An introduction to TESSA

The TESSA OER were developed between 2005 and 2008. They are specifically linked to school curricula and remain current despite recent changes to the curriculum in many countries. This is because the focus of recent changes are teaching approaches rather than content. In Zambia for example, teachers are expected to teach knowledge, skills and values; the TESSA OER supports the teaching of all three.

Although they are designed for teachers, the TESSA OER are relevant to teacher educators. Recent research suggests that teacher preparation courses and in-service training courses, need to place more emphasis on the practicalities of teaching in order to improve the quality of classroom learning. This is difficult for teacher educators because, although most have a good knowledge of the theory of teaching, many do not have the knowledge and experience of classrooms. The TESSA OER provide practical examples of how to teach specific topics which help teacher educators to model good teaching.

In Week 2 of this course, you will focus on learner-centred education.

Learner-centred education is not a set of particular approaches to teaching; it is about values and beliefs. Learner-centred teachers will take account of the needs of their learners; they will make links between the school curriculum and children’s lives; and take account of their prior learning experience. Most importantly, a learner-centred teacher believes that all learners can learn, given the right support. Through the Inclusive Education Toolkit subject resources, TESSA OER show teachers and teacher educators how to provide that support.

The fact that the TESSA OER are Open Educational Resources means that as well as being available free of charge, you can copy, adapt and re-publish them. For example, you could include some of them in your course materials. There are two conditions attached to the copyright license: the first is that you say where you found the resources and the second is that you re-publish them under the same license.

TESSA is not an intervention or a set of prescriptive lesson plans. Rather it is a set of ideas, relevant to their local context that teachers can use. It is hoped that by using TESSA OER, teachers will develop their ability as professionals to plan their own lessons, according to the needs of their learners. Likewise, teacher educators can use TESSA OER to plan interactive teaching sessions which reflect classroom realities.

During this course we hope you will enjoy exploring the website and learning about TESSA OER. How could you use these resources in your work with student teachers?

Welcome to the TESSA Open Educational Resources. There is a lot of material available, so the purpose of this introduction is to give you some idea of where to start. If you are a teacher, then you will be most concerned about what you have to teach next week.

You should have a look at the subject resources. There are 75 sections of work, linked to the primary school curriculum. We also have 15 sections to support secondary science. The resources are organised into six groups to help you find what you need. These are: Literacy, Numeracy, Primary Science, Social Studies and the Arts, Life Skills and Secondary Science. Each group is divided into 3 modules and each module has 5 sections. Each section has three activities and three case studies – these contain ideas for you to try out in your classroom. The learning outcomes are for you, as by organising the activities you will be developing your skills as a teacher.

The sections are not grade specific. This is deliberate because topics are often re-visited as students get older. You will find that you can easily adapt the activities to suit your needs. For example, in one of the science activities, children make models of animals. In Grade 2 you could use this to teach the names of the different parts of the animal. In grade 5, you could use the activity to focus on adaptations for different habitats. Each section also has resources that will help you to organise the activities that are being suggested. There is also a handbook ‘Working with Pupils’ and a set of Key Resources. The Key Resources provide extra information about some of the teaching approaches that are being suggested. If you are a teacher educator working with pre-service teachers or in-service teachers, then you will find that the subject resources provide practical examples that you can use to illustrate some of the theory you have to teach. If you are teaching subject knowledge, then you could use some of the activities in your teaching. This way, you will be teaching content and pedagogy together, especially if you ask the students to reflect on how they learned as well as on what they have learned.

You will also find the key resources helpful as they explain various teaching approaches at a practical level. There is a handbook called working with teachers which has examples of how other teacher educators have used the resources. One thing that many people have found is that students find them very helpful during teaching practice. The teaching practice supervisor’s toolkit has a collection of tools which you can use to support students on teaching practice more effectively. And the inclusive education toolkit sets out the principles of inclusive teaching. It highlights examples from the subject resources that you could use to illustrate those principles. Remember – all these materials are free. You can adapt them as you wish and re-publish them for others to use, as long as you say where you have got them from. Good luck and we hope you find the TESSA OER helpful for your own professional development.