By Keitaro Isogai, on 13 May, 2016

Two consecutive events, workshop and core policy committee meetings, on Uganda’s national teacher policy development were held in Kampala from 9 to 13 May. Around 40 participants from the Ministry of Education, teachers unions, international organizations, and other governmental and non-governmental institutions participated in a two-day workshop to share knowledge and findings in different thematic areas of teacher policies. The workshop was followed by restricted committee meetings for consolidating a national policy document and outlining a continuous professional development (CPD) package. These contributions add up to the effort to chart out a comprehensive policy in relation to the recruitment, training, deployment, mobility, career development, and welfare of teachers.

Mr. Mame Omar Diop from IICBA gave an orientation presentation on the first day of the workshop. He outlined the transition from EFA goals to SDGs, Capacity Development for Education for All (CapEFA) to Capacity Development for Education (CapED), key findings of the Teacher Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TISSA) report on Uganda, and issues on the table for discussion. He underscored the connection between each step in the policy-formulation process, invoking the importance of utilizing the diagnostic findings to construct the comprehensive national policy.

“From the TISSA findings”, says Mr. Diop, “it will be necessary to talk about the institutionalization of social dialogue between employers and employees in education; to involve teachers in policy formulation; to improve administration of performance contracts; and to reduce the gap between managerial and non-managerial teachers in CPD opportunities.” Ms. Margaret Nsereko, Commissioner of MOEST/TIET, also alluded to the opportunity gap, saying “equal opportunities for teachers upgrading is an issue that remains a subject for discussion.” Subsequently, groups composed of policy analysts and economists from Makerere University, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Service, teachers unions including UNATU and COUPSTA outlined the policy content before working in-depth in the specific elements.

After the workshop, the restricted committee discussed the CPD package coherent with the pre-service training for teachers. The issues pertaining to social dialogue were derived continuously to feed into a bank of topics to be used for further discussion. Ms. Eyerusalem Azmeraw from the IICBA team also presented a CPD framework in Ethiopia in hope of stimulating and enriching the discussion.

As Uganda being one of the CapED countries, creating the comprehensive national teacher policy is one of the local efforts of the global initiative to achieve quality education under SDG 4. A successful creation and implementation of the national teacher policy in Uganda, the first ever in the country, will provide a good model for other Sub-Saharan African countries facing similar challenges and aiming to improve the quality of education.

Further reading:

The CapEFA Programme at a glance:  http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001896/189649e.pdf

Methodological Guide for the Analysis of Teacher Issues: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001901/190129e.pdf