Dr. Paul Conway:

I thank members for the invitation to appear before the joint committee. A range of social science and education projects is documented in the Centre for Global Development annual report, which has been circulated to members. I propose to focus on a teaching and teacher education project. Funded by Irish Aid under the programme for strategic co-operation, the project is one of four research projects undertaken through a network of Irish colleges North and South of the Border, with headquarters at Mary Immaculate College. The research development study involved four educational researchers from Irish universities working on capacity-building with eight colleagues from Kyambogo and Makerere universities, both of which are located in Kampala, Uganda, in the study of the teaching of mathematics and science in Ugandan secondary schools. The study was undertaken between 2009 and 2011 and involved detailed case studies in 16 schools across four regions of Uganda - Fort Portal, Lira, Serotti and Kampala. Its findings were disseminated to policy-makers in Uganda's national curriculum council and examination boards as well as teacher educators.

The study is a good example of inter-institutional collaboration within Ireland, of which UCC was a part, and between universities in Ireland and Uganda, in which tangible support for universal secondary education was provided. Significantly, Uganda introduced universal secondary education in 2006 and is a leader in this area in sub-Saharan Africa. The day-to-day reality of double-shift teaching, with teachers working from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., was very clear in our interviews with teachers and principals. This broadening of policy priorities beyond universal primary education, UPE, represents a highly significant reorientation of the education system priorities in sub-Saharan Africa and one which merits sustained focus in the future in the context of development aid. It may be a matter for us and Irish Aid to consider. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, 1 million teachers will be needed in the coming years to meet the demand for primary and post-primary teaching.