From 1 to 3 October 2019, IICBA, in collaboration with the UNESCO Liaison Office to the African Union, Kotebe Metropolitan University (KMU), and Hawassa College of Teacher Education (HCTE), organized a three-day HNA workshop on improving teacher training courses through quality assurance in Bishoftu, Ethiopia. In attendance were fifteen teacher educators from curriculum, psychology, pedagogy and STEM areas and one gender officer from HCTE. IICBA was represented by Dr. Temechegn Engida, IICBA Program Officer, and Mr. Solomon Andargie, IICBA Project Officer, who both facilitated the workshop, providing theoretical frameworks and perspectives on development and quality assurance of teaching, leaning and training modules.

During the workshop Dr. Engida introduced quality assurance frameworks. He presented a template that participants could use throughout the workshop to review the selected courses. Afterwards, Mr. Andargie facilitated a theoretical discussion on tools and procedures of gender mainstreaming in teacher education curricula, including in teaching and learning materials. The discussion was accompanied by group and individual based activities to deepen participants’ theoretical and practical understanding on gender issues and mainstreaming. Participants were grouped according to their subject expertise and reviewed modules using the pedagogic and gender-specific tools. Specific sessions were facilitated for reflection of progresses and peer learning.

The purpose of the workshop was to improve the quality of selected teacher training course modules in the aspect of gender and pedagogy through critical review. Seven teacher training courses in the areas of Curriculum, Psychology and STEM have been reviewed through the application of quality frameworks. The courses were originally revised by the support of the HNA project so as to improve their quality in the aspect of gender.  As a next step, the management of the participating teacher training institutions will develop an improved version of the module based on the compiled review inputs of the draft course modules.

Under the UNESCO-HNA Funds-In-Trust Project, IICBA has been providing technical backstopping to Ethiopia and Ghana in gender mainstreaming, teacher training, ICTs and STEM for girls. Look at how the UNESCO-HNA Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s education is transforming girls’ education in Ethiopia here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyV5h_9mY40&feature=youtu.be