Angola: Education and practical skills

Outdated teaching methods continue to be a problem in the Angolan education system. Students find it hard to remain at school after classes due to lack of attractive activities that tackle their interests. While the Angolan government is tackling major problems such as illiteracy and school attendance, it is also working on educational reforms at all levels and on training teachers to develop a richer and more relevant curriculum. To address these facts, PIN Angola adopted the innovative approach that brings together the Youth and Education sectors, and which is being implemented for the first time in Africa the methodology: One World in Schools (OWIS). The aim is to encourage the youth to think outside the box and engage themselves in the issues that affect them the most. For this project 7 schools were selected, and as part of the process, 7 films were prepared, 51 teachers trained on the OWIS Methodology and 142 students were involved directly. On the other hand, there are follow-up activities covering topics such as active citizenship, human rights, the environment, media literacy and other topics focused on good governance, with the support of an OWIS expert.
In addition to educating and empowering youth, OWIS offers added value by strengthening the skills of teachers who can also use them in their regular classes outside OWIS, thus helping the quality and accessibility of education in partner schools. Outside the classroom, OWIS can be used as a non-formal education tool by local organizations or youth groups. It comes to support the Angolan education system and, as a consequence, facilitate the teaching and learning process.
 

Education projects in Angola have been focused on formal and non-formal educational system in order to increase access to quality primary education. People in Need believes that not only access but also quality of education matters and therefore introduced an innovative approach to monitor teachers’ and schools’ performance. PIN's innovation developed an Application for data collection, analysis and visualization, related to education in Angola. The use of a smartphone-based App for teacher supervision will specifically help to analyse the determinants that induce certain problems in the educational sector. Based on such analysis, the relevant stakeholders will be able to create appropriate strategies that will ensure a better functioning of the educational sector, increasing the quality of teaching and promoting positive changes among the population. More than 1,000 teachers and close to 56,000 students in Huambo Province will benefit from the information provided by the application. From 2020, PIN expands to other provinces in Angola and the application should be incorporated into official national education plans and strategies.

People in Need takes part in the management of the educational sector in two Angolan provinces through the project JOGA (Join the Organizational Goals and Activities of Education). The work builds on the assumption that the quality of teaching provided at the primary schools in Bié and Huambo provinces can be enhanced by improving the quality of education management. Planning, coordination, monitoring and supervision in different levels of the educational management units are crucial measures for the system. PIN hence focuses on supporting directions in the organization of education activities.
    
The current project also aims at raising awareness about the function of the Pedagogical Zones of Influence (ZIPs, Zonas de Influência Pedagógica) and at enhancing their implementation as an important part of the government educational reform. The ZIPs are clusters of schools that are linked together and cooperate by sharing knowledge and methods in order to improve the quality of education.

In the previous projects, PIN has developed a set of different planning and supervisory tools as well as manuals for ZIPs implementation. The relevant staff of educational management units is trained in using these instruments – the aim is that they can be later used by the staff independently on a regular basis in order to help them in their work.

Regular ZIPs meetings are also an opportunity for teachers’ training on problematic issues, such as student continuous evaluation and teaching methods. Considering that primary schools do not have any specific budget to cover the purchase of didactic materials or other teaching aid, it is of utmost importance to build resilience and “can-do” attitude within teachers. Therefore, can-do clubs are promoted as public spaces where pedagogical students can meet, share ideas on good practices and create teaching aid tools using locally available materials.

In total, about 500 primary schools must be benefited from the improvement of management capacities in provincial and municipal directions, the enhancement of teachers’ abilities and its frequency in classes – as a result of a commitment with can-do clubs activities and inspectors’ monitoring – and also from a better environment in schools – as a consequence of ZIPs implementation.

A total of 13 new schools provide education to three thousand children who arrive here in the morning, afternoon and sometimes the evening for classes. The capacity of schools in rural areas is immensely overloaded, and there are no other schools close by. Schools are equipped with libraries and basic tools. Teachers, who are often from distant villages or towns, are provided with accommodation. People in Need also built and arranged educational centres, mainly for teacher education, for the four major regional schools.