The National Teacher Continuous Professional Development Framework. Republic of Rwanda

Rwanda Education Board, which is the implementation agency of the Ministry of Education, has revised the curriculum for primary and secondary education. The new Competence-Based Curriculum calls for the use of new learner- and child-centered approaches for effective teaching and learning, with inclusive education as a cross-cutting orientation. While this calls upon all teachers in Rwanda to have the requisite skills for teaching using an inclusive approach, inclusive education as a concept, is still new in Rwanda. As such there are gaps to address in terms of teachers’ current knowledge and capacity to deliver inclusive education.

The National Teacher Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Framework aims to improve teacher CPD, specifically the impact that teacher CPD has on teaching and learning. The Framework was informed by a process of research and consultation and was written in consultation with stakeholders at central, district, sector, and school levels.

The objectives of the Framework are to:

1. Define and communicate an evidence-based and contextually sensitive description of good quality teaching at different levels of performance;
2. Provide guidance to teachers and others in the teacher CPD system on the current CPD system and the how Teacher Competences can be used to increase the impact of teacher CPD on teaching and learning;
3. Show how Teacher Competences and performance levels can be used to increase the impact of teacher appraisal and promotion on teaching and learning; and
4. Provide tools for assessing Teacher Competence and planning teacher CPD.