Africa
Pedagogical Leadership Study and Training for ECD Managers in the Rural Areas of South Africa
The purpose of the research project is to develop an international hybrid training for leadership in early childhood education in international collaboration with universities and organizations from different countries (University of Helsinki and University of Jyväskylä from Finland, ADA University from Azerbaijan, University of South Africa and University of Pretoria from South Africa and German Youth Institute from Germany). The objective of the project is to provide training and assistance to ECD managers involved in Early Childhood Development (ECD) in South Africa. The training program is designed and based on the research conducted during the initial phase of the project. With the research, we aim to provide understanding about professional development of ECD managers through training. Knowledge will be shared with scientific articles and utilized with planning the future training.
Play-based teaching and learning approach to early mathematics in Zanzibar
This activity is part of the principal investigator's PhD research at University of Jyväskylä. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in Zanzibar, the PI will conduct ECEC teacher training workshops, which will introduce play-based teaching and learning approach to early mathematics. The aim is to develop and research practices for teaching young learners how to be competent in mathematics from kindergarten to elementary education. GINTL funding will be used for the ECEC teacher training workshops, data collection for PhD research, and conference participation.
Co-creating a research-based approach for higher education curriculum development in learning difficulties and socio-emotional problems in India and Kenya
Collaborative project planning of co-created, research-based approach for higher education curriculum development in learning difficulties and socio-emotional problems in India and Kenya. The approach combines multidisciplinary knowledge from special education, neuropsychology and clinical psychology as well as state-of-the art digital technology (e.g., digital learning platforms and eye-tracking). The development of two new MA programs at MMUST and IIT via which the new curricula will be implemented, resulting in a novel pedagogical model to support schools. This will facilitate better teaching and support for 3–14-year-old children, who would be otherwise left behind.
Joint phenomenon-based curriculum development in educational technologies
The joint activities target towards preparing the students for their local work life, academic careers and international work. Along with their academic studies in IT and pedagogy, the students need to grow towards innovative, inventive and imaginative actors focusing on future. That means to be creative, critical, collaborative and communicative. The joint workshop-based approach focuses on interdisciplinarity and international interaction as well as co-development in educational technologies.
Education for emergencies (E4E) guest lectures
The University of Jyväskylä and Åbo Akademi are jointly gathering different partners to conduct guest lectures on the Education for Emergencies (E4E) themes ‘climate crisis pedagogy’, ‘conflicts and war times pedagogy’, ‘antiracism education’. Additionally, the partners are producing learning materials from the respecitve guest lectures.
Remembering ancestral knowledges and plants: Intergenerational participatory research and community practice for food literacy and justice
The main objective is to implement intergenerational action learning about food literacy, justice and sovereignty with organisations embedded in local communities and contribute to building the agroecology and food justice movement. A range of integrated and interlinked activities support this aim, including analysis of food policy and enabling dialogue to support participation with university collaboration in existing African and Finnish food justice forums, networks, campaigns and policy processes. The plan is to create intergenerational food literacy curriculum in collaboration with community groups and university partners that can contribute to food justice through improved understanding and access to healthy whole foods. Initial community engagement was undertaken in two sites in South Africa in 2022. The main activities in 2023, include article writing, documentation, communication, participation in conferences and organizing a hybrid webinar series. The webinars series Telling our stories brings together academics, civil society organisations and activists and enables different actors, working with food across Sub-Saharan Arica and beyond, to form important connection. Four events between September and November 2023 promote harnessing creative contextual participation and situated action by providing opportunities to hear from activists, community groups, non-government organisations and universities about their work and collaborations. The first two events, Community responses to food crisis and food politics and Regenerating local food systems through school, community and higher education partnerships, have been well received with participants from many countries and lively discussion. Recordings of webinars are being used in contexts without easy access to electricity and internet.
Youth mobility from Finland and Portugal to the Global South: Policies, practices, and perceived impacts on global citizenship dispositions and on the host contexts
This study analyses the impact of temporary youth mobilities to the Global South countries in participants’ own global citizenship dispositions on the local host context. It analyses policies, practices and perceptions of participants in two countries with different historical and political paths, and cultural and societal characteristics–Portugal and Finland. In addition, the study will also analyse the perceptions of the hosts of such mobilities and their local impacts. Overall, the study aims to: a) Identify and analyse the existing policies and practices of youth temporary mobilities to the Global South countries in Portugal and in Finland and contextualise these within the larger international mobility recommendations and guidelines from, for example, European Union and UNESCO; b) understand the impacts of these mobilities in the individuals’ global citizenship dispositions and in the host contexts c) produce recommendations to improve these mobilities' policies and practices, granting equity in benefits for mobile youngsters and host contexts.
Partership and cooperation with Johannesburg University for learning and teaching resulting in Elias Pekkola nominated associate professorship
As part of the GINTL activities, the University of Tampere has established academic relations with the University of Johannesburg. This partnership has resulted in two research applications (one for an EU project and one for the Academy of Finland). In addition to research collaboration, GINTL funding (as a means of work time allocation) has been used to establish teaching collaboration. This collaboration is intended to be two-directional. First, the University of Tampere will support the development of higher education programs at the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Johannesburg. Meanwhile, two teachers from the institute have been participating in the development of the content of the study module "Systems Transition 2" (MARIH07) offered by Tampere University as part of its international curriculum. Eventually, two teachers will travel to Tampere to teach on the transition of African higher education systems. Tampere University has been a partner in the Master in Research and Innovation in Higher Education (MARIHE), an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree, for several years. The master's degree program's teaching has also been used as course content for Ph.D. studies for (African) Ph.D. candidates studying in Tampere. As a concrete illustration of institutional collaboration, Elias Pekkola has been appointed as a "research associate" at the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Johannesburg.
Developing an network between Finland and Portuguese-speaking African countries
As part of GINTL activities, TAU has begun a pioneering project of building a network and partnerships between Finland and Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP). The final goal of this new network and research project is to provide new contributions to the development of learning, teaching and curricula. This initiative aims at increasing Finnish research collaboration in Africa. Also known as the Lusophone Africa, the PALOP are less represented in international networks, despite official agreements with the European Union. They are also rarely included in Finnish African cooperation activities. GINTL funding (as means of worktime allocation) has been used to network building and management. This included reviews of past and current collaborative initiatives between Finnish and PALOP Universities, based on UniPID InfoBank, and research about these countries based on Elizabeth Eta’s study (GINTL Africa coordination). Partners identification included several meetings and e-mail exchanges with Finnish Counsellors of Education in Angola, South Africa and Mozambique. The contacts established by TAU go behind the PALOP area, as can be seen in the partnerships for two research applications (DeCoEd and 2EdCo). The PALOP network includes institutions and experts from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique. Contacts in São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea are pending because they are yet to be considered a priority in European and Finnish cooperation activities.
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