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

71
Central and Eastern Europe
and the Commonwealth
of Independent States
Earthquake preparedness exercise,
at Elementary School No. 148
in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1591/Bell
Student Assessment
The Teachers’ Manual is very innovative in its advocacy of modes
of self-assessment for DRR learning (Ibid. 114) but is, in contrast,
less imaginative in its proposal that formal student end-ofmodule
assessment be undertaken through simple multiplechoice
assessment tests (Ibid. 115-20). The self-assessment
approach is one of individual students filling in a pro forma after
each module/topic in which they assess themselves against
a series of statements to which they can respond ‘always’,
‘sometimes’ and ‘never’; for example ‘I pay attention to details
which would allow me to act better in an earthquake’ (Ibid.114).
Self-assessment serves as the springboard for peer assessment.
‘The purpose of the self-assessment is to involve the schoolchildren
(in) active discussions and to develop better skilled
collocutors. Schoolchildren are supposed to fill out the table
and discuss their answers in groups’ (ibid). The Manual also
suggests peer interviewing, peer appraisal of essays, groups
observing each other’s role play, peer assessment of project
outcomes and peer teaching as other potential modes of
assessment (Ibid).
Teacher Professional Development/Guidance
The Teachers’ Manual offers background information on DRR
education, basic teaching principles, guidance on interactive
learning, the five modules in the students’ book, advice on
monitoring and evaluating programme outcomes as well as
advice on working on risk assessment with parents. ‘DRR was
a new concept for many in the education sector so it was
important to make it attractive and easy-to-grasp for teachers.
For ease of use, the guidelines also include guidance for teachers
to incorporate teaching materials into the curriculum and the
suggested number of hours to spend on each subject’
(UNICEF, 2011, 4).
A cascade method of DRR training for teachers has been
adopted. With 54 teachers involved in initial national level training,
150 more at oblast (regional) level, a further 2432 in cities and
towns (UNICEF, 2011, 4). Ambitious plans for the training
of over 50,000 teachers by teachers trained during the initial
rounds of workshops have been floated (UNICEF/Republic
of Kazakhstan, 2011; UNISDR/UNICEF, 2009, 52).
Learning Outcomes/Competencies
No comprehensive list of DRR-related learning outcomes has
been developed but outcomes can be divined from the
specifics of three levels employed to assess student achievement
(level 1: below average; level 2: average; level 3: above average).
Hence, in the category of ‘definition of earthquake, a level 1
student would ‘know in general the characteristics of an earthquake,’
while a level 2 student would be ‘able to name all the
actions happening during an earthquake,’ and a level 3
competence would be the ability to ‘tell of earthquakes
from other sources.’ (Ibid.11-13).
Policy Development, Planning and Implementation Aspects
The critical issue is whether the materials and training-led
approaches adopted in Kazakhstan can translate into curriculum
change. Thus far, teachers have been restricted to employing
their training and the materials developed in the spaces in the
national curriculum noted in the introduction to this case.
Materials development and training initiatives can become
diversionary to substantive curriculum change or they can
generate the impetus for change.
Disaster Risk Reduction in School Curricula: Case Studies from Thirty Countries