Sri Lankan Teachers' Development.

Overview & Synopsis

Sri Lanka has a literacy rate of 90 percent despite a gross national product per capita of only $584. It has nearly 190,000 teachers of whom 50,000 were recruited between 1985 and 1995, working in 10,000 public schools (primary through college). Following the Hindu and Buddhist traditions of Sri Lanka, teachers are greatly respected and seen as important bearers of culture and values. The last four decades have seen great emphasis on reform of teacher development with nearly 71 percent of Sri Lankan teachers having received or completed professional training by 1989. All teacher recruitment and placement are done by the State Ministry of Education. Full-time teacher education is offered in four types of institutions: teachers' colleges offering three years of inservice training; colleges of education offering three years of preservice training; the National Institute of Education providing non-graduate and graduate training including distance education; and university and open university training for post-graduate diploma courses. Inservice teacher education courses are conducted through the National Institute of Education in coordination with regional departments of education. Master teachers are selected and trained to provide local inservice training. The most critical issues facing Sri Lankan teacher education are the quality of education provided to teachers and efforts to increase preservice education, and the need to allocate more financial resources, expand curricula, and adopt new teaching strategies. (Contains 27 references.) (JLS)