TEACHERS BIOGRAPHIES AND EDUCATIONAL-DEVELOPMENT - A KENYAN CASE-STUDY

Over the last decade there has been a growing interest among academics in the lives and work of teachers in industrialised countries. Many o f these studies have sought to understand how teachers perceive their work and how they develop their particular professional identities. Th ere is a growing recognition of the impact of teachers' own biographie s on their training and on curriculum development and implementation. This paper examines the perspectives of a group of Kenyan educators, a dvisors and inspectors, from different regions, who have taken part in a national project designed to strengthen primary education through t he in-service training of teachers. The aim is to examine the potentia l of biographical research to provide new insights into the processes of educational development. The participants in the research reflect o n their own career development and life histories; on their identities , both professional and personal; and on the impact of these on their work. Drawing on an issue which divided the group, that of gender equa lity, the pager considers some of the biogaphical and cultural factors which permit and restrict development. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.