The theory into practice dilemma: Lesson planning challenges facing Botswana student-teachers

The aim of this study is to examine the problems facing University of Botswana’s PostGraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) student-teachers with respect to their pedagogical practices during school placements. The study attempts to locate the issue of lesson plans and use of behavioural objectives within the general discourse on school improvement. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of behavioural objectives, particularly the focus on the input—output process model of teaching and learning. Methods used to collect data for this study include mainly document analysis and classroom observations. The results revealed that student-teachers are more predisposed to rely on the use of knowledge and comprehension-type of behavioural verbs in their lesson plans. PGDE student-teachers appeared to face a number of difficulties such as poor articulation of instructional objectives; heavy reliance on traditional didactic teaching-learning approaches; failure to specify ‘Conditions’ under which learning is ultimately evaluated and; the failure to determine the ‘Degree of Mastery’ expected of the learners. The article concludes by suggesting the shift to medium- to long-term goals of education as an alternative to the existing pedagogical practices.