Education

Education is one of COL's two programme sectors. The four initiatives in this sector - Open Schooling, Teacher education, Higher education and the Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth - reflect the wide pan-Commonwealth consensus on priorities that emerged during COL’s consultation process.

Open schooling

Worldwide, 513 million pupils were enrolled in secondary schools in 2005, an increase of 17% over 1999. The world average for the proportion of children enrolled in secondary schools is 59%. The Pacific has a higher figure (66%) but some regions are significantly lower: Sub-Saharan Africa (26%); the Caribbean (42%); and South and West Asia (46%). The introduction of free primary education has created a surge in the secondary intake in some countries, but with a low survival rate. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the secondary school survival rate is only 63%, compared to 87% globally. Survival rates are particularly low in Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda, where fewer than half of the pupils reach the last grade. There is an urgent need to expand access to quality secondary education in three of the four Commonwealth regions. Open schooling is part of the answer.

Under this initiative, COL will work with policy-makers, practitioners and managers responsible for secondary education to equip governments to cope with the increased demand for secondary schooling. Its aim is to ensure that countries have the capacity to plan and implement sustainable open schooling at the secondary level.

This will be achieved through:

research and development of working models for open schooling;
advocacy for open schooling as a viable option for secondary schooling;
professional development of practitioners and policy-makers in open schools;
more emphasis on technical and vocational courses;
use of technologies, especially mobile devices, as teaching and learning tools; and
development and dissemination of open educational resources for secondary schools.

COL will work with governments and institutions in all four regions of the Commonwealth. A key strategy will be partnership with organisations that have similar values and share the vision for open schooling with a focus on south-south collaboration.

www.col.org/OpenSchooling

Teacher education

Although school enrolments and teacher supply have expanded significantly since the Dakar Forum on Education for All in 2000, many challenges remain. Net enrolment ratios in primary school are still in the range 60–90% in developing Commonwealth countries, for example: India (89%); South Africa (87%); Ghana (69%); Pakistan (68%); and Solomon Islands (62%). Except in the Pacific, where the school-age population is declining, many more teachers will be required to provide basic education to the millions of children not yet enrolled. The situation is particularly critical in Sub-Saharan Africa which projects a requirement of 4 million teachers in 2015, up from 2.4 million in 2004. The increased need for teachers is dramatic in some countries over this period: Nigeria (increasing from 580,000 to 706,000); Kenya (from 150,000 to 192,000); Malawi (from 41,000 to 75,000); and Zambia (from 46,000 to 68,000). Comparable figures for Bangladesh (increasing from 370,000 to 453,000) show that this is not only an African problem.

Moreover, a significant proportion of teachers in many countries are untrained or unqualified, for example: Uganda (63%); Nigeria (44%); and The Gambia (42%). Since existing teacher training institutions do not have the capacity to address these major shortfalls in supply, it is urgent to expand the contribution of ODL teacher education.

Increasing the number and quality of teachers is crucial for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All. Conventional teacher education institutions in many countries face a huge increase in demand for newly trained teachers. Moreover, there are few opportunities for continuing professional development for teachers already in service, although frequently half of them are unqualified – with inevitable consequences for the learning outcomes of their pupils.

Through this initiative, COL will:

advocate the use of ODL in teacher education by supporting policies for professional development;
work with selected teacher education institutions over the Three-Year Plan period to ensure the design and delivery of quality teacher education programmes;
emphasise the development of pedagogic content knowledge and skills among ODL practitioners;
support conventional teacher education institutions to make the transition to dual-mode;
facilitate the development and use of open educational resources; and
develop the capacity of teachers to implement the concept of Child Friendly Schools.

COL will work in partnership with teacher training institutions, ministries and development partners active in this field in the developing countries of the Commonwealth.

www.col.org/TeacherEducation

Higher education

Expanding access to quality tertiary education is a critical challenge for developing countries. Kenya is typical: less than 50% of the 50,000 qualified students applying annually for admission are absorbed by its seven public universities and 20 private universities. Fewer than 10% of people in the relevant age group have access to tertiary education in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaysia plans to raise its age participation rates to 40% by 2010, India to 15% by 2012, Trinidad & Tobago to 60% by 2015, and Jamaica to 30% by 2015. Barbados hopes to have one university graduate per family by 2020. However, countries are unlikely to meet such targets by conventional means. Commonwealth African countries aim to establish up to seven new open universities within the next three years, and campus universities will need to adopt what is called dual-mode provision by adding distance learning programmes. The University of the South Pacific, which has long operated in this manner, is focusing on increasing student retention and performance.

Faced with burgeoning demand for higher education, various African countries are planning to establish open universities and are seeking COL’s help. Although ODL is now deployed by many conventional institutions, there is still a pressing need for professional development in the different aspects of ODL.

Over three years, COL will:

support the training of trainers in both curriculum and instructional design in tertiary institutions, using technologies that are appropriate to each setting;
provide technical assistance to new open universities;
support the transition of colleges into universities;
offer scholarships to support the training of academics in and through ODL methods;
develop and disseminate a quality assurance toolkit for use in self-
evaluation by universities; and
design and develop a low-cost institutional audit model for wider application.

COL will also create a consortium of universities to generate imaginative programmes to promote respect and understanding, targeting students, teachers, youth, the police and local communities. Continued support will be given to institutions offering the COL Executive MBA/MPA Programmes and Post-Graduate Diploma Programme in Legislative Drafting.

www.col.org/HigherEducation

Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth

Although most of the 32 small states of the Commonwealth have at least one post-secondary institution, the limited programme offerings mean that many students must travel abroad to study. This has a high foreign exchange cost and a proportion of students never come back home. The average migration rate of those with tertiary education from these small states is 44% compared to the Commonwealth average of 18%. Strengthening the range and credibility of tertiary offerings is therefore a priority.

COL has determined that 70% of the small states have implemented regulatory frameworks for the accreditation of qualifications. The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth is helping countries expand course offerings collaboratively. Its Transnational Qualifications Framework will provide a mechanism for recognising qualifications and will allow small states to share courses cost-effectively. By acting collectively, small states can share the costs of capacity-building and programme development and become leaders in the age of eLearning.

The VUSSC network involves almost all the Commonwealth’s 32 small states, which are now the principal actors in its management. Thanks to the collective efforts of VUSSC partners since 2004, hundreds of government officials and staff members of tertiary institutions have acquired advanced information and communications technology skills, eLearning materials have been created in six professional areas, and a Transnational Qualifications Framework has been established.

This is a solid basis for the expansion of eLearning in the tertiary institutions of the small states, using both ODL and face-to-face modes.

COL will now:

provide advanced ICT training for educators;
facilitate the implementation of the Transnational Qualifications
Framework;
strengthen the capacity of tertiary-level institutions to develop and offer VUSSC programmes;
list all internationally offered courses from accredited participating institutions that meet quality standards on the VUSSC Internet portal;
facilitate the co-creation of additional content in the topic areas identified by governments and make it freely available on the VUSSC website; and
continue bilateral and multilateral collaboration to advance this initiative.