A five-day orientation workshop for 30 Teaching Assistantship Mentors (TAMs), organized by Inspire, Educate and Empower Rwanda (IEE), was concluded on November 1st, 2021 at Olympic Hotel, Kimironko. The TAMs are being prepared to be deployed in the 30 districts of Rwanda, in which they will be working with Teaching Assistants to support teaching and learning in 116 schools countrywide.
“The task ahead of me after this workshop is to sensitize and interest youth in joining the teaching profession taking up this career with passion, being good Teaching Assistants, with knowledge about exploiting the surrounding environment for learning. Teaching and learning should be carried out using a competency-based curriculum and also promote learning through play”, said Scovia Murebwayire, a Teaching Assistantship Mentor from Gasabo district. During the workshop, TAMs learnt about qualities and roles of a good mentor, professional ethics for a mentor and their working model. They also learnt, among other aspects, Competence-based Curriculum, lesson planning and preparation for teaching and learning, lesson observation and giving constructive feedback to Teaching Assistants to build their confidence and professionalism. TAMs learnt about, learner-centered approaches, handwriting, and work planning in relation to their roles and responsibilities.
Evode Nuwayo is another Teaching Assistantship Mentor from Nyarugenge district. According to him, the task ahead requires them (TAMs) to promote quality teaching and learning through well-trained and mentored teachers, which also calls for scaling up the learner-centered teaching approach, among other aspects required in a Competency-Based Curriculum.
This exercise is under the Teaching Assistantships Project (TAP II), a five-year project funded by the Mastercard Foundation as part of its Leaders in Teaching Initiative in Rwanda. TAP II is being implemented by IEE in collaboration with Rwanda Basic Education Board. TAP II focuses on supporting Rwanda with skill-nurturing for passionate generation of young women and men with an interest in education, attracting them to join the teaching profession to support teaching and learning of Science, Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) and Humanities. It is intended to institutionalize teaching assistantships into the Ministry of Education’s incubation process for teachers as an important transformational systems change in education.
While officially closing the orientation workshop, the IEE Country Director Emmanuel Murenzi urged the Teaching Assistantship Mentors work closely with all stakeholders in the Education sector, most importantly Teaching Assistants to effectively deliver the Competency-Based Curriculum.
In the first year of TAP II, 310 Teaching Assistants are expected to be recruited to support 116 primary and secondary schools across the country. Teaching Assistants will each be provided with a laptop and a package of modules, of English language for teaching, planning for teaching and teaching methodology, study strategies and personal development, gender awareness and gender responsive pedagogy, and inclusive education to support their day-to-day work during teaching assistantships, as well serve as life skills reference manuals at tertiary level and beyond. The Teaching Assistantships Project started in 2019 in 73 pilot Rwandan schools, aiming at providing opportunities for bright young women who had completed secondary education, who were interested in teaching and gaining experience in the teaching profession. Based on the results of the pilot phase, the Ministry of Education, Rwanda Basic Education Board and schools recommended expansion of the project to other cohorts of students and other schools. In five years of the TAP II, 3000 Teaching Assistants and 580 schools will benefit from the Project Education programmes.