July 2004 ADEA Briefs
-1- Private higher education i sthe
focus of Accra meeting
With private education increasingly visible in Africa,
the two-day Policy Forum on Private Higher Education in Africa, held
in Accra from 2-3 November 2004, was a timely event.
Organized by the ADEA Working Group on Higher Education
(WGHE) in collaboration with the International Institute for Educational
Planning (IIEP) and the Association of African Universities (AAU), the
Forum offered the opportunity for stakeholders and delegates from 10
countries (Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa,
Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe) to exchange views and experiences.
Topics covered included:
- Public-private relations
- Standards and accreditation
- Research gaps
- Effectiveness of regulatory bodies
- Cross-border issues and the World Trade Organization
(WTO)
>
About WGHE
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-2- ADEA Steering Committee convenes
in Kigali
In addition to reviewing the main activities of 2004
and approving the 2005 program, the ADEA Steering Committee took advantage
of its meeting in Kigali from 17 to 19 November 2004 to take stock of
progress made towards EFA and draw lessons from the African countries'
experience. It is now five years since the World Forum on Education
took place in Dakar, and only 10 years away from the date set for achieving
the goal of Education for All (EFA).
> Press
release on outcomes of the EFA seminar
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-3- Two new working groups: math
and science, and post-primary education
ADEA’s Steering Committee approved the creation
of two new working groups at its recent meeting in Kigali: an Ad Hoc
Working Group on Post-Primary Education and a Working Group on Mathematics
and Science Education .
Access to secondary education is becoming a major social
and political challenge as countries are moving towards universal primary
education (UPE). African countries need to develop educational programs
that are adapted to Africa’s resources and needs, to focus on
the relevance of what is taught, to diversify the kinds of learning
available, and to develop sustainable financial models that will provide
for mass education. The ad hoc group will also explore the issue of
how best to prepare young people for post-primary professional life
.
Despite the fact that mathematics and science education
is necessary for industrial and technological development, Africa has
often lagged in teaching mathematics and science and in getting good
results. The new working group will focus on how to strengthen and improve
the quality of mathematics and science education in sub-Saharan Africa.
It will be led by the Kenya Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
together with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA ) and
coordinated by the Association for Strengthening Mathematics and Sciences
in West, East, Central and Southern Africa (SMASSE-WECSA). The Working
Group will be coordinated by Mr. Bernard Njuguna , Chairman of SMASSE-WECSA
.
> More on SMASSE-WECSA
at www.smasse-wecsa.org
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-4- Louis Steven Obeegadoo elected president
of the ADEA Bureau
At its meeting in Kigali on 16 November, the ADEA Bureau
of African Ministers of Education elected Louis Steven Obeegadoo, Minister
of Education and Scientific Research of Mauritius as its new president.
He succeeds Daniel Ona-Ondo, Gabon's former Minister of Education who
was nominated Minister for Post and Telecommunications as a result of
a cabinet reshuffle in September 2004.
The newly-elected vice-president is Her Ex cellency Jeanne
d’Arc Mujawamariya, Secretary of State for Education in Rwanda.
The Bureau is composed of 10 ministers of education representing the
five sub-regions of sub-Saharan Africa: West Africa, East Africa, Central
Africa, Southern Africa ,and the Indian Ocean.
> Press
release
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-5- Decision makers, agency and civil
society representatives and teacher unions exchange on contractual teachers
in Bamako
ADEA, Education International, the World Bank, and the
Ministry of Education of Mali organized a joint conference on contractual
teachers, which took place November 21-23, 2004 in Bamako, Mali.
The conference:
- Identified the main challenges with respect to employing
contractual teachers in Francophone countries.
- Discussed ways to assist countries to develop strategies
for achieving good quality education for all by 2015 in a sustainable
manner
- Promoted collaboration between countries by sharing
good practices
- Encouraged policy dialogue among the different stakeholders.
The three days of discussion allowed participants from
12 countries to broaden and deepen their exchanges on the challenge
of establishing the new category of contractual teachers.
The conference brought together representatives of the
Ministries of Education, Finance, Employment and the Civil Service,
as well as leaders of teacher unions and PTAs in 12 countries and representatives
of various development agencies and groups from civil society.
>
Final communiqué of the Conference
> More information on the Conference and meeting documents
available on the ADEA web site at : http://www.adeanet.org/
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-6- Taking stock: what’s new in
bilingual education and the use of mother tongue education?
In preparation for a conference that will be held in
Namibia next May 2005, the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE) in Hamburg
and ADEA have joined forces to document the experience of African countries
with bilingual education.
A first meeting was held in November 2004 in Dakar,
as part of a seminar on publishing in local languages, called “
Les Livres: un enjeu de l’Education pour tous. Quelle politique
editoriale pour les langues africaines ” (see brief below).
Subsequently, a research taking stock on bilingual education
and the use of local languages in Africa was launched late November
2004. The review will focus on the use of mother tongue education (MTE)
and bilingual education (BTE) in sub-Saharan Africa, with the aim of
informing policy-makers at the May conference to be organized in cooperation
with the GTZ.
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-7- ADEA’s inter-country quality
node on bilingual education sets program and goals for 2005
Meeting in Dakar on 25 November 2004, the inter-country
workshop brought together representatives from Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Niger and Senegal, along with partners from UIE/UNESCO and the African
Academy of Languages (ACALAN).
The workshop:
- Identified country needs
- Described the existing programs
- Reviewed the channels of cooperation, and
- Defined the group’s contribution to the next
ADEA Biennial Meeting.
The following recommendations for improving quality were
made:
- Produce a video and a poster on bilingual education
- Eliminate the apparent dichotomy between local and
official languages
- Define an enabling environment for quality bilingual
education
- Make explicit the link between use of local languages
and quality learning experiences.
ADEA’s inter-country quality nodes bring
together countries that have expressed an interest for a theme identified
as a major factor for improving educational quality. The nodes mobilize
regional and international expertise to support the countries as they
conduct research and implement programs and strategies to improve educational
quality. They also promote policy dialogue around the selected themes.
Results of the activities will be presented at ADEA’s next Biennial
Meeting.
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-8- ADEA’s inter-country quality
node on teachers’ professional development and pedagogical renewal
meet sin Bamako
A first meeting of the inter-country quality node on
teachers’ professional development and pedagogical renewal was
held in Bamako, Mali, November 24, 2005.
Seven countries (Burkina Faso, Benin, Republic of Congo,
Guinea, Niger, Togo and Zanzibar) attended the meeting as well as strategic
partners (the Paul-Gérin Lajoie Centre at the University
of Québec in Montréal, the World Bank Institute, the International
Institute for Capacity Building in Africa and the African Virtual University)
. The coordinators of the Working Group on the Teaching Profession (WGTP)
and the ADEA Secretariat also participated in the seminar.
The seminar aimed at sharing experiences, identifying
needs, developing a common work program and preparing contributions
for the 2005 Biennial Meeting. Participants presented brief overviews
of the professional development of teachers in their respective countries;
ongoing or planned national projects related to teacher development;
the countries’ needs for support related to the implementation
of these projects ;and ,proposals for cooperation with other African
countries.
An outcome of the seminar was a proposal to undertake
a stocktaking review on the training of inspectors, which will be coordinated
by WGTP.
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-9- Mali welcomes coordinators of Working
Group on the Teaching Profession
The five regional coordinators of the ADEA Working Group
on the Teaching profession (WGTP) – Jean Adotevi (coordinator
for West Africa), Jeanne Simeon (for the Indian Ocean), Geoffrey Tambulukani
(f or Southern Africa ), Youssouf Adam (for Central Africa )and Christopher
Acar (for Eastern Africa )– met on November 25, 2004 in Bamako.
Martial Dembele, the designated resource person,
and Virgilio Juvane, WGTP coordinator, also attended.
On the agenda were the following items:
- Follow-up to the Bamako Conference on Contractual
Teachers
- Implementation of the 2005 Work Plan
- Activities planned for the inter-country quality
node on Professional Development of Teachers and Pedagogical Renewal
- The first edition of its Teacher Education Management
and Support (TEMS) newsletter which will be launched later in the
year.
In keeping with ADEA priorities, the WGTP strategy will
work to increase participation at country level in addressing teacher
effectiveness. The following commitments were identified:
- Resource mobilization
- Policy-useful research
- Support for professional development
- Facilitation of networking and exchange
- Greater access to information
- Training and publication to increase coverage and
communication
>
About WGTP
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to top >
-10- Nine countries discuss the merits
of book publishing and establishing national book councils to support
EFA
Local publishers, NGOs, and representatives of Ministries
of Education from nine francophone countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
C ôte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo) came
together in Dakar from 26 to 30 November 2004 to discuss how the publishing
industry might bring its skills to bear on behalf of Education for All.
They examined various ways to ensure a sustainable supply of basic learning
materials in the national languages.
The Executive Secretary of ADEA presented a paper on
bilingualism, policies and educational strategies.
Discussions covered a broad range of issues:
- Educational policy with regard to African languages
- Book publishing policy and implementation
- Costs and financing
- Public-private partnerships
- Relations between publisher and reader
- Training for local language publishing
- Promoting the reading habit in African languages
The meeting was organized by: ADEA, the Agence internationale
de la francophonie, the African Publishers' Network (A PNET ), ARED,
In Went, and UNESCO/UIE
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-11- Angola hosts policy dialogue
workshop for lusophone countries
For the past two years ADEA, in cooperation with the
International Bureau of Education (IBE), has been holding training sessions
on the art of policy dialogue and negotiation. In 2003 two workshops
were organized for francophone countries, and from 29 November to 4
December 2004 a similar training session was held in Angola for Spanish
and Portuguese speakers.
It was attended by ministers of education, planning and
communication directors, and other key actors in implementing educational
policy in five countries: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial
Guinea, and Sao Tome and Principe.
Topics discussed covered both the concepts and tools
that underpin successful policy dialogue:
- Policy dialogue and reform
- Education sector analysis as a tool for planning
- Skills and communication strategies
- Dialogue between finance and education ministries
- Dialogue with bilateral and multilateral partners
> More information available on the ADEA web site
at: http://www.adeanet.org/
> Press release
on meeting
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to top >
-12- Nominations open for Fourth
Annual Africa Education Journalism Award
Nominations for the 2005 edition of the Akintola Fatoyinbo
Africa Education Journalism Award are now open.
The announcement was made in Bamako, Mali, on 22 November 2004 during
a conference on the use of contractual teachers in primary education
attended by 140 people including Ministers of Education from 13 Francophone
countries.
This year for the first time, the prize will also be
open to Portuguese-speaking journalists, as participants attending an
ADEA training workshop in Luanda, Angola, learned on 2 December 2004.
The Prize is awarded each year for the best articles on education written
by African journalists and published in African newspapers.
>
Press release on Bamako announcement
> Press
release on Luanda announcement
> More on
the Award available on the Award Website
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to top >
The Quest for Quality: Learning from the
African Experience. Proceedings of 2003 Biennial Meeting
The Quest for Quality: Learning from the
African Experience is a report of ADEA’s Biennial Meeting in 2003.
It highlights the major events and discussions that took place at the
Biennale. The meeting was held in Grand Baie, Mauritius, from 3 to 6
December 2004. Topics covered include:
- Policies for financing improved quality
- Reform options and strategies for classroom and school
- Professional development of teachers
- Improving relevance and effectiveness of learning
- Initiating reform at school and in the classroom
- Decentralization, diversification and the role of
civil society
- HIV/AIDS and educational quality.
The 154-page proceedings, which are available
in both English and French, provide a comprehensive list of all papers
prepared within the framework of ADEA’s study on quality in preparation
for the Biennial Meeting.
>
The Quest for Quality: Learning from the African Experience, Proceedings
of the ADEA Biennial Meeting, Grand-Baie, Mauritius, December 3-6, 2003
(764 Ko. Pdf File)
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