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A. Context
Some years after the war and the genocide, Rwanda finds itself in a situation where reconciliation and national reconstruction constitute a priority. The policy of the Government of Rwanda, through the creation of NURC, the Gacaca process and other specific activities, aims at installing mechanisms to achieve these objectives. Civil society organizations, in turn, have undertaken activities aimed to contribute to overcoming trauma and to develop attitudes and competences of positive conflict management among the population. It is within this political framework, but this time in the educational sector, that the present project places itself. Through the inclusion of active pedagogy and participatory methods in the training of primary school teachers, the project aims to contribute to individual personal development, to the development of the communication and psycho-social skills of both teachers and pupils, necessary for the positive management of the conflict and traumas, which are still a reality in the country.
International Weiterbildung und Entwicklung - InWEnt (Capacity Building International, previously the German Foundation for International Development – DSE) is a training institution for decision makers and professional specialists. It implements training programmes on request of the German Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) as well as partner institutions. It has carried out training activities for professionals of the educational sector in the domain of peace education, school mediation and integral human development aimed at overcoming trauma and raising awareness of the social role of teachers.
B. Background
The Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) has stated its objectives to reach the goal of Education For All (EPT/EFA) until 2015, among which the following should be stressed: to increase the rate of transition from primary to secondary education, to ensure equal participation of girls at all levels of the school system, to increase the number and the quality of performance of teachers, to improve teaching quality by introducing new curricula and teaching materials. At the same time, education is meant to contribute to the construction of a democratic society. The improvement of civic education in schools is a very significant indicator of the commitment of MINEDUC in this field. The project places itself within this two-fold perspective of EPA and the construction of democracy.
In the agreements on the co-operation between the Republic of Rwanda and the Federal Republic of Germany, " the promotion of democracy, of civil society and public administration " constitute one of the three fixed priorities. Taking into account this selection as well as a special expertise of InWEnt in this field, the German Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) requested InWEnt to evaluate needs and to elaborate a draft training programme in this field. A study was carried out from 3 –18 November 2001.
It identified several activities performed by governmental and non-governmental agents intended to overcome trauma, to promote the respect of human rights and to create structures, which advance justice and national reconstruction. However, the study pointed out the need to improve personal communication conflict management skills.
One of the alternatives suggested by the study and considered by InWEnt was a training program in the field of peace education and positive conflict management in the educational sector and in the context of Education for All. To validate this option and to develop a draft project, InWEnt organized from 2nd to 4th October, 2002, a workshop gathering people involved in activities promoting peace and national reconciliation, as well as specialists in the educational sector. This draft project was revised later and concretized through the exchange several directions of MINEDUC (National Center for Curricula Development, Management and Development of Teaching staff), in September 2003.
C. Description of the project
Taking into account the objectives of MINEDUC, as presented in its strategic plan for 2003-2008, as well as efforts made by MINEDUC with regard to civic and peace education, the project suggests to introduce active pedagogy as an approach, which will turn the school into a place where the democratic values of mutual acceptance, dialogue, participation prevail. A pedagogy which, while contributing to creating a person who is able to express himself / herself and set up true communication with others with mutual respect and to work in team, would be complementary to the teaching of civic education as a course and would constitute a cross-cutting teaching approach. In this manner, the educational process would be complete by including the 4 types of learning: knowledge, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together.
Therefore, this pedagogy would enable the teacher:
- to respect the dignity of students
- to be free and creative
- to be able to create rooms for expression and opening up for his/her pupils
- to share professional competences with his/her colleagues, students’parents and other actors
- to live in harmony with himself/herself and his/her class
- to dare to doubt about his/her capacities and coherently participate in trainings
- to understand better his/her social role in the society and the in the life of his students
the student:
- to know himself/herself better and to accept himself/herself
- to recognize the other and respect the difference
- to be autonomous and creative
- to communicate in a constructive way with everyone
- to develop self- awareness and analytical skills
In addition, within the context of reinforcing the competences developed thanks to the use of active pedagogy, the project aims to train teachers in conflict management techniques.
The aims of the project
To contribute to the construction of a democratic society, able to manage and solve its conflicts in a peaceful and non-violent manner and to overcome traumatism from war, genocide and violence.
Objectives of the project
To introduce and develop an active pedagogy, participatory methods and competences in conflict management as a cross-cutting orientation of the teachers training in order to reinforce a culture of peace in the schools.
More specifically, the objectives are:
1. To reinforce the teaching capacity of the TTC and primary school teachers, i.e.:
- to elaborate and avail the module and the guide about the introduction of participatory methods in the training of TTC teachers
- to organize, carry out and evaluate the training of TTC teachers and school monitors (AP) on participatory methods with gender and conflicts management as cross – cutting elements
- to elaborate and distribute the module and the guide on the introduction of participatory methods in the initial training and improvement of the primary school teachers
- to organize, carry out and evaluate the training for primary school teachers (both those who are being trained and those who are in service) on the participatory methods with gender and conflicts management as cross-cutting elements
2. To improve on the learning environment in schools, i.e.:
- to improve on parents’ involvement in school life and to inform the parents about the characteristics of the culture of peace at school through the organization of awareness-raising activities (open days, information workshops.)
3. To monitor and to evaluate the impact of the project
4. To conceive and apply the monitoring and evaluation system
Final beneficiaries
The beneficiaries are primary school pupils, through the new understanding of the role of their teachers and through the application of active pedagogy, based on the ethical values, in primary schools.
Intermediate Recipients
- the staff of the central services of MINEDUC
- the TTC teachers in-charge of psycho- pedagogic subjects
- school monitors (AP) already in service in their district
- the teachers of the primary schools, in service and in initial training
Institutional partner: Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Scientific Research
Duration of the project: 3 years (2003 – 2006) – First phase, after the evaluation of this one, the management of a second phase will be determined.
D. Strategy of intervention
Based on its experiences as a training organization, InWEnt has concluded that the traditional sessions of teacher training during which one provides theoretical courses without testing the recipients of the training in real situations, do not have durable and significant impacts. Under such conditions the trained people are not always able, after the departure of the " experts ", to apply the lessons learned, even less to adapt themselves to the changing and sometimes specific conditions of their environment and of their target groups. It is for these reasons that we propose in this project an approach of active and participative formation in cascade for the various beneficiaries. The process is as follows:
Training of the trainers of trainers by InWEnt team of experts
1. The 12 people retained as trainers of trainers coming from the various directions of MINEDUC, the Faculty of Education of the National University of Rwanda and Kigali Institute of Education will be formed by the team of experts from InWEnt, during 2 weeks on the basic concepts of andragogy and the cycle of training with an emphasis on the analysis of needs, active pedagogy, the positive management of conflicts, as well as the guiding principles of learning by action.
2. This first part of the training of trainers of trainers is followed by a second phase of training, during which, under the supervision of the experts, they will proceed to carry out an analysis of the environment and school practices stressing on the principles of active pedagogy.
3. Taking into account the identified real teaching needs, they will work out, during a third phase of 15 to 20 days, the training scheme in active pedagogy including a module on the management of conflict and basic elements on gender approach, for TTC teachers and school monitors (AP).
Training of TTC teachers and school monitors by trainers of trainers
4. After the development of the program, the trainers of trainers train a group of 24 to 30 TTC teachers and AP during 4 weeks, of which the first phase is centered on the basic concepts of andragogy and the training with an emphasis on the analysis of needs, active pedagogy, the positive management of conflicts, as well as the guiding principles of learning by action.
5. During the second phase and with the support of trainers of trainers, they will carry out an analysis of the immediate school environment by stressing on the principles of active pedagogy.
6. Taking into account the identified real needs, they will work out in a third phase, during 15 days, the training scheme in active pedagogy including a module on the management of conflicts and basic elements of gender approach, to be used by the teachers of the primary school.
Training of primary education teachers by TTC teachers and AP
7. After the development/designing of the program, TTC teachers and AP train the teachers (student-teachers and primary schoolteachers) during 2 weeks. The first two-week phase is centered on basic concepts, the training on the field, with emphasis on the analysis of needs, active pedagogy, the positive management of conflicts and especially the guiding principles of training by action.
8. After this first phase, under the supervision of TTC teachers and the AP, they will carry out an analysis of the environment of their schools by stressing on the principles of active pedagogy and the management of conflicts.
9. In a third phase and taking as departure point the identified needs they will produce during 15 days the pedagogic cards to be used during the teaching of primary school pupils.
10. After the designing of the cards, they apply them to their work with groups of pupils of various levels of primary education. The team of trainers will carry out a follow-up for monitoring the application of the approach as well as of the cards and the results at school.
After each application, the program is evaluated under the aspects of methodology, contents and teaching support, improved and submitted to the steering committee for validation.
E. Expected results
The results expected at the end of the first year of execution are:
– Training programmes, which have been designed, improved and validated,
– A team of 8-12 trainers of trainers who have been trained on the active pedagogy, tested and more skilled,
– Contents and guides translated into English and possibly into Kinyarwanda,
– A team of 25-30 TTC teachers and AP who have been trained, tested and are more skilled in active pedagogy and the management of conflicts,
– 70 to 90 teachers of primary school are trained, tested and more skilled in active pedagogy and the management of conflicts,
– 1500-2000 pupils are actually trained according to participatory methods.
The results expected at the end of the 3rd year are:
– 75-90 TTC teachers and AP trained, tested and more skilled in active pedagogy and the management of conflicts,
– 200 to 350 teachers of the primary education are trained, tested and more skilled in active pedagogy and the management of conflicts,
– 6000-8000 pupils are actually trained according to participatory methods.