How do you accommodate 18,900 learners in nine secondary schools with limited resources? This is the dilemma faced by the team managing education in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Their solution? Create two schools in one.

As the education officer for Windle International Kenya, George Nandy oversees secondary education for Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei Settlement. The organisation supports and implements education interventions in Kakuma which serves over 180,000 refugees from South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Their work is supported by the Kenyan government, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and other donors and partners.

Growing up in a family of 18 children, with very few resources, George understands some of the hardships that refugee learners face.

“I’m here because one teacher sacrificed to put me through school, paying for my uniform and learning materials. I’m bound to help,” says George who taught in Kakuma schools for over 6 years before taking on his current role. “By working in the refugee camp, I get to help these learners who are all vulnerable. They have suffered so much trauma, and they face so many challenges. But by transforming their education, we can support them with the skills they need to create a successful future for themselves.”

Making the most of available resources helped transform education in Kakuma

While there are currently 21 primary schools in Kakuma refugee camp, there are only seven secondary schools. Before George and the team took on the task of transforming education in the refugee camp in 2015, thousands of learners were forced to give up their schooling as there simply wasn’t enough space to accommodate them.

“Facing the ever-increasing student population, we sat down with Windle’s then executive director, Dr. Marangu Njogu, who proposed the innovative two-in-one approach to schooling,” says George.

“The system capitalises on ‘time’ as one of the major resources at our disposal. We realised that if we divided the day in half, we could accommodate two schools, and twice as many learners in one building. Each school has its own set of teachers, led by a single ‘chief principal’ who is supported by two deputies. Even the learners’ uniforms are different to make sure they attend their designated school,” says George.

How does two-in-one work?

A conventional school day runs from 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM and incorporates short and long health breaks as well as sports, clubs and society meetings. “But in the two-in-one system, the activities are compressed, so only six hours are used up,” explains George.

“The morning school starts early from 6:40 AM to 12:20 PM with two short health breaks in between. Then there’s a ten-minute changeover between schools. The afternoon school starts at 12:30 PM and ends at 6:30 PM,” says George.

“Co-curricular activities, sports, clubs, societies, and meetings are planned for when the particular school is not on session. For instance, the morning school participates in non-class activities in the afternoon. The afternoon school participates in non-class activities during the mid-morning.”

Benefits of the two-in-one school system

“The two-in-one system means we don’t have to find the money to build new buildings,” says George.

“Desks, chairs, lockers, classrooms, laboratories, kitchen, toilets, hand-washing facilities, library, reference books, ICT facilities, playgrounds, sports facilities and assembly grounds are all shared by the two schools," says George.

The innovative system also helps decrease teacher fatigue.

“Some Kenyan schools use the double-shift system where learners attend in two shifts, but the same teachers stay throughout the day. However, this leads to teacher exhaustion. With two-in-one system, teachers are able to give their very best in all of their classes.”

A transformative new curriculum requires extensive resources

While the two-in-one solution is helping more learners access secondary education in the Kakuma refugee camp, the student to teacher ratio is still exceptionally high.

“Currently, the average is 120 learners per teacher. “So we are working with the Kenyan government, donors, and other organisations to try to solve this.”

Decreasing the ratio will be even more important in 2023 when the Kenyan government begins rolling out a new competency-based curriculum. Instead of focusing on grades, the approach focuses on helping learners develop the skills, knowledge & talents they need when they leave school, whether it’s for tertiary education, or the workplace. It is learner-centred instead of teacher-centred and allows each learner to progress and master skills at their own pace.

“With a focus on ICT skills, the new system will help the learners thrive in an everchanging world,” says George.

However, while the new curriculum has many benefits, it requires just 30 learners per class, and relies on the teacher paying more attention to each individual.

“Currently we employ 335 teachers for 18,900 learners, and counting… but the new curriculum will require more teachers, additional classrooms, laboratories, technology, textbooks, and learning materials.

“We rely on generous donors to help us manage these needs. Their support helps us build and develop schools for the Kakuma refugee children, giving them a chance to transform their future through education.”

Despite the challenges ahead, George believes that the competency-based approach will equip the learners with the skills and knowledge they need to pursue careers in the 21st century.

The peacemakers of the future

For George, making sure learners have access to a solid education is not just about helping them build more secure livelihoods. It’s also about ensuring they have the skills to make a positive impact on society.

“Education plays a major role in obtaining peace in our world,” says George. “A good education empowers the learners to return to their countries one day, to take part in conflict resolution, and peace-keeping, and become the leaders of the future.”

Learn more about the #TeachersTransform campaign as part of the Transforming Education Summit.

Photo credit: John Cummings

A portable solar suitcase with a battery and solar panel, eco bricks, electricity from seawater, and 3D printed coral reefs… these are just a few of the innovative solutions imagined and implemented by teachers and learners through the Climate Action Project.

Belgian IT teacher, Koen Timmers, created the Climate Action Project in 2017. He envisioned it as a useful resource to help teachers incorporate climate change into their lesson plans. He didn’t expect it to become a global movement in just five years.

The project is helping to transform education and support teachers by creating a space for climate change and sustainable lifestyles in the curriculum. It also promotes a global outlook by encouraging dialogue and collaboration between learners in different countries.

Today, over 10 million learners from 107 countries have taken part in the six-week online course which has been endorsed by world-renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, Amnesty International, Microsoft, WWF, NASA, UNESCO, the UN Environment Programme, and ministries of education across 16 countries.

Transformative teaching encourages learners to take action

“Climate change is something that’s affecting everyone, everywhere. I created the project so that students and teachers from all over the world could talk about this issue, learn from each other, and take action,” says Koen. And that, he believes, is the key to the project’s success.

“You can learn by reading a textbook, you can learn from a teacher, you can learn from a newspaper. But in all of those cases, you really only have one side of the story,” says Koen. “But when you are able to speak to someone living on another continent, and you realise you share passions (like football and sustainability), you build a relationship with them.”

Using technology to transform and expand teaching platforms

Koen’s passion has always been to help transform the field of education. “I wanted to work with people. I really love explaining stuff, and I wanted to do something that was relevant in society, so I became a teacher.”

Since 2016, Koen has been involved in helping to set up and equip a learning centre in the Kakuma refugee camp.  Through the facility, over 420 teachers from 75 countries around the world offer online lessons to the learners in the refugee camp. 

“Through these classes, learners from different countries are able to have meaningful conversations with the learners at Kakuma,” says Koen. “It helps all of the learners develop a global outlook and break down stereotypes.”  

It is this online interaction between learners from around the world that inspired Koen’s Climate Action Project.

Supporting the SDGs through the Climate Action Project

As well as being a useful teaching resource, Koen’s vision for the Climate Action Project was to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by giving teachers and learners a platform to help create positive change in the world.

“I wanted to make a way for students from all across the world to connect with each other, to share how climate change is affecting them, and to be empowered to create solutions.”

“I think what surprised me the most about the Climate Action Project is how different the stories are,” says Koen.

Participants in Ireland convinced the government to create a new logo for recyclable plastics while learners in India built a solar-powered car. In Malawi, students planted 60 million trees, in the US they built a portable solar-powered battery pack in a suitcase, and in Indonesia they developed their own ecobricks.

Koen and his partners also developed the EarthProject app which allows users to track their climate-friendly behaviour, such as avoiding red meat, buying a refurbished phone, and ride-sharing. It adds up the amount of carbon saved through these actions.

The app proves that incorporating something like the Climate Action Project into lessons is one of the ways we can transform education and achieve the SDGs.

“Students are not only learning about climate change. They are taking action, and coming up with sustainable solutions.”

Prioritising teachers and learners is key to transforming education

While Koen supports the use of technology as a teaching resource, he believes that nothing is more effective than a passionate, skilled teacher.

“We need to increase teacher salaries so that we can get the very best teachers back into the classroom. To be a successful person you have to know how to solve problems, filter fake news, and build relationships with people who are different to you. That’s how teachers can help their students build a global outlook. And that, in my opinion, is the future of education.”

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●       To join the Climate Action Project for free, register here: https://www.climate-action.info/user/register

●       The Kakuma Project, as well as several other educational facilities in the refugee camp are supported through donations to the Kakuma NPO. Partners include Maggie, UNHCR and TAG. 

●       The Climate Action Project is supported through Koen’s non-profit organisation, Take Action Global.

Learn more about the #TeachersTransform campaign as part of the Transforming Education Summit.

Photo credit: Koen Timmers

This blog is based on the findings of Distance learning and teacher training strategies. Lessons from the Caribbean, a recently published report by the Teacher Task Force. It was written by Anna C. Conover, Consultant

Distance teaching and learning have expanded rapidly around the world since COVID-19 school closures first began in 2020. The transition exposed a wide digital divide in many countries, where lack of access to devices, online content and internet connectivity hindered universal access. Equally crucial, the shift shone a light on the need for more and better teacher training in digital and relevant pedagogical skills.

However, in spite of this urgent need, ministries of education in many countries are only now integrating ICT competencies and standards into teacher policy frameworks. Moreover, traditional teacher training programmes do not necessarily adequately cover digital and related pedagogical skills in initial teacher training and continuing professional education.

Teacher training can help improve learners’ and teachers’ experience of distance learning

In response to the demand for training in distance learning and technology integration in small island developing states (SIDS) in the Caribbean, the Distance Learning and Teacher Training Strategies in the Caribbean SIDS teacher training programme was created to enhance the capacity of national education systems. The Teacher Task Force, UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition, Blackboard, the Caribbean Centre for Educational Planning (CCEP), UNICEF Jamaica, and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development collaborated to develop, implement and monitor the programme.

Building on the 2020 pilot project, Professional Development for Teachers for Blended Learning and Online Strategies, the programme was designed to strengthen teachers’ digital and related pedagogical skills. It took a holistic and context-sensitive approach to strengthening teachers’ capacity to guarantee that the most vulnerable students were not left behind during the crisis.

The project aimed to confront challenges such as: how to maintain engagement and interaction for learning; how to convert content into appropriate online learning formats; how to handle school management issues, such as the need to respect normal school hours; and how to work with students with diverse needs. Providing support in these areas also helped to address teachers’ psychosocial well-being, since the abrupt transition to online teaching led to significant disruption of teachers’ professional and personal lives, causing uncertainty and other emotional challenges.

Careful course design, adaptable materials and supportive communities of practice are essential for successful distance learning

A key lesson from the programme was the importance of high standards for course design, content, and capacity for collaboration and delivery. Online platforms or learning management systems must be intuitive and user-friendly; courses must include different forms of interaction and student-teacher feedback loops; and time and space must be allotted for collaboration, reflection and experimentation. Since parental involvement is important for successful distance learning, course design should also include guidance for parents and reliable channels for them to communicate with teachers.

Preparing and adapting materials for online learning is one of the most challenging and time-consuming tasks for teachers in transitioning to distance learning. So, teacher training should include guidance on tools to facilitate this work, such as “live worksheets”, which are interactive and support assessment at a distance. And programmes should use open-source materials where possible, or explicitly state copyright conditions when needed, to increase scalability and enable teachers to re-use materials.

Teachers who participated in the teacher training programme particularly appreciated being part of a community of practice, enabling them to make new connections with distance education experts and other teachers in similar situations across their country and region. This feeling of belonging to a supportive network, as well as their newly acquired skills, boosted their personal and professional confidence in applying digital technologies and the required skills in their classrooms.

Teacher training for distance education should prepare teachers to create inclusive online learning environments

Ensuring inclusive education should be a priority in distance learning. Even though this form of schooling can limit teachers’ interactions with students (e.g., by reducing opportunities for spontaneous communication and gestural cues), it can also provide opportunities to promote inclusion. Designing courses with accessibility in mind is essential to create inclusive learning environments. For instance, to accommodate the needs of learners with disabilities, participants should be given a range of ways to access materials and participate in courses. This may include offering asynchronous* and synchronous** options for discussion, multimodal (visual, aural, textual, etc.) delivery of content, and downloadable as well as livestreamed content.

In multilingual contexts, adapting to teachers’ language needs is also essential. In the SIDS programme, course content was often only available in French or English. However, to allow participants to conduct discussions in the language with which they were most comfortable, course facilitators allowed participants to form online breakout groups using other languages.

Flexibility is a key feature in planning for teacher training

Training teachers for distance education must be flexible, since teachers have competing and sometimes unforeseen demands on their time. Course content, pacing and assignments should be adjusted throughout the course according to participants’ changing needs. This is particularly important during emergency situations. For accreditation transparency and to maintain teacher motivation, courses can adapt to teachers’ time constraints by offering different levels of certification and micro-credentials for specific ICT skills.

Careful planning that considers school calendars and teachers’ accessibility needs, as well as good communication campaigns, are essential to ensure successful enrolment and sustained attendance in teacher training. Registration should be easy and obstacle-free, and directly available online. In general, teacher training should not be scheduled at the beginning or at the end of the school year when teachers are busiest, or during long summer vacations when many teachers are not available.

Partnerships are important for developing teacher training programmes for distance education

Partnerships are particularly important in delivering distance education, since it requires considerable expertise and resources, including costly devices, uninterrupted connectivity, education software, open educational resources, and pedagogical and organizational expertise. Given that connectivity and device availability are often a barrier in online education, governments and stakeholders should develop partnerships with technology companies and internet providers to identify solutions, while ensuring that data security and participant privacy are respected.

Educational technologies have proven to be useful to ensure continuity of education in emergency situations. Increasingly true to all societies, they are also among the basic tools needed to fully participate in our contemporary world. However, investing in these technologies will not achieve the desired results unless we also invest in teachers’ digital and related pedagogical skills. Initial and in-service teacher education must therefore be re-imagined including these skills and technologies. With their first-hand experience of the challenges and opportunities of remote teaching, teachers must be involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of distance learning and technology integration. In such a way, they must effectively be placed at the heart of wider education transformation.

Glossary 

*Asynchronous online learning:  Education and learning that occur online at a different time compared to when the teacher is instructing.

**Synchronous online learning: Education and learning that occur online at the same time, but not in the same place with teachers and/or other learners.

Photo credit: Abir Roy Barman/Shutterstock.com