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VVOB supported education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from 1987 until 2021.

 

With vast amounts of fertile, arable land available, agriculture will continue to be the employment sector that absorbs most Congolese youth. In terms of competencies to succeed, young people need an entrepreneurial mindset and skills, as well as technical skills in agricultural production and transformation. Having developed the curriculum for entrepreneurship education for the DRC’s secondary agricultural technical education and training, VVOB invested in the teachers and school leaders tasked with its delivery.  

Our focus:

  • Secondary technical and vocational education and training (TVET)

Our key areas of work included:

  • Continuous professional development of teachers – Training and coaching teachers to use an active pedagogy in the classroom; to better manage their school’s production units; and to link theory to practice by employing these production units as a learning resource.
  • School leadership development – Supporting school leaders to put agripreneurship at the heart of their school’s mission; to improve oversight and transparency of their school’s production units; and to create spaces where teachers can collaborate to integrate entrepreneurship education across courses.
  • Enabling environment – Preparing provincial inspection services to provide training and pedagogical counseling on entrepreneurship education to secondary agricultural technical schools.
     

 

VVOB has been supporting education in South Africa since 1997.

 

Learning outcomes remain poor in South Africa, particularly among vulnerable learners. Despite progressive policies on inclusive education, many teachers do not know how to effectively put inclusive and gender-responsive teaching into practice. To develop and strengthen inclusive, gender-responsive pedagogies, VVOB provides South African early childhood and primary school teachers with pre- and in-service professional development. We also work closely with school leaders to build an inclusive school culture. At secondary level, VVOB supports teachers and school leaders to make climate change education (CCE) part of school and classroom practice. As South Africa is particularly hard-hit by climate change, it is essential to provide young South Africans with the knowledge and skills to adapt to a changing environment.

Current focus:

  • Early childhood education
  • Primary education
  • General secondary education
  • Climate change education
  • Equity
     

Our key areas of work include:

  • Initial teacher education - Embedding inclusive education in different subjects of initial teacher education, as well as during student teachers’ teaching practice.
  • Induction of newly qualified teachers - Providing mentoring, peer support and training to teachers on inclusive education during their first year in the profession.
  • Continuous professional development of teachers - Providing quality opportunities for continuous professional development on both inclusive, gender responsive education and CCE, most notably through effective professional learning communities and by sharing best practices via Open Educational Resources.
  • School leadership development - Setting up and facilitating professional learning communities among school leaders.
  • Enabling environment - Key policy actors at local and national level have deepened knowledge about CCE and strengthened capacity to effectively integrate CCE in their policies and guidelines.
     

 

VVOB has been supporting education in Vietnam since 1993.

 

In Vietnam, enrolment rates for early childhood education (ECE) and primary education are high, as is academic achievement. Generally speaking, Vietnamese learners do better in school than other lower- and middle-income countries. This is however not the case for children from poor rural and urban backgrounds, nor for children from ethnic minorities. Teaching and learning, moreover, are very much content-driven and teacher centered, both at ECE and primary level. Because of the strong focus on academic performance, there is little room for competency- and play-based learning which fosters the development of a breadth (not merely academic) of skills, including creativity, flexibility, critical thinking and socio-emotional skills.

Current focus:

  • Early childhood education
  • Primary education
  • Equity

Our key areas of work include:

  • Continuous professional development of teachers – Providing quality opportunities for (school-based) continuous professional development, fostering quality play-based ECE and primary education and reducing barriers to learning.
  • School leadership development – Supporting school leaders to facilitate school-based continuous professional development for teachers and creating gender-responsive, playful and safe school environments.
     

 

VVOB has been supporting education in Uganda since 2019.

 

The agricultural sector will continue to be the backbone of the economy of Uganda, yet agriculture is taught in a very theoretical manner in Uganda’s lower secondary education (O-level) and secondary technical and vocational education and training (TVET). To ensure young people have the competencies they need to secure a future in the sector, VVOB invests in effective pre-service training for agriculture teachers and instructors and in strengthening the contribution of teacher and instructor training institutions to continuous professional development.

 

Uganda is also one of the largest refugee-hosting nations in the world. Refugee learners attend school together with their Ugandan peers. Faced with complex challenges, many of these learners in refugee hosting communities fall behind. To help adolescent learners in primary education catch up and thrive in their future endeavours, VVOB supports schools to implement remedial teaching methodologies.

Current focus:

  • Early childhood education
  • Primary education
  • General secondary education
  • Secondary technical and vocational education and training (TVET)

Our key areas of work include:

  • Initial teacher and instructor education – Strengthening the agriculture departments of teacher and instructor training institutions in the areas of vocational pedagogy and didactics; practice teaching; industrial attachment; and the introduction of entrepreneurship education.
  • Enabling environment – Creating necessary conditions for further agriculture teacher / instructor workforce development for O-level agriculture and certificate-level agricultural TVET by building evidence; sharing knowledge with relevant national and regional stakeholders; and preparing teacher and instructor training institutions for the delivery of in-service training.
  • Remedial teaching - contextualising teaching for refugee hosting communities; implementing Teaching at the Right level for numeracy and literacy; embedding transferable skills in remedial teaching methodologies; supporting the Ministry of Education and Sports to determine the most effective intervention model for Uganda's refugee education policy.
  • Learning through Play - introducing playful learning for emergent literacy and numeracy development.

VVOB has been supporting education in Zambia since 1986.

 

In Zambia, learning outcomes in primary education are low, especially in reading and mathematics. Learners’ underperformance is partly due to a lack of understanding among teachers of how children develop literacy and numeracy skills and how to diversify instruction based on children's learning needs. Poor school performance is also due to a lack of school readiness. To better prepare young learners for success in primary school, Zambia recently introduced an early childhood education (ECE) curriculum. However, as many teachers are not sufficiently trained in play-based early childhood pedagogies, the quality of ECE provided is not sufficient.

Current focus:

  • Early childhood education
  • Primary education

Our key areas of work include:

  • Initial teacher education – Embedding play-based learning and the use of the Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS) in initial teacher education for ECE and primary school teachers, as well as during student teachers’ teaching practice.
  • Continuous professional development of teachers – Strengthening in-service teacher training structures to improve continuous professional development of ECE and primary school teachers on play-based pedagogies, the use of ELDS, emergent literacy education and ‘teaching at the right level’ methodologies.
  • School leadership development – Building the capacity of school leaders to establish play-based,  gender-responsive early learning environments.
     

VVOB supported education in Suriname from 1983 until 2020.

 

In Suriname, the lower secondary vocational education and training (LS VET) student population is particularly vulnerable. Many are over-age and at risk of dropping out. Creating a safe and supportive learning environment is key. This takes school leaders and teachers with an eye for their students’ wellbeing as well as learning. VVOB invested in effective teachers, through pre-service training, induction and continuous professional development and in professional learning communities for school leaders.

Focus:

  • Secondary technical and vocational education and training (TVET)

Our key areas of work included:

  • Initial teacher education – Strengthening the pedagogy and technical studies departments of the national TVET teacher training college in the areas of vocational pedagogy and didactics; embedding positive discipline and student-centered approaches in teaching practices through curriculum design teams and the college’s internal quality control system.
  • School leadership development – Piloting and institutionalisation of professional learning communities for LS VET school leaders, with special focus on instructional leadership; creating a safe and supportive learning environment for all students; preventing and addressing school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV).
  • Continuous professional development of teachers – Supporting the Centre for Professional Development of Suriname in the provision of in-service training to LS VET teachers on preventing and addressing SRGBV and to LS VET school leaders and mentor teachers on a whole-school approach to induction of starting teachers.

VVOB has been supporting education in Belgium since 2008.

 

In Belgium, access rates and learning outcomes are relatively high. However, challenges of equity are increasingly putting pressure on the education system as it is organised today. Every consecutive study shows that the learning gap between the best performers and poorest performers is widening.

 

The Belgian classroom caters to a diverse learner population in terms of their migration backgrounds, their gender, socioeconomic status, learning needs and so on. When not properly managed, these benign factors may become the reason why teachers cannot keep learners on track to developing to their full potential. Even though frameworks for equity in education are in place, schools face various challenges – be it a lack of resources, difficulties changing attitudes of educators or other challenges – in ensuring equal opportunities for all children.

Drawing from experiences in its other partner countries, VVOB introduces the Belgian education system to innovating approaches to equity challenges. VVOB builds bridges between schools and systems worldwide to tackle globally shared problems. Indeed, as the Sustainable Development Goals recognise, countries worldwide are facing similar challenges related to education and equity, but also climate change, gender equality, poverty etc.

  • At the level of schools, the SchoolLinks programme stimulates and facilitates meaningful partnerships between schools across borders. Competences of global citizenship are fostered in the participating learners, teachers, school leaders and broader school communities.
  • At a more systems level, the eNSPIRED programme brings together educational experts and practitioners from various backgrounds to discuss similar challenges of equity in education. Belgian (student) teachers, teacher trainers and pedagogical counsellors are introduced to educational practices from VVOB's partner countries in Africa, Asia and South America.
  • VVOB also co-hosts a platform for Belgian development actors working in education and training, Educaid.be. 

Current focus:

  • Early childhood education
  • Primary education
  • General secondary education
  • Secondary TVET
  • Tertiary education

Our key areas of work include:

  • Initial teacher education -  Teacher training institutions and their student teachers are exposed to education practices from around the world through international guest lectures, workshops, internships and other platforms for exchange, and develop an open state of mind rooted in solidarity and mutual learning.
  • Continuous professional development of teachers - Through meaningful interaction with their peers around the world, teachers develop global citizenship competences both in themselves and in their learners, and enrich their teaching practices with innovative approaches not usually covered in classic teacher education.
  • School leadership development - School leaders create environments in which global citizenship and solidarity are core elements of their schools’ learning culture and develop and promote internationalisation policies in their schools.
  • Advocacy, institutional agenda setting and capacity building - Belgian organisations working in education and training in international cooperation streamline their activities and consult each other regularly on various topics, and have the common goal to strengthen and promote education and training in their activities and Belgium’s international cooperation policies with regard to education.

VVOB has been supporting education in Rwanda since 1985.

 

To ensure access to secondary education, Rwanda lifted school fees. But because of low learning outcomes, many children drop out of school before they ever reach that stage. Teachers and school leaders can help learners to make the transition and complete secondary school. To that end, VVOB provides teachers and school leaders with continuous professional development opportunities that deepen their pedagogical content knowledge and skills.

Current focus:

  • Primary education
  • General secondary education
  • Equity

Our key areas of work include:

  • Induction of newly qualified teachers – Implementing a system of quality monitoring and school-based mentoring and support for newly qualified teachers.
  • Continuous professional development of teachers – Providing quality opportunities for continuous professional development, most notably through effective professional learning communities and school-based coaching and mentoring by certified colleagues (certificate in Educational Mentorship and Coaching).
  • School leadership development – Implementing a continuous professional development diploma course on Effective School Leadership and supporting effective professional learning communities.

 

VVOB has been supporting education in Cambodia since 2003.

 

Primary school learners in Cambodia do not achieve the intended learning outcomes, especially in mathematics. To improve math performance through quality teaching, VVOB invests in effective pre- and in-service teacher professional development. Concurrently, we foster gender-responsive school climates. Although boys and girls perform similarly in math, few girls choose to study math because of prevailing gender norms.

Current focus:

  • Primary education
  • Gender
  • Equity

Our key areas of work include:

  • Initial teacher education – Strengthening content knowledge of mathematics of teacher trainers and model teachers, as well as their pedagogical skills in, among others, classroom management, differentiation, gender responsiveness and positive discipline
  • Continuous professional development of teachers – Development of quality in-service continuous professional development materials on mathematics and gender-responsive teaching practices, in addition to trainings, coaching sessions and peer learning
  • School leadership development – Building the capacity of school leaders to establish gender-responsive schools that constitute safe and learner-friendly environments

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