The KIX Africa 19 hub has officially launched their Community of Practice (CoP) series on the Foundations of Educational Quality with the African Curriculum Association (ACA).
On Thursday, July 1, 2021 UNESCO IICBA Director Dr. Yumiko Yokozeki welcomed participants from GPE partner countries by noting that the success of the sessions were "dependent on and driven by" participatory engagement.
The first of six sessions explored the realities of competency-based curriculum and education. Maurice Nkusi, an educator and executive committee member from the ACA, provided an overview of the material covering how to plan, design and develop competency-based curriculums (CBC). He shared an innovative visual conceptual mind mapping tool that was followed by a deep dive on Tanzania’s curriculum reforms.
Subsequently, participants from Somalia, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Lesotho and other GPE countries exchanged knowledge and experiences addressing competency-based education (CBE) in breakout rooms. Conversations ranged from contextual considerations to pedagogical brainstorming. A participant from the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports remarked, "CBC equips the learner with skills that can help him/her if that was the end of education at that level completed" and that CBE should "produce that graduate that will be useful to the society".
Tools such as Kopano, an online education forum bridging education quality gaps in Africa, were shared to encourage and sustain conversations amongst participants during and following the sessions. A CoP WhatsApp group and a digital repository will further enable participants to utilize and mobilize the collective experience and commitment to strengthen the foundations of educational quality. Partner representatives who attend 5 of the 6 CoP workshops will receive digital certificates issued by UNESCO IICBA.
Watch the highlights and the full recording from our first session. KIX Africa 19 Hub will be hosting upcoming CoPs on July 8, 15, 22, 29, and August 5.
For comments or questions about this article, please contact Gabriel Mekbib at UNESCO IICBA at gmekbib@unesco.org
