Educational Guides
VVOB develops the capacity of its partners in Uganda. VVOB uses capacity development trajectories that give partners maximal responsibility in the execution and management of their own change processes. This is done through technical assistance provided by the VVOB team, which includes both local and international educational and change management experts.
The Teaching Agriculture Practically (TAP) programme started in 2019 and is funded by the Belgium government. It focuses on the professional development of teachers and instructors in agricultural education and agri-entrepreneurship education. Partners are the Ministry of Education and Sports, National Teacher Colleges (NTCs) Mubende & Unyama, National Instructors College Abilonino (NICA) and VVOB - education for development.
Practical teaching and learning refer to teaching and learning processes characterised by a strong focus on transfer of knowledge, building of skills and development of attitudes through practical exercises. Even though a theoretical basis remains an important precursor to practical teaching and learning, in practical teaching and learning both teachers and learners invest an important part of their time on the practical application of theoretical knowledge and concepts.
The need for practical teaching and learning in agriculture is underlined by the education sector, as well as some of the main policies that are related to the sector. From several policies and studies, it is made clear that there is a skill mismatch (between skills on demand by the labour market and skills that graduates possess), which needs to be focused on (National Human Resource Development Planning Framework for Uganda, 2018). From the Uganda Vision 2040, it becomes clear that the education system needs to be changed to emphasize, among others, practical skills. The National TVET policy (2019) states that all TVET institutions must emphasise practical and hands-on training which is integrated with flexible and work-oriented delivery methods.
To support continued quality education in the colleges and NICA , VVOB developed educational guides to be used as refrence points for leacturers and other interested stakeholders. The educational guides cover the following areas:
- Examination School Practice
- Industrial Trainning
- Exposure visits
- Production units
- Student Plots.
These guides enable and encourage practical learning, which is an essential part of the learning programme of the curriculum of future agricultural teachers. These guides belongs to lecturers, are relevant for students and are relevant to stakeholders in the colleges as they provides a complete overview on how teaching in agriculture could become more practical.
