As a part of the investigation of the problems associated with providing trained teachers in Liberia, data were collected from individuals involved in education in Liberia during the 1980 1989 time period through either interview or survey. The data thus collected was intended to develop insights into the problems facing teacher education in Liberia. As the information presented in the preceding chapters of this study indicate, the problems besetting teacher education in Liberia are not only well known, they have, for the most part, proved to be resistant to solution. It is to be hoped that the insights developed through the conduct of this current study will lead to the implementation of more effective solutions to the problems in teacher education in Liberia.
The focus of this study was on pre service and in service education. This study sought to identify both the causes of and proposed solutions for the problems in teacher education and to analyze whether the solutions proposed to deal with the problems were (1) internally consistent with respect to teacher education, and (2) externally consistent with respect to the larger socio political environment in Liberia?
Findings Related to Pre Service Teacher Education
Both the group of older studies reviewed earlier in this study and the more recent Florida State University studies mentioned declines in the effectiveness of pre service teacher education in Liberia, and tended to cite the causes of such declines as poor incentives both compensation and conditions of service for teachers, and inadequate educational funding in the country. The findings of this study confirmed that these problems and conditions continued to exist at the end of the 1980s.
Questionnaire item number six sought data concerning the effects on teacher training in Liberia of teacher salaries, incentives, and conditions of service. All 36 members of the sample responded to item number six. ...