An assessment of collaborative teaching approaches and pupils Zorzor districts in rural Liberia.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the extent to which collaborative teaching approaches have contributed to the improvement of learning in Liberia’s elementary schools. Specifically, the study sought: (1) To examine the use of Collaborative Teaching Approaches in Elementary Schools in Rural Liberia; (2) To find out how the different Collaborative Approaches are enhancing the teaching and learning process in Elementary Schools in Liberia and (3) To find out whether there is a relationship between the use of Collaborative teaching approaches and pupils’ performance in Liberian Elementary Schools. The study was a cross – sectional survey in which both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. The study was conducted in eight elementary schools in Sanniquellie and Zorzor Districts. The sampled respondents were made up of 80 teachers including 8 principals and 2 district education officers (DEO) and 155 pupils. The findings revealed that the majority of teachers interviewed agreed that team teaching, Station Teaching, Parallel Teaching, Re-Teaching, and Pair work are successfully implemented as a collaborative teaching method. However, whereas a good number of schools effectively implement Supplemental Learning Activities, a good number of others have not. Though some schools are sufficiently equipped to encourage teachers to apply collaborative teaching approaches, a good number are not. Pupils’ views on collaborative teaching show that pupils in some schools have experienced collaborative teaching. Using the observation method, the researcher noticed that whereas collaborative teaching methods were carried out in some schools, in most of the schools, these teaching methods were not being carried out. The study also revealed that though most teachers are trained to apply collaborative approaches in class, they do not actually implement them in the classroom situation. The findings of the study also revealed that pupils thought collaborative teaching methods could improve on their performance in both science and arts subjects. The study showed that there is no significant relationship between Team teaching, Station teaching, Parallel teaching, Re-teaching and pupils’ performance. In other words, the study shows that Team teaching, Station teaching, Parallel teaching, and Re-teaching do not necessarily bring about an increase in pupils’ performance. The study concludes that whereas, some elementary schools used some collaborative teaching approaches, very many others do not do so. It is recommended that: Collaborative teaching should be made compulsory , government should reduce on the number of pupils in the classroom, the number of the trained teachers should be increased, government should conduct regular special workshops for teachers on how to implement collaborative teaching approaches, instructional materials should be provided and the sitting capacity of pupils should be improved since classrooms are small and cannot allow proper grouping of pupils in collaborative teaching approaches. There should also be support supervision and a monitoring team from the Rural Teacher Training Institutes (RTTIS) or Ministry of Education (MOE) to ensure that teachers fully apply what they have learnt from the RTTIS.