Research project strengthens teacher training in Africa

“Predictions say that by 2050, half of the world's youth will live in Africa, making education a key driver of sustainable development,” says Prof. Dr. Daniel Fischer, Professor for Sustainability Education and Communication. However, the sub-Saharan Africa region is facing a shortage of teachers – both in terms of numbers and the quality of their training. Specifically, there is also need to strengthen teachers’ skills and capabilities given the complexity and scope of sustainability challenges facing Africa, and world-wide.

“Sub-Saharan Africa Teacher Leadership for Education for Sustainable Development” is a transformative initiative to strengthen the leadership role of teachers in education for sustainable development (ESD) in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. Building on 30+ years of research and practice into ESD and teacher education led by African and European partners, this transnational collaboration between 15 institutions from SSA and Europe aims to equip educators and teachers in leadership positions with the skills to improve the knowledge, skills, and values of the next generation in relation to sustainable development, the green economy, and culturally diverse and inclusive societies.

Among other things, the project aims to strengthen teacher leadership, particularly in the field of education for sustainable development, in order to promote curriculum innovation and transformative pedagogy. Building on the model of ESD ‘Change Projects’ established in SSA, students and teachers will be encouraged to exercise their agency for change at institutional levels and in their programmes of teaching and learning. In addition, some support for digital learning is being provided to support the use of digital learning and design of innovative teaching and assessment methods. An international network will also be promoted to exchange best practices and foster systemic change.

With the focus on ESD Change Projects, an action-learning model is being used, first tested in the Sustainability Starts with Teachers programmes which invite participating leaders to tackle the necessary changes in their institutions and environments in order to achieve curriculum innovation and transformative learning.

The initiative places great emphasis on cooperation between African and European higher education institutions, policymakers, and local communities to maximize impact and long-term sustainability. The project is in line with global frameworks such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union Framework for Competencies and Standards for the Teaching Profession (2023). In particular, the project will contribute insight into how to integrate ESD into the African Union Framework for Competences and Standards for the Teaching profession. This process is being led by Dr Zintle Songqwaru-Kamangu from Rhodes University and UNESCO Chair, Professor Dr. Overson Shumba from Copperbelt University in Zambia.  It builds on a strong situational analysis that was led by Dr Manoah Muchanga from the University of Zambia. 

The project is a joint initiative of 15 partner institutions from sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, including Leuphana University Lüneburg with Prof. Dr. Daniel Fischer as principal investigator and head of the project consortium, Deepika Joon and Dr. Claire Grauer as project coordinators, and universities in South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Malawi, Kenya, Cyprus, and Greece. Distinguished Prof Dr. Heila Lotz-Sisitka and Dr Charles Chikunda at Rhodes University in South Africa are leading the African regional coordination of the project with strong support from Dr Wilma van Staden who has been leading the online course design and development process.  

With the recently concluded Training of Trainers programme, led by Dr Sirkka Tshininganyamwe from the University of Namibia and Teresa Ruckelshauss from Heidelberg University of Education, an important milestone in the project has been reached.  “We now have a cohort of forty trained teacher educators in the partner universities and across teacher training institution can facilitate a course on ESD teacher leadership and guide their peers in implementing ESD Change projects”, says Prof Lotz-Sisitka. Next, the project team will be focussing on the ESD Change Projects, a process that will be led by Dr Caleb Mandikonza from the University of Witwatersrand, and Dr Tiffany Banda from the University of Malawi. 

A key feature of the project itself is distributed leadership, which is also the approach to supporting ESD Teacher Leadership that the project has embraced.  “We have been building a strong cadre of ESD Leaders at regional level for the past 20+ years. It is wonderful to see these ESD leaders providing distributed and collaborative leadership in this new SSA project as we join forces with partners from Europe”, says Dr Chikunda. 

The project is co-funded by the European Commission's Erasmus+ program, which promotes capacity building in higher education and international cooperation. It is also supported by regional partners and African universities who are offering co-funded support and support in kind for dimensions of the programme not costed into the EU budget.