GENDER RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY - UNICEF

1 A toolkit for teachers and schools 2nd editionGENDER RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGYPREFACEIThe quality of teaching across all levels of education has a significant impact on academic access, retention and performance of girls and boys in Africa. This includes the systematic professionalization of both teaching and non-teaching roles within education, by improving teacher training and support for teachers. Notably, many teachers in sub-Saharan Africa, conditioned by patriarchal values in their communities, employ teaching methods that are not conducive for equal participation of both girls and boys. Neither do these methods take into account the individual needs of learners, especially girls. Equipping teachers with knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable them to respond adequately to the learning needs of girls and boys through using gen-der-aware classroom processes and practices ultimately improves learning outcomes and enhances GENDER sensitivity in the delivery of education Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) in 2005 developed the GENDER - RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY (GRP) model to address the quality of teaching in African schools.

2 The GRP model trains teachers to be more GENDER aware and equips them with the skills to understand and address the specific learning needs of both sexes. It develops teaching practices that engender equal treatment and participation of girls and boys in the classroom and in the wider school community. It advocates for classroom practices that ensure equal par-ticipation of girls and boys, including a classroom environment that encourages both to thrive. Teachers are trained in the design and use of GENDER - RESPONSIVE lesson plans, classroom interaction, classroom set-up, language use in the classroom, teaching and learning materials, management of sexual maturation, strategies to eliminate sexual harassment, GENDER - RESPONSIVE school management systems, and monitoring and eval-uation. Since its development, the GRP Teacher s Handbook has been used as a reference material by in-service teachers in different teacher training colleges and schools in Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guin-ea, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

3 Given the need for accelerated efforts not only for girls access, but also their retention and progression through secondary education and beyond, there is renewed interest in scaling up this model. The review of the GRP Teacher s Handbook has been necessitated by changing trends both in education systems, and in teaching and learning processes. Therefore, the review seeks to contribute to greater educational impacts for girls and boys. The review was also intended to modify the Handbook to fit pre-service as well as in-service, unlike the original handbook which was only designed for in-service training. It is in this regard that FAWE in March 2018 entered into a partnership with UNICEF ESARO and WCARO, UNESCO IICBA and UNGEI with the aim of developing a GENDER RESPONSIVE toolkit that can be used to advocate and support African education systems to mainstream GRP in pre-service and in-service/Continuous Professional Development activities of Ministries of Education.

4 This revised GRP toolkit will also form a core component of support towards implementation of the FAWE and AU/CIEFFA commissioned GENDER equality strategy of the AU s CESA 2016-2025. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSAUTHORS Creative Action Institute Team:Clare DowdAryeh ShellVeronica ThamainiLouisa TrackmanGRAPHIC DESIGNMcKenzie ShellIIFAWE (2018). GENDER RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY : A toolkit for Teachers and Schools. 2nd, updated ed. Nairobi: Forum for African Women Educationalists. FAWE HouseForum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)FAWE House, Chania Avenue, off Wood Avenue, Box 21394 - Ngong Road, Nairobi 00505, : (254-020) 3873131/3873359 Fax: (254-020) 3874150 Email: Forum for African Women Educationalists is grateful to all those who have participated in generating the revised version of the GENDER RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY toolkit .

5 Special recognition goes to our partners UNICEF WCARO and ESARO, UNESCO IICBA, UNGEI and their focal teams for the unwavering technical support offered during the review process. Special thanks to Inge Vervloesem and Charlotte Pram Nielsen of UNICEF WCARO, Tizie Maphalala and Lara Burger of UNICEF ESARO, Eyerusalem Azmeraw and Rodjan Indriyati of UNESCO IICBA. To the Creative Action Institute (CAI) team, ably led by Clare Dowd, we are forever indebted for the technical and professional support offered through the entire process as particularly appreciates the FAWE staff who helped generate the revised toolkit : Immediate former Executive Director Ms. Hendrina Doroba, Acting Executive Director and Head of Programmes Ms. Martha Muhwezi, Programme Coordinator Gabriel Waithaka, the Regional Secretariat network specialist consul-tants Houraye Anne-Mamadou and Daphne Chimuka alongside the very capable FAWE National Coordina-tors Neema Kitundu (Tanzania), Teresa Otieno (Kenya) and Wesley Chabwera (Malawi).

6 The entire review process of the GENDER RESPONSIVE toolkit model was made possible through the gener-ous financial support from UNICEF WCARO and ESARO, UNESCO IICBA and FAWE through the Mastercard THE TOOLKITThis toolkit builds on the GENDER RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY :A Teacher s Handbook developed by the Forum for African Women Educationalists in 2005, synthesizing best practices from more recently developed and implemented GENDER RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY toolkits as well as research on GENDER equality and GENDER - RESPONSIVE education in the African context that has emerged since then. It is intended as: a practical tool for training new teachers and refreshing knowledge and skills of seasoned teachers; a reference full of creative and participatory activities for classroom teachers to create inclusive classroom environments where all students can thrive and become critical and creative thinkers without GENDER -bias; a reference for school management to ensure the school supports teachers training, learning, and application of GENDER RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY (GRP) through policies, observation and guidance, and monitoring and evaluation.

7 And a reference for teachers and school management to creatively engage a wide range of community stakeholders in GRP and related topics, since students and schools do not exist in isolation but in an ecosystem of social and cultural norms that may not necessarily align with AUDIENCEST eachers have always been pivotal in creating classrooms that are inclusive and in which students have equal opportunity to access quality education. As a result, this toolkit is intended for use by pre-service and in-service teachers at primary and secondary schools. However, school leadership and management are critical to creating an environment where teachers are empowered and accountable for creating a GENDER - RESPONSIVE classroom. Positive outcomes from FAWE's extensive experience training administrators in GRP and their Centres of Excellence model - as well as the field research conducted in conjunction with the development of this toolkit - underscores how important it is for school management to be trained in GRP and to help drive its implementation.

8 As a result, this toolkit is also intended for use by school directors, lead teachers, and other school management personnel and will support their ability to monitor and evaluate their progress toward the creation of a GENDER - RESPONSIVE learning ATTRIBUTES OF THE toolkit The toolkit provides foundational information and guidance in each unit, as well as activities, case studies, examples and self-assessment questions. Learners as well as teachers have contributions and experience that will enrich the understanding of any topic, so the toolkit offers activities to draw out the knowledge of participants. Art and creativity are powerful and experiential ways for learners to access and analyse information; share their thoughts, experiences, and hopes; and engage others; so activities embed drawing, poetry, theatre, etc.

9 Not as the goal of the activity but as part of the process. The topics of GENDER equality; access to education; elimination of GENDER -based violence and discrimination; and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights are tackled with a human rights TO USE THE TOOLKITW hile we encourage teachers and administrators to review all the units in the toolkit , we have divided the toolkit into units that are color-coded with a sidebar. Teal units are geared towards teachers; purple units are geared towards school leadership, managers, and administrators; and orange units are for both. Where units are intended for both teachers and administrators, we have also indicated, in text, which pieces of the unit are for which user. Units 1-2 offer foundational information for teachers and administrators.

10 Unit 3 provides background for administrators and tools for management. Units 4-7 include more tactical approaches and activities for teachers to apply GRP in the classroom. Units 8-11 are for teachers and school management to create a school environment that is GENDER RESPONSIVE as well as engage the community in which schools exist in the process. Unit 12 serves as a basic guide in the design, monitoring and evaluating needed in the deployment of GRP in a school and offers tools for school management, teachers, students, and other stakeholders to participate in the throughout the toolkit are primarily geared towards in-service teachers either to apply in the classroom or to reflect on their own skills and teaching habits.