On 19th March 2019, UNESCO IICBA and the MasterCard Foundation co-organized the Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 (CESA 16-25) Teacher Cluster Meeting and Secondary Education in Africa (SEA): Preparing Youth for the Future of Work Study Review in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ten teacher delegates from Ethiopia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Djibouti, together with 8 teacher cluster representatives from teacher training institutions and 6 specialists from UNESCO IICBA and MasterCard Foundation were in attendance.

The SEA study was conducted in October 2018 by the MasterCard Foundation and its strategic partners. It focuses on the role of secondary education throughout the continent, especially sub-Saharan Africa, in preparing African youth for the future of work, with an emphasis on ensuring youth acquire skills, knowledge and competencies necessary to succeed in a today’s global labor market. The collaborative report is expected to be released by the end of 2019.

The objectives of the consultation were to share experiences among secondary education teachers from different parts of sub-Saharan Africa, gain insights from teachers on issues of importance to secondary education and inform the final report of the SEA study and its recommendations.

The meeting was divided into two groups in the morning. Teacher delegates focused on the SEA study, while the teacher cluster delegates discussed the work of the CESA 16-25 Teacher Development Cluster. During the afternoon, teacher delegates and teacher cluster participants joined together and further discussed the recommendations from the SEA study.

All participants actively shared their personal experience regarding initial teacher training, curriculum reform, secondary student transitions to work and teacher status and motivation, combined with the context of their respective country and/or institute. The voices of teachers, educators and important stakeholders on the continent were reached, which raised the awareness of the study of these groups and built a linkage between the existing research and possible implementation in the future. In the end, it was decided to follow-up the conversation with participants and enhance the collaboration between IICBA and the MasterCard Foundation, which suggests a strong potential of the study to shape the future of the continent.