Transformative Pedagogy for Teachers and Lifelong Learning in Teacher Training Colleges in Cameroon

Abstract

Educational systems of countries in the 21st century are experiencing a period of expansion and change due to the influence of new technologies, scientific discoveries and globalisation. In the face of these, significant educational issues have emerged since the year 2000, such as the need to improve the development of skills for lifelong learning and work for all age groups, provision of inclusive environments where all learners can reach their full potentials given opportunities, effective teaching and appropriate instructional resource use. Despite these new experiences, critics of educational change like Robertson(2005) and Reid(2005) hold that while the social and cultural experiences of children and wider society have drastically transformed over the past 50 years, schools have failed to keep pace with this change. That classroom of today would easily be recognizable to pioneers of public education of the 1960’s because of the ways in which teaching and learning is organized, the kinds of knowledge and skills that are valued by assessment, and the content of the curriculum have changed superficially since that era. This begs the question as to whether schools are responding positively to the changing characteristics of education in tandem with a constantly changing society’s realities. Thispaper argues that the shift in educational goals along with changing concepts and practices of education necessitates parallel changes in the role and function of teachers. This requires innovative pedagogic practices to ensure that teachers are adequately trained to cope with their changing and increasingly demanding roles in providing relevant learning experiences. // Paper ID 166