Roehampton Professor to work with UNICEF on education in the Middle East and North Africa

  • Wednesday, April 18, 2018

A new initiative, led by Professor Bryony Hoskins in collaboration with UNICEF, aims to support teaching and learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Bryony Hoskins from the Crucible Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) in the Department of Social Sciences will launch a new framework for measuring 21st century life skills in the Middle East and North Africa. Previous projects by UNICEF and Professor Hoskins have established twelve core life skills as necessary for active citizenship and employability. Preliminary research has identified limited available measurements for these skills in the context of the MENA region. Supporting the development of 21st century skills and values has been considered a key pillar in this region to preparing children and youth for success in life.

The new project entitled ‘Survey on Life Skills and Citizenship Education (LSCE) in the Middle East and North Africa’ will aim to develop instruments to measure the core skills of twelve to fourteen year olds in this region. It will include building an assessment strategy, developing a suite of assessment instruments and validating them through a field trial in Egypt, Tunisia, and The State of Palestine. The project is part of the Education for Competiveness (E4C) initiative led by the World Bank and Islamic Development Bank.

This project will be conducted for a fifteen month period and will help will help education stakeholders in the region to:

  • better understand the current levels and distribution of these skills in this age group
  • clarify the gaps in skills
  • inform the nature and scope of required interventions
  • track the progress of policies and programs (including curricular, extra-curricular and teacher training) designed to enhance these skills.

Professor Hoskins said ‘The LSCE Initiative will help identify and inform key areas for education stakeholders to improve the educational system across the Middle East and thereby support young people in this region to gain the necessary skills for employability and active citizenship’.

The Department of Social Sciences is rated one of the best in the UK for the impact of our social sciences research (REF 2014).