'I found two grade three pupils who made a toy car in a shape of a frog – they were playing with the car and shouting in English calling it “car frog!” This is the first time I have seen young pupils using English outside the classroom.' - SMILE series teacher, Elobeid state, Sudan
Life cycle
2017-22
Country/Region
Sudan
Client/Partner
European Union
Vision
To increase access to quality basic education in Sudan and enable school teachers to support students to play an active role in the global economy, particularly in the most vulnerable groups.
Situation
Education is a key factor in addressing the root causes of poverty and tribal conflict in Sudan. However, the country remains far from achieving Universal Primary Education with more than three million children between the ages of five to thirteen out of school. ISTEP aims to build the capacity of teachers to access and implement the new English, Maths and Science curricula for basic education across seven states, which are highly populated with internally displaced people and refugees.
Implementation
A needs analysis for the project and a baseline study of English, Maths and Science training was completed, including training for data collectors, to help set benchmark from which to measure progress. From this we have established a bespoke continuing professional development (CPD) framework for teachers, increasing capacity of the federal and state Ministries of Education to efficiently monitor and administer in-service training. 185 trainers, 185 supervisors and 4500 teachers were trained across seven states. To help pupils become confident using the English language as a tool of communication, teachers were trained in the new curriculum, known as Sudan Modern Integrated Learning of English (SMILE), a student-centred and a topic-based syllabus.
Impact
ISTEP has improved the quality of teaching across Sudan through the provision of high quality in-service teacher education. Our teacher training has reached the target of 185 qualified teacher trainers across the seven states; 6,500 basic school qualified teachers of English, Maths and Science to teach the new curriculum, and 185 qualified school inspectors. The CPD framework established for teachers is based on benchmarks agreed with the key policy makers and practitioners in Sudan.
During the project, teachers significantly developed their professional skills. Improvements in teacher capacity has made an impact on students: 330,000 pupils across the seven states in Grades one to six were reached at the the end of the programme and seven classroom books for grades three-nine were developed, which now reach five million students per year across all 16,500 primary schools in Sudan.
We have learnt that the most effective way to introduce new concepts to teachers is through planned and continuous reinforcement and working closely with local partners. Through this, teachers have greatly developed their professional standards and the level of teaching at Primary level in the 7 regions has improved.
Mutual benefit
ISTEP in Sudan is one component of the wider Education Quality Improvement Project (EQUIP) funded by the European Union Trust Fund, which seeks to strengthen resilience and tackle exclusion by strengthening basic education services. As part of our wider work in Sudan, this seeks to support the next generation by applying UK expertise in skill development and confidence for employability. Without which, young people have fewer opportunities to participate in decisions which affect their lives.
By capacity building we share UK and international best practice in Sudan, creating stronger bilateral relations at institutional and governmental level, working closely with the country’s federal and state ministries. We are helping position the UK as a trusted partner to the Sudanese government, especially in education.