Reforming teacher education in Albania : innovations in partnership and mentoring

Abstract

Albania is a country of early culture and civilization, but educational development remained stunted, largely due to the invasion of the Turkish Empire, which led to an occupation that lasted for about five centuries. The first school in the Albanian language was only set up in 1887, in the district of Kon;a. Teacher education too is quite a recent development in Albania, when compared with trends in other Western European countries. The first school of teacher training was set up in Elbasan in 1909, and was called Shkolla Normale (Normal School)-a secondary level institution. Teachers who laid its foundations and others who worked in the years to follow got their schooling in Western Europe, in countries such as Austria, Germany, Italy, and France. They put the experience they got from these countries at the service ofteacher education. Teachers who graduated from the Shkolla Normale started to work for the education of Albanian children within the borders of the present Albanian state, as well as in Kosovo, Macedonia and <;ameria regions, mainly inhabited by Albanians. In 1948, a 2-year Pedagogical Institute started functioning in Tirana. Nine years later, the University of Tirana was established, marking the beginning of university level teacher education. Higher Pedagogical Institutes responsible for training 8-year school teachers were set up in Shkoder, Elbasan and Gjirokaster. In 1982, a new branch of teachers' training for the lower primary school teachers was set up at these Institutions. In 1992, these Institutions were converted into Universities. The branch of pre-school teachers in University level was opened in Elbasan and Kon;a Universities in 1995 and then in 1997 in Shkoder and Gjirokaster. The University of Tirana trains middle-school teachers. After the Second World War up to the collapse of the communist dictatorship, Albanian teachers and educators were among the most discriminated against members of the intelligentsia. Party totalitarianism imposed a rigid and totalitarian pedagogy. Starting from the 1970's up to the collapse of the dictatorship in Albania, no published material on philosophy, psychology, sociology, civics, didactics or literature was allowed to enter Albania from abroad. The same was true for the natural sciences, with books and magazines becoming very scarce given the fear of penetration by foreign ideology.