Teacher Preparation In Light of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals

Abstract

Education is known to be a primary driver of national development. Conversely, gender inequality has been shown to retard the development of nations. Former United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan (2006) had this to say: "there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women." Consequently, gender equality and empowerment of women should be central and not peripheral to universities’ education programmes and to teacher preparation programmes, in particular. Therefore, serious thoughts should turn to what needs to be integrated into existing educational programmes in order to contribute to an all-round inclusive national development. In this paper, Teacher Preparation In Light of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals, the gender and religious educational implications of teacher preparation are discussed. The paper includes a case study with a view to generating ideas on how to produce the right crop of teachers that would help bring about a new world order in which girls and boys, men and women, have equal opportunities for social advancement.

Key words: Teacher preparation, Millenium Development Goals, religion and gender education