The Higher Education Pedagogies for Teacher Education (HEP-TED) project has been granted 1.1 million euros in funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. The project, launched in January 2024, aims to develop, and strengthen the capacity of Rwandan higher education institutions and it contributes to sustainable development through quality teacher education for general education, and technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
The Finnish partners in this collaboration are University of Helsinki, project coordinator, Tampere University (Faculty of Management and Business), Tampere University of Applied Science (Pedagogical Innovations and Culture and Applied Research Center) and Jamk University of Applied Sciences. The Rwandan partners are Rwanda College of Education and Rwanda Polytechnic. All the Finnish partners are involved in the Global Innovation Network for Teaching and Learning (GINTL).
GINTL co-creates research-based solutions to solve global educational challenges. GINTL entails a variety of activities with different implementation modalities. This time, GINTL partners focused on mechanisms for effective cross-institutional and multi-stakeholder collaboration in teacher education across Rwanda’s education sector. GINTL funding enable that Higher education staff in the above institutions dedicated time to co-create the HEP application project with in a truly democratic dynamic where local needs were carefully listed by the staff at the Rwandan institutions and discussed together with the Finnish participants leading to a set of priorities that were agreed upon. These priorities closely related with the three main expected outcomes of HEP-TED project (1/2024–8/2026):
1) Enhanced management capacities of higher education institutions;
2) Improved quality of teacher education; and
3) Strengthened capacities for cross-institutional collaboration.
Tampere University is a lead partner in developing enhanced management capacities. HEP-TED supports the development of quality assurance mechanisms and professional development as an integral part of higher education institutions management. It aims to foster a culture of dialog, accountability and active agency for quality assurance procedures institutionally and nationally by engaging the stakeholders, together with the Rwandan Higher Education Council for development of students and teachers feedback instruments and practices. Tampere University of Applied Sciences participants in the qualitative improvement of teacher education that is based on the adoption of competence-based curricula and assessment. This shift necessitates changes in practices of general teacher education and training of TVET teachers. HEP-TED project seeks to improve professional development programs in pedagogies by designing and implementing diversified theory-practice connections. Train-and-apply methods will be applied for practical application of acquired knowledge, and the integration of digital pedagogy and technology-enhanced learning will be employed to enhance the quality of education. Peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and networking activities foster long-term collaboration and offer to enhance sustainability through quality teacher education.
Moreover, HEP-TED offers students and teachers improved opportunities for mobility. Essential part of the co-operation will be benchmarking, study visits and mutual exchanges to facilitate learning and sharing of experiences between the partner institutions. Equal partnerships are emphasized by HEP-TED to allow higher education institutions to establish solid traditions and practices of promoting mutual respect and reciprocity.
Text: Sanna Brauer, Senior Lecturer (TAMK, Pedagogical Innovations and Culture), Íris Santos, Postdoctoral Researcher, (Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business), Elias Pekkola, Vice Dean for Education (Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business) and Elina Harju, Senior Lecturer and Project Manager of the capacity building project (TAMK, Pedagogical Innovations and Culture)
References
Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Press release 27.10.2023. Foreign Ministry to support five Finnish higher education institutions in their collaboration with developing countries. https://um.fi/current-affairs/-/asset_publisher/gc654PySnjTX/content/ulkoministerio-tukee-viiden-suomalaisen-korkeakoulun-yhteistyota-kehittyvien-maiden-kanssa Read 2nd Februady 2024.
University of Helsinki. Teaching teachers together – a project headed by the University of Helsinki in Rwanda receives sizeable funding. https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/education/teaching-teachers-together-project-headed-university-helsinki-rwanda-receives-sizeable-funding Read 2nd Februady 2024.
Kommentit