The experiences of geography teachers of a teacher preparation programme at the University of Zambia

Abstract

Geography student teachers in institutions of higher learning are expected to have acquired sufficient Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) that should enable them to teach in secondary schools with few challenges upon employment. Studies have highlighted challenges experienced in geography teacher preparation that have affected the geography education community. However, most of the studies have been done in developed countries, and more needs to be done from a Southern African perspective. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to use the PCK theory and the self-efficacy theory to explore geography teachers’ experiences of their undergraduate teacher preparation at the University of Zambia and upon employment in secondary schools. This study was conducted in Central, Lusaka, Southern and Western provinces of Zambia. This study sought to answer the following research questions: What were geography teachers’ experiences of their undergraduate teacher preparation, and upon employment? Why did geography teachers have the experiences they had during and after teacher preparation? The data was collected purposively from nine pre-service geography teachers who had studied the subject as their major or minor teaching subject and were teaching in secondary schools. Semi-structured interview guides were employed as data-collecting instruments. The findings of the study revealed that geography teachers’ experiences with physical and human geography content varied depending on their self-efficacy beliefs, and some of their experiences related to their prior knowledge in secondary senior school geography. The findings of this study revealed that geography teachers acquired in-depth and wide knowledge that was considered more than enough for geography teaching, which made them feel well-prepared. However, more geography teachers who studied the subject as their minor felt human geography needed to be more adequately covered. Geography teachers also indicated a need to improve the practical learning aspects in methodology and other practical-based courses. This study suggests that higher learning institutions should enrol student teachers with a background in senior secondary geography and an interest in the subject. Geography teacher preparation programmes should focus on balancing physical and human geography courses and consider offering the same courses to student teachers to improve their self-efficacy in all the components of the school curriculum in Geography.