A four-day workshop that deliberated on the analysis of teacher education programmes for primary level in the ECOWAS sub-region, organised by IICBA in cooperation with the African Network for Teacher Education in Africa (REFORMA) and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Togo, concluded in Lomé, Togo, on Thursday, 29 September 2011.
The workshop opened on Monday, 26 September 2011 with a keynote speech by Mr Koffi Ouboenale Lantomey, Director of Early Childhood and Primary Schools of Togo, on behalf of the Minister of Primary, Secondary and Literacy Education of the Republic of Togo, Mme Essossimna Legzim-Balouki. Mr. Lantomey was also present at the closing of the workshop. The workshop brought together teacher education experts from eight countries in the ECOWAS sub-region.
The eight countries represented in the workshop were Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The workshop was a follow up of a previous one held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in November 2010. The Ouagadougou workshop decided to commission studies in order to analyse the teacher education programmes in nine countries in the sub-region.
The Lome workshop deliberated on the synthesis report of the studies conducted and charted out a way forward for the countries to continue discussions and come up with a national qualifications framework (NQF) that will set minimum standards for teacher education for primary level in the respective countries. This is then to be followed with the formulation of a regional qualifications framework that will help harmonise and streamline teacher education programmes for primary level in the ECOWAS countries. In their communiqué they issued at the end of the workshop, participants stressed that the formulation of a regional qualifications framework (RQF) is considered essential for the integration of the sub-region and is also expected to regulate teacher migration and inter-state harmonisation of qualifications of teachers.