Research vital in improving education

Machinga Teachers’ Training College (TTC) chief education officer Mary Chirwa has said

action research forms an integral part in the advancement of education at all levels.

She said this in Machinga on Friday during a two-day education research conference where experts shared and deliberated on the challenges facing teaching and learning both in college and the teaching practice in the country.

A presentation by Mercy Kazima Kishindo from Chancellor College highlighted the challenge  of bloated number of learners in schools, 23 years after the introduction of free education.

She said the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology realises that all lecturers and student teachers need to be equipped with appropriate research knowledge and skills so that classroom instructions are informed with evidence-based information.

“As teachers and teacher educators, let us yearn to conduct own research, individually and

collectively, so that we investigate the impact of particular interventions or to explore the positive and negative effects of educational practice.

“For instance, I was personally impressed when Chancellor College lecturers insisted to research on the approaches of Smasse project. They have now integrated the approaches in their curriculum and adapted it to Malawian context,” Kishindo said.

In his remarks, chairperson of the college’s research committee Gabriel Chandimba said changes in education prompted the researches.

“There is need for professional development courses and assessment for teacher educators in a bid to improve education in the country. While on this, there is also need for collective effort from all stakeholders to achieve quality education,” he said. n