Distance Education and Teacher Education in Africa
Theme: Getting practical about Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 in Teacher Education in Africa
According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Helen Clark, “world leaders have an unprecedented opportunity this year [September 2015] to shift the world onto a path of inclusive, sustainable and resilient development”. Accessing ‘quality education’ (SDG 4) has a major role to play in attaining the 17 goals earmarked as SDGs to transform our world. Quality education is a sine qua non for lifelong quality knowing, being and doing in the 21st century. While commendable efforts have been made through universal education, inclusive and quality education still seems to be a problem in many parts of the world, especially in the developing countries of the South. At the centre of this is teacher education. Achieving the 2030 agenda for the SDGs will remain only an aspiration, especially in Africa, if adequate attention is not paid to the quality of teacher education and support, both pre- and in-service.
A focus on quality education requires Teacher Education in Africa to reflect on what it deems to be quality education for the learner in Africa. Quality education is anchored in the need for education to address the existential needs of persons, communities and nations, as well as the global labour market. The world, as a global village, rests on the quality of education to sustain development for local and international contexts. Distance education is seen as an important contributor to address global labour market skills shortages by providing quality education for lifelong learners in more flexible and context-responsive ways.
The DETA 2017 Conference will create a platform for African educationists to deliberate on how Africa could get practical about achieving SDG 4 in Teacher Education in Africa. These deliberations will be guided by the theme and the following subthemes of the conference:
- Promoting inclusive education for access
- Implementing strategies to address disability issues in education
- Ensuring quality education for development
- Enacting competency-based and Africa-centric curricula and classroom practices
- Modelling ICT and ODeL modes of provision for education and teacher development in Africa
- Developing professional learning communities
Het bericht DETA Conference 2017 verscheen eerst op GCE-NL.