Annex 2

DRAFT

SMASSE INSET Malawi Programme

Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in Malawi

1. Background
• Malawi has experienced some major changes in education over the past eight
years. Many of these changes were triggered by the introduction of Free
Primary Education in 1994, as a result of which primary school enrolments
rose dramatically. Expansion of the primary sub-sector has in turn put pressure
on the secondary sub-sector as well.

• In order to deal with the expansion of the demand for secondary education, the
Government of Malawi (GOM) authorised the conversion of Distance
Education Centres (DECs) as a formal institution for delivering secondary
education in the name of Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) in 1998.

• This policy change on secondary education has brought about a rapid

expansion of the enrolment that rose from 70,000 in 1997 into 240,000 in
1999.

• Several harmful effects have been observed for this phenomenon in a short-
term, out of which the shortage of qualified teachers is devastating. About
67% of total enrolments in secondary education is accommodated in CDSS,
however, most of the teachers at CDSS are under qualified. The educational
statistics reveal that about 68% of teachers at secondary level out of 4,300 in
total is under qualified as they has only certificates for primary education.

• With the recognition of the situation above, the Policy & Investment
Framework (PIF), education’s response to GOM priority policy of poverty
reduction and addresses the national educational goals as spelt out in Vision
2020 and the MPRSP, understands that the strong secondary school system is
an important link between primary and higher levels of education.

• Moreover, in MPRSP and PIF, GOM declares the importance of upgrading

secondary schools’ human physical resources to minimum operational
standards through such as a decentralization of administrative management of
secondary education, collaborative financing system to achieve cost-effective
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use of available resources, and continuous upgrading system for unqualified

teachers.

• We have recognised the need to put in place effective mechanisms to ensure

prudent use of resources and increase the level of resources for secondary
teacher training through mobilisation of government and resources from
development partners as well as cost-sharing with the Teacher Training
Colleges (TTC) trainees and serving teachers at secondary schools.

2. Overall Goal,

The overall goal of the programme is to upgrade and improve the

performance of secondary education, especially in mathematics and science.

The purposes of the programme are to strengthen the quality of secondary

education, focusing on mathematics and science through IN-Service
Education and Training (INSET) for serving teachers.

3. Outputs

The expected outputs through the programme are;

• to refine teaching and learning attitude based on the PDSI (Plan, Do, See,
Improve) and ASEI (Activity, Student-centred, Experiment and
Improvisation);

• to design the curriculum for INSET;

• to develop teaching and learning instruments;

• to establish a training system for the district trainers in pilot districts at Domasi
College of Education;

• to establish a sustainable INSET system (Planning, Implementation,

Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, Feedback (PIMMEF cycle), especially,
in mathematics and science at secondary education in the pilot districts;

• to strengthen the cluster system for teacher training.

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4. Committees, Team Members and Terms of Reference (TOR)

The Ministry of Education, Science and technology needs to establish the In-Service
Steering Committee and a technical Committee to effectively and efficiently carry out
the In-Service training.

A) The Steering Committee

a) Team Members
The Steering Committees roles are to direct, determine, Coordinate, monitor and
approve programmes and activities made by the technical committee.
The membership of the Steering Committee shall be as follows.

SEST - Chairperson
DTED - Secretary
DEMAS - Member
Director Planning - “
Director Secondary - “
Director Basic - “
Secretary TSC - “
CHRMD - “
Director F & A - “
Principal DCE - “
MIE - “
Mzuzu University - “
University of Malawi - “
HRMD - “
Ministry of Finance - “
NRCM - “
SSTEP - “

b) Terms of Reference
The In-Service Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology (MoEST) shall:
1. decide on the policy, overall framework and expected each role among the
stakeholders;
2. direct on the common consensus for teaching and learning methods among
the stakeholders;
3. monitor the INSET Programme;
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4. approve Work Plans and budgets made by the Technical Committee;

5. receive Progress Reports from the Technical Committee;
6. meet quarterly or when necessary for extraordinary meeting.

B) The Technical Committee

a) Team Members
The technical Committee is to develop, implement, facilitate and monitor
programmes and activities of SMASSE insert. The membership of the technical
committee to be as follows:

DTED - Chairperson
EMAS - Secretary
DCE - Member
MIE (DSTD) - “
HRM (Staff Dev.) - “
Planning - “
Secondary - “
Basic - “
Accounts - “
TTC rep (BTC) - “
South East Division - “
Headmaster Rep. (North) - “
Head of Department Rep(CW) - “
Faculty of Education,
Mzuzu University - “
University of Malawi - “

b) Terms of Reference
The Technical Committee of SMASSE In-Service shall:
1. prepare and implement Needs Assessment when necessary;
2. change the teaching methods based on the SMASSE philosophy;
3. develop and refine the teaching and learning methods;
4. design the curriculum for INSET;
5. implement the INSET Programme during every school holidays;
6. monitor, evaluate and improve the INSET Programme;
7. develop budgets for activities of the programme;
8. prepare periodic reports on the programme;
9. conduct periodic meetings as needs arise;
10.disseminate good teaching and learning practices to stakeholders.