Florence Aguti

Ms. Aguti is the Acting Assistant Commissioner in charge of Primary Teacher Education at the Ministry of Education and Sports, Kampala, Uganda.

Research Topic:

The working title for Ms Aguti’s research is ‘Implementation of Certificate in Teacher Education Proficiency course in Primary Teachers Colleges in Uganda – a focus on the impact in Primary Teacher Training process’.

Uganda’s national philosophy of education “National Integration and Development” is reflected in The Government White Paper (1992) which asserts that “no education system can be better than the quality of its teachers.  However, various reports in recent years indicate that Teacher Education is currently not producing effective teachers which  greatly  impacts  on the achievement of children at primary level (ESR 2007; Mulkeen 2006)  findings of a report on national assessment of Primary Education (NAPE) (2005) revealed that by Primary Four  40% of pupils could not read  and write Clearly Uganda’s 47 Primary Teachers colleges (PTCs) are not producing teachers of high quality and this has been emerging in various MoES and donor reports in recent years (Burke, 1999; Burke et al, 2002; ESA, 2003, MoES, 2006)

John Bwayo

Mr. Bwayo is Lecturer in Curriculum Studies at Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda.

Research Topic:

The working title for Mr Bwayo’s research is ‘The Relationship between parenting and Primary School Pupils’ Life Skills Development in Uganda’.

Life skills education in Uganda was initially a UNICEF and government of Uganda 1995-2000 country programme aimed at equipping children with adaptive and positive behaviour that can enable them deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.

The study will examine the concept and the features of a good life skills education programme  and nature of life skills in Ugandan primary schools against the original design. Further investigation  will consider teachers’ and children’s perceptions, competences and attitudes to life skills development, approaches to life skills’ education in Uganda, and life skills education provision challenges and strategies.

Sarah Kisa

Research Topic:

Ms. Kisa’s proposed topic is ‘Choices for Promoting Teaching with Understanding of Mathematics in Secondary Schools’ and her proposed title is ‘Teachers’ Knowledge, Beliefs and Utilization of Manipulatives and Cooperative Learning to Promote Understanding of Mathematics in Secondary Schools in Uganda’.

Mathematics is a compulsory subject at the ordinary secondary school level in Uganda. The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) states one of the aims of teaching mathematics as to help the student develop manipulative and computational skills  to enable the student apply mathematical knowledge and skills in solving everyday life problems (UNEB, 2005). This aim may only be realized when each student has an opportunity to understand the mathematical concepts presented by the teachers.  The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), (2006) notes that Mathematics has been taught using conventional methods where the learners have been encouraged to cram facts. Teachers are urged to revise their pedagogy and give theory a fair mix with practice to make science and mathematics applicable to everyday life conditions.