Abstract:

COVID 19 has affected social institutions with unprecedented proportions and the issue now is to adapt to the new normal. The purpose of this study was to come up with teacher professional development methods that are effective under the current pandemic and beyond. The study looked at the changes teacher-training institutions have to put in place for effective teacher training given the dictates of COVID-19 like social distancing in schools. The study was qualitative in nature and used a case study design. Three universities – two rural based and one in urban area were purposively selected for the study. Given the situation, only one senior lecturer and one student teacher were purposively selected from each university, bringing a total number of participants to six. Data were collected telephonically and thematically analysed. Issues of ethics like confidentiality and anonymity were adhered. Among the findings to mention a few, were – teacher training institutions struggled to cope under COVID-19 due to more reliance on face-to-face teaching methodologies, poor ICT infrastructure to allow effective online teaching and lack of skilled staff in ICT. The study recommends among others, blended teaching methodologies; proper ICT infrastructure, and provision of systematic training for teachers on the use of online teaching to acquire relevant skills.

Keywords:

COVID 19, Teacher Professional Development, Social Reengineering, Teaching Methods, Traditional Teaching Methods.