On 30th April 2023, VVOB in partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Education, Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) and the University of Rwanda College of Education (UR-CE) started the training of the first cohort of teachers and school leaders enrolled in the certified Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes.
The CPD programmes which will be implemented in 650 primary schools in all 30 districts of Rwanda, are part of VVOB’s five-year programme called Learning through Assessment and Data – LEAD (2022-2026). The LEAD programme aims to support newly assigned school leaders and strengthen the use of data in school leadership to address repetition, drop-out, and equity gaps in learning outcomes.
The CPD Diploma in Effective School Leadership programme will be delivered to approximately 800 new headteachers and deputy headteachers. At the same time, a CPD Certificate in Educational Mentorship and Coaching programme will be offered to 650 school-based mentors to equip them with effective tools and skills to plan, implement and facilitate professional development activities for teachers in schools. Additionally, about 160 sector and district education officials will also be trained in Educational Mentorship and Coaching, to effectively coach and support school leaders in their respective sectors and districts.
“This one-year CPD programme for school leaders was designed in a tripartite partnership between VVOB-education for development, REB and UR-CE. The content revolves around the approved professional standards for Effective School Leadership, namely: creating strategic direction for school, leading learning, leading teaching, managing the school as an organization, and involving parents and the wider community,” said Dr. Nelson Mbarushimana, Director General of Rwanda Basic Education Board, in his foreword in the CPD training manuals for school leaders. “Rwanda Basic Education Board expects much from this programme. Therefore, I call upon all beneficiaries to connect the subject content of this programme with the desired positive changes and better learning outcomes in Rwandan schools,” he added.
“We believe that effective use of students and school data by teachers and school leaders informs the overall school performance and supports planning and monitoring activities. This is why our current CPD programmes focus on strengthening the competencies of headteachers, deputy headteachers and school-based mentors, to rely on and effectively use data to improve teaching and learning and ultimately address repetition, drop-out, and equity gaps in learning outcomes,” said Chantal Kabanda Dusabe, Acting Country Programmes Manager for VVOB in Rwanda.
The CPD programmes are offered in a blended learning mode: combining self-directed e-learning with active in-person sessions. To prepare the CPD programme participants for blended learning, VVOB organised a digital literacy onboarding course to equip them with literacy skills necessary for blended learning and introduced them to the online learning environment (Moodle Learning Management System) used to participate in the online CPD courses.
The first of four planned cohorts for the Diploma and Certificate programmes started on 30th April and 6th May 2023 in 10 districts respectively. Other districts will be reached in the second, third and fourth cohorts (2024 -2026).
Ignacienne Umushyashya leads Nyarunyinya primary school in Gisagara district. She attended the first face-to-face session last month and is now following the CPD programme online. She expects the programme to boost her leadership skills: “I was trained as a teacher at university, but I didn’t attend any training or course about school leadership before. The diploma programme is helping me to better understand my roles and responsibilities as a headteacher. I will learn how to set adequate strategies to support teaching and learning, as well as setting effective strategies of managing the school as an organisation, among other skills.”
Theoneste Rubanzabigwi is the headteacher of G.S Bushenya in Burera district since 2022. He already foresees positive changes at his school as a result of the CPD programme. “The training is guiding me on how to set a clear vision and mission for the school. We are also learning how to analyse school data such as students’ results, attendance, among others, to take informed decisions. At our school we were already considering data, however, I realised that our data analysis was rather superficial. The training is teaching us how to do a deeper analysis of every single data to identify and address learners learning needs,” he said.
Learn more about LEAD programme.
