USAID’s Transforming Teacher Education pairs Zambian higher education institutions to a U.S. higher education institution to strengthen the capacity of Zambia’s Colleges of Education and universities to equip teachers with the tools they need to deliver high-quality instruction in reading and local language literacy.

High-quality, practical pre-service teacher training is central to improving learning outcomes for children. The Transforming Teacher Education activity supports the Government of the Republic of Zambia’s ten Colleges of Education and two universities that offer the primary teaching diploma to improve the institutional and instructional capacity of training faculty to prepare student teachers to deliver quality primary instruction, ultimately improving student learning outcomes. The activity supports Zambia’s higher education institutions to update their literacy curriculum, increase practical teacher training opportunities for student teachers, deepen faculty expertise in local language literacy, and upgrade qualification of faculty through masters and PhD programs.

 

  • Life of Project: September 2020 - September 2025
  • Geographic Focus: National
  • Partners: Florida State University (prime), School-to-School International and the University of Zambia
  • Chief of Party: Mo Schroeder-Sanai
  • Total USAID Funding: $11 million
  • USAID Contact: Beatrice Chimpandu Mweene - bmweene@usaid.gov

GOALS

goal one 

Equip targeted colleges of education and university faculty and lecturers with the skills and experience necessary to deliver effective literacy instruction to teachers in training.

goal two 

Standardize, align, and link practical, evidence-based, pre-service teacher training and content with the primary school literacy curriculum.

goal three 

Increase practical opportunities for pre-service student teachers in colleges of education and universities to practice teaching literacy in primary schools during training.

KEY RESULTS FOR 2023 

  • Four Zambian College of Education lecturers participated in residencies at Florida State University focusing on early grade reading, pedagogy and research methods.  
  • Two Zambian educators earned online master’s degrees in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in Primary Education from Florida State University.
  • University of Zambia introduced a special accelerated Master’s of Education program in Literacy, Language, and Applied Linguistics, which recognizes the USAID Transforming Teacher Education foundational literacy course as equivalent to the first year of the University’s two-year master’s program, enabling lecturers who completed the foundational course in good standing to earn a master’s degree at half the tuition cost. Thirty one lecturers are currently enrolled as second-year students.
  • Research published in the International  Research Journal Language and Education titled  “Theory, policy, and practice: bridging the gap between teacher training and classroom practice in language of instruction in Zambia,” in June 2023. 
  • Reintroduced “school experience” (student teaching practice) requirement for student teachers and supported colleges of education and universities to partner with 24 demonstration schools to enable student teachers to benefit from practical teaching experiences.
  • Distributed more than 6,000 pieces of literacy teaching and learning materials to demonstration schools.
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