The present study is an evaluation of assessment of fourth year undergraduate student teachers on teaching practicum in secondary schools. The study was carried out in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the Malawi Polytechnic of the University of Malawi. A total number of 18 (14 males, 4 females) mathematical sciences education students of the Polytechnic of the University of Malawi were included in the study. The assessment grades and supervision comments were taken by using instruments -teaching practicum grading form and lesson observation form -designed and approved by the department. All the measurements were taken by observing a student teacher planning and delivering a lesson as part of the requirement of the degree of bachelor of education in mathematical sciences education of the University of Malawi. Obtained data was analyzed and correlation between assessment grade and the supervision comments based on the observed lesson was worked out. A positive correlation of grades was observed with the comments made and that the grade given to each individual student. The assessment grades were lower than what the supervision comments suggests regarding the quality of the student performance. The results raise the question of the validity and authenticity of assessment and supervision conducted by teacher educators. The results of the present study would be useful for teacher trainers/educators involved in assessing and supervising students during teaching practicum. Keywords: teacher education, teacher training, assessment of student teachers, practicum, supervision of practicum 2 Assessing final year undergraduate student teachers on school based teaching practicum at the

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The purpose of this study was to assess students' perceptions of open and distance learning (ODL) as a mode of training primary school teachers at Lilongwe Teachers' College in Malawi. The ODL program had two components: an on-campus component for face-to-face learning and an off-campus component for distance learning. Both components were assessed in this study. Data were collected using both questionnaires and focus-group interviews. The findings suggest that students perceived ODL as

Learning is a complex process that involves interaction of factors which are too numerous to count. The purpose of this study is to determine whether motivational factors and self-regulated learning strategies are significant predictors of students' mathematics anxiety in secondary schools in Malawi. The subscales for the motivation investigated in this study were intrinsic goal orientation, extrinsic goal orientation, task value, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy for learning, and anxiety. While the subscales for the self-regulated learning strategies scale are rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking, self-regulation, time and study environment management, effort regulation, peer-learning, and help-seeking. The study group was comprised of 184 secondary school students.It was found that students' motivational factors and self-regulated learning strategies were significant predictors of students' mathematics anxiety. The findings are useful to educators in the research areas of mathematics education.It is hopeful that the proposed model will become a useful reference for further investigations of factors influencing mathematics anxiety.Keywords: education, mathematics, students' motivational factors, learning strategies, math anxiety Introduction Research indicates that there are many factors influencing self-regulated learning strategies (Pintrich, 2004;Shores & Shannon, 2007;Garcia & Pintrich, 1996). A review of literature on mathematics self-concept, mathematics self-efficacy, beliefs toward mathematics and affective toward mathematics has shown that these variables are closely related to mathematics self-regulated learning strategies (Zimmerman, 2003;. However, the inter-relationships of these variables and their causal effects on each other are still unclear. Much recent research has focused on the various aspects of teaching and investigated how the motivational factors and self-regulated learning strategies influence students' achievement in mathematics (Wolters, 2003;Kurman, 2006). However, there are very few studies on students' predictors of learning behaviours, such as mathematics anxiety.Self-regulated learning strategies, motivational factors, and anxiety are all interrelated and are likely to affect academic self-regulated learning strategies (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). It is argued that these factors form a complex network that brings about changes in mathematics self-regulated learning strategies (Pintrich, 2004;Garcia & Pintrich, 1996). Therefore, the focus of this study is to clarify the directions and magnitude of the Elias Kaphesi, Dr, senior lecturer, Mathematics and Statistics Department, University of Malawi-The Polytechnic. relationships between these variables among students of secondary mathematics. In doing so, a path model is created to explain the relationships between motivational factors, self-regulated learning strategies, and mathematics anxiety.Motivational factors are more complex than the additive effects of student ability, perceived competence and se...