Complementary Reading Materials Development: Successes and Challenges of the Read Malawi Programme

Abstract

The Textbooks and Learning Materials Programme at the University ofTexas at San Antonio collaboratively designed and developed learningand teaching materials for Malawi schoolchildren. Three goals drove ourwork: (a) develop learning and teaching materials, focusing on languageinstruction for Standards 1 – 3; (b) develop an implementation model,including teacher training, school monitoring and community mobilization;and (c) develop instruments to detail the programme feasibility. Wetrained Malawian teachers to teach and author new complementaryreading materials in both Chichewa and English. The implementationmodel included supporting materials to aid teachers, such as Overviewand Teacher’s Guides. An extensive school and community-based supportsystem was set-up to monitor, analyze and report the programme’seffectiveness. There were logistical and communication challenges thathindered progress, like power-outages and delivery delays. However, therewere also many successes of increased teacher self-efficacy, decreasedstudent absenteeism and a possible model for future programmes.
Keywords: learning and teaching materials, Malawi schoolchildren,community mobilization, community-based support system.