Discussion Paper 10. Costs and Financing of Teacher Education in Lesotho.
Abstract
This monograph explores the costs and financing of teacher education in Lesotho. First it develops an overview of the national context for teacher education and profiles the education system. Second, it describes the teacher education system and identifies recent trends in development. Third the system of funding is analysed. Fourth, aspects of the internal efficiency of the NTTC are explored. Fifth, data on the selection of trainees and their subsequent performance are discussed. Sixth, information on the utilisation of newly qualified teachers is presented. Seventh, an analysis is developed of the characteristics of supply and demand for new teachers and the costs of meeting the training needs created by planned educational development. The last section reaches some preliminary conclusions, which are as follows. Firstly, there is a need to continuously monitor enrolment growth and teacher supply and demand, as current supply is insufficient. Secondly, the costs of expanding existing training provision are unsustainable. Thirdly, in light of the fact that more new teachers need to be trained at lower cost, NTTC could significantly improve internal efficiency and consider reducing the length of full-time tuition during training and increasing teaching practice; a greater degree of autonomy may also assist in this goal. However, even with changes NTTC is unlikely to be able to meet demand so there is a need to consider alternative approaches to teacher training, such as mixed-mode distance delivery.
Citation
Sussex, UK: Centre for International Education, 62 pp.
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