The Ministry of Education (MoE) in Seychelles is implementing a new national curriculum framework (2013) adopting a competency based approach. Within this new framework, the MoE is committed to produce new teaching and learning materials as well as teacher training materials that would allow change in teaching practices thus improving learning outcomes and increasing student’s readiness for life. In order to support the MoE in its endeavours, IBE-UNESCO co-organised a curriculum design workshop with over 50 education officers, primary and secondary teachers, educators from professional centres and other educational institutions in February 2016.
This four-day workshop on competency-based approach (CBA) was organised as a follow-up to the General Education Quality Analysis Framework (GEQAF) workshop held in July 2015. Seychelles is one of the 10 countries that have pledged commitment to the GEQAF initiative in order to strengthen the capacity of its education system and provide high quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.
The primary aim of the workshop was to arrive at a common understanding on the definition of competencies and their application to the local context in Seychelles; the workshop also aimed to provide the national curriculum experts with the necessary tools to redesign the education programmes from a competency-based perspective.
The workshop was officially launched by Ms Merida Delcy, the chairman of the GEQAF national core team in the presence of: H.E. Minister for Education, Ms. MacSuzy Mondon; Dr. Linda Barallon, the principal secretary for post-secondary education, planning, human resources and infrastructure development; Mr. Benjamin Choppy, the principal secretary for Information Communication Technology (ICT), and other ministry officials and delegates.
Delivering a keynote speech, the Director of IBE, Dr Mmantsetsa Marope emphasised the importance of competency based approach by stating that “the reason we are focusing on competency based curriculum design is because, beyond knowledge, the education system shall provide students with what they need to insert themselves in the economic system and the society as citizens.” She also highlighted that: “ arriving at a common understanding on the kind of competencies we need for sustainable development becomes extremely important for us to be able to move forward. The key question to ask, therefore, is whether the education system is enabling people to acquire competencies that will optimise their contribution to individual and collective development; in other words do these competencies support a holistic, sustainable, and equitable development.”
During the mission, several parallel meetings were held between the IBE Director, Dr. Marope and the MoE officials and other education stakeholders in Seychelles. The discussions focused on the potentials of Seychelles to act as an Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) regional hub for the GEQAF countries. Exchanges were also made around Seychelles supporting selected GEQAF partners to foster education quality and improve learning through technology within the framework of the IBE partnership with Google.
