Teacher isolation in one teacher, two teacher schools: Haven't we ignored for too long.

Abstract

One-teacher and two teacher schools are two categories highlighted by the School Census data of the Ministry of Education on an annual basis. Such schools have been existing in the system for too long without being attended to. Further, the highest number of one-teacher schools is in Vauniya district. Among the many issues teacher isolation the most important is the challenge of implementation of the national curriculum across the grade span of the school single handedly or with another colleague. The number of functioning grades of the school presents a challenge to the teacher as the teacher has to handle combined grades. It is less clear why these categories of schools are left ignored when there are lessons from literature on the interventions tested both locally and internationally. Student self learning materials approach, vertical combination of curricula are tested approaches for such contexts. The teacher has to be trained and well resourced to keep up to demands of the multiple grade groups. Training manuals and student materials for primary mathematics are developed by a collaborative effort called as 'Learning and Teaching in Multigrade Settings' (LATIMS) by University of London, University of Colombo and National Institute of Education, Sri Lanka. If these materials can be recognised as useful development of more material can be extended to other subjects as well. The most important aspect is the need to recognise such teaching learning strategies as a requirement for reaching the targets of 'Education for All' by a nation where equity and equality are considered as prime objectives of educational provision.