WHEN South African university students took to the streets in 2016 as part of the “Fees Must Fall” protest movement, the “decolonisation of the curriculum” was among the movement’s chief concerns.
It was a pivotal moment in South
Africa’s history, as young people rose to demand quality and accessible
education. But a crucial question was missing from the debate over fees
and curricular relevance: How can changes to higher education empower
Africa’s youth to drive the continent’s economic transformation? For
Africa, the question is no longer “if” students are taught, but “what”.
Unfortunately, while access to education
has improved significantly in recent decades, school curricula have
changed little since the colonial era, when secondary education was an
elite privilege designed to advance the careers of a select few.
Technical and vocational education and
training (TVET) programmes have also suffered from neglect. Today, these
initiatives are marked by outdated courses and rote learning methods
that fail to prepare young people for the demands of the 21st century
job market.
The trouble goes beyond traditional
components of the curriculum, like math, science and language. There is
also a deficiency in critical “soft” skills, such as communication,
teamwork and problem solving.
Though neglected, it is these skills
that enable young people to become adaptable, lifelong learners. The
mastery of soft skills correlates to improved outcomes in school, work,
and life. Yet, until recently, training in soft skills has not been
integrated into formal education systems on the continent.
Fortunately, that is changing. Across
the continent, secondary schools and TVET systems are transforming
themselves to prepare Africa’s young minds with the skills they need to
make the transition from school to employment, and to become more
engaged citizens.
These adjustments are coming at a
critical time for Africa, where many countries are experiencing a
demographic dividend of declining fertility rates and rising
productivity.
In particular, these changes mean more
opportunity for young people as they prepare to enter the job market.
But to succeed on the job, young people must have the skills and
education that a modern economy requires.
At The MasterCard Foundation, where I
manage education and learning programmes, we’ve put together a blueprint
– called Skills at Scale – to help African educators revitalise their
curricula to capitalise more effectively on the economic potential of
youth.
One of the continent’s most successful
efforts already underway is the US AID-funded Akazi Kanoze Youth
Livelihoods Project, designed by the Education Development Centre (EDC)
in Boston. Akazi Kanoze epitomises how a small initiative can catalyse
wider education sector reform, by emphasising links to local employers
that provide access to entry-level jobs, internships, and
apprenticeships.
The focus on personal development,
interpersonal communication, and leadership training has ensured that
students are well equipped to enter the labour market upon graduation.
Rwanda’s Ministry of Education has
already moved to integrate elements of the programme in TVETs across the
country. The government recently integrated Akazi Kanoze’s approach in
the national curriculum to equip secondary and TVET students with the
soft skills they require to succeed.
National exams in the 2018-2019 academic
year will also reflect the new competency-based curriculum. Since 2009,
Akazi Kanoze trainings have prepared more than 37 000 youth for work,
with more than 65 percent of participants in the initial round of
training employed six months after graduation.
Based on the success of integrating soft
skills into the curriculum in Rwanda, The MasterCard Foundation and EDC
will launch a similar programme in Senegal later this year. Case
studies from Skills at Scale highlight six components to a successful
skills training initiative. T
hese include an enabling policy
environment, in which the government is supportive and sets clear goals
for education sector reform; vocal backing for these changes from strong
political champions; wide stakeholder engagement, especially in the
design and implementation phases of the reform; decentralisation of
authority for education; flexibility on the part of donors; and the
ability to measure the changes’ impact on youth employment and
entrepreneurship.
Change is not without challenge.
Adapting models of skills training to vastly different education systems
across Africa will take time. It will also be difficult to ensure that
intensive training models reach all young people, including those no
longer in school.
Experience in Rwanda shows that
curriculum redesign requires close cooperation with education and
workforce development authorities, as well as government officials,
teachers and school administrators.
New curriculum content also requires
developing new teaching and learning materials. Achieving scale also
requires a markedly different approach to training teachers than is
currently on offer in most African school systems.
Trainings must go beyond traditional,
one-off approaches, by providing ongoing teacher support. New pedagogies
also require continual supervision and practice, especially early on.
The old “cascade” model of teacher training simply won’t work.
African governments, with support from
the international community, can help students’ transition from school
to work by relying on a curriculum that elevates the importance of soft
skills. If done well, these changes can ensure young people are
positioned to drive Africa’s future prosperity.
Africans deserve a forward-looking
education system, not one that remains stuck in the past. As students in
South Africa demonstrated last year, the continent’s youth will settle
for nothing less.
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