LSI Project Directly Impacted More Than 3,000 Student Teachers in Malawi
In just three years of work on the USAID Strengthening Teacher Education and Practice (STEP) Activity, the Learning Systems Institute (LSI) at Florida State University made a significant impact on thousands of student teachers in Malawi. Despite the project being halted two years early, LSI’s legacy in Malawi will resonate in teacher education for decades to come.
The LSI team leading STEP provided support to 22 Teacher Training Institutions (TTIs), one college for special needs education, and one private university, all of which offer a certificate in Primary Education. The 22 TTIs are located across three regions and 15 districts. Throughout the life of the project, STEP supported three new government TTIs as they opened and began providing primary school pre-service teacher education.
Over the life of the project, the STEP Activity provided monthly, continuous professional development training on evidence-based approaches to literacy instruction to 168 teacher educators at 22 teacher training institutions, delivering more than 50,000 instructional resources to the TTIs. These activities directly impacted the training of 3,168 student teachers, of whom 165 had launched participatory action research projects by the time the project closed in February 2025. Additionally, 111 education administrators from TTIs and the Ministry of Education received training and continued support for strategic planning.
“The STEP team supported the Malawian government at a critical time for teacher education and teacher careers,” said STEP Principal Investigator Dr. Adrienne Barnes-Story. “We not only revitalized the pre-service programs with new knowledge and capacity, but we also supported the government to begin paving a career path for primary school teachers.
“The Malawi Ministry of Education is better situated to provide access to electronic resources and professional development to all teachers, including newly deployed teachers.”
As of January 2025, the STEP team was supporting the Ministry of Education in finalizing new teacher induction standards and piloting an electronic continuous professional development platform for teacher educators nationwide.
LSI strives to lead the way in creating innovative educational solutions that seamlessly connect theory with practice. Through advanced research, we develop industry-leading methods and implementation strategies to enhance systematic learning at all levels and in all environments. For more than five decades, LSI has been committed to driving measurable improvements in the performance of both individuals and organizations.
