SSA_UGA_SSA Regional Technical Advisor for the Development of a Uganda teacher qualifications and standards framework

Tender description

The Education sub-sector in Uganda has been undergoing significant reforms in relation to, for example, curriculum review at different levels to align them with recent policy changes and global market needs. These cannot be effectively implemented successfully without an appropriate teacher qualification framework. Cabinet through the Ministry of Education and Sport (MoES) on 1st April 2019 passed National Teacher Policy to streamline and sustainably address teacher related challenges. The Policy provides a framework for streamlining, coordinating and mainstreaming interventions aimed at professionalizing the teaching profession but this will only be successful if there is a Teacher Qualification and Standards Framework (TQSF). <br /><br />Currently there are 5 categories of teachers in Uganda and Teacher education is a mandate of different institutions that are government aided and a few private institutions. The teacher categories include the following: <br />• pre-primary/nursery schoolteachers who are produced by both public and private institutions and they are trained to teach in Nursery schools. <br />• teachers who teach in primary schools (Grade III), <br />• Secondary Lower (Grade V), <br />• Secondary Upper (degree holders). <br />• lecturers of teacher education in universities.<br /><br />Primary School teachers were being trained from the Primary Teachers’ Colleges (PTCs) and these are awarded a Grade III Certificate in Education which has been the basic requirement to teach in primary schools, but the National Teacher Policy has changed this position. It is worth noting that Uganda is hosting the largest number of refugees in the world and provides social services to this community, there is need to define a teacher qualification framework and standards to enable effective delivery of services to refugee communities but also provide avenues of integration of refugee teachers in the delivery of education services to refugee communities. For Uganda to produce quality teachers, the National Teacher Policy will require a Teacher Qualification and Standards framework to provide direction in training of a desired teacher. <br /><br />Considering the above the success of the National Teacher Policy implementation will depend on the teacher qualifications and Standards framework. For this reason, the department considers the development of a Teacher Qualifications and Standards framework key for transformation of the entire education system and associated outcomes. <br />The framework will guide the country on the design and implementation of strategies to provide various categories of professionals in the teaching sub-sector. <br />