schools in Angola and 7 in Mozambique, all operating in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, in Mozambique since 1993 and in Angola since 1995. In 2003 another Teacher Training College from Humana People to People started in Malawi, and the first team graduated in 2005.

 
Compared to the necessity of teachers per year, this achievement looks small in numbers. The graduation of 3.600 teachers has, however, made a significant mark on the educational picture of the country, through better quality of teachers and village community leaders, helping in the primary schools and with strong links between the communities.

The task of a teacher is to teach the children in the village (where resources are scarce), combined with the task to developing the general community (looking at the teacher as a valuable resourceful person and school as the center of the community). The training of teachers have to be better than the demand, rising to the reality of life of children and parents, integrated in the village.

The center of training of teachers of Humana People to People (in Portuguese - School for Teachers of the Future), has covered both of these areas in a complete and progressive planned program, through periods in each program.

As soon as they arrive at school, the students see themselves as citizens of the world during the period "The World in which we live". After that, they learn and tell about their own country, learning about new ways and contribute to development in "Angola/Mozambique/Malawi" - under the headline "Our Country". In "We Continue Constructing our College" the students do practical tasks like construction and maintenance, bringing out the most important production in this period of one month.

After that, the students go to the "world of school" during 5 months, in a combination of a theoretical and practical school period called "More Addtional Studies and Practice of  the Trainee". They have their first experience in the classroom as teachers during a half day practice in a neighbor school and with co-operation with other teachers. At the same time they study at their own level what they teach. In this way, the academic studies and the school practice can support each other. 

In “Specialization and Charter Subjects” it is time to concentrate on specialization - and having the practical background in mind this becomes a highly valued period of thorough studies in 2-3 subjects of special interest. In addition to that each student chooses one community related subject, called the Charter subjects because of the close relation to the Humana People to People Charter. In this period each student also prepares his micro project, which is a micro development project to be carried out in the following period in the village school. The students also prepare for operating the Pedagogical Workshops, which will service the teachers in the primary schools within further education, planning and inspiration.
 
Thus well prepared for professional as well as community challenges ahead, the students leave the college for the next 11 months in the period “The Teaching Profession as Part of the Teacher Training”. They take up employment, or they engage in school practice, in close co-operation with already trained teachers, with links to the college at home and with prepared study tasks to be carried out alongside the teaching and the community tasks. During the period the students learn to live a village life as a teacher, they get a lot of experience in front of and together with the class, and they realize their micro projects of development and engage in various other community activities. With this period well completed the students return to the teacher training college to do the final exams.

During their training the students enhance their skills in co-operation and self-organizing. This part of the training is not written in the curriculum, but it comes from traditions of involvement, a collective lifestyle, the size of the challenges given to the students, and the necessity of organizing together to be able to lift the tasks ahead. Such experience is invaluable for the village teacher-to-be.

In the village the teacher will need to build up strong alliances with parents, local authorities, neighbors, in short, with the whole community, and the teacher will have to make full use of one of the hallmarks of any good teacher: the ability and the willingness to see, to develop and to use the best in each and every person he comes across. The village school, when equipped with a good teacher, has the potential to play a pivotal role in the development of the whole village. This is not restricted to teaching the children, but it includes the training of farmers, the development of the health and hygiene systems, the care for the vulnerable people in the village, and much more. The organized co-operation among teachers and schools is borne by individuals with the qualities that we seek to impose on the students during their training at the Humana People to People teacher training colleges.