What Makes Education Partnerships Effective?
This manual helps practitioners evaluate education partnerships.
World Links Arab Region - Palestine Projects
Programme and Partnership Objective
The recommendations that follow begin with targeted approaches to improving students’ skills, progressing to more holistic approaches to the IT curriculum.
- Increase support of summer IT “intensives” for students
- Revise the hands-on portion of the IT curriculum to include more useful skills
- Provide additional re-service professional development to IT teachers
- Revise the IT curriculum and the role of IT teachers
Partners
Ministry of Education and Higher Education – Palestinian (West Bank and Gaza),
1- Funded by the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development, and the OPEC Fund for International Development.
2- UNRWA (schools), funded by UNRWA
Partnership Background and Justification
In 2007 a partnership involving World Links Arab Region (WLAR), the Arab Fund and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) launched a pilot professional-development project phase designed to train and engage 1000 teachers at the ministry schools in the use of computers and internet to support collaborative learning and active learning pedagogies.
The program aimed to actively foster new teaching skills and learning strategies. Students’ collaborative learning and project-based activities are being implemented as well as a variety of learning strategies that aim at enhancing higher-order skills, such as creative and critical thinking, problem solving, employment of research in ones study and work, working collaboratively in groups and enhancing communications skills, as trainees learn how to effectively and safely apply ICT in education, and practically in the classroom with their students, hence producing an average of 40 online academic and cultural content per teacher during the training phase, and a multiplication of this amount, thereafter, as they continue to become self and lifelong learners. Teachers and students are empowered to develop their knowledge and skills actively and experientially.
Enrolled children in schools, amount to about 70% of the 5 million population of Palestine, which is a very good percentage, on the other hand the ICT illiteracy and lack of e-readiness rates are high. There are 2,337 schools in Palestine, around 1,085,274 students and 42,394 teachers, thus indicating a teacher (to) student ratio of 1:25 (2007-2006). [1]
WLAR has recognized the importance and need to bridge the digital divide between the academia and work market requirements as well as the power of knowledge economies in fighting unemployment and poverty. Supporting ICT literacy and e-learning is believed to narrow gaps between educational and vocational outcomes, and work market needs, which is important for a region with such a high illiteracy and unemployment rates.
[1] The World Fact Book- Middle East –West Bank, at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/WE.html
Implementation Steps
In line with policy advice, training, mentoring, coordination and several forms of educational support, the WLAR Teacher’s Professional Development (TPD) program goes through different work plans scenarios and working steps, as follows:
- Memorandum of Understanding (MoU): WLAR sings an MoU with its implementing and funding partners, to launch and implement the program in a country
- Needs Assessment: All parties cooperate to assess basic needs in relevance to project implementation and meeting aspired and mutual goals.
- Project Concept Document: to finalize a document that outlines the program details and implementation methodologies, after which, a detailed budget and work plan are produced.
- Budget and Work Plan: a detailed budget shows and links the time frame with resources and all sequential program activities, based on which, a work plans produced to carry on the entire 2 years implementation of the project.
- Program Application: The program application differentiates between the logistics operations on one hand and the content, training, mentoring and quality control on the other. Logistics are responsible to avail ICT training centres and equipment availed by the implementing partners, such as Ministries of Education. In some cases, donors provide or equip few labs. They are also responsible for attendance, reports, feedback, etc.... while the content team are responsible for quality of training, content details and mentoring.
- Program Guide and Training Manual: containing detailed steps of program application and all relevant reference documents, such as terms of reference and scopes of work.
- Policy Advice: often countries seek policy or strategy advice before, during or after the project has been concluded. WLAR provides policy advice.
- Content: Customization and localization give consideration to local languages and cultures
- Training: capacity is build in countries by training in-country Core Trainers, by World Links Regional Trainers, who train Master Trainers. The Master Trainers train the teachers.
- Mentoring: a special scheme is set for ongoing support and mentoring during training and classroom application.
- Assessment Survey and Evaluation: Use qualitative and quantitative metrics to measure project impact. We are designing a new survey to measure educational training outcome relative to market needs.
- Testing & Teachers’ Portfolios: all teachers have to submit their 2 years achievements portfolios done by them and their students, and to pass the final test, after completing the four modules.
- Activities & Certification: Projects Awards Competitions nominations and awards. Certification and final ceremony.
- Documentation: of all project outputs. In some countries, a documentary video is recorded.
Networking and outreach, Connect all teachers and WLAR Regional, Core and Master Trainers together through WLAR’s e-learning portal, thus enhancing networking, exchange of knowledge and culture among youth and their counterparts in other foreign countries. The E-portal also serves as online training source.
Programme Outcomes
The program has trained 1,081 teachers / trainees, at the MoEHE and reached more than 50,000 students. In Gaza, the program trained 1,111 teachers / trainees and reached 60,000 students.
The program has had a profound impact at Palestinian schools. Key areas of impact in relation to students’ learning-related attitudes, behaviours and competencies include: increased enthusiasm for school, increased ability to learn collaboratively and independently, increased ability to organize and apply knowledge gained in school to real-world and academic problems, improved conceptual understanding of information and skills related to school subjects. The World Links Arab Region (WLAR) Palestine Project was effectively implemented and contributed to the transformation of teaching and learning in Palestinian Schools.
Lessons Learnt and Recommendations
The official assessment survey, leading to the final evaluation report will commence soon, in cooperation with MOEHE and UNRWA, and in line with program progress. The survey is prepared, conducted and supervised by a team of international experts.
Once the teacher's portfolios are presented, alongside wining project in competitions, WLAR will share best and learnt practices and success stories.
The final evaluation report, will also contribute towards measuring gaps, feedbacks and places remedies / recommendations for expansion.
Tools and Methodology
- Two local coordinators were selected from MoEHE and UNRWA, respectively, to run the program locally with the support and direction of the World Links Project Manager.
- Schools, teachers, Master Trainers and Core Trainers were selected in Palestine for the implementation of the TPD program.
- The World Links Regional Trainer trained 5 Palestinian Core Trainers, who subsequently trained 100 Master Trainers. These masters trainers trained 1,000 teachers on 4 training modules.
- The TPD program material includes: educational and training content, online resources, multimedia, distance learning tools; direct / face-to-face training in workshops plus on-going local technical, pedagogical, mentoring and on-line support.
- The WLAR TPD program consists of 160 hours of training and 160 hours of direct in-class applications with students. The program enables teachers to develop technology skills in combination with new approaches to teaching and learning.
- The four modules, are 40 hours each, as follows:
- Module 1: Introduction to the Internet for Teaching & Learning
Introduce fundamental concepts, technologies, and skills necessary for introducing networked technology and the Internet to teaching and learning; initiate discussion of new possibilities, generate basic email projects.
- Module 2: Tele-collaborative Learning Project
Introduction to educational tele-collaboration: from activity structures to the creation, design, implementation and dissemination of original projects.
- Module 3: Curriculum & Technology Integration
Develop skills and understanding of how to create, incorporate and facilitate innovative classroom practices that integrate networked technology and curricula.
- Module 4: Innovations: Pedagogy, Technology & Professional Development
Develop skills and understanding of how to evaluate and diffuse innovative classroom practices that integrate networked technology and curricula while addressing social and ethical concerns.
Replicability and Sustainability
While implementing its TPD program, WLAR always ensures that all trainers are from the local country where the program is being applied. 3 Core Trainers and 78 Master Trainer from the local citizens were trained at the MOEHE , plus 11 Core Trainers and 100 Master Trainers from Gaza. This step is to guarantee the program’s applicability and sustainability on the long term. It also involves training Ministry and UNRWA staff on how to run the program.
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Comments
Technology age has been arising and because of that , Information Technology is one of the in demand courses nowadays. The idea of enhancing the IT curriculum was brilliant. It will help a lot for the students to learn more and be more competitive IT programmers soon. Good education curriculum is the foundation for a better future.
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