Teacher educators from JYU have collaborated with colleagues from Eritrean colleges to develop quality teacher education. During five years of project cooperation funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, faculty members have worked on pedagogical and management training, curriculum support, research supervision and collaborative research. The projects created a favourable environment for multidimensional collaboration and mutual learning.

Supporting the development of Eritrean teacher education

Since 2015 the University of Jyväskylä (JYU) has supported the development of Eritrean teacher education through the Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument (HEI ICI) programmes. Eritrea Learning For All (ELFA 1) (2015-2017) focused on capacity development in research (e.g. literacy and numeracy, learning difficulties, teacher education pedagogy, educational leadership and research methodology), and applying research findings in education development at the Eritrea Institute of Technology, College of Education. As a direct continuation the project Eritrea Learning for All: Developing post-graduate programs (ELFA 2) (2018-2020) focused on staff qualifications and curriculum support. These projects were directed to enhance capacities of the partner institutions by addressing some of the critical quality challenges of the Eritrean teacher education.

Through these initiatives, teacher educators from Eritrea and JYU have engaged in broad pedagogical trainings and extensive discussions to jointly develop contextually relevant pedagogical approaches to higher education. Non-material support to research capacity development has included joint international conference presentations and collaborative research. Furthermore, Eritrean teacher educators were introduced to the Finnish education system from primary education to tertiary education and educational administration during their visits to Finland. JYU also supported the Eritrean partner colleges through the procurement of equipment and literature.

As a result of re-organization of Eritrean higher education, the Asmara College of Education (ACE) initiated new 1-year pedagogical training programmes in science and mathematics education, language education and social science education with the first cohort of degree holders enrolled in March 2019. JYU supported these programme streams with experts reviewing the curricula and providing input for further revisions and development.

Doctoral training

ELFA 2 has focused on creating structures for joint doctoral education. Three staff members from ACE began doctoral studies at JYU in spring 2018 with research topics grounded in the critical challenges to quality education in Eritrea (primary, secondary and tertiary level). Research on English language learning, learner-centred pedagogies and differentiated instruction has provided an opportunity to develop research methods relevant to the Eritrean context and to produce knowledge on related to critical challenges to quality education. The practical implementation of doctoral training has included joint supervision by Eritrean and Finnish academics, developing practice for distance supervision and utilization of multiple funding sources to support PhD studies. The success of the doctoral candidates who benefitted from the project support encourages further work in this area.

Unique international collaboration

Eritrea is one of the newest independent states in the world. International collaborations and linkages are regulated and few in number. As JYU is the only international higher education institution to have a joint project in Eritrea in recent years, capacity development in project management was a key focus of ELFA 2. In addition to formal project management trainings, learning through collaborative management of the ELFA projects was the most powerful approach to capacity development.

Importance of capacity development and staff qualifications

Enhancing staff qualifications is a central concern of higher education institutions in developing countries. Developing institutionally grounded models (opposed to individual grants) for doctoral education could be a meaningful approach to capacity development. JYU and the University of Eastern Finland have worked together to advance Eritrean doctoral education. ELFA projects created a favourable environment for multidimensional collaboration and mutual learning. Individuals, departments and leadership who participated in the projects could compare and contrast two different contexts of (teacher) education and gained experience and insights to intercultural learning and cooperation.

Pia Krimark, Hanna Posti-Ahokas and Josephine Moate

Project coordinator Pia Krimark works in the Department of Education and Key expert Josephine Moate in the Department of Teacher Education. Project lead Hanna Posti-Ahokas has continued her work at the University of Helsinki from August 2020 onwards.

Further information:
ELFA 2 project 
HEI ICI Programme (National Board of Education)
Educational Reflections from Eritrea Learning for All
Dean, Professor Anna-Maija Poikkeus, JYU Faculty of Education and Psychology

Feedback to the authors: pia.a.krimark@jyu.fi, josephine.moate@jyu.fi or hanna.posti-ahokas@helsinki.fi 

Photo: Hanna Posti-Ahokas