Evaluation of the students‟ needs in the teaching methodology curriculum.

Abstract

This thesis is intended to investigate the students‟ needs in the Teaching Methodology Curriculum at the “Higher Teacher Training School”. The theoretical contribution of this research is an attempt to draw attention to the teacher training curriculum development as a systematic process involving various planning, design, implementation and evaluation processes where needs analysis is central. Particular focus is on the teaching methodology domain, being the level around which most of the student teachers‟ expectations and demands are articulated. Within this perspective, the purpose is to evaluate the Teaching Methodology curriculum in terms of its response to the students‟ needs and expectations, hypothesizing that needs assessment in this context is a matter of developers‟ perceptions where the other stakeholders‟ views, including students‟ felt needs and educational experts‟ attitudes, are neglected. The research was led through the evaluation of the curriculum guide making use of Brown‟s 1995 curriculum development model which revealed that, not only needs analysis is skipped from the development process, but that the document‟s content is almost a list of topics which may be interpreted and implemented differently by its probable users. Other significant data have been obtained through the analysis of three questionnaires addressed to teachers, students, and supervisors. The results of the analysis of these three means of research revealed that the curriculum guide does not reflect its implementation by teachers who undertake unofficial, informal needs assessment but more importantly who could confirm that the courses they teach respond to the students‟ expectations. Furthermore, the students have not only confirmed their teachers‟ views but also identified the abilities they could demonstrate on fulfillment of the curriculum. They spotted areas where they demonstrated weaknesses that teachers should examine for purposes of improvement. On the other hand, supervisors have confirmed the pertinence of most of the curriculum content to teacher preparation and have identified the weaknesses they observed at the “Higher Teacher Training School” trained teachers. On the basis of these findings, pedagogical advice and suggestions are provided to the teacher trainers and course developers.