By Khalifa Hemed
Published December 31, 2017
An event aimed at increasing the knowledge on national and international learning assessment programmes has ended in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
Organised by UNESCO regional office in Dakar December 6-8, 2017, the meeting, known as Teaching and Learning Educators’ Network for Transformation (TALENT) brought together experts, academics and high level ministerial officials from Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Congo-Kinshasa, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania and Zambia to discuss learning assessment systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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UNESCO Dakar says the aims of the event were to “identify needs and gaps at country level, highlight best practices for adaptation and replication and promote international and pan-African cooperation.”
“Participants agreed on some common recommendations to foster quality education at national and international level through the improvement of learning assessment. From a system perspective the group agreed to focus on the strengthening of existing policies and frameworks guiding all types of assessment at national level; building capacity of education managers for the oversight and management of the learning assessment process (including support to teachers for remedial actions); and guarantee sustainability of the assessment through alternative and innovative ways of financing,” UNESCO Dakar says.
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To ensure that the teaching process and the assessments of learning respond to the curriculum, a specific emphasis has been given to pre-service and in-service opportunities for teachers to get acquainted with all types of assessment, build items for classroom exams and effectively integrate the national curriculum into teaching. The set-up of national learning assessment technical coordination bodies and the strengthening of assessment officials and curriculum developers’ capacity have also been listed as priorities.
