In Teacher Training: A Contribution to Discussion on Some Country Experiences. UNESCO/OREALC Santiago, Chile: 2002. Pp 15 – 32

This Chapter defines the Commonwealth Caribbean historically, linguistically, geographically and culturally and discusses and clarifies the fact Commonwealth Caribbean practice does not fit neatly into the association of pre-service teacher education with formal teacher training and in-service teacher education with non-formal on the job training. It proceeds to briefly describe the historical pattern of teacher education in the sub-region between the 1830 and the 1950s. It also gives are a brief description of developments in teacher education in response to the transformation of national systems of education in relation to political independence development between the 1850s and 1980s. These developments in teacher education included building capacity, quantitative expansion, qualitative improvements and changes in the modes of delivery of education and training.

While these developments were impressive there was no celebration because of new imperatives that required an urgent response. These imperatives included a decline in the status of teachers, shrinking resources, the rapid rise of globalization, the spread of democracy and greater economic and cultural ties between countries in the region.

The teacher education and training policies that emerged in the Commonwealth Caribbean in the 1990s are described and discussed under four heading:

• Upgrading the academic and professional standards of pre-service programmes
• In-service training to support the education reform agenda
• The integration of pre-service and in-service training
• Upgrading teacher trainers.