Training of Informal School Teachers

When Covid reared its head more and more of the learning and teaching programmes began to occur online. Also with the growing number of Supervisors and teachers from the informal schools in the informal slum settlements ChallengeAid realised that our outreach could be even greater and encompass more supervisors and teachers by holding the training in several centres. So the Virtual Learning Programme was born as an unexpected consequence of Covid as face-to-face teacher learning and training became impossible. We realised that the potential of using our resources in the UK to bolster the techniques and knowledge of teachers and supervisors working in the slums in Kenya could actually  engage more people than we had ever thought possible. We initially identified 2 centres with strong Wi-Fi and a reliable electric supply and has since expanded to 8 locations where, we teach KCSE students in English, Maths and Sciences during term times and then supervisors and teachers at weekends.

Many of the teachers working in the slums are inadequately trained, lack resources and are poorly paid and so enthusiasm is often lacking. Many of our supervisors tend to be alumni from the Schools of Hope who may be moving on to employment or beginning University courses who are desperate to "give back". These Inset days provide up-to-date teaching materials and publications from the Kenyan Government, including past papers and model answers but also deal with motivation revision tips, study methods and practical ways for committing information to long term memory which can be used by both the teachers and students. Given the class sizes in the slums, where one teacher can be teaching up to 100 pupils, the potential trickle-down impact of this training is huge. All the safeguarding training however has essentially reverted to face-to-face training. 

The UK-based teachers who volunteer their time for this project have decades of experience of teaching the Kenyan syllabus and are also qualified as inspectors and in the teaching of teachers.

Sophia Kamweru who runs ChallengeAid Africa and co-ordinates the training reported of a recent Inset Training Day: “The teachers who attended the previous training had glowing tributes, their students’ attitude to sciences had changed, they were now more positive and determined to pass.

Teachers had used learnt skills, especially motivation of learners, use of IT and simplifying the way they teach."

Teachers and supervisors unanimously felt there would be vastly improved performance at KCPE and KCSE (Primary and Secondary examinations) in their schools. Last year we were already 24% value added compared to nearest government Primary schools and a huge value added 75% value added compared to the nearest goverment Secondary school.

The success of these sessions can be seen in our exam results - over half of the students attending our Schools of Hope are now gaining places at university or on vocational college courses, with many others finding full-time employment if not wishing to attend further or higher educational courses all of which culminates in opportunities which were  previously unavailable to give these aspirational young people a real chance at escaping the lifetime of poverty which would otherwise have been their only prospect in the past.