Barnes-Story

Faculty and Staff Briefs are produced monthly to recognize accomplishments and provide a space where honors, awards, bylines, presentations, grants, service and any other notable items can be showcased.

In 1994, Malawi was an early adopter of a policy introducing free primary education across sub-Saharan Africa. The policy opened the doors for unmatched opportunities for children across sub-Saharan Africa but also led to major challenges. One of which was equipping teachers to teach classes of up to 300 students. Researchers at the Learning Systems Institute (LSI) began looking for solutions to this problem in 2022

Free primary education for all in sub-Saharan Africa is a fantastic policy but class sizes of 80, 100, 200 or more has meant less time teaching and more time managing behavior. We are in Malawi looking for solutions.

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.

In 2021, Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute (LSI) began work on the USAID-funded Rwanda Tunoze Gusoma (Schools and Systems) activity. LSI faculty provided continuous professional development to 111 teacher educators and education leaders.

The Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University was honored with the Multilingual Education Leadership Award at a ceremony in Nigeria this morning. The University of Maiduguri Language Centre presented the award in collaboration with UNICEF.

During year three of STEP Malawi, 6,644 books, including 5,808 National Reading Program teacher’s guides and learner books in English and Chichewa for Standards 1-4, were delivered to all primary Teacher Training Institutions (TTI).

The Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University has received a SHARE Grant to support LSI's current work on the USAID Strengthening Teacher Education and Practice (STEP) Activity in Malawi.