Loose couplings in teacher education and national education reforms: towards a framework of building response capabilities

Abstract

Worldwide, teachers are regarded as important stakeholders in implementing education reforms, in particular curriculum reforms. In 2009
the Lesotho Ministry of Education and Training introduced a new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework which advocated the
shift in educational paradigm, resulting in introduction of new subjects. The introduction of educational reforms by governments assumes
corresponding changes in other educational sectors, in particular changes in teacher training curriculum to prepare their graduates for new
changes. This paper evaluated the extent in which teacher training institutions changed their curriculum in response to the new policy
framework. The study used Bachelor of Education (Primary) (BEP) offered by the National University of Lesotho (NUL) as a case study.
This study was located within the complexity theory, which suggests that organisations are very complex and can never be fully controlled
or tightly coupled. A discourse analysis was applied to interpret textual data that had been derived from document analysis and interviews
with BEP programme head, dean of the faculty of education and a member, to understand how teacher trainers made sense of national
reforms and their impact on teacher education programs.The study observed that BEP programme did not respond to the changes taking
place within the national school system as guided by the policy. Lack of coordination between the central level and teacher training
institutions was observed as the main reason. It was also observed that intra-coordination mechanisms within the NUL were weak. Based
on these findings, a framework of building response capabilities is suggested.