Teacher support through teachers\u27 resource centre: a case of subject advisors in Chake District Pemba

Subject advisors can play an important role in helping teachers create and use teaching aids in their lessons. However, research on how subject advisors support teachers in this area is very limited in East Africa. There is therefore a gap in the area. The study examines how subject advisors in Chake District teacher centre support teachers in the improvisation of local teaching materials. Also, it explores the challenges that affect subject advisors in accomplishing their responsibilities. In this study I used the case study approach with multiple methods of data collection such as interviews as a primary data collection method, observation, and document analysis. The research subjects were subject advisors, a teacher centre coordinator, head teachers, teachers, and the resource room keeper. The study found the following. First, that subject advisors first conducted needs analysis in Chake District public schools to explore the challenges facing teachers’ activities as the first step of their support. The subject advisors in collaboration with TC coordinators trained teachers through workshop and seminars. Then, they used TAP resources room to store the teaching aids made of local materials for teachers to borrow and use the materials and as teaching aids in the schools. Subjects advisors also involved parents and students to search for local materials like boxes, used plastic bags, soil and the like to bring them to school. On the side of the use of LTM, subject advisors demonstrated model lessons that were held when teachers attended workshop at the TC. However, the study also found that subject advisors face challenges in the process of supporting teachers. These include multiple responsibilities that hindered them to supporting teachers effectively, lack of sufficient skills such that subject advisors were sometimes not able to support teachers in all teaching subjects as required of them and lack of funding as the teacher centre depends on donor funding making their programme unsustainable. Referring to the findings of this study, I learnt that if subject advisors would further motivate teachers through frequent follow up and on-spot advisory, substantial achievement in the creation and use of local materials would be achieved