GUIDELINES FOR COMMUNITY BASED LEARNING PROGRAMME
Following extensive consultations with all stakeholders in the Education sector on community-based learning as a means of engaging learners during the current period of Covid 19 pandemic, the Commission has directed that all teachers under its employment shall undertake community-based learning Programme without charging parents with effect from 12″ August, 2020 until further notice.
The objective of the programme is to engage learners in productive activities with a view to acquiring basic knowledge related to the pandemic and other practical life skills.
To enable smooth running of the programme, the Commission has developed a detailed Guidelines to facilitate the roll out the programme in close consultation with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government and the Ministry of Health.
You are expected to work seamlessly as a team and put in place strategies to coordinate, monitor and supervise the teaching and learning at the Sub County and zonal level. Attached hereto is a copy of the Guidelines for your reference and record
GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION ON COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING
1. Mapping of teachers within their localities and communities.
1.1 All teachers employed by the Commission are directed to register with the Curriculum Support Officers and Sub County Directors within Zones and Sub-County where they are currently staying in by 12″ August 2020 with a view to undertaking community based learning which has been identified as a means of engaging learners during the current period when schools are closed as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic.
1.2 This programme will be coordinated jointly with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, Ministry of Health and the Teachers Service Commission.
1.3 Teachers will play a pivotal role to ensure the success of the programme. In this respect, teachers will be expected to carry out the following activities:•
1.3.1 Heads of institutions should be in school atleast once per week to supervise and monitor the programme.
1.3.2 Utilize the Nyumba Kumi programme to ensure that all learners participate in the programme.
1.3.3 Set up a face to face programme of engaging not more than 15 learners while strictly observing the Ministry of Health Guidelines and protocols. This engagement should be at least 4 Hours a day at no charge.
1.3.4 Organize the learners as much as possible according to their classes and/or age groups to ensure that the topics under discussion are relevant, suitable and appropriate to the group.
1.3.5 Sensitize and educate the learners on the guidelines and protocols issued by the Ministry of Health towards the containment of the Covid19 pandemic.
1.3.6 Identify in consultation with the officials from Ministry of Education and Ministry of Interior, suitable places like community halls or open spaces where conducive environment may be created to enable learning to take place within the community. Such places should be well arranged in strict adherence to the Guidelines and Protocols issued by the Ministry of Health.
1.3.7 Develop a daily activity based programme for engaging learners on life skills and values such as weeding, cultivating, grazing animals, storytelling, planting, debating life issues, hygiene and other related activities.
1.3.8 Provide learning activities in reading and numeracy and other subjects of interest to learners to keep them engaged.
1.3.9 Develop task-based activities for learners to undertake during the session or while with their parents at home.
1.3.10 Utilize available radio, television and online content within the reach of children to make learning interactive.
1.3.11 Assign reading and exercises to learners for home study.
1.3.12 Conduct remote daily or weekly follow up with students and parents.
1.3.13 Utilize local resources during learners’ engagement.
1.3.14 Offer guidance and counselling and psycho-social support to learners.
1.3.15 Monitor the progress and the status of learners and provide information to Curriculum Support Officers.
1.3.16 Code of regulations for teachers and Code of conduct and Ethics for Teachers shall prevail.
2. Co–ordination, management and monitoring of the programme
2.1 The co-ordination, management, monitoring and evaluation of the programme will be done in the following manner: –
2.1.1 In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Teachers Service Commission will coordinate and supervise the implementation of the programme.
2.1.2 The Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government will monitor and ensure that no learner fails to participate in the programme within their jurisdiction.
2.1.3 Ministry of Health will support the programme by training the teachers on the MOH guidelines and protocols put in place by the Government to contain the spread of Covid-19
2.2 Orientation and/or induction of teachers on learner engagement will be carried out through a multi-agency approach (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, Ministry of Health and the Teachers Service Commission)
3. Enhancing engagement in online teaching
Inorder to enhance engagement on online teaching teachers should carry out the following activities:
Make Learning as interactive as possible
3.1 Emphasis should be placed on modern pedagogical practices, like group work, peer feedback and blended or ‘flipped’ learning. These activities can be conducted online and may help to extend students’ attention spans.
Communicating the learning expectations to learners
3.2 There is need to have learners understand the learning expectations as there are many factors that can affect engagement in teaching from home situations (students may be living with family members who impact engagement) to technology problems (students may have older technologies or slower internet speeds) to different learning styles.
3.3 Teachers need to take these differences into account when helping their students.
Use peer-to-peer networks to your advantage
3.4 The use of peer-to-peer learning is a huge advantage in these situations.
Teachers should use discussion groups during learning and even grading can be done amongst peers.
Emphasize self-guided learning (particularly with less experienced students)
3.5 Keep students engaged during learning using approaches which take student perspectives into account. Times like these calls for innovative, creative thinking as well as the use of new approaches and digital tools which can be an asset to teaching .