In this presentation, a developmental case based on a project named The Theory-Practice Balance in Teacher Education (TEPATE) will be introduced. The project is funded by Finland’s Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument (HEI ICI) that supports cooperation projects between higher education institutions in Finland and the developing world. The project started in 2020 and will run for four years, ending in August 2024. The TEPPATE project is designed to tackle the problems related to alarmingly low learning outcomes in Mozambique by enhancing the theory-practice balance of teacher education at two Mozambican Higher Education Institutions: Universidade Pedagógica de Maputo (Pedagogical University of Maputo) and Instituto Superior de Educação e Tecnologia–One World (ISET One world). By doing this, the project contributes to the aim of the Government of Mozambique to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. In other words, TEPATE project aims at improving the quality and relevance of initial teacher training at the Mozambican partner HEIs and by so doing, support the efforts of the Mozambican government to improve the overall quality of education in the country.

The teaching profession requires theory-based pedagogical thinking, which is embedded in the teacher's daily activities (cf. Zanting et al., 1998). Often, teacher training is considered too theoretical and does not provide graduating teachers with sufficient pedagogical skills to apply learner-centered pedagogy in practice (Allen & Wright, 2013; Hoy & Woolfolk, 1989). The TEPATE project focuses on improving the balance between theory and practice in teacher education in Mozambican partner universities, and the presentation focus on teaching practice. Internships are an essential part of teacher education, as they provide prospective teachers with an authentic environment in which to practice the pedagogical skills.

In Mozambique, school attendance has improved significantly over the last decade, but unfortunately school completion rates and learning outcomes have not improved at the same pace (Chimbutane, 2013).  According to the most recent household budget survey, Inqurito sobre Orcamento Familiar (IOF) 2014/2015, two thirds (68%) of young people aged 13-17 do not complete primary education (UNICEF, 2020). Moreover, the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH) published similar statistics, showing that in 2017 only 29 percent of all students had completed primary school and 13 percent had completed secondary school (MINEDH, 2019). In addition, 94 percent of girls attend primary school, but more than half drop out of primary school before completing the 5th grade (MINEDH, 2020).

The analysis confirms that the older the child becomes, the less likely he or she will stay on track, with the possibility of not catching up to their more successful peers diminishing every year. This may lead to the loss of motivation, one of the reasons for lack of attendance, age-appropriate skills and knowledge, which in turn leads to school dropout leads.

The teacher Education System in Mozambique is guided by the general principles of education, culture, training, balanced and inclusive human development where everyone has equal rights. It is responsible for promoting education, as an integral part of educational action in the terms defined by the Constitution of the Republic, aiming to provide fundamental skills, general knowledge about the world around them, and the means to progress in work and lifelong learning. This system is guided by the pedagogical principles of capacity development and personality in a harmonious, balanced, and constant way, as well as the Freedom to learn, teach, research, and disseminate culture, thought, art and knowledge. Currently the whole country has 15 Universities, six state universities and nine private universities.

The presentation focuses on one part of the TEPATE study, which aimed to analyse the current situation of teaching practice in Mozambique. The following research question was set for the study: How do Mozambican student teachers, teachers and teacher educators understand and experience teaching practice as part of teacher education? The study was carried out using a phenomenographic research approach. Phenomenography is a qualitative study that examines the different ways in which people can understand certain phenomena or parts of the world around them (Marton, 1986). In this study, the different actors built the data together: twenty-seven actors responded to a semi-structured questionnaire about their experience of teacher training in teacher education programmes. In addition to the background questions, the questionnaire included open-ended questions on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of teaching practice. The questionnaire was distributed via an internet link and responses were collected using the webropol application. A total of 27 responses were received, of which 10 were from student teachers (37.0%), two from teachers (7.4%) and 15 from teacher educators (55.6%). The data was collected during the autumn 2022. Open-ended questions were used to allow respondents to decide as freely as possible what issues they wanted to raise in their answers (cf. Marton, 1988). The aim was that the questionnaire would delve as deeply as possible into the experiences of the respondents, which is why the responses were collected without personal data. It was important to create an atmosphere of trust and openness so that respondents could share their experiences honestly and confidentially. The data was analysed using phenomenographic analysis (see e.g. Marton, 1986), guided by the research questions. Uljens (1996) and Marton (1988) point out that there is no precise description or step-by-step method for phenomenographic data analysis. It should be noted that analysis is not based on theory and categories are not decided in advance, but are formed during the process of analysis. It can be said that the aim of this research was to describe how the teaching practice is experienced, rather than the teaching practice as such (cf. Marton and Booth, 1997). Through careful examination of the raw data, the research was structured into meaning units and further into descriptive categories and finally into an outcome space. The results of the study describe a hierarchically organised set of outcomes space, representing different ways of experiencing the phenomenon under study: teaching practice.

This presentation will assess the existing structure and practices of teaching practice: presenting the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to practical training in the teacher education units in Mozambique, as perceived by students, teachers and teacher educators. According to the research there are already many good and effective practices in teacher education in Mozambique. These are e.g. students’ possibility to enable professional development and to practice in a real environment during the study program. Respondents saw the opportunity for professional development both as a teacher and as a student, and reflection as an essential element in this development process. The responses also show that teaching practice also provides an opportunity to combine theory, and practice and to apply what has been learned. At the same time, however, there is a high risk that these practices are not implemented at the same high level in all schools and teacher education institutions. This was reflected in the fact that respondents also highlighted the same issues as weaknesses in teaching practices. In addition, they cited lack of resources, particularly time, as a key weakness. In conclusion, particular attention needs to be paid in the future to the adequacy of resources and the commitment of teachers and teacher trainers to guidance and mentoring. There is also a need to focus on ensuring that the voice of local teachers is heard and rewarded. One effective way to develop teacher training would be to train supervisors and teachers together to build collaboration and networking between them. Based on these results and insights, further development actions will be planned. The expected outcome is an increase in the capacity of Mozambican higher education institutions to develop programmes that will better equip student teachers to put learner-centred pedagogy into practice.

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