END OF PROJECT REPORT
DADAAB REFUGEE TEACHERS’ CAPACITY BUILDING
ON PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS AND TEACHING PROFESSIONALISM
IMPLEMENTED BY AVSI FOUNDATION
FUNDED BY UNICEF
PROJECT LIFE TIME: FEBRUARY 2011 TO SEPTEMBER 2012
1.0 Executive Overview
1.1 Project Description
Since 2009 AVSI has been working in the field of education in Dadaab to strength the
capacity of primary school teachers in the three camps (Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley),
offering them the opportunity to undergone a CPTE training (Certificate in primary
teacher education) in collaboration with Mount Kenya University. Based on the
experience of AVSI in Dadaab and more than 20 years’ experience in the field of
education in Kenya, AVSI recognized that the teachers in the refugees camps in
Dadaab, were indeed of more than the CPTE training, that gives them the necessary
skills to teach. AVSI underlined the need to support the teachers in realizing the
importance of their work, as an opportunity to help the young generations to grow and
face their life in all the aspects. This view and methodology is part of a larger view of
education that AVSI has, based on the experience and work on the filed all around the
world. AVSI believes that “Education is an introduction to total reality” in which
the word “total” means both “all-inclusive” and “to full maturity14”. The human being,
intended as a single person with all of his/her talents and needs, is the core of any
development, which means that the person must be at the center of any intervention.
Starting from this idea, AVSI’s methodology in the area of education takes into account
the following essential elements. Tradition, intended as “the structure of values and
meanings into which a child is born15”, is the starting point for any educational process.
The master (educators, teachers and important adults): A proposal is not based only on
rules and assumptions, but it passes through an individual who lives it personally.
The freedom of the child: Every human being is unique and unrepeatable, endowed
with reason through which he/she critically evaluates what is received and transforms it.
Starting from these aspects and methodology, AVSI developed a wider concept of
Quality of education that can exist in an environment in which learners are
introduced to the discovery of themselves, the absolute and unique value of their
existence, the meaning of reality and also the capacity to use their freedom to act and
make decisions. Only such an educative environment shapes “responsible adults”:
people capable of standing in front of the whole of reality and facing its challenges not
simply by repeating defined schemes, but by expressing their self-awareness and acting
in accordance to it with total responsibility and creativity. In this way the learning
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process becomes a fascinating experience that stems from the encounter between the
master and the child; relevant knowledge, skills, and values become means to help the
learner in the process of discovering and developing his potential. The attention to the
child leads to an attention to each and every aspect of the reality that can help the
educational experience: In the process of education, parents and teachers work hand
in hand for a coherent and balanced education; The content taught in school is
reflected in relevant curricula and creative learning materials and tools; The teachers
use child-centered teaching approaches to facilitate learning and increase the attention
given to each and every child; and Environments should be healthy, safe, and provide
adequate resources and facilities that help the child to discover the love for beauty and
order.
As a result the concept of “quality” cannot be reduced to the ability of the educators to
master the best or latest techniques or tools, but rests more on their capacity to relate to
the children and engage them in the active discovery of reality Similarly “quality” cannot
be reduced to learning outcomes as measured by tests and evaluations, though these
will certainly play an important role in assessing the quality of a learning environment
and the effectiveness of a teacher. Instead, assessment of quality of an educational
environment must reflect the scope of the educative task.
AVSI and UNICEF found compatibility of this way of looking at education and of the role
of the teacher, sharing the fact that teachers needs to receive periodic, relevant and
structured trainings to recognize signs of distress in the learners and become more
conscious of the different needs of boys and girls and to address them promptly. Based
on this AVSI and UNICEF decided to start a collaboration in building the capacity of
primary school teachers.
The teacher capacity building training was started in Dagahaley on 6th
Feb. 2012
following consultative meetings between AVSI and the education Primary education IPs
in Dadaab. The intervention was aimed at addressing the growing number of untrained
teachers in the primary school due to the continuous increase in demand for education
in the camps. The syllabus for such a teacher development program includes
understanding and utilizing the available referral mechanisms and already in existence in
Dadaab (Save the Children, UNHCR Protection Team). AVSI ‘s intervention was also
anchored on its thinking that creating self-awareness and gender sensitivity of teachers
2
is critical considering the role they play as educators/ teachers particularly at the primary
school level where permanent human character forms.
The capacity building syllabus was a hybrid of various curriculum sources:
1. AVSI’s “Basic Training on The Risk of Education” and “The Value of the Person,
Trainer’s Manual”1
2. The Kenya Ministry of Education pre and in-service Teacher Training Syllabus
3. Primary school and ECDE syllabus
4. UNHCR/UNICEF/UNESCO documents and
manuals on primary teacher
education programs
5. INEE Guidebook
1.2 Project objectives
The project set the following objectives:
a) Impart practical (Hands-on) knowledge on primary pedagogy for those without any
formal training.
b) Improve and update pedagogical skills for those with some form of training,
particularly on child-centered pedagogy.
c) Capacity development and understanding of the centrality of the human person (the
child- boy and girl in classroom) in the teaching preparation and delivery methods.
d) Capacity development and understanding of teaching professionalism and integrity.
e) Improve the quality of classroom delivery and classroom management through
practical teacher preparation and presentation skills development.
1
Basic Training on the Risk of Education, manual for Educators, Teachers, Parents, Social Workers, Correctional
Officers, by Clara Broggi, Giovanna Orlando, Luisa Cogo, Published by AVSI.
The Value of the Person, Trainer’s Manual, by Clara Broggi, Lucia Castelli, Danson S.Kahyana, Alfred B.Agaba, Mauro
Giacomazzi, published by AVSI
3
1.3 Implementation plan
The intervention was designed to practically tackle the daily tasks of a teacher by
working with experienced teacher educators. The implementation approach was to have
a heavy bias on the practical aspects of skills development by applying the “reflective
practitioner method”. The method is an in-service approach to the teacher development
where the teachers who are already teaching get enhanced in their skills and
competencies through a training tailor-made to address their day to –day teaching
experiences. The information got from the trainers and the experiences shared by
colleagues during the training sessions are reflected back to the classrooms where the
teachers are followed up by the trainers during the classroom observation sessions.
AVSI targeted 60 refugee teachers (both men and women) to build on the existing
cadre of refugee teachers under its past or current training programme to support their
growth in terms of their human potential. Low motivation and remuneration of teachers
were seen as factors contributing to poor learning outcomes, reflected in students'
results on the national exams. The intervention was therefore based on the teachers’
understanding of their role in the growth of the child and their capacity to take steps to
address any form of distress children can have inside and outside the classroom.
Modern child-centered pedagogies skills were taught including active engagement of the
children by addressing needs, age and capacities of learners and the teachers were
offered an introduction to sensitivity and care and the role of the communities through
participation of children parents, tutors and relatives.
Considering the peculiarity of the program and the wish of AVSI to merge the AVSI
method with the practical development of skills, AVSI selected three specific educators
who would match the requirements of the targeted teachers. One of the educator was
chosen based on his long experience in teacher education with the Government of
Kenya and his past experience in the Dadaab teacher development interventions. The
other educator has training and rich experience in life skills and teacher communication
specialization. The third trainer has worked with AVSI before in other projects and is very
knowledgeable on the AVSI methods. The synergies of the three educators work
harmoniously to address the teacher training needs of the targeted number. All the three
educators have high qualifications in the field of educations and years of experience as
teachers and managers/trainers.
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1.4 Description of beneficiaries
The project targeted 60 teachers (20 from each of the original camp- Ifo, Hagadera and
Dagahaley with a total of 19 primary schools).
The head teachers in all the schools were involved in the identification and selection of
the teachers to participate in the capacity building using the following criteria:
Teachers in the lower, middle and upper primary levels.
Teachers who are not currently in the CPTE teaching practice session.-The
targeted teachers did not have any form of training and in one camp where we
have new settlement of the refugees, 4 female teachers had a poor mastery of
the English language since they were new arrivals from Somali.
A 1/3 of the teachers identified should be female.
The number of teacher who attended the course
Camps
Total
Females
Males
Dagahaley
19
6
13
Hagadera
20
4
16
Ifo
20
6
14
Total
59
16
43
The beneficiaries gained
skills and competences in the specific areas that were
identified as the most critical areas of needs by the primary education managers and
particularly the quality assurance officers based on their daily teachers’ assessment
experience. The implementation approach was to have a heavy bias on the practical
aspect in the skills development by applying the reflective practitioner method. The
educators were to ensure that the theoretical knowledge is applied through micro
teaching and group presentation and individualized classroom observations follow up
coaching and professional counseling.
Micro-teaching was conducted throughout the during the training sessions where the
teacher trainees were converted into a mock class and each trainee was asked to apply
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various aspects of the training as the other trainees observed and corrected each other
in a feedback session. This peer learning worked well since the teacher trainees would
relate very well with their day-today real school environment and they would freely
correct themselves under the guidance of the AVSI educators. The micro teaching
sessions were vibrant and interactive and reflected on the teachers’’ performances at
school
,
1.5 Project activities overview
The three AVSI educators and the education coordinator implemented the training and
capacity building in 3 hours per day for three week days (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays) for X weeks. The training was designed to apply the reflective practitioner
approach where the AVSI teacher trainers would guide the trainees to apply the practical
and theoretical skills and knowledge in a school context under the guidance and
tutorship of the trainers. Generally the theoretical training sessions were structured as
follows:
1) Synthesis of the previous session
15 minutes
2) Interactive Expositions
60 minutes
3) Open topic discussion and questions
30 minutes
4) Movies/ Video clips
45 minutes
5) Group work
30 minutes
A variety of other methods of content delivery were used depending on the nature of the
topic at hand. Some of the other methods applied during the training were:
Micro teaching
Drama and Dioramas
School Role playing
Demonstrations
Expositions – explaining certain aspects
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Lectures
Plenary presentation
Audio visual presentations
Classroom observations and professional counseling at school level.
Training / Capacity development Activities indictors
a) Number Work plans and capacity building syllabus developed and shared with
the donor – UNICEF.
b)
Number of Lesson plans jointly drawn and applied by the educators and the
trainees
c) Number of Joint schemes work developed with the assistance of the educators
during the training.
d) Number of filled Classroom observation records with follow-up notes for teachers’
future reference.
e) Number of Teaching and learning materials jointly developed in the training
sessions.
f)
Number of Trainees’ weekly attendance registers.
g) Number of bi-monthly monitoring reports.
h) Number of Evaluation reports’ at the end of the training.
2.0 Project Performance
As the project comes to close the on 02.09.2012 AVSI educators trained the 59 teacher
trainees from across the three camps. The two training aspects in the project, the
theoretical and the practical follow up sessions at the school level by the AVSI educators
were successfully completed and teachers certified at the end of the training.
2.1 Milestone and Deliverables Performance
As per a jointly agreed and revised syllabus which was shared with UNICEF, the
teachers were trained on the topics listed below:
a) Positive discipline
1. Life Skills and Child Protection
b) Communication skills
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c) Psychosocial skills
d) Content mastery
d) Self-awareness
e) The art of teaching
e) Cross cutting issues in
education
2. Teacher Professional Ethics And
Teaching Profession
a) National teacher
professional ethics
5. Learning Objectives
a) Learning styles
b) SMART objectives
c) Lesson plan execution
d) Lesson attainment
e) Subject objectives
b) Refugee schools
professional status
6. Pedagogy
c) Teachers work ethics
a) The art of teaching
d) School culture
b) Learner centered approaches
e) Family values in
c) Learners participation
education
d) Introduction to TALULAR
3. The Value Of Education
a) Centrality of the person
concept
e) Inclusive/integrated approaches
b) Education and self- value
c) Education to totality
in teaching
f)
d) Quality aspects in
education
e) Positive choice making
preparation
g) Schemes of work
h) Lesson plan
i)
f)
Teacher – pupil relationships
4. Key Education Terms
Teacher planning and
Teaching and learning
resources
j)
Record of work covered
a) Basic Curriculum study
k) Learners progress record
b) Subject Syllabus
l)
Administrative record
c) Learning styles
2.3 Areas practically covered in the classroom observations and follow-up
sessions
The practical phase of the training by the AVSI educators and the education
coordinators went hand-in-hand with the theoretical/ skills development. School visits
were organized in all the camps where the teachers under the capacity building were
2
coached at the school level in the document preparation and resource development
before the lessons were observed. After the observation of the lessons, the educators
went through the report and specifically addressed the teachers’ personal outputs in the
classroom. This approach brought the educators closer to the teachers and the teaching
unique realities in the context of refugee classrooms. A copy of the observation reports
was left with the teachers for personal reference and as a means of continuity for
personal development as the project closes. A sample of teachers from each camp was
practically followed to the school for further hands–on training and demonstrations in the
classroom
The following areas were covered during the school-based capacity building:
Teacher preparation
a) Lesson plan development and effective use/application when teaching
b) Preparation of schemes of work and linking it to the syllabus and lesson plan use
c) Tactics of teacher’s Innovation/flexibility in execution in response to classroom
happenings
d) How to create coherence of the schemes of work and learning level and learners’
capabilities
e) Teaching and learning resources/ materials development and appropriate use in
teaching
f)
Making lesson notes and effective chalkboard use
The teaching processes
a) Teacher’s mastery of subject matter
b)
Applying communication skills
c) Classroom management tactics/skills
d) Child centered teaching methods and their suitability to the content
e)
Classroom stimulus variation and innovation
f)
Teacher’s personality and attitude towards the lesson and learners
g) Efficient use of teaching and learning aids/resources/materials
Pupils’ responses and participation
a) Handling learners’ responses and positive reinforcement
2
b) Learners’ participation and questioning techniques
c) Quantitative and Qualitative learners’ work marking and checking, during the
lesson and evidence of past records of marking/checking
d) Consideration and involvement of learners with various learning speeds
(inclusiveness in learners’ participation)
e) Drawing and sustaining learners’ interest in a lesson
f)
Teacher’s attitude towards learners as a human being( the value of a person)
Attainment of Lesson Objectives
a) How to attain lesson objectives in the course of teaching
b) Effective teaching activities that results in actual learning results
c) Applying teacher skills and competences to facilitate pupils’ learning
d) Measuring achievement of lesson objectives
e) Addressing learners’ needs in large classes
f)
Quality teaching and learners’ participation in the development of learning
materials
2.4 Project Success Criteria
The achievement criteria for the theoretical and the practical components were
measured, discussed with the trainees and recorded by the educators. The numerous
number of delivery method had its own measurement criteria for the teacher who
attended the sessions. The table below shows the summary of the camp attendance
records throughout the training periods:
Camp
Highest
Lowest
Average
Mode
Attendance %
Attendance %
Attendance %
Attendance
%
Dagahaley
100
24
80
88
Ifo
100
22
72
100
Hagadera
100
25
78
92
2
From the table above, it is notable that the teacher trainees valued the project based on
their attendance. In Ifo camp for instance, the attendance rate for most of the training
sessions was 100% which means that most of the participants successfully went through
the syllabus content in its entirety.
Absences of teacher trainees ware attributed to a number of factors. Three major
reasons given by the teachers were:
i.
Competing activities in the camp – this challenge was particularly experienced
during the school holiday when some agencies implemented out-of-camp
capacity building of the same teachers under this project.
ii.
Lack of support by the school and the camp teacher managers – In some days
some teachers were asked to attend to other duties at school during the training
sessions.
iii.
Personal
Camp–life
related
challenges:
Teachers
under
the
program
occasionally missed training sessions and quoted a range of personal matters as
reasons for missing. These included: attending resettlement interviews, food
ration collection, seeking medical attention and others.
During the classroom observations, the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards
in Kenya classroom observation schedule was customized for the practical training. The
Quality Assurance and Standards Officers were informed and where possible involved in
the exercise to ensure continuity and follow ups. The customized observation/ practical
capacity building tool was shared with the Donor who was also invited for the school
based exercise for joint M&E. The tool assessed four key areas each with multiple
components as detailed above. The summary of the camp results were as follows:
CAMP
Teacher
The
Pupils
Lesson
preparation
teaching
response and
attainment
process
participation
DAGAHELEY
80%
87%
90%
75%
IFO
55%
75%
80%
80%
HAGADERA
65%
70%
80%
65%
Average
67%
77%
83%
73%
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From the summary of the results above one can conclude that:
1. The trained teachers posted the best results in the classroom management
which involves the learners’ participation. It then means that their classes are
friendlier and participatory.
2. The pedagogical skills seem to be the other area that showed impressive results.
The teaching and learning skills dictates the learning outcomes and thus the 77%
score in this area is an encouraging impact.
3. The area that scored the lowest is in teacher preparation. It implies that future
intervention in the teacher development should focus more on this area. The
teachers gave a number of challenges in the refugees camp set up that are
attributed to their under preparation chief among them being lack of suitable
working spaces both at home and schools. The refugee schools do not have
staffrooms and the few that have are without furniture for teachers.
Appropriate teacher preparation particularly in teaching and learning resource
development and innovation is both a skill and cultural attitude that takes time to
develop. It is intricately intertwined with teaching professional growth that matures with
age and continuous capacity building, done in a structured program.
4
3.0 Highlights, Lessons Learned & Best Practices
3.1 Key Highlights
The overall capacity building went on as planned. The key objectives were achieved to a
greater extent than planned. From the table of The principle beneficiaries will be the
students taught by the teachers who underwent the capacity building and the impact of
the intervention, being an education outcome, will take time and a comprehensive study
to be documented. However, at the output level, it was evident during the classroom
observation and teacher mentorship follow-up that positive results were achieved. As
reported, achievement in the area of Pupils’ responses and participation in the lesson
scored the highest score, 83% for the teachers observed in all the camps compared to
the other aspects in the observation schedule.
Learner’s participation is critical in the any lesson development since it forms the basis
of the learner-centered methodologies. The following are the key parameters that the
classroom observation schedule captures:
1. The teachers’ ability to discourage choral responses from the learners and focus
on individual learners as much as possible in the course of the lesson
2. The teachers’ ability to encourage speculation from the learners and require
more than yes/no answer of the recall of information
3. The distribution of questions and time given to learners’ responses on equal
basis for boys and girls
4. Teacher calls on students to answer questions, explain ideas and report back on
activities in front of class
5. Teacher identifies students with special educational needs, both gifted and those
with learning disabilities, to ensure they fully participate in teacher/student
interactions.
5
This can be attributed to AVSI’s methods of teacher education where the educators
integrated the principles of the Basic Training on the Risk of Education and The Value of
the Person, Trainer’s Manual content that was contextualized to the Dadaab teachers’
environment.2 These two instruments allow the educator to help the students (teachers)
to stay in front of their profession and pupils with an open mind, starting to look at
education not as an inculcation of notions and skills, but as an opportunity to help their
students to grow in all aspects of their lives. This approach is possible only if the teacher
is willing to overcome the distance always present between teacher and student, starting
to look at him/her as a single individual with needs and desires. In this way the teacher
can build up a relationship that will accompany the pupil throughout his/her education.
3.2 Lessons Learnt and best practices
The most critical lessons learnt by AVSI in the course of implementing the project were
as follows:
a) Individualized teacher capacity building using the reflective practitioner method is well
suited for the teachers in Dadaab. The teachers under the project were able to share
with the trainers at a personal level the challenges associated with refugee school
teaching and the educators developed good rapport with the teachers.
b) There is need for the primary IPs to support teachers’ capacity building as a nonmonetary motivation strategy for the refugee teachers. In Dagahaley camp where the
primary IP supports the teachers undergoing the capacity building, the teachers’
motivation was very high throughout the training.
c) Innovative modes of content delivery for the capacity building such as video showings
had the greatest impact on the teachers. For days, the teachers discussed the
parallels between the educational videos recorded in different contexts and what they
go through every day in the refugee camp schools. This is an approach that can be
explored further to expose teachers to other schools implementing the Kenyan
curriculum operate outside the camp context.
d) The greatest gap in the teachers is in resource development and application in
classroom teaching. Due to the environmental and social-cultural orientations of the
2
Basic Training on the Risk of Education, manual for Educators, Teachers, Parents, Social Workers, Correctional
Officers, by Clara Broggi, Giovanna Orlando, Luisa Cogo, Published by AVSI.
The Value of the Person, Trainer’s Manual, by Clara Broggi, Lucia Castelli, Danson S.Kahyana, Alfred B.Agaba, Mauro
Giacomazzi, published by AVSI
6
majority of the teachers, they had challenges in collecting discarded materials for use
as teaching aids.
e) For the future, the curriculum for capacity building needs to be narrowed to specific
areas that this project has identified as most essential.
f) The teachers who went through the capacity building asked to be considered for other
forms of trainings. Their feedback can be utilized to develop a continuous teacher
education and capacity building program where one project/program feeds and/or
benefits form the other.
g) There is need to harmonize and coordinate all the training programs and curricula
implemented by various actors through information sharing and discussions on
various interventions and syllabi to be used.
h) In the event of acute insecurity, there is need to ensure continuity in the teacher
capacity building activities even when the national trainers are unable to go to the
camps for training.
3.3 Project Closure Recommendations
AVSI wishes to make the following recommendations to the donor based on the
experience gained from implementing the project:
1. UNICEF should seriously consider implementing a similar project in their next funding
cycle to ensure continuity in the capacity building of the refugee teachers.
2. A comprehensive survey needs to be undertaken to measure the impact of the
capacity building intervention. For this to be fruitful, a baseline assessment needs to
be conducted for the targeted teachers to determine their skills and behaviors at
entry.
3. AVSI and UNICEF should consider sharing this report with other UNHCR and IPs in
Dadaab education as a basis of advocating for future interventions of similar nature
with a view to mainstreaming and coordinating capacity building of the refugee
teachers.
4. UNHCR and UNICEF should develop a clear teacher education strategy where
teachers’ capacity building is a mainstream program in Dadaab.
5. AVSI should consider developing a Dadaab based capacity building syllabus and
share with all IPs based its experience and role as teacher education IP in Dadaab.
7
3. 4. Project Outstanding Tasks
Due to security issues, the capacity building training started with four months of delay as
per the PCA signed between AVSI and UNICEF. Due to this, an extension of four
months has been granted by UNICEF to allow AVSI to conclude the program.
AVSI concluded the capacity building training with a closing ceremony where certificates
of participation have been given to 53 out of 59 students who participated in at least 50%
of the training course.
3. 5. Resource Management /Asset Management
In order to implement the capacity building training with innovative instruments and allow
the teachers to follow it with interest, AVSI purchased, thanks to UNICEF’s contribution,
the following assets and materials:
Flip chart
Megaphones
Speakers
P.A system
Training kits for the teachers that include writing material and visibility material
useful for them like bags, t-shirts and baseball hat
Different type of videos
To allow these instruments to be used efficiently, AVSI provided a screen and projector.
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4.0 Project Closure
Prepared By:
Job Title:
Victoria Martinengo & Henry Waitindi
AVSI FOUNDATION Assistant Country Representative, Kenya
AVSI FOUNDATION Education Coordinator in Dadaab
Approved By: Leo Capobianco
Job Title:
AVSI FOUNDATION Country Representative, Kenya
Special thanks to:
Faith Adu (Project Coordinator)
Joseph Wahome, Robert Kahiga & Peter Ngaya Nyong'a (educators)
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4.1 Annexes
Annex 1: Capacity Building/Pedagogical skills documents used
Annex 2: Example of class presentation (photo and CD with recorded lessons)
Annex 3: List of movies/videos used for implementation of the lessons
Annex 4: M&E tools
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