Open and Distance Learning for Sustainable Development

mind the colonial and historical legacies of the continent, we believe that these efforts are
particularly relevant to open and distance learning in Africa.
There is also increasing and strong interest among governments, institutions, international
agencies and teachers themselves in the use of open and distance education methods and
technologies for initial training and the continuing professional development for teachers. The
last decade has seen considerable growth in the number and diversity of distance education
programmes, the integration of distance education with traditional provision and new
initiatives using information and communication technologies (ICT). These trends are located
in a changing world, and we wish to refer to the context of change which is articulated by
Robinson and Latchem (2003). They posit that in many countries, teacher development sits
uneasily in a context of rapid education change, driven by:
• A concern to make lifelong learning a reality and to equip a country for global
economic competition;
• Increasing government intervention and control alongside greater decentralisation;
• Growing use of ‘quality’ to regulate education and increase accountability;
• Attempts to use limited resources differently;
• The growing prominence of information and communication technologies (ICT) and
higher expectation of the roles they will play in education;
• Greater attention among policy makers and planners to international comparisons and
standards in education;
• Emerging national standards for teacher qualifications;
• Curriculum reform;
• Changing views of learning, form transmission models of teaching to constructivist
models of learning and
• A shift of emphasis from inputs to outcomes in judging the quality and effectiveness
of education systems (Robinson & Latchem, 2003, p.3).
All of these factors need to be taken into account when the severe shortage of teachers at all
levels of the education systems in Africa is considered. UNESCO’s Education Sector plan
predicted that in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) at a conservative estimate, 4 million additional
teachers alone would be needed by 2015 to meet the Universal Primary Education goal of the
Millennium Development Goals. In some SSA countries, the majority of primary education
teachers have only a lower secondary qualification, often without any professional training.
These personnel enter the profession reluctantly, and leave quickly, and they include large
numbers of so-called para-teachers.
The demand for greater numbers of better-qualified teachers has been exacerbated by the
scourge of HIV-AIDS; by the poor working conditions, including low salaries; by increased
numbers of learners entering the system and by fewer people wanting to enter the profession.
HIV-AIDS kills teachers faster than they can be trained, makes orphans of students, and
threatens to derail efforts to get all boys and girls into primary schools by 2015.
Trends suggest that in many African countries, significant numbers of children continue to be
excluded from schooling and also that even if these children could be accommodated; the
supply of teachers into the system is clearly inadequate. Moreover, the sub-Saharan African
context reveals an increasing enrolment of learners, especially at the level of primary
education and an ever decreasing cohort of teachers. Consequently, over the past few
decades, the rapid expansion of school facilities and the increased enrolment of learners in
many African countries saw a corresponding increase and diversification of teacher training
programmes to produce more teachers and to train them adequately (Birdsall, Levin, &
Ibrahim, 2005).
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