This study investigated teacher education and training in Liberia. The conclusions drawn from the study findings, and the recommendations based on the conclusions are presented in this chapter. The conclusions drawn from the findings of this study are as follows:
1. The critical factor for the improvement of overall teacher quality in Liberia is to increase the effectiveness of the country's pre service teacher education programs. This study found that the general level of overall competency among Liberian teachers is seen as being so low that they could not benefit from in service teacher education programs as they are structured, even if all of the problems associated with the in service teacher education programs were effectively addressed.
2. The critical factor for the improvement of the quality of the output of pre service teacher education programs in Liberia is the rigorous enforcement of the admissions standards for these programs. As long as pre service teacher programs continue to admit unqualified students to the programs, and permit such students to remain in and complete the programs, the overall output from the programs will continue to be sub standard.
3. Implementation of the Florida State University recommendations to use the RTTIs for in service teacher education and to use the elementary education faculty at the teachers colleges for in service teacher education would prove to be counterproductive to the overall teacher education program in Liberia. The likely outcome of the use of the elementary education faculty at the teachers colleges for in service teacher education would be a further imbalance in the output of elementary and secondary education teachers, which is already heavily skewed toward the production of secondary education teachers. The use of the RTTIs for in service teacher education would prove to be counterproductive for two reasons. First, such use would further undermine pre ser...