The Faculty of Education’s project 'Active Citizenship and Gender Equality through International Teacher Education (CIGETE)' – lead by Associate Professor Prisca Bruno Massao – held its closing conference in Moshi, Tanzania 7-8 November 2024.
The conference, 'Teacher Education in Enhancing Gender Equality and Active Citizenship for the Sustainable Future', was arranged at partner institution Mwenge Catholic University (MWECAU). CIGETE was funded under a NOTED call by the Norwegian Directorate of Higher Education and Skills (HK-Dir) and started in 2020.
Thanks to our project team at MWECAU, this international conference was extremely well-organised, professional and not least well-attended by institutions from Tanzania, Norway, and Kenya.
Internationalisation beyond student and staff mobility
Vice Chancellor of MWECAU, professor Philbert Vumilia, stated the following in his keynote address:
– The value of internationalisation extends beyond student and staff exchange and has impact at both a personal and institutional level.
The CIGETE project in this regard has been extremely impactful for the students, staff and the institutions involved.
Some of the impacts from the activities in this project involve internationalisation at home, where 14 students from Tanzania have over a 3-year period attended the 30 ECTS EDSL programme at the Faculty of Education for a period of 5 months, and 4 students from INN who have done their teaching practice at Darajani Lower Secondary School at Marangu, Tanzania.
– Our Tanzanian exchange students have been crucial for intercultural competence and global perspectives on sustainability in the classroom in Norway, stated Bente Knippa Vestad, who heads up the EDSL programme at INN University.
Student participation
The conference gave room to students to participate and present at a scientific conference. Among these were previous CIGETE exchange students, Jane Pallangyo, Magdalena Ndakidemi and Hapyness Kimaro, who presented a report about their experience and the way their exchange in Norway has impacted their own professional practice as teachers on their return to Tanzania.
A noteworthy contribution came from 25 teacher education students from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences currently in Tanzania on a 3-month stay, who attended the conference and engaged with enthusiasm in scientific discussions.
These students also contributed with poster presentations at the conference, most of them about gender and education. They expressed how valuable it was to be able to attend an international conference on teacher education that tackled important global topics within their profession.
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Research-based education
Research-based education was a recurrent topic throughout the presentations as well as the importance of the teacher education institutions in fostering gender equality and active citizenship within and through teacher education.
At PhD level, brand new PROFF PhD candidate from INN, Cecilie Grevstad, presented a summary of her thesis on Menstruation and Girls Education in Tanzania, giving her a flying start to her dissemination activities as a young researcher.
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The CIGETE project, through primarily a student mobility project, has also resulted in a high-level research publication. Associate Professor Prisca Bruno Massao of INN University together with Dr. Bahiya Abdi Sheshe and Dr. Theresia Bonifasi Mkenda of MWECAU, published an article titled 'Gender and Active Citizenship in Tanzanian Teacher Education: Curriculum Analysis and Student Teachers' Reflections' in the European Journal of Education.
CIGETE has also resulted in 3 presentations at the SANORD Conference held at INN University in 2023, with three more presentations planned for SANORD Conference 2024 to take place in December 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Among the CIGETE project team to present at the SANORD Conference in Cape Town are Dr. Bahiya Abdi Sheshe and Athanas Sing’ambi from MWECAU and Associate Professor Prisca Bruno Massao from INN.
– Being involved in the CIGETE project has helped inform my own understanding of teacher education’s role when planning these programmes at an institutional level, said Professor Didas Kimaro, Deputy Vice Chancellor of MWECAU.
He himself does not come from a teacher education background but has been an active member of the CIGETE project team at MWECAU.
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International exchange and professional impact
For CIGETE project leader Prisca Bruno Massao, internationalisation opportunities in both research and education have been important success factors.
However, the greatest success of the project lies in the opportunities that student exchange at bachelor’s level have provided because of the professional impact and their ripple effects as reported by Jane, Happyness and Magdalena at the conference.
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The INN delegation attending the conference were Professor Dag Hundstad, Head of Department of Social Sciences, Religion and Ethics representing the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Project Leader of the CIGETE project, Associate Professor Prisca Bruno Massao, and project members Wendy Lathrop Meyer, Emeritus at the Department of Art and Cultural Studies, and Internationalisation Advisor, Sevika Stensby.
In his closing remarks, Dag Hundstad said he was inspired by the talent and engagement displayed at the conference on topics that are of great global significance.
He also shared INN University’s fresh news on officially becoming a fully-fledged university to resounding applause and congratulations from the conference participants. It was a proud day for INN and our partners in Tanzania.