Summary of the Assignment
Across the Globe, Africa, and Uganda in particular, teachers remain core to any educational processes. While the use of ICTs in education has for some time been advocated, the recent global health pandemic has scaled the interest in adoption of ICT by policy makers, development partners and those directly involved in the delivery of education services as the likely post-covid-19 strategy for promoting learning. IICBA has previously stated that good teaching is probably the most critical part of a solid education and the critical importance of teaching is also acknowledged by educators, practitioners, ministers of education, teacher unions, and society at large. The ways teachers are recruited, trained and deployed across schools play a key role in learning outcomes and in reducing inequalities. A high-quality teacher education is of critical importance for the quality and relevance of education at all levels, and to the high status of the teaching profession itself. UNESCO-IICBA strongly believes that there is a need for teacher education programs to work towards high standards in terms of the pedagogical integration of ICTs.
The advent of Covid19 has disrupted education in an unprecedented way, with some 191 countries closing their schools. This has affected 1.5 billion students and over 63 million primary and secondary teachers worldwide. Uganda has also experienced a lot of disruption in its education system where over 15 million learners enrolled in the education system in Uganda were sent home in March 2020. School closures put affected the gains that have been made by the education sector especially affecting the poorest and most marginalized children and youth. Governments have had to act rapidly to meet the challenge to continue providing quality education in this new environment, where face-to-face pedagogy is no longer possible and where teachers lack skills related to ICT, distance education and education in emergencies. Many teachers and teacher educators’ world over have also found themselves working online and remotely because of the COVID19 crisis even though a big number lack the required skills in the delivery of ICTs for teaching and learning.
Many efforts are being fronted by Education Development Partners to establish alternative teaching and learning approaches. This is in line with MoES covid-19 response objectives; 1) to minimize the adverse effects of COVID-19 on learners, teachers and the education system at large; 2) to promote coordination among education stakeholders and other agencies for a more effective response; and, 3) to enhance the capacity of Ministry of Education and Sports, DLGs and stakeholders to promote protection of learners and support continuity of learning.
The UNESCO – Teachers Task Force in its call to action, recommends providing adequate professional support and training to teachers to ensure that learning continues. Through the UNESCO Capacity Development for Education Project (CapED) for Uganda which seeks to “Strengthen national capacities in Uganda to plan and manage the teaching profession”, and in collaboration with UNESCO’s Institute for Capacity Development in Africa, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is undertaking an assessment of In-service Teachers’ Skills and Competencies in the use of ICTs for Teaching and Learning, whose results will lead to the development and moderation of an Online Course for Teachers.
Radix Management Consulting (U) Ltd was therefore contracted to work in collaboration with the UNESCO Kampala Project Office to undertake the assessment.
Purpose and Objectives of the Assignment
The purpose of the assignment is strengthening skills and competencies of in-service teachers in the use of ICTs for Teaching and Learning. It aims at promoting and improving the quality and diversity of ICT use towards the achievement of learning outcomes amidst the critical challenges that teachers and learners are facing with the Covid19 Pandemic. The assignment also assesses teachers’ preparation to utilize alternative teaching methods that can be contextualized amidst the Covid19 pandemic.
The objective of this survey is to assess ICT competency levels of targeted teachers in order to design appropriate capacity building interventions in line with the National Education Sector Contingency and response plan for Covid19 in Uganda.
Duration: July 2020 – October 2020