The impact of coaching in South African primary science InSET

This article presents evidence from an evaluation conducted by the Primary Science Programme (PSP) in South Africa, concerning the impact of classroom-based coaching on the teaching methods used by primary science teachers. The methods used by teachers provided with both workshops and classroom-based coaching were compared with those used by teachers who received workshops only and a control group who received no InSET at all. The findings showed that teachers who received coaching made substantial changes, whereas most teachers who received workshops-only remained similar to the control group. A social constructivist approach is adopted in interpreting these findings. The implications of this study for designing effective InSET in developing countries are also discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.