‘Virginity is a virtue: prevent early sex’: teacher perceptions of sex education in a Ugandan secondary school

Sex education is a politically contentious issue in many countries, and there are numerous, competing ideologies relating to the most appropriate methods to teach young people about sexual and reproductive health. This paper examines policy and practice in Uganda in light of two contrasting ideologies, namely morally conservative and comprehensive rights-based approaches to sex education. After a brief description of these approaches, findings from a preliminary qualitative study among teachers working in a non-governmental organisation-run secondary school in Uganda are discussed. Teachers’ responses are analysed against the background of current Ugandan sex education policies. The paper considers the implications of the conservative morality informing both Ugandan government policy and teachers’ implementation of sex education at the focus school. It is argued that, in the light of young Ugandans’ attitudes towards and often varied experiences of sexuality, a comprehensive rights-based approach to sex education may be more appropriate in the described setting

Standardizing assessment practices of undergraduate medical competencies across medical schools: challenges, opportunities and lessons learned from a consortium of medical schools in Uganda

Introduction: health professions education is gradually moving away from the more traditional approaches to new innovative ways of training aimed at producing professionals with the necessary competencies to address the community health needs. In response to these emerging trends, Medical Education for Equitable Services to All Ugandans (MESAU), a consortium of Ugandan medical schools developed key competencies desirable of graduates and successfully implemented Competency Based Education (CBE) for undergraduate medical students. Objectives: to examine the current situation and establish whether assessment methods of the competencies are standardized across MESAU schools as well as establish the challenges, opportunities and lessons learned from the MESAU consortium. Methods: it was a cross-sectional descriptive study involving faculty of the medical schools in Uganda. Data was collected using focus group discussions and document reviews. Findings were presented in form of themes. Results: although the MESAU schools have implemented the developed competencies within their curricular, the assessment methods are still not standardized with each institution having its own assessment procedures. Lack of knowledge and skills regarding assessment of the competencies was evident amongst the faculty. The fear for change amongst lecturers was also noted as a major challenge. However, the institutional collaboration created while developing competencies was identified as key strength. Conclusion: findings demonstrated that despite having common competencies, there is no standardized assessment blue print applicable to all MESAU schools. Continued collaboration and faculty development in assessment is strongly recommended

Creating, Doing, and Sustaining OER: Lessons from Six Open Educational Resource Projects

The development of free-to-use open educational resources (OER) has generated a dynamic field of widespread interest and study regarding methods for creating and sustaining OER. To help foster a thriving OER movement with potential for knowledge-sharing across program, organizational and national boundaries, the Institute for Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), developed and conducted case study research programs in collaboration with six OER projects from around the world. Embodying a range of challenges and opportunities among a diverse set of OER projects, the case studies intended to track, analyze and share key developments in the creation, use and reuse of OER. The specific cases include: CurriculumNet, Curriki, Free High School Science Texts (FHSST), Training Commons, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), and Teachers' Domain

Challenges of Implementing Quality Assurance Systems in Blended Learning in Uganda: The Need for An Assessment Framework

In order to deal with the increasing demand for higher education against acute shortages of academic staff and infrastructure in the growing numbers of institutions of higher learning, some of the campus-based face to face institutions are now turning to blended learning, “a convergence of distance learning and conventional learning,” modes of delivery to their students in the campuses. This paper uses the case of Uganda in discussing issues confronting institutions of higher learning in their efforts to provide opportunity for the increasing demand for higher education while at the same time trying to maintain quality of instruction for large classes. The methodology employed in this study was entirely literature-based. Blended learning is described with examples of its application referenced to existing programmes at some universities. A discussion of the challenges of implementing quality assurance systems is included. The paper concludes with the need for an assessment framework and a summary of the plausible proposals for ensuring quality in the delivery blended learning.Keywords: Blended Learning, Quality Assurance, Assessment Framework, Ugand

Teacher agency in the reform of curriculum under universal primary education in Uganda and its implications for emerging practices

This thesis deals with the role of teacher agency in the reform of curriculum under Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda. It draws on empirical research conducted in two UPE case study schools in Uganda. The study was conducted in order to highlight the role of teacher agency in teachers’ professional practice and to analyse the ecological factors that contribute in shaping it, as well as its effects. The thesis begins with a description of the UPE curriculum in its global dimensions. It subsequently reviews the theoretical and empirical literature dealing with the role of teacher agency in the reform of curriculum under UPE, under the themes of ‘globalisation’, ‘teacher/biographical barriers to UPE reforms’, ‘contextual challenges of the reforms on teachers’, ‘teachers’ mediation of the reform challenges’ and ‘effects of the teachers’ mediation of reforms’. The study’s theoretical position draws on the critical realist philosophy of Roy Bhaskar and Margaret Archer, which guided the development a two-phased study design comprising of secondary document analysis using retroduction (Elder-Vass 2010; Edwards et al. 2014) in phase one and field work within the framework of Priestley et al.’s (2015b) ecological approach to teacher agency in phase two. The field work involved semi-structured interviews, observation and primary document analysis. The study established that the globalisation of UPE was driven by Education for All (EFA) under a neo-liberal agenda, which involved both structural and cultural reform. The structural reform has impacted UPE’s ecology through the evolution of a new ‘governance’ structure underpinned by partnership, decentralisation and performativity. Furthermore, it has involved access and inputs reform, which has been characterised by universalisation and the adoption of a partnership funding approach. Cultural reform has focused on curriculum and pedagogy. However, at the micro level of school/classroom practice, most of the reforms have resulted in ‘first order’ changes (Cuban 1998; Priestley 2011a), which are currently manifested by only partial success in absorbing the curriculum and pedagogy reforms, coupled with the continued lack of inputs. This is attributed, among others, to the responses of the teachers, or teacher agency. The study analysed the role of teacher agency in the case studies and concluded that it is widely manifested and is primarily driven by the practical-evaluative dimension, followed by the projective and iterational dimensions respectively. Furthermore, it has significant effects, which are both positive and negative. It therefore plays a significant role in the teachers’ professional practice, which needs to be acknowledged in educational planning. Finally, the study offered some recommendations and suggestions for further research

Renewing Textbooks to Align with Reformed Curriculum in Former Colonies: Ugandan school mathematics textbooks

Several nations have reformed both their mathematics pedagogy and curriculum. The remaining challenge is to review teaching and learning resources to support the renewed pedagogy and curriculum. This paper responds to the question: What pedagogy and curriculum are depicted in textbooks used in Uganda? Ugandan textbooks were analyzed in terms of mathematics content structure and genre, and presentation of written and non-written voice and looks. Whereas certain Ugandan mathematics textbooks used the narrative form and others chose to eliminate the use of extensive text, these textbooks include common characteristics such as spiral coverage of mathematics content. A few strides toward reform pedagogy, such as use of contexts familiar to learners in development of rules and concepts, were evinced among selected Uganda textbooks. More strides are needed in revising a majority textbooks to align with the renewed curricula on certain aspects including integrating learning tools—digital and non-digital—within the textbook resources. A critical reflection on curriculum renewals adopted from other countries is needed when designing textbooks to match these renewals

Suggestions for Improving Ugandan Higher Education to Produce Productive Graduates

Every country invests in formal education to develop and empower itscitizens with the capacity needed to practically work and transform theirsurrounding environmental resources into productive employment aftergraduation. The high and growing rate of graduate unemployment in Uganda suggests however, that most of the formal education graduates are not practical enough to turn their local environmental resources into gainful work and effective contribution to national development. It is argued in this paper that the failure of most graduates to be practical would not have occurred had the management of Uganda’s formal education made effective use of the activity-based informal training when preparing students.Keywords: Relevance; Curriculum reform; Graduate unemployment