MAKERERE S EXPERIENCE WITH TESSA

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Malcolm Campbell
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1 MAKERERE S EXPERIENCE WITH TESSA DR. JESSICA N. AGUTI DIRECTOR Institute of Adult and Continuing Education Makerere University aguti@iace.mak.ac.ug 1

2 RATIONALE FOR TESSA Africa has a number of challenges with teachers for all school levels: - Inadequate numbers of trained teachers - Many under trained and untrained teachers - High attrition rates Science and Mathematics are specific problem areas Need to explore methodologies that can be used for in-service training 2

3 HOW WAS TESSA MATERIAL DEVELOPED? Scoured literature to determine need for high quality teachers in Africa Consortium agreed on required teacher competencies across Africa Agreed on the curriculum framework content, structure of the modules Agreed on a template that could be used by all the authors Involved authors, reviewers, & versioners from many institutions across Africa 3

4 WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT THIS MATERIAL? Material is multi lingual English, Swahili, Arabic and Xhosa Emphasis on activity based learning emphasis on classroom based activities Use of relevant case studies and examples from daily living Materials emphasize use of the teachers immediate environment for teaching/learning 4

5 WHAT IS UNIQUE Material demands application of knowledge and skills in a classroom situation Brought together a large team of experts from across Africa Material is available both is printable versions and web based versions 5

6 HOW IS MAKERERE BENEFITING FROM TESSA? Makerere already running B.Ed (External) Staff participated in authoring, reviewing, and versioning Material is to enrich existing materials for the training of primary school teachers Since the materials is Open Source Content, there is room for further adaptation/modification of the modules The strategy of using activities to promote learning is being adopted for revision/writing of Makerere learning materials TESSA research on Teachers Lives sparked off interest in other research areas 6

7 LESSONS FOR HEALTH EDUCATION 1. Teachers and Community Health workers have a lot in common: Both work and live in the rural areas Both have challenges accessing up to date relevant materials Both work in under-resourced environments Both have large populations to serve In many countries in Africa, both services sometimes forced to use untrained/ undertrained workers Both require continuous professional development to keep up with changes in needs and working environments 7

8 LESSONS 2. TESSA materials can be used for both pre-service and in-service, by internal and by distance learners 3. Community health workers across many countries are likely to have common competencies. 4. Possible to come up with a cross cutting curriculum 5. There is room and potential for sharing of knowledge and experience 8

9 LESSONS Collaboration demands commitment and willingness to share from all parties For a greater buy in, Africa must determine the needs to be met by the programme, agree on content and structure of materials ICT access is increasing in Africa. This should be exploited Participating institutions must have the commitment to invest in utilization of material generated 9

10 It is a fact of life that all of us will come face to face with plenty of frustration, difficulty and trouble. But there isn t one of us who needs to be defeated by these obstacles 10

The context of using TESSA OERs in Egerton University s teacher education programmes

The context of using TESSA OERs in Egerton University s teacher education programmes Joseph M. Wamutitu, (Egerton University, Kenya); Fred N. Keraro, (Egerton University, Kenya) Johnson M. Changeiywo (Egerton