Life Skills Education Training Resources Consultancy for UNICEF
A joint SF Canada and SF UK team, comprised of Bert Tulk (Canada), Fumiyo Kagawa (UK), Wendy Agnew (Canada) and David Selby (UK) is undertaking a mid-February to mid-June 2020 consultancy on behalf of UNICEF WCARO (West and Central Africa Regional Office). The Life Skills Education Training Resources Consultancy consists of three stages and involves curriculum development at lower primary, upper primary and lower secondary school levels. The curriculum development at each level revolves around 12 life skills: creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, cooperation, negotiation, decision making, self-management, resilience, communication, respect for diversity, empathy and participation.
During the first stage the team will conduct a good practice review of life skills, citizenship education and related curricular fields to identify proven pedagogical approaches, effective learning measurement tools, curricular platforms, gaps and challenges in provision. The review will involve documentary search and analysis as well as small-scale consultation with key stakeholders and informants. Out of this stage two documents will emerge: an outline for pre- and in-service teacher training courses and a document of proposals for teaching and learning approaches, part off which will be an identification of learning outcomes, demonstrating curricular progression, for the 12 life skills at each of the three school levels.
The second stage involves the development of a unit for each of the life skills at each of the age levels, making a total of 36 units, added to which will be specific units covering, first, learning measurement tools and, second, tools for evaluating teacher performance. Materials will be disseminated on an online platform as well as in print form. They will be delivered in English and French versions. The resources will be Open Educational Resources (OER), licensed under the creative commons and therefore free for use. Once the resources are drafted, generic six-day pre-service and in-service teacher training programs will be developed. The aim of the training programs is to empower teachers to be able to use the knowledge and skills acquired to empower children by infusing life skills education into the various subjects in the curriculum. The course will similarly be developed in English and French.
The third stage comprises a two-day stakeholder validation workshop in Dakar, Senegal, and the amendment of the classroom and teacher training materials in the light of stakeholder feedback.
For earlier SF work in West and Central Africa, click here and here.