The Soul Beat 178 - Communication for Education and Development
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
- Communicating for SAFE AND QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL...
- FARMER-TO-FARMER LEARNING Survey...
- TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION experiences and resources...
- SEARCHING SOUL BEAT AFRICA for more information...
- Tools for EMPOWERING TEACHERS...
- Communicating HEALTH AND SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS...
This issue of The Soul Beat presents experiences, thinking and resources about communication in and about education in Africa, focusing on safe and quality education for all, technology in education, resources for empowering teachers, and promoting health and science in schools.
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SAFE AND QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL
1. Stop Violence Against Girls in School Project - Ghana, Kenya, and Mozambique
The Stop Violence Against Girls in School project, launched by ActionAid and local partners in Ghana, Kenya, and Mozambique in 2008, uses a combined approach consisting of community-level initiatives, research, and advocacy to empower girls and reduce violence against girls in schools (VAGS).The project is working toward four key outcomes, which it hopes to achieve by 2013. These include: ensuring that a legal and policy framework specifically addressing violence against girls in schools exists and is being implemented at all levels; reducing violence against girls by family, teachers, and peers by 50% from baseline statistics; and achieving 22% increase in girls' school enrolment and a 20% decrease in drop out rates, as well as substantial progress towards gender parity in education.
2. Learn Without Fear: Campaign Progress Report
By Emily Laurie
Published in July 2010, this report details some of the results which have been achieved since the global launch of Plan International's Learn Without Fear campaign in October 2008. Running in 44 countries, Learn Without Fear is a campaign to end violence against children in schools, with a particular focus on sexual violence, bullying, and corporal punishment. The report, which includes figures from a May-July 2010 survey, demonstrates how Plan is taking steps to stop violence in schools and shows that progress is already being made - from legislative changes to approaches such as positive discipline training for teachers and use of social media to reach out to communities.
3. Child-Friendly Schools Manual
This manual, published by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in 2009, is a resource on the child-friendly schools (CFS) approach developed by UNICEF through a network of international and national partners. It promotes quality education for all children, in everyday situations as well as in emergencies. This manual is part of a total resource package that includes an e-learning package for capacity-building in the use of CFS models and a collection of field case studies to illustrate the state of the art in CFS in a variety of settings.
4. UNICEF'S Child-Friendly Schools: Uganda Case Study
By Colette Chabbott
This January 2010 case study examines UNICEF's role in the child-friendly schools (CFS) initiative in Uganda, a country where in 1992 nearly 50% of eligible primary-school-age children were not in school (with numbers in the north, where rebel groups continued to fight, even higher). As detailed here, to remedy the lack of access to education, the Government of Uganda and UNICEF developed the Complementary Opportunities for Primary Education (COPE) programme in 1994-1995. COPE aimed to quickly establish primary schools where they were most needed, specifically in 4 northern districts of the Acholi region, with a focus on older children, up to age 16, who had never attended primary school.
5. New Lessons: The Power of Educating Adolescent Girls
By Cynthia B. Lloyd and Juliet Young
This December 2009 document, part of a series called Girls Count, identifies an array of educational approaches for adolescent girls. This study provides new data and analysis from research on more than 300 past and current programmes and projects. It offers evidence on how proven practices, including scholarships for girls and the recruitment and training of female teachers, can increase the number of adolescent girls attending school, and highlights the paedagogical approaches that enhance learning and employment. Some strategies related to communication and gleaned from the programmes studied include: literacy classes for mothers, so that they can better support their adolescent daughters' education; campaigns and advocacy against practices that are obstacles to girls' education and well-being, such as female genital mutilation (FGM/C), early marriage, or child labour; girl-friendly" curriculum topics; and flexible hours and mobile schools.
SURVEY - VIDEO BASED FARMER-TO-FARMER LEARNING?
The Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS), the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), with Agro-Insight, are implementing the following survey. Answers will be used to map existing initiatives, video use, and future directions. How can video and a web-based platform for video exchange contribute to farmer-to-farmer learning among the rural poor across the globe, with a focus on sustainable agriculture? Click here for the survey.
6. Nokia Mobile Learning for Mathematics Project - South Africa
Initiated in 2009 with a first trial in 2010, the Nokia Mobile Learning for Mathematics project works to support mathematics education in South African schools using the web, social networking, and mobile applications to deliver learning material directly to students' cell phones. Teachers can also use the content in their classroom lessons. The ImfundoYami / ImfundoYethu (Our education, My education) project first conceptualised the project, which was implemented in a partnership involving government departments and private companies, including Nokia and Nokia Siemens Network (NSN). Organisers say students can practise mathematics exercises from a cell phone at any time and receive immediate feedback, while teachers only need a two-day training course to learn how to use the new service.
7. Using Mobile Technology for Learner Support in Open Schooling
By Alice Barlow-Zambodla and Fatima Adams
This report, published in 2008, summarises the findings of a preliminary research study on the use of mobile technology for learner support in open schooling in developing countries. It follows a Commonwealth of Learning (COL) study of open schooling as a way to address the need for more secondary education. The authors found that mobile communication can be problematic unless there is a good understanding of how the technology can be used and a range of guidelines and protocols to ensure that communication is effective, timely, safe, respectful, and comfortable for all participants.
By Michael Trucano
This document contains the top posts of 2009 by month from the World Bank's EduTech blog site. According to the Introduction: "In 2009 the World Bank's education sector conducted a year-long pilot experiment to explore a variety of new methods and channels to disseminate its messages and engage with stakeholders in new ways..." to explore issues related to the use of information and communication technologies to benefit education in developing countries and attempt to highlight particular initiatives, studies, and emerging trends.
9. Mobile Solar Computer Classroom - Uganda
Initiated in 2007, the Mobile Solar Computer Classroom (MSCC) is designed to address the problems of limited hands-on technology instruction due to poor infrastructure and the lack of skills to meet the needs of the technology sector in East Africa. Developed by Maendeleo Foundation, the project trains primary school students in using information and communication technologies (ICTs) by taking solar-powered computers to them in their schools, where there is often a lack of electricity and infrastructure. As internet access is unreliable in Uganda, organisers could not depend on teaching skills with a live web connection. In order to get around this challenge, the Foundation introduced purpose-built training software that provides graduated skills training using cached web content (content saved by web browsers for offline viewing) where the internet is not readily available.
10. Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in Education for Development
By Brian Gutterman, Shahreen Rahman, Jorge Supelano, Laura Thies and Mai Yang
This July 2009 paper aims to explain the current state of how information and communication technology (ICT) is being used in education and how it can better benefit current and future users. From the Introduction: "Considered as a powerful tool to promote social and economic development, education has become a primary focus of the recently forged Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) community, especially in the Least Developed Countries." http://www.comminit.com/africa/node/308185 11. ICT and Changing Mindsets in Education According to this January 2008 report, the debate is no longer whether to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education in Africa but how to do so, and how to ensure equitable access for teachers and learners, whether in urban or rural settings. This publication looks at how Africans adopt and adapt ICT and how ICT is shaping African schools and classrooms. It seeks to answer some of the following questions: Do girls and boys use ICT in the same way? How are teachers and students in primary and secondary schools in Africa using ICT in teaching and learning? Why might they not be using ICT, and what are the barriers? How does the process of using ICT transform relations among learners, educators, and knowledge construction?
Looking for more information about media and communication and Africa? Visit the Soul Beat Africa website, click on the Search button and filter by Development Issue, Education.
12. The Voice of Teachers Radio Show - Nigeria
Initiated by Teachers Without Borders (TWB), The Voice of Teachers (VOT) radio show is a radio-based education initiative designed to empower, connect, and celebrate outstanding teachers and community members so that they can play a more vital role in their communities. The programme, which started broadcasting in February 2009, offers educational news, resources, and professional development to teachers and communities and obtains feedback from listeners through phone-ins and SMS (text) messages.
13. Impact of KnowZone on the Quality of Teaching and on Teachers in General
This online summary report, published in 2009, is based on a report published by the Institute of Education, London and Synovate, Nairobi. It evaluates the KnowZone initiative, a literacy and numeracy communication project designed for children between ages 9 and 12. KnowZone was broadcast on Kenyan television in the early evenings in 2009 and was also used in schools. According to the publisher, besides children in school, the programme sought to reach children watching with siblings, parents and caregivers watching with children, school drop-outs and children in informal schooling, and teachers who are seeking in-service training.
This Curriculum, published by the Higher Education HIV and AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) in 2010, describes an emerging community of practice among South African educators who are teaching and conducting research in the context of HIV and AIDS. According to the publishers, the idea for the document arose from an appreciation of the complexities associated with teaching in the area of HIV/AIDS and the fact that one set of learning materials cannot fully address these complexities. More than anything, the publication is meant to be a resource for teacher-educators in South Africa who are grappling with the many issues related to the question of what it means to be a teacher-educator in the age of AIDS.
15. EduSud: ICT in Education in Africa Portal
The EduSud portal, created specifically for teachers by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Regional Office in Dakar (better known under its French acronym BREDA), is designed to help teachers discover the world of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and to provide tools, advice, references, educational resources, and other materials, to help integrate technologies into training and teaching contexts. The portal is available in English and French.
16. Engaging School Communities with Health Research and Science in Kilifi District, Kenya
Implemented by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust programme in Kilifi, Kenya from September 2008 to March 2010, Engaging School Communities with Health Research and Science was a pilot schools engagement initiative designed to strengthen partnerships between researchers, the education sector, and local communities who participate in research. Using participatory action research, workshops, and focus group discussions (FGD), the initiative was designed to improve understanding of science and health research, and stimulate young people to question their own attitudes towards science.
17. Promoting Science in Schools: Research Institutes Play Their Part
By Alun Davies, Bibi Mbete, Dickson Ole Keis and Samson Kinyanjui
This article discusses the potential role of research institutes to enrich school science, demystify health research in the communities in which they work, and encourage future generations of scientists and health workers. It focuses on the work of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust programme (KEMRI-WTP) in Kilifi, Kenya.
18. EDUCAIDS Evaluation 2009: Key Findings, Recommendations and UNESCO's Actions
This report, published in June 2010, summarises the key findings and recommendations from an independent evaluation of the implementation of EDUCAIDS, the Global Initiative on Education and HIV & AIDS, which is a multi-country initiative launched by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2004 to promote, develop, and support comprehensive education sector responses to HIV and AIDS. Since it was established, 80 countries have engaged with EDUCAIDS by: developing and disseminating the guiding framework and technical resources, conducting regional and country workshops, implementing activities, and developing and managing a website for sharing resources (e.g., the EDUCAIDS resource pack) and documenting progress.
Related previous issues include:
The Soul Beat 136 - Promoting Literacy in Africa
The Soul Beat 121 - Communication in Education
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