Pedagogical methodology and practice

is experiential, gender transformative, and context-based. It empowers learners and educators to participate and organize for social change.

If not deliberately designed to be transformative, the education system can be one of the most conservative social mechanisms, reinforcing gender stereotypes. The pedagogical methodology and practice of teachers, professors, and other educators is a crucial key for gender transformative education. The pedagogy needs to nourish learners’ critical thinking about gender norms and encourage girls and other previously disadvantaged learners to be self-assertive and dream big in order for the education to be gender transformative.

Oxfam stresses the importance of ensuring quality pre-service and in-service professional development for educators. They need the methods, materials, and tools that will ensure gender equality in the classroom and enable them to teach in a transformative way that changes discriminatory perceptions and attitudes. If teachers are not taught using gender-transformative methods in the teacher training colleges or in in-service training, then educators will not use it in the classroom or elsewhere. Gender-sensitive pedagogy includes equitable language and narratives.

Case Story

Pedagogical practice at Girls’ Model Junior High School in Ghana

The teacher and the classroom learning environment play a huge role in creating a gender transformative education. If the pedagogical practice of a school is gender transformative, you will see the girls flourish and grow into self-confident women. This happened at Girl’s Model Junior High School (GMJHS) in Ghana. Through good pedagogical practice, the GMJHS in Ghana has succeeded in creating a truly gender transformative education.

Oxfam in Ghana began piloting the Girls’ Model Junior High School (GMJHS) initiative in 2008 in close cooperation with District Assemblies (DAs) and their Education Directorates (DDEs) in two districts in northern Ghana. Over the course of the 11-year initiative (2008-2019), completion and transition rates among girls have risen remarkably to over 90% in the Sawla and Kpandai pilot schools. Previously, only a small number of girls from public schools made it to senior high school. Now, many of the initiative’s pioneer students are currently enrolled in polytechnics, colleges, and universities, pursuing their dream careers. By the close of the 2018/2019 Ghanaian school year, nearly one-quarter of the country’s 254 local governments (58 to be precise) had commenced their own exclusively-girls’ junior high schools following the example of the GMJHS in Northern Ghana. As a result, the GMJHS model has now impacted about 4,340 girls. These are mainly rural girls, most of whom would have ended up in early marriages, teenage pregnancies, or precarious work. The initiative has been responsive to a range of school- and home-based barriers undermining girls’ education.

Oxfam worked together with the partner organization NORSAAC on the GMJHS initiative. NORSAAC used innovative approaches to increase the knowledge and skills of young girls to assert their rights to Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). Teachers in the model schools were trained and mentored to gain knowledge and practical skills in comprehensive sex education that enabled them to integrate it during teaching and learning. It enhanced the knowledge of students in the girl’s model schools to lead advocacy on SRHR in their communities. These interventions were guided by an innovative tool kit on comprehensive sex education developed by NORSAAC. The tool kit contains information on practical approaches and tools for SRHR like body mapping and an anonymous mailbox to obtain advice on sex and sexuality. NORSAAC also created manuals on gender, Sexually Transmitted Infections, maternal health, women’s rights movement, women in leadership, and nutrition for all categories of people. These participatory models promoted self-introspection, and assertiveness of girls to make meaningful decisions and choices about their reproductive health. For example, the anonymous sex mailbox encouraged the girls to report cases/issues of sexual abuse or harassment, personal questions about their reproductive health. The in-service training of teachers on SRHR provided by NORSAAC and their development of SRHR content for the classroom has helped teachers implement more gender transformative pedagogical method and practices.

Testimonials

Testimonies from earlier girl students at the GMJHS can confirm the life-changing power of free quality education.

  • Mumuni

    “When I was in primary school, I was not doing well, but when I got to Sawla Girls, I started doing well. When we wrote our final exams, I got aggregate 15 and I was admitted to this school [Tamale Girls Senior High School]. I developed interest in science when I was in Sawla Girls and so I am learning hard so that I can become a nurse in future.”

  • Kasim and Beatrice

    “I wanted to goto the Girls Model High school because a lot of people in Ghana say that women belong in the kitchen or in the field. I wanted to prove them wrong,” Kasim Asiah Darkoh

    “In primary, half the class was girls and the other half boys. At the Girls Model HighSchool, we were all girls, at the Senior High School we were only three girls and now at the Polytechnic School, I am the only girl. Despite that I am now the only female in my class, because of my confidence, I am treated more equal to the male students,” Beatrice Darkpi.

  • Grace

    “My name is Bourawono Grace. I was born in 1997and I hail from Blema, a farming community in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District. My parents are peasant farmers and I am the second born of a family of seven (five girls and two boys). I was admitted to the Sawla Girls' Model JHS in 2009 and completed in 2012. The most significant impact the school made in my life is the 'can do' spirit that the teachers inculcated in the students. We were nurtured to be confident, bold and morally upright and to dream big about our lives. As a result, I began to dream of becoming a doctor in future. I continued with this dream to the Senior High School, where I studied General Science. Now, I am closer to achieving my dream because I have been admitted to the University of Development Studies to pursue Doctor of Medical Laboratory Science at its Tamale campus. I am determined to be a Medical Doctor and be a role model to a lot ofGirls in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district and my community.”