Professional Development for SOPUDEP Teachers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

World Centric + InnovEd

$17,130.00 from profits from fiscal year 2017

There is an alarming “quality crisis” in Haiti’s education system, which yields the lowest total rate in the education realm of the Western Hemisphere. Across the country only 15% of teachers and directors are officially certified by the Ministry of Education. Due to lack of funding, the Ministry is limited in its ability to improve the quality of education in Haiti.

InnovEd is promoting and enhancing quality of education in Haiti by becoming a driver for systemic national change in teacher professional development and pedagogical approaches to education. This project provides professional development for the teachers of SOPUDEP, a K-12 school that World Centric provides funding for. See SOPUDEP’s project page here.

Through the training, teachers will gain increased capacity to effectively lead and teach all students in the classroom. Specifically, teachers will have increased capacity to 1) foster positive classroom climates 2) create and implement relevant curriculum and learning experiences, 3) plan and engage students in rigorous tasks and problem-solving, 4) assess student learning and provide meaningful feedback.

At the conclusion of 24 months, teachers will have increased capacity to innovative pedagogy and teacher strategies that foster their own sense of development and commitment to their students.

The Impact

75 hours of training for 60 for SOPUDEP’s teachers and administrators, plus onsite coaching for the 2018-2019 school year.

Indirect Impacts:

• Improve the quality of education for 800+ children.
• Increase in student literacy level, after teachers have completed the full program (150 hours)
• Increase in student social-emotional wellbeing, after teachers have completed the full program

The Approach

InnovEd uses the Lèkol Vivan Approach. Lèkol Vivan (translated into English as The Vibrant School) is an integrated pedagogical approach that uses dynamic, learner-centered methodology. This constructivist pedagogy combines key aspects of progressive education, building on the theories of innovators such as

Friedrich Fröebel’s Play-based Learning, Jacques Delors’ Learning by Doing, Paolo Freire’s Popular Education and Student-Teacher Dualism, P.R. Sarkar’s Neo-Humanism, Oscar Mogollón’s Rural Education, and Maria Montessori’s Engagement of the Senses. The traditional school transforms into an active, nurturing and vigorous learning environment where students engage in a continuous learning cycle (Learn – Practice – Apply – Reflect). They are committed to 4 core beliefs:

• Rights-Based - promoting the understanding of and adherence to the mandates of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by promoting children’s rights. Educators are in an ideal position to help children understand their rights and protect the rights of others through participative and authentic discovery.
• Relevant Initiatives - Haiti needs its own, home-grown innovative solutions to address issues of quality, access, and governance within the sector of education. InnovEd believes context, culture, customs, and communities are integral in the creation of dynamic and innovative learning environments.
• Kreyòl As Primary Language - InnovEd uses Kreyòl as the primary language for all training in an effort to promote the Haitian’s governments’ new policy to educate primary grade students in Kreyòl, the native language of most Haitians, rather than French, the language traditionally used in schools. They promote the research that supports children learn best in the language they speak most fluently.
• Data Driven Practices - As a data-driven institute we are constantly reflecting on our action research in order to evaluate and grow our practices. Making evidence-based decisions that are grounded in data helps us analyze strengths and weaknesses of our initiatives to make informed decisions around best practices

About InnovEd

A World Centric partner since 2018.

Quisqueya University (uniQ) is an institution of higher education and research with 3500 enrolled students, renowned for being one of the top universities in Haiti. In 2014, Universitè Quisqueya founded InnovEd-UniQ which serves as an institute for innovation in education to facilitate teacher and school leader professional development, conduct research in pedagogical practices in Haiti, and push policy at the government level to promote an engaging, relevant, and reflective approach to education.

InnovEd-UniQ is promoting and enhancing quality of education by becoming a driver for systemic national change in teacher professional development and pedagogical approaches to education.

Updates

September 2018

On September 3rd, 2018, InnovEd had their first day of training for the teachers of SOPUDEP. The feedback we received is that the participants are enthusiastic and very engaged. The woman featured in several photos wearing the pink top and light skirt is SOPUDEP's director and co-founder, Rea Dol. The training was held at The New School, which is a 2nd SOPUDEP school building, which was constructed with funding from World Centric.