Disaster Risk Reduction in School Curricula: Case Studies ... - Unicef

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Section 10.
Case 1:
The Case Studies
Armenia (synoptic case)
Overview
Armenia offers an example of noteworthy
pedagogical and curriculum materials
development in DRR through the vehicle
of a relatively small-scale pilot project.
The translation to scale and question
of location of DRR within the national
curriculum are issues to be addressed
following the determination of the place
of education within the still gestating
national DRR strategy.
Armenia participated in the DIPECHO five-phase 2010-11
DRR in Education project jointly led by UNICEF and the
State Academy of Crisis Management (CMA).
The first phase involved the establishment of an expert group
(EG) composed of two DRR specialists and two education
specialists, and the hiring of a project manager and project
coordinator to take forward implementation. The EG proceeded
to develop a ‘comprehensive and integrated’ training module
for pre-school/school teachers, and to collect and organize
existing materials into ‘a comprehensive mixture of DRR and
contemporary pedagogical approaches’ (CMA/UNICEF, 2011, 1).
The second phase involved the October 2010 training of some
24 teachers and principals drawn from four marzes (districts)
participating. The training emphasized ‘up-to-date teaching
methodologies’ (Ibid).
In the third phase, those who had received training proceeded
to develop thematic units for pilot delivery in their respective
schools in spring 2011. Experts (no specifications) visited each
school to consult on unit development and to observe lessons.
The fourth phase involved a further round of training in December
2010 in four regional centres in which some 70 teachers in
addition to the 24 original teachers and principals participated.
‘The agenda of the trainings included teaching of specific disasters
capitalizing on different methodologies, such as the Jigsaw
method, Gallery method, role-playing method, brainstorming
method, Prism method, story-writing and puzzle method’ (Ibid.
2). While the evaluation revealed that the teachers were very
satisfied with their training, 40% anticipated difficulties
in translating the methods used into their schools and classrooms.
In the fifth phase, the EG worked on adjusting materials
collected and developing further materials as they produced
the following: DRR Education: a Resource Handbook for
Pre-School and School teachers; I Can, a Handbook for
Pre-School children; I Know, I am Prepared, I Can, learning
materials and assignments for elementary level students;
Disaster Risk Reduction in School Curricula: Case Studies from Thirty Countries