Project Title

Future Elementary School Teachers
Modernization in Kurdistan

Programme
European Commission, Erasmus+, KA2 – Capacity-building in the Field of Higher Education. The project has been funded with support from the European Union.

Project
Duration
Start Date: February 1, 2023
End Date: January 31, 2025

Background

In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, students enrolled in public elementary schools are educated by elementary school teachers; 90% of them are graduated from colleges of Basic Education of the HEIs in Kurdistan. Therefore, the Basic Education colleges in Kurdistan are the main providers of the primary government school teachers in the region. So, to raise the standard of the governmental schooling system, the first step is to raise the quality of graduates from the Basic Education Colleges in Kurdish universities. Elementary school teachers are trained with very old-fashioned techniques, and seldomly exposed to innovative teaching methodologies. As a consequence, the graduates from Basic Education colleges have no modern skills to eventually tackle the kid in the elementary schools and make the classroom a magnet and enjoyable time to the students rather than a poorly stimulating time. All Partner HEIs in the Kurdistan region agreed that the governmental primary school system needs to be changed through enhancing the quality of the future teachers.

Mission statement

The TeachersMOD project aims to enhance the capacity of the Basic Education Colleges in each Kurdish beneficiary institution with the long-term outcome of improving the general Regional standard of primary education. The project builds on two main assumptions: the first relates to the education’s pivotal role in the society for the fulfillment of human rights, peace and responsible citizenship from local to global levels, and the second relates to the relevance of the digital transformation as embedded in teaching and learning models.

Higher Education Institutions , therefore, need to increase their capacity at two levels: 1) updating and reviewing curricula towards a student-centered approach; and 2) a pedagogical approach y based on interactive teaching methods integrating participative and innovative techniques. For this reason, TeachersMOD seeks to modernize and improve the quality of teaching, by innovating teaching methodologies, by reviewing curricula and by reinforcing the competences of university staff members in the Basic Education Colleges in the Kurdish universities to be prepared for the new generation of learners in the region.

Key Objectives

To investigate the needs and the gaps about priorities, teaching methodologies and curricula in the HEIs in Kurdistan region of Iraq, through a benchmark study of EU and KRG good practices on teaching approaches, with the final aim of identifying needs and gaps;

To contribute improving the quality of the academic offer in the field of humanities and social sciences at the Basic Education Colleges of the Kurdish institutions through the review of curricula review and learning outcomes revision;

To enhance the quality of teaching in Basic Education by training and building the capacities of the academic staff and educators on new teaching methodologies;

To revitalize the pedagogic centers within each Kurdish beneficiary university by training its academic and administrative staff and by reviewing the training courses offered to the university community, and the way they outreach the civil society and local community.

Future Elementary School Teachers Modernization in Kurdistan

Background

Mission statement

Key Objectives

Future Elementary School Teachers
Modernization in Kurdistan