Training teachers for a small island system: short-term and long-term outcomes

Ten years ago the Seychelles Polytechnic initiated a joint teacher-training scheme with Sussex University and in five years trained 100 new Seychellois teachers for the secondary school system. This scheme a numerical balance in favour of Seychellois teachers for the first time. The influx of Seychellois teachers produced a number of immediate advantages: there was a saving in the salary budget, the new teachers were able to supplement their lessons conducted in English with explanations in Kreol, and they also used a wider variety of teaching methods. They were more committed to teaching and were much preferred by the secondary school students. This paper presents findings from evaluations of the scheme. It describes the situation produced by the returnees, and follows this up with an analysis of the major developments since the scheme came to an end and since the four-year government bonding period of teachers ended. The final section of the paper discusses in more general terms the sustainability of education development projects and the implications for the progressive improvement of schemes.