Teacher Training – a key to scaling up good quality Comprehensive Sexuality Education
UNESCO/C. Butler
Delivering good quality comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) requires well trained and supported teachers in the classroom. Teachers need both personal and professional skills to deliver CSE curricula effectively and to respond to the needs of learners. UNESCO has recognized the need for standards, development of training programmes, teacher support materials and support for scaling up of teacher training for both trainees and qualified teachers in both pre and in-service settings.
Teacher training involves a complex array of stakeholders, training providers, standard setting and regulatory agencies. The modalities for delivering training can differ widely but in most cases teacher training colleges, universities, private providers (including NGOs) play a key role. Ministries of education play a critical part in setting the policy frameworks and assuring quality. In-service teacher training, which is aimed at reaching the bulk of teachers already in the classroom, is a major challenge for most education systems. The scale of in-service training often means having to reach very large numbers in a small timeframe - with flexibility and in response to specific needs (e.g. teaching sensitive topics, new classroom methodologies).
Standards for pre-service teacher training or teacher preparation are now being developed in a number of country contexts, most recently in the United States by the FOSE consortium. With UNESCO’s support these standards are being adapted for use as a training module in a regional initiative including Ministries of Education in Zambia, Lesotho, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique, all of which are scaling up the delivery of sexuality education. At the same time, an on-line in-service training module is also being developed for use by Ministries of Education and other training providers across the East and Southern Africa region. In Zambia alone, the initiative is expected to reach 45,000 new and existing teachers. At a meeting of teacher training experts on 26-28 August 2014, in Johannesburg South Africa, 21 countries in the region came together in response to the targets set by ministers of health and education in the ESA Ministerial Commitment. More details on these initiatives in East and Southern Africa are available here.
In Asia Pacific, countries including Indonesia, China and Mongolia are actively engaged in teacher training on CSE. For more details click here:
Indonesia
China
UNESCO promotes lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender education in China (2013)
Related publications:
Sexuality Education Textbook for Chinese College and University Students
Mongolia
Training on Sexuality Education among Health Education Teachers from TVET Centers in Mongolia (2013)
In West and Central Africa, the UNESCO supported CEMAC project uses an ICT (information and communication technology) based teacher training programme on HIV and CSE and aims to be a cost-efficient solution to train teachers on a large scale. It provides quality training materials for the ministries to organize training for working teachers. It uses self-training materials to train education personnel, teachers and peer educators focusing on the primary and secondary school level. The programme has a community-based component as local NGOs also benefit from the training modules. In the CEMAC region (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo and Gabon) 15,075 teachers were trained through tutorials on DVD and radio programmes produced in close collaboration with the teaching staff of the countries. In addition, 151 national senior officers in charge of pedagogy were trained in the use of ICT-based training materials in HIV education and 550 education staff, including inspectors were trained to implement, monitor and evaluate the activities.
For more information on teacher training and comprehensive sexuality education contact: aids(at)unesco.org
