Teachers' Resource Centres in Southern Africa; an investigation into local autonomy and educational change

Abstract During the last two decades the concept of Teachers' Resource Centres (TRCs) has become widely accepted across Southern Africa as an essential ingredient of a professional support structure for teachers and schools. This paper demonstrates that the present general consensus conceals a history of conflicting interpretations regarding the structure and functioning of this provision in relation to educational change. Tracing the ups and downs of TRCs and their related structures of school clusters in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe it shows that their fate has been closely associated with changing philosophies and concomitant policies on school development and the roles of teachers in educational development. Earlier official encouragement towards local pedagogical autonomy, emphasizing teachers' creative contributions to educational renewal through professional self-development, is contrasted against more recent pressures towards centralised control over strategies for school improvement combined with decentralised delivery of support services. Changes are analysed within the larger context of the political and socio-economic climate in the sub-region and the intervention of external agencies. A case is made for the reversal of these trends, in particular so as to create space for indigenous approaches to educational development.