GESCI, Makere University College of Education and External Studies (CEES) and University of Notre Dame’s Global Centre for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC)will be implementing a research initiative dubbed Adapting assessment into policy and learning (ADAPT): Adolescent 21st Century Skills project in the United Republic of Tanzania. The project seeks to promote acquisition of 21st century skills for adolescents by strengthening utilization of data from learning assessments in curriculum design, adaptation, and delivery.
The project launch brought together participants from the education space in Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland and East Africa at large , most of them being members of the Regional Education Learning Initiative (RELI), a member driven initiative working to ensure inclusive learning for all children in East Africa.
This research project is working towards achieving the following objectives :
- Generate lessons from past and present national and regional learning assessments and initiatives to enhance national data-driven decision making.
- Build capacity of a dynamic learning community to integrate and assess 21st century skills and support utilisation of learning assessments at the school and sub-national (district/county/region) levels.
- Mobilise policy uptake on the utilization of learning assessments in the education plans, curriculum frameworks and teacher development.
Officials from Zanzibar Maisha Bora Foundation, State University of Zanzibar, Milele Zanzibar Foundation, Archbishop Mihayo University College of Tabora (AMUCTA) and Uwezo Tanzania participated in engaging panel discussions which insisted on the need to involve the concerned ministry departments in every step of the research to ensure uptake of evidence.
Speaking at the project launch, principal Secretary Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Zanzibar said that ADAPT links closely with national strategies and initiatives in the education sector to improve the overall well-being and learning outcomes for all Tanzanian children and youth.
He went on to commend GESCI, Makerere University’s College of Education and External Studies (CEES), The University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) and The School of Education of the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA), Tanzania for such an initiative.
He concluded by saying that the United Republic of Tanzania will support and work with all the stakeholders for the greater benefit of the Tanzanian children.
The ADAPT project, which is also implemented in Kenya and Uganda is funded by the Global partnership for Education (GPE) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) under the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) program.