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31/12/2008

New multi-year programme (2008 -2013)

In Zambia, 2008 started with the signing of an agreement between VVOB and the Ministry of Education for a multi-year programme (which will run from 2008 to 2013). The new programme with the Ministry of Education is called the “Teacher Training Support Programme”. The central theme in the programme is improving teaching quality in basic education. The programme supports and compliments the Ministry of Education initiatives. Whilst priority was given to the expansion and improvement of the infrastructure for basic education, the Ministry remains committed to the improvement of quality education in basic schools. The VVOB-MOE multi-year programme consists of six components, which are briefly presented below. In addition to the six components, there are several cross-cutting themes like gender, HIV/AIDS, the environment and ICT. The programme will also promote school partnership between Zambia schools and schools in Flanders.

The use of ICT to enhance communication

The ICT programme aims to improve communication between all stakeholders in basic education. In 2008, the focus was on the establishment of an ICT network in all the colleges of basic education. ICT technical personnel in all the colleges were trained in installation and maintenance of ICT-network and are able to provide the same service in other learning institutions. In order to ensure sustainability of the programme, each College appointed an ICT responsible and formed an ICT committee. In most of the Colleges these people developed an ICT development plan. In 2009 attention will be given to the followup of these plans.

Continuing Professional Development at College-level

Strengthening of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) within the Colleges of Education is the programme second component. In 2008 a national Task Team was formed with representatives from all the Colleges of Basic Education, UNZA and the Ministry of Education. Through the Task Team, communication between key stakeholders in basic education was enhanced (see first component). The Task Team has the responsibility to plan and further develop the CPD activities at College-level.

In 2008, a study was undertaken to identify the CPD needs. In addition training was given to address change management. It was decided to focus CPD on quality improvement of teaching and learning. The national task team was supported to develop a strategic plan. In addition a monitoring and evaluation plan was developed to follow-up on this strategic plan.

Each College of Education has appointed a CPD committee. These CPD committees were asked to develop a CPD support plan for one specific CPD needs. The national Task Team evaluated these plans using some predetermined criteria. In November 2008, two plans were approved. Central themes in the support plans are: effective use of ICT, e-learning, contextualization of the curriculum and lesson study (see below).

Continuing Professional Development at school-level

The third and fourth components of the programme relate to basic schools, including community schools. The main aim of the two components is to enhance the management of School-Based CPD activities and overall management and coordination of schools. The activities are organized and supported at provincial, district and zone levels. In 2008, the strengthening of CPD at schoollevel took place in the Central Province, through orientation training in INSET cycle for the Provincial and District Education Support Teams and training of community schools teachers in Lesson Study. The INSET cycle is a specific approach for in-service training of teachers based on identified needs.

The lesson study is a teaching approach where one of the teachers in a school is requested to have demonstration lesson using the pupils, while her or his colleagues teachers observe with a view to analyze the lessons. After the demonstration, a discussion on the lesson will be held to improve the teachers’ skills on conducting a better lesson.

In addition two baseline studies on School-Based CPD in community schools and ICT use in teacher’s resource centres, regular and community schools were conducted. In order to strengthen the management capacity of the community schools specific workshops were organized for the Parents Community Schools Committees in 60 community schools. Data on school partnership was also collected in regular and community schools in Central province.

Pre-service and distance education of teachers

The fifth component of the programme focuses on capacity development for effective teaching, learning and assessment in face-to-face and distance education. It is within this component that VVOB continues to provide support to the closed “Primary Teacher Diploma through Distance Learning” (PTDDL) project. The National In-service Teachers’ College (NISTCOL) is the coordinating College for the PTDDL programme, which now runs autonomously and upgrades about 5000 teachers on a yearly basis from certificate-level to diploma-level. In 2008 a plan was developed to monitor the PTDDL programme and assure its continuity.

Within the multi-year programme, other Colleges of Basic Education, besides NISTCOL, are supported to develop distance education programmes, including e-learning. In 2008, VVOB undertook a baseline to find out about concrete plans by the Colleges. In 2009 further support will be given to realize these plans.

In addition, VVOB gives specific support to NISTCOL to become the centre of ICT training for the Ministry of Education. Investment was done in hardware and training of staff. The ICT staff members are able to maintain their computer centre off about 120 computers independently. Moreover, support was given to develop and ICT policy plan.

Monitoring and knowledge sharing

The sixth and last component of the programme relates to monitoring of results, knowledge sharing and the exchange of good practices. In early 2008, VVOB Zimbabwe took the lead to organize a Monitoring and Evaluation workshop with VVOB staff in Zambia. The purpose of this workshop was to develop a monitoring and evaluation plan (M&E plan) for the multi-year programme. After the workshop all programme advisors sat with the programme’s components partners and developed M&E plans. Since 2008, VVOB-Zambia has developed a culture of regular team meetings. The team meetings are used to learn and reflect on good practices among VVOB staff. The VVOB team in Zambia plans to share good practices via a newsletter which will be developed in 2009.

Closing projects

Education Sector

In 2008, the Primary Teaching Diploma through Distance Learning project (PTDDL) at the National In-service Teachers’ College (NISTCOL) was closed. However NISTCOL continues to receive support for distance education through the new VVOB-MoE multi-year programme.

Health sector

Alongside with PDDL, the Skills-Lab project was closed in 2008. The Skills-Lab project was implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. Skill Lab project dealt with the training of clinical officers, who are a specific group of medical personnel that has followed a practiceoriented medical training. In Zambia clinical officers have an important function in the treatment of patients, especially in the rural areas. VVOB supported cooperation and exchange of information between the provincial health centres. Also VVOB strengthened medical examination methodology and specific attention was given to the training of people who simulate at medial examinations.