Webinar 4: School Leaders: A Key Area of Focus for the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa
The quality of teaching and the training that teachers receive matter for the performance and well-being of students, as well as for other roles that education systems fulfil, including socialisation, identity formation, and education to citizenship. Teacher policies are the framework for the recruitment, training, and deployment of new teachers, and the continuous professional development of existing teachers.
This webinar will outline some of the recommendations made for the new Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) for both teachers and school leaders.
Work is needed in many countries to better define professional standards and competencies for teachers and school leaders and link them to clear career stages at all levels from early childhood to higher education.
In terms of pre-service education, the qualifications required in many African countries (such as one- or two-year post-secondary degrees for teaching in primary schools) are lower than the bachelor’s degree recommended by the African Union, and not all teachers meet those qualifications.
Regarding professional development, while experiences differ between countries, the training that teachers get tends to be episodic and not systematic, with major gaps in competencies teachers need.
Specific issues also require specific attention, including the lack of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) or STEAM (adding the Arts to STEM) teachers and the need to institutionalise the early learning workforce.
Finally, there is a need to make the teaching profession more collaborative, among others through mentorship, teacher support, and peer learning, all of which are associated with better learning.
As teachers and school leaders are on the front line of service delivery, they are a primary source of innovative approaches. The webinar will explore new research and good practices in those areas, while also discussing a new initiative from the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities on licensure for school leaders across Africa.
