Improving Mathematics Education in Malawi Through the Collaboration of Teacher Educators

In this chapter we discuss professional growth of mathematics teacher educators through collaboration that was triggered by a professional development (PD) programme. Mathematics teacher educators at all eight public primary teacher training colleges in Malawi participated in the PD which ran from May 2016 to November 2018. In May and November two to three teacher colleges came together for a workshop, and in between, they conducted lesson studies at their colleges with guidance from the facilitators. We first draw from the November PD workshop presentations by six colleges to give a general overview of the teacher educators’ experiences and gains from the lesson study. Then we focus on specific examples drawn from three of the colleges based on focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted 6 months after the PD. The findings reveal that the lesson study has helped the teacher educators to improve their practice. Furthermore, they have continued to collaborate after the PD programme. We therefore argue that the PD did not only capacitate the teacher educators in improving their teaching, but it also initiated networking and collaboration within and across the teacher colleges, which has resulted in the teachers educators’ professional growth.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-82723-6_15