Stakeholders in the education sector have called for building of right skills for next generation of teachers in Africa.
They made the call at the #NextGen Educators Forum organised by HP in celebration of teachers themed: “The transformation of education begins with teachers.”
Stakeholders at the forum included Chief Executive Officer, Junior Achievement Africa (JAA), Simi Nwogugu, former Superintendent General, Western Cape Education Department and Specialist Advisor, Brian Schreuder; Chief Executive, Teach For Nigeria (TFN), Folawe Omikunle and HP’s Senior Education Business Leader for Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe, Mayank Dhingra.
The group stressed that foundation of children’s future learning in Africa require equipping teachers with necessary skills to take education forward in the region.
Nwogugu said, “educators need to understand that their traditional role as expert imparting knowledge has evolved to that of guide facilitating knowledge-acquisition, design thinking and critical reasoning skills in their students. To do this effectively, educators need to be equipped with these and other emotional intelligence skills to adapt to students’ needs. Forums like this help steer all of us in the sector in the right direction, for how best to empower teachers to be more effective in the classroom.”
HP recently revealed the results of its first education-focused survey in Africa, which shed light on teachers’ skillsets and how the profession can be improved in South Africa and Nigeria.
Understanding the realities of 21st Century teaching, 10 skills were identified in the study as crucial to future proofing classrooms for educators. Across the board, teachers surveyed deemed these skillsets important, with 70 per cent saying soft skills, such as creative, innovative, critical and entrepreneurial thinking, as well as digital literacy, are very important.
Omikunle said: “The only way African countries could reach their full potential is by investing in education. By investing in teachers, we are investing in our children’s future and inevitably, that of the continent. We know there are numerous challenges educators face, and these discussions will help in providing African solutions to African challenges.”
“The time to rethink and reshape the future of Africa’s education sector is now. The past few years have thrust the sector into dramatically new ways of learning. It has shown us that we need to empower teachers with the right tools to ensure that learners have the best chance at future-proof outcomes,” Dhingra said.
