|
|
ACO - Overview |
ACO – Overview Continents
around the globe face a lot of challenges as they try to reform and improve
on the quality of their education and the African continent is not an
exception. Most of the nations with some common characteristics normally join
together to form curriculum organizations to help them to mitigate the
challenges that come with curriculum development. Curriculum is looked at in
a wider perspective as a weapon that is capable of changing the way different
people view education. African Curriculum Organization has the aim of
promoting curriculum development, research, and curriculum support materials
development and build synergies among other things. The idea of creating the African Curriculum Organisation
(ACO) was born during a Regional Seminar on “Advanced Training in Systematic Curriculum
Development and Evaluation” that took place in Ghana in 1975 and the approval
of its creation by Ministers of Education of the Organisation of the African
Union (OAU) ‘s Member States happened during the Conference of Ministers of
Education in 1976 in Nigeria. ACO
was created with the aim to make it an umbrella which brings together all
curriculum practitioners in Africa and some affiliated members from European
countries. The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) in Uganda is
spearheading the process of reviving ACO with an intention to: · Build
capacity of various curriculum developers in the African countries in basic
theory and practice in curriculum development. · Minimize
inconsistency in curriculum delivery and maintain standards comparable to
international standards. · Provide
infrastructure, equipment, teacher training and refresher courses for
curriculum developers. · Share
experiences in curriculum development and implementation. · Forge
common goals depending on peculiar needs of the African continent. · Nurture
close partnerships with local and international organisations, giving
students a wide range of opportunities to experience the world of work among
others. |