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December 2005 - January 2006
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| ADEA Activities |
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ADEA
organizes a seminar in Cotonou on curriculum adaptation
• Teacher
training colleges of various Francophone countries
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WG on Mathematics and Science Education holds training session
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WGECD meets in Maputo to take stock of ongoing work in
view • WG on Education Statistics redefines its mission in Johannesburg |
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The
quest for quality revisited More information |
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ADEA Participation in External Meetings |
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Third general assembly of the African
Network Campaign for Education
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BREDA regional seminar on higher
education in Africa
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Extraordinary conference of
Ministers of Education of the African |
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• Joris Van Bommel leaves ADEA Secretariat • New Coordinator for the WG on Mathematics and Science Education |
| Just Published |
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EQF Norms for Monitoring the Quality of Education in Benin
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| Upcoming... |
ADEA MEETINGS
February 27-28, 2006 Mauritius • WGDEOL 3rd Technical Committee Meeting March 27-31, 2006 Libreville Gabon • 2006 Biennale on Education in Africa External Meetings
April 25-26, 2006 Montreal, Canada • Education and Economic Development in Africa Canadian Council for Africa May 24-25, 2006 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia • 1st International Conference on ICT for Development |
| ADEA Activities |
ADEA organizes seminar in Cotonou on curriculum adaptation A seminar on curriculum adaptation, organized by ADEA, the intergovernmental organization for French-speaking countries (OIF) and BREDA, UNESCO’s regional office in Dakar (Senegal), took place in Cotonou (Benin) December 12-15, 2005. It brought together nine countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo (Brazzaville), Djibouti, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, Niger and Senegal. The International Bureau of Education (IBE), CEPEC international (Centre d'Etudes Pédagogiques pour l'Expérimentation et le Conseil) and ADEF also participated as resource institutions. The seminar was divided into three parts: • Presentation and discussion of country experiences; • Analytical presentations by experts concerning curriculum content, the skills-based approach, the integration of African languages as languages of instruction, and the integration of a gender dimension; and • In-depth group work based on themes covered during the plenary sessions. The results and conclusions drawn from the sessions highlighted the main trends and challenges involved in adapting curricula in Africa. They will guide ADEA's future work in the area of curriculum adpatation. Teacher training colleges in Francophone countries of Africa meet for first time in Dakar The first annual seminar-workshop for sharing of ideas and strengthening the capacities of actors and teacher training colleges from French-speaking African countries took place December 12 to 16, 2005 in Dakar (Senegal). The workshop is part of activities planned by ADEA's inter-country quality node on the professional development of teachers. The node is helping create a network of teacher training institutions and supporting them in efforts to reform the training of primary-school teachers within the framework of EFA. Forty-three participants representing nine countries attended: Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The Seminar helped forge an international strategic partnership formed by the ADEA Working Group on the Teaching Profession (WGTP), the Paul-Gerin-Lajoie interuniversity Center (ICPGL) of the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM), the International Institute for capacity-Building in Africa (IICBA) and the African Virtual University (AVU), which decided to establish a consortium that would collectively address teacher professional development issues in a more holistic way. Participants acknowledged the critical role that well-educated and trained teachers can play in delivering quality education. They also decided to formalize the creation of an International Network for Teacher Training in Africa with the intent of expanding the network to include Anglophone and Portuguese-speaking countries. Among the priorities identified for 2006 are: • Producing summary reports of all seminar-workshops; • Preparing a research agenda; • Conducting a literature review on teacher education in developing countries, particularly in Africa; • Conducting a study of teacher training and associated career problems; • Developing a web site and electronic newsletter to serve the network; • Establishing a trust fund to support research on teacher training. Mr. Mathias Kyélem, Director General of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Koudogou/Burkina Faso was unanimously elected as president of the board. Ø For more information, contact: Virgilio Juvane, Coordinator, WGTP, v.juvane@commonwealth.int Rwanda, Sudan and Zambia participate in training session on mathematics and science education ADEA's Working Group on Mathematics and Science Education (WGMSE) organized a training session on mathematics and science education December 13 to 23, 2005, for Zambia (38 participants), Sudan (19 participants) and Rwanda (15 participants). The training was a response to the Oslo conference in April 2005 when the Japanese government pledged US$100 million to Sudan, both North and South, to support the consolidation of peace in this war-torn area. The WGMSE Secretariat is also preparing to organize a long-term special training program for Sudan in 2006, and expects to open its door to other post-conflict regions such as Sierra Leone and Burundi. Plans to expand assistance to post-conflict regions are underway in cooperation with the NEPAD Secretariat. Also in December, WGMSE received a team from Japan to draw up plans for the expansion of Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), which is the home of the WGMSE Secretariat. The accommodation capacity of the centre will grow from its current 92 to 200 visitors upon completion of the construction at the end of 2007, thus enhancing its role as a centre of excellence in mathematics and science education in Africa. Ø For more information, contact: Mr. Takahiko Sujiyama, Leader; WGMSE, adm@smasse.org or Mr. Obadiah Maganga, Coordinator, WGMSE info@smasse.org WGECD meets in Maputo to take stock of ongoing work in view of the Biennale Early childhood development is undoubtedly a pre-requisite for school achievement. Why children drop out, repeat or fail to learn can be largely explained by what children experience in their early childhood years. Yet the link between early childhood years and educational systems in Africa has yet to be made. The 2006 Biennale seeks to address this by settling early childhood development as one of the 3 agenda items. The conference in Gabon will provide an excellent opportunity to carefully discuss the issues and come up with recommendations for African educational systems which will further enhance educational outcomes and quality of education in Africa. The Steering Committee of the WGECD met in Maputo, Mozambique in January, primarily to review the status of preparations for the Biennale and to ensure that the ECD sessions bring into sharp focus the challenges that need to be addressed: readiness of schools for children, readiness of children for school, costing and scaling up of ECD interventions, and a multi-sectoral approach to holistic development of the child that calls for effective coordination and close collaboration between all actors. The meeting also reviewed implementation of the recommendations of the 3rd regional ECD conference organized by WGECD in June 2005 with particular reference to strengthening regional networking and advancing national ECD agendas. A one day joint meeting with key ECD actors in Mozambique resulted in the agreement to appoint a lead ministry to coordinate the development of a national ECD agenda. Ø For more information, contact: Stella Etse, Coordinator, WGECD, setse@unicef.org WG on Education Statistics redefines its mission in Johannesburg The Working Group on Education Statistics met in Johannesburg (South Africa), February 2-3, 2006, to redefine its vision and chart the course of future development. Among the topics discussed were: • The Working Group’s mission within ADEA’s broader vision;
• Review of recent developments regarding the working
group and
• Review of the changing policy, institutional practice
and environment • Definition of WGES’s role, strategies and scope of activities;
• Future options for institutionalization of WGES and
links with ADEA, other The Working Group also provided input in the design of ADEA’s overall strategic planning exercise which will be carried out in 2006. Ø For more information, contact: Tegegn Nuresu Wako, WGES Interim Coordinator, t.nuresu-wako@unesco.org |
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The quest for quality revisited How to improve the quality of education will once more be the central concern of the 2006 Biennial Meeting on Education in Africa. In 2003, the meeting sought to highlight those features of the policy environment most conducive to delivering quality educational services for all children. The 2006 Biennale will take the matter further with an in-depth look at three aspects in particular: • Improving quality at classroom and school level; how to promote educational efficiency and to translate resources into results; • What literacy programs are most effective; • What early childhood development programs are most effective. Discussions will be enriched by results obtained from numerous studies carried out by ADEA that looked both at national and international experiences. The November Bulletin of News Briefs gave an overview of work conducted by the ADEA's WGs on Non-Normal Education (WGNFE) and Early Childhood Development (WGECD) that have looked into the conditions and factors underlying effective literacy and early childhood development programs. With regard to the first concern – improving quality in the classroom and in schools – the studies have addressed two main questions: 1) What are the features of effectiveness in schools and strategies for improving schools and classroom learning in Africa? The following issues will be explored: • The process of change and improving schools at local level, with a look at case studies from Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania an Uganda; • How to improve teaching and learning: reviews on the impact of teachers on learning findings on cost-effective inputs will be reviewed; • What is the experience with different strategies for using African languages as languages of instruction; • The role played by principals in improving the efficiency of their schools: case studies from Guinea, Mali and the Central African Republic will be presented; • Can decentralization help to improve the quality of education? Assessments have been carried out on direct support to schools (the case of Guinea, Madagascar and Senegal) and empowerment of communities and parents in school governance (based on eight country examples). 2) How can an equal opportunity to learn be ensured for disadvantaged children, especially in remote rural areas and for girls? Three documents will be brought to bear on these discussions: • An assessment of the cost effectiveness of non-formal models of basic schooling; • Experience with gender friendly instructional strategies and pedagogy; • Findings of a recent seminar on education for rural people. To date, the work underway perpetuates the “praxis approach” of ADEA: documenting action, learning from the experience of doing, in order to develop and improve action. There will be ample documentation presented during the Biennale and this will no doubt stimulate learning and reflection among all actors engaged in promoting the development of education in Africa. Ø For more information, contact: ADEA Secretariat. Tel: +33 14503 7757 – Fax +33 (0)1 4503 3965 adea@iiep.unesco.org, www. adeanet.org |
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ADEA Participation in External Meetings |
Third general assembly of the African Network Campaign for Education for All (ANCEFA) The Coordinator of the Working Group on Finance and Education was invited to attend the Third general assembly of the African Network Campaign for Education for All (ANCEFA) that was held in Dakar on November 29 and 30, 2005. ANCEFA is an umbrella institution for 29 national coalitions of civil society organizations across the African continent whose cardinal mission is to ensure that all African countries achieve all the EFA goals (the Dakar Framework for Action and the Millennium Development Goals included) by 2015. The meeting was officially opened by the Chief of Staff of the Senegalese Deputy Minister of Pedagogy and Quality Education on behalf of the Minister. The agenda included: • presentation and discussions concerning the ANCEFA annual report (including the plenary session for questions and answers); • identification of the key components of the new ANCEFA 2005-2010 strategic plan with a special emphasis on key priorities; • discussion and approval of the 2003, 2004 and 2005 financial reports as well as the funding strategies for the future; • presentation and adoption of the ANCEFA proposal on reforms and a revised constitutions; and • election of the new ANCEFA Board members. BREDA regional seminar on higher education in Africa The UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Dakar (BREDA) organized a regional seminar on higher education in Africa on December 1 and 2, 2005, devoted to Development of a platform for a better dialogue between higher education professors, professors’ unions and governments. It was attended by the Coordinator of the ADEA Working Group on Finance and Education (WGFE) whose four major strategic directions of intervention include the promotion of policy dialogue between the various stakeholders involved in the financing of education across the continent. The conference was attended by high ranking officials and union leaders of several African universities including Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Nigeria, Niger and Senegal. Representatives of UNICEF, the French Embassy in Dakar, the UNDP Development and Planning Institute, and the African Network Campaign for Education for All (ANCEFA) were also in attendance. The following sub-topics were covered at the meeting: • Overview of higher education in Africa • Higher Education and sustainable development in Africa • Higher education, reforms and globalization • Gender in higher education in Africa, • Academic exchanges in African higher education • The impact of the ILO/UNESCO Recommendations on the status of higher education professors; and • Assessment of teaching at tertiary level. The conference ended with a battery of recommendations for improving social dialogue among higher education stakeholders in Africa. Ø For more information see the BREDA website at: http://www.dakar.unesco.org/en_index.shtml Extraordinary Conference of African Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF) As a result of the decisions made at the MINEDAF meeting in Algiers, the Extraordinary Conference of African Ministers of Education was held on January 15, 2006, in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), at the initiative of the African Union. A meeting of experts held in Addis Ababa on January 13-14 preceded and paved the way for the conference. The goals of the conference were:
• to consider the evaluation report of the first decade
for education in Africa,
• to discuss the lessons learned regarding the new
framework for action
• to propose a plan to be submitted to the summit of
African heads of state A total of 51 countries were represented, 17 of them at ministerial level. Pan-African and international organizations also participated in the conference. The discussions emphasized the following points: • the need, in formulating a new action plan, to apply all the lessons learned from the evaluation of the last education decade: specifically, the need to focus on limited objectives, to take account of existing activities and stakeholders already active in the field with which partnerships can be developed, and to strengthen African institutions instead of duplicating their activities; • the advisability of considering the action plan presented rather as a general framework for action and revising it to focus on seven priority areas: education management information systems (EMIS), educational quality, science and technology (including vocational training), higher education, gender issues and underprivileged groups, displaced persons and refugees, and reconstruction in post-conflict situations; • the establishment of working groups to formulate and plan the activities relating to each of the areas of focus; • the need to identify clearly the comparative advantages of the African Union with a view to defining its basically political role in terms of leadership, coordination, advocacy and serving as a catalyst; • the appeal made to heads of state relating to the proclamation of 2006-2015 as a decade for education in Africa. The conference emphasized the importance of targeting the approaches used, considering that the situations in African countries are highly diverse and require specific analyses. On this basis, it should be possible to organize helpful exchanges of information and cooperative arrangements between countries. |
| People on the move |
Joris van Bommel leaves ADEA Secretariat Joris van Bommel, ADEA program officer from August 2003 to January 2006, has left the Secretariat to assume a post with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. ADEA wishes Mr. Van Bommel every success in his new position. New Coordinator for the WG on Mathematics and Science Education Mr. Bernard Njuguna, Coordinator for the Working Group on Mathematics and Science Education (WGMSE) since 2004 when the Working Group was created has left the Working Group. ADEA thanks Mr. Njuguna for the excellent work he has carried to implement WGMSE and launch its activities in 2005. We wish all the best to Mr. Njuguna in his future endeavors and we are pleased to welcome Mr. Obadiah Maganga, WGMSE’s new coordinator, within the ADEA network. Mr. Obadiah Maganga can be reached at info@smasse.org |
| Just Published |
Norms for Monitoring the Quality of Education in Benin As part of its reform of primary education, Benin adopted a plan of action called Ecole de Qualite Fondamentale (EQF) to help with its planning and monitoring stages. EQF defines the standards for quality schooling for the entire country. It then measures the distance between the actual situation and the desired norms. Following this assessment, it suggests some options for implementing changes in schools that take full account of available means and resources. This exercise requires the participation of all school actors; the standards expected evolve over time and are adapted to suit each succeeding evaluation outcome. This publication, put together by a team from the department of planning and forward-looking studies of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, describes how EQF was conceived and implemented. It presents the results obtained in Benin primary school between 1996 and 2001, offers lessons learned and some of the challenges that remain. Ø Norms (EQF) for Monitoring the Quality Education in Benin African Experiences - Country Case Studies Series No.9. ADEA Secretariat. |
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| Upcoming... |
ADEA MEETINGS
February 27-28, 2006 WGDEOL 3rd Technical Committee Meeting The 3rd meeting of the Technical Committee of the ADEA Working Group Distance Education and Open Learning (WGDEOL) is scheduled to take place February 27-28, in Mauritius. The meeting will: • take stock of work done by the WG; • reorient its future direction in the light of its achievements and objectives; • review operational constraints; and • discuss funding matters. Besides the above points, the major thrusts of discussions will be on inter-working group collaborations as well as collaborative ventures for the development of OER initiatives with all organizations dealing with distance education matters in sub-Saharan Africa. Ø For further information, please contact: Dr R.S. Lutchmeah, Coordinator, WGDEOL, lutchmeah@intnet.mu March 27-31, 2006 ADEA Biennial Meeting on Education in Africa The iennial Meeting on Education in Africa is the most important regional get-together on education in Africa. The 2006 Biennale will be focusing on factors and conditions underlying effective schools and literacy and early childhood education programs. On March 27, on the eve of the Biennale, the Caucus of Ministers of Education from sub-Saharan Africa will discuss activities related to the African Union's new decade for education in Africa (2006 – 2015) as well as ADEA’s priorities and strategies for the future. Ø For more information, contact: Thanh-Hoa Desruelles, ADEA Secretariat, Communications and Publications Officer, th.desruelles@iiep.unesco.org |
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ADEA Briefs is a monthly information bulletin that is distributed electronically to ADEA members and partners in order to keep them abreast of the association's activities. The bulletin is produced by the ADEA Secretariat. For more information about the bulletin or to send in your comments, please contact the editor, Thanh-Hoa Desruelles, tel: +33(0) 145 03 77 69; fax: +33(0) 145 03 39 65; e-mail: th.desruelles@iiep.unesco.org; web site: http://www.adeanet.org/ | |
