Teacher Education in Selected Countries in the Commonwealth Caribbean: The ideal of policy versus the reality of practice

The study explores the extent to which teachers in selected Commonwealth Caribbean countries are being trained to: (i) use centrally produced curriculum guides in language arts/reading, English and foreign Languages; (ii) adopt appropriate methodologies for the teacher as a 'facilitator of learning'; (iii) teach low achievers and underachieving males; and (iv) use new technologies to aid instruction. The findings suggest that, while in most of the countries teachers are trained to use curriculum guides at the primary level, there is little evidence to indicate that the ideals in (ii)-(iv) either are being or can be realised, given existing constraints. Highlighted amongst the lessons learned from the Caribbean experience are: (i) the insensitivity of policy to the practical realities of the classroom; and (ii) the tendency of policy to perceive teacher training as the panacea for problems whose solutions lie in changes in the economic, social and cultural fabric of society.