Curriculum for BA in Technical Education passed by the UNU senate

Wednesday January 6th the Senate of Upper Nile University passed a curriculum for a Bachelor's Degree Program in Technical Education and decided to open a new Department of Thechnical Education at the Faqulty of Education at UNU in Malakal.

On Sunday the Vice Chancellor of UNU Prof Dr Bol Deng Chol told that the curriculum is now beeing typed to be presented for the Minister of Higher Education at the Government of National Unity in Khartoum. He further told that the matter of getting started as soon as possible now has his full attention. The students will be admitted outside the regular procedures of the national admission office.

Those involved in the NUCOOP-TVET project are waiting to see the curriculum with curiosity.

TVET experts from Sudan visits UNESCO-UNEVOC Centre in Germany

This is among the information you will find on the home page of the International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training at UNESCO-UNEVOC in Bonn in Germany.

The October 28th visit of the TVET experts from Sudan is referred in an article in which you will also find a presentation of technical education in Sudan.

You will find Internet based communities like the UNEVOC Network of specialised technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, the TVETipedia which is an internet portal where users according to UNEVOC Centre can exchange information and share knowledge on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) issues; showcase good practice examples and lessons learned; collaborate on TVET projects and more.

The UNESCO-UNEVOC e-Forum is an e-mail list, a virtual community of TVET experts from around the world who share information and knowledge about different aspects of TVET.

You will also find a list of partners and other TVET institutions including a full UNEVOC directory (pdf 1,23 MB) which among others tells that the UNEVOC Centre Host Institution in Norway is Akershus University College.

The UNESCO-UNEVOC Centre issues a free news bulletin in Enlish and Arabic which you can subcribe to and receive via e-mail.

The direction is to be Student Centered Learning

We at Juba Technical Secondary School think that a Student Centered Learning approach enables the students to learn for life in a better way than the traditional teacher centered method. Therefore we will move step by step in that direction.

This was the conclusion of the teachers and the management of the school after having experienced an experiential, collaborative student centered learning environment while exploring the topic of Student Centered Learning.

Tuesday September 15th was the first of three days in a workshop arranged for the management and teachers at Juba Technical Secondary School by Upper Nile University in collaboration with Akershus University College.

The leadership and teachers of Juba Technical Secondary School experienced Student Centered Learning as students in their process of the initial molding of a shared vision of Student Centered Learning at their school.

The participants generated a set of Characteristics of Student Centered Learning. Each of them was then given five votes to prioritize among the characteristics.

The workshop participants soon were reminded that a word can have various meanings. A loosely, if at all defined concept like Student Centered Learning proved rightly to be understood vaguely. They learned that it requires significant efforts to obtain Student Centered Learning to become a shared vision. But that was not blocking them from taking on the job with eagerness and determination.

The real challenges came when the participants were invited into a process of defining what they regarded as evidence of the teacher’s facilitation of Student Centered Learning. It seemed that the actions of the teachers defined as evidence for the teacher’s facilitation of a student centered learning environment often were actions which could be performed by active and able students. Before they had defined what they regarded as evidence of the students learning in a student centered learning environment.

From a learning perspective it is my experience that it is usual that changing my behavior is not easy. I actually think most of us are likely to continue doing what we have been doing before. So did the teachers do when they defined their actions which they regarded as proof of them facilitating a student centered learning. They described their continued orchestrating in class with the focus on them selves more than the students. Their planned actions were often focused on them telling the students to participate, not allowing the students the space needed to take the initiative and to be active learners resposible for their own learning.

Most probably most of the students will also expect to be told by the taechers at school when that's what they through years have experienced that students are at school. It is probably so that both the teachers and the students at Juba Technical Secondary School will have to learn how to learn in a Student Centered Learning environment. And most probably they will find it to be hard work too, but that is what real learning sometimes is.

Juba Technical Secondary School is for the time being the only technical school in operation in Southern Sudan which size is twice the area of Norway and twice the population too. The school has a teaching staff of 21 and is offering three years programs for 259 students whom when graduating will be both holding technical vocational skills and Sudan Technical School Certificate allowing them to enter higher or tertiary education. The school has departments for building and construction, auto mechanics, auto mechanics, bricklaying, carpentry&joinery and metal work. The rehabilitation of the school was funded by Plan Norway through Plan International. Unfortunately there are yet no dormitories at the school.

Peace Cup in a peaceful Malakal

It is time for those having left Malakal to return and to show their skills.

This message was given by one of the organizers of The Peace Cup, a football competition finally won by the team from the South of town after penalties. The happily cheering crowds running into the field after the match was a joyful experience definitely not reminding any one of any tribalism. He desribed the Saturday experiences as a display of Malakal at peace and love and invited those who wanted to participate in he development of Malakal to join in.

After the sports events the artist Vivian Nyanchan and her band was giving a concert. We are very tired from fighting and war and we have been waiting for peace for a long time and now peace has come, was her message.

Late warm African evenings in peaceful coexistence, fotball and concerts at the stadium was the Malakal experience during this week end. A team of Egyptian engineers building a technical school and a hospital in Jongilei here together with Fatin and Trond "under the tree" at South Sudan Hotel in Malakal.

The last two weeks Fatin and Trond has been in Malakal after a flight by Sudan Airways not easily forgotten. Malakal is the town where the new college of technical vocational teacher education at Upper Nile University is to be located. Saturday Johan arrived by WFP. The preparations for the start of the NUCOOP-TVET Bachelor's Program no doubt requires hands on.

Earlier this year the people of Malakal has experienced some incidents among others a clash between some militia and the SPLA. Malakal now appears to be peaceful and calm. While shopping at the market we met some American and Australian UNMIS police officers working with capacity building. They confirmed the impression given by the UN security reports and told that they had received no information about any security risks in Malakal.

Looking for oportunities - and they appear

Access to the Internet has been described as a bottleneck and it is often felt to be the No One obstacle when needed and missed. Never the less it is quite often the case that this problem can be significantly reduced when the approach is to look for oportunities.

This was the case when Ohide and Fauzia sat together analyzing the oportunities for the instructors at the Multi Services Training Center in Juba to access the Internet at the MTC. A pattern of oportunities appeared and it became obvious that planning and coordination will have the experiences of possible access to improve.

Fatin, Ohide, Fauzia and Ben during a short break during the Saturday workshop at Mango Camp by the River Nile in Juba.

Imporvement of Practice and Internet Access

Having access to the Internet is an important part when technical vocational teachers in Southern Sudan are sharing information and learning together through their blogging. It also enables communication with the Sudanese and other Master's Degree Students in Vocational Pedagogy whether they are in Kampala or in Norway. It enables the Master's Degree Students to support the advancement of technical vocational practice in Southern Sudan through their blogs as well as through questioning and commenting in the blogs of the technical vocational teachers. Such a collaboration can become a very powerful force in strengthening the technical vocational learning and practices.

The comments of Barnaba Mayor and Fatin Osman to Towongo Steven's blog serves as a good example of such a collaboration across the geographical border between Uganda and Sudan. Barnaba Mayor is one out of seven Southern Sudanese Master's Degree Students in Vocational Pedagogy under the NOMA program in Uganda. Fatin Osman is a lecturer at Upper Nile University in Malakal participating in the Norwegian FK Staff Exchange program.

In a later post Towongo reflects upon the thoughts of Barnaba and Fatin and by that demonstrating the power of Internet supported collaborative learning.

However, lack of access to the Internet must not be allowed to become an obstacle to the daily and systematic work of ours to improve our professional practice. Pen and paper are still important tools as well as the ability to observe and to co-create rich professional dialogs. Asking critical questions during our search for information to increase our understanding and to improve our practice is still vital. When this is done and perhaps even documented by pen and paper, then the access to Internet-publishing might be a limitation.

Joining The NUCOOP Technical Vocational BlogSphere

Most of the instructors at the Multi-Services Training Center in Juba, which is supported by JICA and SAVOT have now joined The NUCOOP Technical Vocational BlogSphere.

The NUCOOP Technical Vocational BlogSphere is a network of bloggers whom are one way or an other connected to the Upper Nile University's and Akershus University's efforts to support the development of the techical vocational education in Southern Sudan. This is a pert of the NUCOOP program which is a USD 10 mill initiative to support collaboration and development within higher education in Southern Sudan and Norway.

The participants in the workshop from the MTC in Juba in front of the tuckles at Mango Camp.