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Event
  • 11.06.2021

Regional Virtual Capacity-building Workshop on Teacher Policy Development in Africa

Watch the recordings.

UNESCO, its International Institute for Capacity Building (IICBA) in Africa and the Teacher Task Force (TTF), are organizing a series of seminars in 2021 for national policy-makers and other relevant stakeholders in Africa to increase their knowledge and capacity in relation to the teacher policy development process, the dimensions of teacher policy and how policy development work can be better operationalized at the national level. This is a critical area needing attention to ensure that the development of holistic and comprehensive teacher policies is aligned to national frameworks and education sector plans that define teachers’ roles, rights and determine their work.

During the meeting, two key resources will be discussed: the Teacher Policy Development Guide (TPDG) and IICBA’s regionally contextualized guide Teaching Policies and Learning Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: Issues and Options. Based on inputs from the first virtual session, follow-up workshop(s) will be planned between September and December 2021 on specific topics of teacher policy development.

The workshop will be held in English, French and Arabic with simultaneous interpretation. It will also include language specific working groups to discuss issues related to teacher policy development in greater depth.

For more information please see the Concept Note.

To participate in the event, please register here.

Event post featured photo: UNESCO-IICBA

News
  • 07.06.2021

Supporting social dialogue in education – Four lessons from sub-Saharan Africa

Teacher participation in policy decisions is vital to find common solutions to problems and strengthen governance in education. Social dialogue can also help harmonize policy measures and improve cooperation between governments and the teachers who implement national policy and norms in education practice. As such, it can be argued that effective social dialogue is a key factor in guaranteeing quality education. During the COVID-19 pandemic however, which globally affected more than 100 million educators and support staff, teachers and their representative organisations were seldom consulted on decisions related to school closures or re-opening.

A recent virtual panel discussion held during the 2021 Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) conference highlighted ways to give teachers a greater role in social dialogue, focusing on examples from sub-Saharan Africa. The panel brought together experts and representatives of Education International, the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, the FORSYNC project in Togo, a union representative from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and an independent education expert on sub-Saharan Africa. The panel aimed to identify challenges and opportunities to bring about more meaningful social dialogue based on evidence and lessons from the ground.

 

Understanding social dialogue

Social dialogue is a key concept of labour negotiation widely recognised in many countries. The International Labour Organization defines it as: “[all] types of negotiation, consultation or simply exchange of information between or among, representatives of governments, employers and workers, on issues of common interest relating to economic and social policy”. In the case of the education sector, this includes exchanges between governments and teachers through their unions. Since successful social dialogue structures and processes have the potential to resolve key education challenges, they should be institutionalized and protected by law, but can also be informal or a combination of both.

Dennis Sinyolo, Chief Regional Coordinator of Education International Africa Region, underlined the importance of exchange between governments and teachers, stating that “Social dialogue is critical for teachers and the teaching profession to ensure professional consensus-building and democratic participation through collective bargaining among the principal education sector stakeholders”.

More recently, focus has also been placed on the role of social participation in education. While less commonly defined, it can be understood as the involvement of additional partners in education policy dialogue that influence decision-making and outcomes. It can include civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, voluntary associations, parents and students, faith-based organizations, foundations and the private sector. It is considered separate and complementary to traditional social dialogue processes and mechanisms. The levels of participation of these actors may vary along with the degree of agency and voice held by those affected by education policy. These levels of participation range from consultation and dialogue, to actual deliberation, co-administration, monitoring or accountability, but have one common goal: the constant improvement of the quality and relevance of education.

During the conference, the panel members presented four key lessons about how to support meaningful social dialogue in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Lesson 1 – Teacher representatives need training to enhance their technical capacity

In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, unions are not sufficiently prepared to participate actively and constructively in the development and monitoring of education policies and sector plans. In response to this, the Formation Syndicale (FORSYNC) project builds technical capacity of both unions and teacher organizations with training on advocacy, mobilization and how to carry out consultations and negotiations. Training also ensures that union members have better knowledge of the education system and its various channels.

According to Aichath Sidi, the FORSYNC project’s representative in Togo, technical capacity and knowledge must be strengthened to achieve effective social dialogue that improves education policies. Consultations and exchanges with unions have revealed that,

Training should focus on the process of developing education policies and their monitoring (joint sector reviews); on the use of educational indicators and teachers’ surveys; on the assessments of prior learning, the development of performance reports and the impact of the crisis, such as COVID-19, with its possibilities and effects for distance education. Additionally, the training should include a gender and an inclusive approach taking into account the most vulnerable and marginalized”.

 

Lesson 2 – Teacher unions need to be more autonomous

Social dialogue is highly dependent upon the autonomy, strength, and legitimacy of teacher unions. The case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) showed that one of the barriers to successful social dialogue was government ministries’ view of the ‘politicization’ of different teacher unions. In addition, social dialogue can fail because of the proliferation and fragmentation of unions and the lack of clear representation.

Teacher unions need to be strong and unified to overcome existing challenges – particularly so when governments are not willing to engage in meaningful social dialogue and collective bargaining. Unions must therefore navigate between protecting their autonomy and developing political influence without being perceived as overly ‘politicized’ by governments.

Technical capacity-building and training can also help with the depoliticization of unions, affirm their autonomy, and as a consequence strengthen social dialogue. A union representative from DRC, Jacques Taty explained,

Since the beginning of this year, we have been organizing training and information sessions for different members of the trade union organizations based on the fundamental principles of ‘unionism’, to foster competent organizations and ensure well-trained teachers capable to defend their own interests and take an active role in the development of education policy, and monitoring of its implementation”. 

 

Lesson 3 – The policy environment is important

A national or local context based on transparent, participatory and accountable political dialogue is essential to foster wider social participation, democracy and governance. It is also important to ensure that the principal activities that contribute to social dialogue – information sharing, consultation, negotiation – can take place frequently, transparently and with positive results.

The FORSYNC project, however, identified an under-representation of women in different teacher unions, even though women represent a large majority of teachers in many countries. Trade unions should aim to guarantee more equal representation of females in social dialogue given their demographic weight. This is also important as previous research has shown how women play a key role to maintain union unity, and are generally less implicated in conflicts over leadership positions—a key source of conflict and discord (International Labour Office, 2010).

Other strategies have also shown potential in achieving constructive social dialogue and combat reluctance on the part of ministries to engage in it. For example, the National Federation of Teachers and Social Educators of the DR Congo/National Union of Workers of Congo (FENECO/UNTC) has adopted strategies for lobbying ministries of education including development and dissemination of press releases, radio and television broadcasts in addition to the training of trade unionists.

 

Lesson 4 – Other education actors should also be included (social participation)

Social dialogue in the education sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo is built around fundamental principles translated into law (i.e. Law n°14/004 of 14 February 2014 on national education), which guarantees a partnership approach whereby the state brings together various stakeholders to pool human, material and financial resources. It is a participatory approach fostering social participation in education aimed at involving all stakeholders in the design and management of the sector. It includes various actors including parents, promoters of approved private national educational institutions, religious denominations, grassroots communities, provinces, decentralized territorial entities, national public companies and private and non-governmental organizations. According to M. Taty,

“Since the participation of other partners is also crucial, unions should move away from the traditional role of mere demands/claims, a role that has shown its limits”.

In the era of globalization, it is necessary to rethink alliances, and unions should develop new partnerships such as with research centers and universities, which could contribute to networks promoting learning, research and discussion.

The FORSYNC project is supported by the Centre Research and Opinion Polls (CROP), which is an independent and non-politicized organization of African researchers working in different sectors. CROP has been the national partner in Togo of the Afrobarometer research network since 2012 and has already conducted four editions of surveys in Togo in parallel with other studies. These surveys gauge public opinion on economic, political, and social issues across the African continent.  More recently, the project has also hosted discussions with unions and disseminated articles to ensure greater visibility of unions and their needs. Some training has also already been conducted with FENECO and further online training sessions are planned, particularly on the monitoring and evaluation of education policies.

 

Conclusion

Social dialogue between governments, employers and teachers' unions is essential to help to create a positive atmosphere in the work environment and to find concerted and consensual solutions. It is also key to help avoid overly top-down approaches in the education sector, as was experienced in some countries at the peak of the COVID-19 crisis.

To enhance teachers’ living and working conditions and improve the quality of teaching in general, teachers’ unions and other actors need to be able to propose alternative and innovative ideas that can complement those proposed by governments and private education institutions. To achieve this, unions need to demonstrate autonomy, be less fragmented, more engaged and better prepared. Training by various partners can help to close many of these gaps and empower unions to be partners in developing common responses. Furthermore, the continued engagement and openness towards other partners in policy dialogue and social participation can continue to complement traditional social dialogue structures and processes.

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Photo credit: The Sunday Times/Antonio Muchave
Caption: Teachers from independent schools and members of the SA National Civic Organisation protest outside the Gauteng education department about the non-payment of salaries.

Event
  • 18.05.2021

The transforming power of e-ducation in Africa

On the occasion of Africa Day, ProFuturo is organising on 25 May the event The transforming power of e-ducation in Africa, a dialogue on the challenges and opportunities of education on the African continent. The meeting will be streamed on ProFuturo’s YouTube channel from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm (Spanish time). You will be able to enjoy the event in both Spanish and English thanks to simultaneous translation. In addition, there will be sign language translation in Spanish.

The meeting is co-organised by ProFuturo, Casa África, UNHCR, Empieza Por Educar, Entreculturas, Save the Children and World Vision, with the support of Planeta Futuro and Mundo Negro. The event will focus on Africa and the progress that has been made in the field of education in recent years. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning of millions of African children will also be discussed. 

The representatives of the participating organisations will analyse the challenges and opportunities for education in Africa today. Teacher training, access to education for refugee children, boosting digital education and enrolling girls in school will be among the issues on the table. 

The event will be supported by Planeta Futuro and Mundo Negro, who will reflect on how Africa is reported in Spain and how a comprehensive story, which also includes positive news, can help change our perception of the continent and contribute to its transformation. 

More info: https://profuturo.education/en/news/event-education-profuturo-africa-day-25-may/

Event
  • 18.05.2021

The transforming power of e-ducation in Africa

On the occasion of Africa Day, ProFuturo is organising on 25 May the event The transforming power of e-ducation in Africa, a dialogue on the challenges and opportunities of education on the African continent. The meeting will be streamed on ProFuturo’s YouTube channel from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm (Spanish time). You will be able to enjoy the event in both Spanish and English thanks to simultaneous translation. In addition, there will be sign language translation in Spanish.

The meeting is co-organised by ProFuturo, Casa África, UNHCR, Empieza Por Educar, Entreculturas, Save the Children and World Vision, with the support of Planeta Futuro and Mundo Negro. The event will focus on Africa and the progress that has been made in the field of education in recent years. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning of millions of African children will also be discussed. 

The representatives of the participating organisations will analyse the challenges and opportunities for education in Africa today. Teacher training, access to education for refugee children, boosting digital education and enrolling girls in school will be among the issues on the table. 

The event will be supported by Planeta Futuro and Mundo Negro, who will reflect on how Africa is reported in Spain and how a comprehensive story, which also includes positive news, can help change our perception of the continent and contribute to its transformation. 

More info: https://profuturo.education/en/news/event-education-profuturo-africa-day-25-may/

Event
  • 18.05.2021

The transforming power of e-ducation in Africa

On the occasion of Africa Day, ProFuturo is organising on 25 May the event The transforming power of e-ducation in Africa, a dialogue on the challenges and opportunities of education on the African continent. The meeting will be streamed on ProFuturo’s YouTube channel from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm (Spanish time). You will be able to enjoy the event in both Spanish and English thanks to simultaneous translation. In addition, there will be sign language translation in Spanish.

The meeting is co-organised by ProFuturo, Casa África, UNHCR, Empieza Por Educar, Entreculturas, Save the Children and World Vision, with the support of Planeta Futuro and Mundo Negro. The event will focus on Africa and the progress that has been made in the field of education in recent years. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning of millions of African children will also be discussed. 

The representatives of the participating organisations will analyse the challenges and opportunities for education in Africa today. Teacher training, access to education for refugee children, boosting digital education and enrolling girls in school will be among the issues on the table. 

The event will be supported by Planeta Futuro and Mundo Negro, who will reflect on how Africa is reported in Spain and how a comprehensive story, which also includes positive news, can help change our perception of the continent and contribute to its transformation. 

More info: https://profuturo.education/en/news/event-education-profuturo-africa-day-25-may/

Event
  • 23.03.2021

Teacher unions and (education) crises: Effectiveness of social dialogue in Francophone Africa

Join us for a panel discussion on Teacher unions and (education) crises: Effectiveness of social dialogue in Francophone Africa at CIES Conference 2021. The discussion will be held in Zoom Room 128.

Please register here. The event is open to CIES members only. 

The discussion will be held in English and French with live transcript and automatic closed caption in English. 

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This panel will explore various forms of social dialogue and the involvement of teachers’ unions in the development of education policies in Francophone African countries. By drawing lessons from different cases, this panel aims to problematise social dialogue while identifying issues on teacher participation in different countries and its relation to the different political economies. Additionally, the variety of cases may bring a sub-regional perspective of the context and aims to invite researches to deepen into this little-explored topic.

The different viewpoints and experiences include three complementary presentations. First, insights from an on-going research carried out by the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 that will shed light on social dialogue in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, the FORSYNC project highlights practical approaches to foster unions technical capacities in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Third, a critical empirical case study from the Democratic Republic of Congo brings nuance to both lessons learned and innovative approaches by discussing the reality in a challenging policy context.

 

General presentation of the Panel

Rarely have education systems been subjected to such upheavals. The COVID pandemic has shutdown schools for many months, exams have been postponed, and many children, especially girls, will not be returning to school. The pandemic will most likely have long-term negative consequences for educational achievements and children’s well-being.

Teachers have acted as true leaders (UNESCO, 2020). From one moment to another, their work routine was interrupted, yet they were tasked with upholding education systems . and ensuring learning continuity. Where technologically possible, this happened in the form of distance education. Yet many teachers were also involved by helping to contribute to self-learning materials, radio programs and returning to school under very difficult circumstances to finalize the school year.

Under these conditions, dialogue between education authorities, teachers and parents is crucial in developing a consensual response in health and education to the pandemic and its impact.

Unions are the representative bodies for teachers that ought to advocate and fight for teachers’ rights. However, they are not always included in policy-making processes. The COVID pandemic offers a possibility to analyze to what extent teachers' unions are involved in the development of education policies in this particular crisis context? This panel will explore this question, focusing on various forms of social dialogue in Francophone African countries.

Education sector monitoring processes have been formalized since the inception of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in 2002, but the degrees of effective involvement of teachers' unions vary (Global Partnership for Education, 2017). For example, teacher unions are usually not sufficiently involved in joint sector reviews. The Civil Society Fund for Education (CSEF) facilitated an increased and more regular participation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), in sectoral dialogue mechanisms (Universalia, 2018).

The UNESCO and Education International project “Improving support for teachers and their participation in local education groups” has enabled teacher unions to participate more effectively in social dialogue with some national governments. More recently, civil society actors, trade unionists and experts are also organized into a network to develop a teachers’ union training project (FORSNYC).

What is social dialogue?

As defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO), social dialogue includes all types of negotiation, consultation or simply exchange of information between representatives of governments, employers and workers, in various ways, on questions relating to policy, economic and social issues of common interest. In particular, the ILO (2020) stipulates that social dialogue aims to encourage the formulation of a consensus between the main actors of the world of work as well as their democratic participation. In education, effective social dialogue can meaningfully improve the education policy process and increase the effectiveness of education and the quality of education.

Magagi (2020) makes several points that are relevant for a discussion of teacher unions’ role in policy-making in Francophone Africa during and after COVID. First, unions have been strongly linked to the political/decolonization struggle. Second, in the wake of democratization in the 1990s, unions have been created and functioned in the shadow of political parties. Third, as a result, the number of unions has proliferated. In taking the example of Niger, Magagi argues that unions in Niger would need to distance themselves clearly from political parties to regain independence.

Indeed, many unions were created only to serve as a bridgehead for political parties to the labor movement. Personal interests and the disproportionate political ambitions of union leaders in political parties have done a lot of damage and created several divisions in the ranks of African trade unions. Offering one possible solution, several national trade union centers have succeeded in redefining the objective boundaries between trade unionism and political parties (BIT 2010).

Social dialogue during the pandemic 

Regarding the management of the pandemic, social dialogue has taken place, but many of the unions have expressed dissatisfaction with its outcomes. At the time of writing this article, little to no information has been collected in relation to this topic, except Education International undertook a survey of unions in 34 African countries. Indeed, despite 71% of unions having been consulted according to the COVID-19 and education survey (Education International Research, 2020), only 9% say their views have been fully taken into account. For 51%, their opinion was taken into account a few times while 11% said their opinion was ignored. A significant proportion of unions (28%) claim that they have not been consulted at all.

In addition to the dialogue with governments around the management of the pandemic, almost all unions (92%) have sensitized members around the pandemic. A significant portion (38%) invested in the development of tools for their members.

It is clear that in general (62% of cases) no measures have been taken to support teachers according to the Education International survey. Only 13% of governments have recruited more qualified teachers, posing the problem of managing additional classrooms, following the reduction in class sizes for the application of barrier measures. Note that 28% of governments have invested in the training and professional development of their teachers.

Given this background, this panel brings together different viewpoints and experiences to discuss policy and practice with regard to social dialogue between teacher unions, governments and other stakeholders in Francophone African countries.

Three complementary presentations come together to achieve this objective.

  • First, insights from past and on-going research carried out by UNESCO and by the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 will shed light on a variety of experiences and lessons learned.
  • Second, the aforementioned FORSYNC project highlights practical approaches to foster unions technical capacities.
  • Third, a critical empirical case study from the Democratic Republic of Congo brings nuance to both lessons learned and innovative approaches by discussing the reality in a challenging policy context.


The panel will be chaired by Education International, and the international association of teachers’ union.