Introduction
GATE (GEC) seeks to support marginalized girls and children with disabilities to reach their learning potential and transition from primary to secondary education and beyond.
Recruiting more women into teaching is seen as important for improving and sustaining girls’ participation in primary schooling, particularly in rural areas of Sierra Leone. But few women have the required qualifications or experience to apply to teacher training programmes. To address this challenge The Open University designed a unique access programme to prepare young women for application to formal primary teacher training. The programme offers distance learning study of core curriculum subjects combined with practical experience in a local primary school. During their year on the programme the women are known as Learning Assistants.
For the distance mode academic study Learning Assistants are organised into local groups of 15 - 18 and each group is allocated two tutors with specialisms in English and Maths respectively. Tutors are local secondary school teachers and they meet with the tutor group each week for 2-3 hours at a local school or other appropriate venue.
Learning Assistants also spend four days each week in a local primary school working alongside the teacher in class and supported by a mentor, usually the headteacher. The school placement has two functions; Learning Assistants are positioned to support pupil learning and as role models for girl pupils, and through this experience Learning Assistants are better equipped for the realities of classroom life when they commence formal teacher training. Learning Assistants who pass the Teachers’ College entrance exam become Student Teachers. They continue to work in their schools as they study to become fully qualified teachers.
For each component the Open University worked with national experts and authors in Sierra Leone to develop a set of highly structured interactive self-study materials .
In this short video one of the Learning Assistants explains how participation in the programme has changed her life.
The programme was designed by the Open University and is delivered in partnership with the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) as part of the UKaid funded GEC programme lead by Plan International.
Click on the Content tab to look at the materials
Programme materials were developed specifically for the Sierra Leone context and are openly licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License.
School Experience Materials for LAs
The School Experience materials provide a structured induction into the role of a teacher. They offer case study readings on child development and pedagogy integrated with directed practical activities to support teaching and learning in the primary school classroom. Activities include observing pupils and the teacher, planning and evaluating work with pupils and teachers, creating learning aids and reflecting on experiences and progress. Each week there are prompts for discussions to undertake with other Learning Assistants and experts within the school.
English and Maths self-study materials for LAs
The English and Maths self-study materials are matched to the JSS curriculum in these subjects. They adopt a highly participatory approach, developing skills and knowledge through frequent practical activities complemented with reflective writing tasks and prompts for interactions with peers, relations and friends. They aspire to position scholars as mature learners with extensive funds of knowledge to draw on.
- Maths
English
Programme materials were developed specifically for the Sierra Leone context and are openly licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. Download and adapt for your own project, programme, school, institution or organisation.
Materials for tutors and LA advisers
These supplementary materials for tutors and LA Advisers outline these roles and ways of enacting these roles appropriate to the prior experiences and aspirations of the Learning Assistants.We encourage educators in other contexts to review, adapt and use these materials to support their learners – pupils, teaching assistants, trainee teachers, and untrained teachers.
Tutor materials
Learning Assistant Adviser materials
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework and tools
The following document lays out the framework for monitoring the implementation of the Learning Assistant programme. Quantitative and qualitative tools include Tutor questionnaires and tutorial observation instruments.Programme materials were developed specifically for the Sierra Leone context and are openly licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. Download and adapt for your own project, programme, school, institution or organisation.
The following Learning Assistant (LA) and Student Teacher (ST) posters were designed to provide the school teachers, LAs and STs, and pupils with a visually compelling snapshot of the LA and ST role in the school and classroom.
Programme materials were developed specifically for the Sierra Leone context and are openly licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. Download and adapt for your own project, programme, school, institution or organisation.