Transforming employability for social change in east Africa (TESCEA)
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
INSAP
Abstract
Executive Summary
Transforming Employability for Social Change in East Africa (TESCEA) is a Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office (FCDO) funded initiative, part of FCDO’s Strategic Partnerships for Higher
Education Innovation and Reform (SPHEIR) programme. With partners in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya,
TESCEA is designed to support universities to create a learner-centred experience for students. This
improved learning experience has at its core critical thinking, problem-solving and gender-responsiveness
pedagogy; and allows for practical learning beyond the classroom to improve a graduate’s employability.
TESCEA’s purpose is to:
• Facilitate new approaches to learning – strengthening the ability and motivation of academics to
deliver learner-focused teaching that helps students learn how to think, not what to think, and which
is focused on developing critical thinking, problem solving, and gender-responsive skills.
• Strengthen connections between universities, local employers and communities – fostering
relationships between universities, employers and local communities to enable the design of relevant
curricula and practical internships.
• Develop approaches and tools to enable scale up – expansion of the approach within and external to
the TESCEA institutions and the institutionalisation /sustainability of these approaches are at the
heart of TESCEA.
• Embed mechanisms to learn and refine the approach in the short and longer term.
The project is delivered though three outcomes and six outputs.
TESCEA’s three outcomes are:
• Outcome 1: Multi-sectoral engagement in support of graduate employment, entrepreneurship and
gender equity enabled;
• Outcome 2: A transformative teaching & learning environment which is critical thinking, problem solving and
gender responsive created for faculty and students;
• Outcome 3: An iterative and adaptive approach to project learning and development embedded.
Its six outputs are
• Output 1.1 A Joint consultative private, public, community and HE sector forum on graduate
employment & entrepreneurship created & operational
• Output 1.2 Business and community mechanisms which equitably promote industry-specific learning
and social enterprise created
• Output 2.1 East Africa-specific gender-equitable pedagogical & CPD model defined and
implemented
• Output 2.2 Mechanisms to supExecutive Summary
Transforming Employability for Social Change in East Africa (TESCEA) is a Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office (FCDO) funded initiative, part of FCDO’s Strategic Partnerships for Higher
Education Innovation and Reform (SPHEIR) programme. With partners in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya,
TESCEA is designed to support universities to create a learner-centred experience for students. This
improved learning experience has at its core critical thinking, problem-solving and gender-responsiveness
pedagogy; and allows for practical learning beyond the classroom to improve a graduate’s employability.
TESCEA’s purpose is to:
• Facilitate new approaches to learning – strengthening the ability and motivation of academics to
deliver learner-focused teaching that helps students learn how to think, not what to think, and which
is focused on developing critical thinking, problem solving, and gender-responsive skills.
• Strengthen connections between universities, local employers and communities – fostering
relationships between universities, employers and local communities to enable the design of relevant
curricula and practical internships.
• Develop approaches and tools to enable scale up – expansion of the approach within and external to
the TESCEA institutions and the institutionalisation /sustainability of these approaches are at the
heart of TESCEA.
• Embed mechanisms to learn and refine the approach in the short and longer term.
The project is delivered though three outcomes and six outputs.
TESCEA’s three outcomes are:
• Outcome 1: Multi-sectoral engagement in support of graduate employment, entrepreneurship and
gender equity enabled;
• Outcome 2: A transformative teaching & learning environment which is critical thinking, problem solving and
gender responsive created for faculty and students;
• Outcome 3: An iterative and adaptive approach to project learning and development embedded.
Its six outputs are
• Output 1.1 A Joint consultative private, public, community and HE sector forum on graduate
employment & entrepreneurship created & operational
• Output 1.2 Business and community mechanisms which equitably promote industry-specific learning
and social enterprise created
• Output 2.1 East Africa-specific gender-equitable pedagogical & CPD model defined and
implemented
• Output 2.2 Mechanisms to support scale up and sustainability established
• Output 3.1: A landscape of intra and inter project learning enabled nationally and regionally
• Output 3.2: Adaptive MEL systems embedded within & across partner institutions.
Between March 2020 and January 2021, an evaluation of TESCEA was conducted. The overall purpose of
this evaluation was to assess the state and quality of the outcomes that TESCEA was designed to achieve
and the value of the approach. This was explored by reviewing evidence and providing learning about its
effectiveness, sustainability, equity, value for money, learning and adaptation.
The evaluation was fully participatory, utilisation-focused, co-designed and co-implemented with the primary
users (Mzumbe, UDOM, Gulu, UMU, AFELT, Ashoka East Africa, INASP). A core evaluation team
comprised of these key stakeholders was engaged from the start in a collaborative process and oversaw the
design and implementation of the evaluation. An external evaluation/data analyst oversaw the analysis of theExecutive Summary
Transforming Employability for Social Change in East Africa (TESCEA) is a Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office (FCDO) funded initiative, part of FCDO’s Strategic Partnerships for Higher
Education Innovation and Reform (SPHEIR) programme. With partners in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya,
TESCEA is designed to support universities to create a learner-centred experience for students. This
improved learning experience has at its core critical thinking, problem-solving and gender-responsiveness
pedagogy; and allows for practical learning beyond the classroom to improve a graduate’s employability.
TESCEA’s purpose is to:
• Facilitate new approaches to learning – strengthening the ability and motivation of academics to
deliver learner-focused teaching that helps students learn how to think, not what to think, and which
is focused on developing critical thinking, problem solving, and gender-responsive skills.
• Strengthen connections between universities, local employers and communities – fostering
relationships between universities, employers and local communities to enable the design of relevant
curricula and practical internships.
• Develop approaches and tools to enable scale up – expansion of the approach within and external to
the TESCEA institutions and the institutionalisation /sustainability of these approaches are at the
heart of TESCEA.
• Embed mechanisms to learn and refine the approach in the short and longer term.
The project is delivered though three outcomes and six outputs.
TESCEA’s three outcomes are:
• Outcome 1: Multi-sectoral engagement in support of graduate employment, entrepreneurship and
gender equity enabled;
• Outcome 2: A transformative teaching & learning environment which is critical thinking, problem solving and
gender responsive created for faculty and students;
• Outcome 3: An iterative and adaptive approach to project learning and development embedded.
Its six outputs are
• Output 1.1 A Joint consultative private, public, community and HE sector forum on graduate
employment & entrepreneurship created & operational
• Output 1.2 Business and community mechanisms which equitably promote industry-specific learning
and social enterprise created
• Output 2.1 East Africa-specific gender-equitable pedagogical & CPD model defined and
implemented
• Output 2.2 Mechanisms to support scale up and sustainability established
• Output 3.1: A landscape of intra and inter project learning enabled nationally and regionally
• Output 3.2: Adaptive MEL systems embedded within & across partner institutions.
Between March 2020 and January 2021, an evaluation of TESCEA was conducted. The overall purpose of
this evaluation was to assess the state and quality of the outcomes that TESCEA was designed to achieve
and the value of the approach. This was explored by reviewing evidence and providing learning about its
effectiveness, sustainability, equity, value for money, learning and adaptation.
The evaluation was fully participatory, utilisation-focused, co-designed and co-implemented with the primary
users (Mzumbe, UDOM, Gulu, UMU, AFELT, Ashoka East Africa, INASP). A core evaluation team
comprised of these key stakeholders was engaged from the start in a collaborative process and oversaw the
design and implementation of the evaluation. An external evaluation/data analyst oversaw the analysis of the
data and the interpretation of the findings. The evaluation used a multi-method approach, drawing on a
variety of sources for its data, including:
• Document review
• Qualitative feedback from teachers, students, senior management and Joint Advisory Group (JAG)
members
• Baseline and follow-up surveys of teachers and students
The evaluation findings suggest that overall TESCEA has been successful in achieving its outcomes and
outputs and has delivered its activities economically and efficiently and has thereby contributed to
transforming the way universities teach and learn through a focus on critical thinking, problem-solving and
gender-responsive pedagogy.
data and the interpretation of the findings. The evaluation used a multi-method approach, drawing on a
variety of sources for its data, including:
• Document review
• Qualitative feedback from teachers, students, senior management and Joint Advisory Group (JAG)
members
• Baseline and follow-up surveys of teachers and students
The evaluation findings suggest that overall TESCEA has been successful in achieving its outcomes and
outputs and has delivered its activities economically and efficiently and has thereby contributed to
transforming the way universities teach and learn through a focus on critical thinking, problem-solving and
gender-responsive pedagogy.
port scale up and sustainability established
• Output 3.1: A landscape of intra and inter project learning enabled nationally and regionally
• Output 3.2: Adaptive MEL systems embedded within & across partner institutions.
Between March 2020 and January 2021, an evaluation of TESCEA was conducted. The overall purpose of
this evaluation was to assess the state and quality of the outcomes that TESCEA was designed to achieve
and the value of the approach. This was explored by reviewing evidence and providing learning about its
effectiveness, sustainability, equity, value for money, learning and adaptation.
The evaluation was fully participatory, utilisation-focused, co-designed and co-implemented with the primary
users (Mzumbe, UDOM, Gulu, UMU, AFELT, Ashoka East Africa, INASP). A core evaluation team
comprised of these key stakeholders was engaged from the start in a collaborative process and oversaw the
design and implementation of the evaluation. An external evaluation/data analyst oversaw the analysis of the
data and the interpretation of the findings. The evaluation used a multi-method approach, drawing on a
variety of sources for its data, including:
• Document review
• Qualitative feedback from teachers, students, senior management and Joint Advisory Group (JAG)
members
• Baseline and follow-up surveys of teachers and students
The evaluation findings suggest that overall TESCEA has been successful in achieving its outcomes and
outputs and has delivered its activities economically and efficiently and has thereby contributed to
transforming the way universities teach and learn through a focus on critical thinking, problem-solving and
gender-responsive pedagogy.
Description
Full text available at
https://www.inasp.info/sites/default/files/2021-07/TESCEA%20evaluation%20report%202021-06-08.pdf
Keywords
Transforming Employability, Social Change, East Africa, Luganda teaching methods, TESCEA evaluation