Relevance of the Swaziland teacher education curricula to professional ethics regarding teacher-pupil relationships

Abstract

Education in Swaziland is faced with the challenge of degenerating professional standards among teachers. This study sought to determine the relevance of the current teacher training curriculum in preparing pre-service teachers on professional ethics regarding teacher-pupil relationships. The study’s participants were from two universities; University of Swaziland (UNISWA) and Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU), and three teacher-training colleges; William Pitcher, Ngwane, and Swaziland College of Technology. Participants comprised five purposefully selected heads of education departments, five focus groups of eight final year student teachers randomly selected from each institution, 100 new teachers with less than five years teaching experience (graduates) from the participating teacher training institutions. Data were collected concurrently using a semi-structured interview for the heads of department, focus group interviews for student teachers, a questionnaire for new teachers and document analysis for collecting data from documents of the institutions. Instruments were pilot tested on samples with similar characteristics to those of the participants. Data analysis was guided by the research questions. Qualitative data from the interviews and focus group interviews were analysed inductively, presented narratively through the use of verbatim quotations. Content analysis was used to analyse data from the documents and presented similarly to that from interviews. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and percentages using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20. Findings of the study revealed that the extent to which teacher training institutions implemented professional ethics regarding teacher-pupil relationships was not as adequate as it should, in terms of content and methods of implementation. The teacher training institutions generally offered professional ethics not as a course but as part of a course or courses. Therefore, the study recommended that the curricula in teacher training institutions should incorporate a course specific to ethics of the teaching profession. A further study on challenges faced by teacher training institutions in the implementation of the curriculum on professional ethics is necessary.