Pictured: Alimamy Saidu Bangura
“Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession” is the theme of the World Teachers’ Day this year, and COL joins in celebrating all the young and young-at-heart who are taking on this profession with a heightened sense of belonging and optimism, and a strong commitment to self-improvement.
One such teacher is Alimamy Saidu Bangura, who works at Lorenzo-Gorvie Memorial Junior Secondary School in Sierra Leone. Most of his colleagues are under the age of 35, and Alimamy has learned a lot from them, as well as from the more experienced teachers at his school.
“The older teachers have been mentors to me. I have gained knowledge from them to improve myself in the profession,” he says. “For the younger folks, we share common teaching and learning issues. If I am in doubt about an issue or topic, I seek clarification from them.”
While contributing to discussions at an in-school meeting between teachers, staff from Freetown Teachers College and COL, Alimamy expressed satisfaction with the school-based Integrated In-service Teacher Training (INSET) programme supported by COL.
“This is the first time for me to be involved in a teacher professional development programme,” he said, making reference to the INSET, which is anchored on COL’s Teacher Futures model.
Teacher Futures is an integrated model for school-based teacher development that aims at improving teacher quality and learning outcomes through OERs and other technology-based resources.
As the subject teacher of Business Studies, Alimamy has a busy schedule. He appreciates the opportunity to access the learning resources and participate in the community of practice using his mobile phone.
Alimamy is convinced that knowledge gained from the INSET programme has helped improve his interaction with learners – he has mastered new teaching approaches and is now better at searching for educational materials on the Internet.
Passionate about his work, Alimamy believes that young teachers have an important role in the teaching profession. “Young teachers are indeed the future of the teaching profession as they gradually become mentors for younger teachers as they grow older,” he concludes.
