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

99
East Asia and the Pacific
Boys sort through school books and
salvaged educational materials at
destroyed Elementary School 17
in Padang, Indonesia.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1516/Estey
Pedagogy
One of the challenges in DRR curriculum development in
Indonesia is the fact that teachers are often poorly trained and
have ‘a very narrow range of teaching methodologies’ available
to them. They tend to think of students as passive receivers
of information and expect them to memorize facts passed
down to them (UNISDR, 2007, 17). In Indonesia, a number
of child-led and/or child-centred DRR programmes and
materials have been developed by NGOs and UN organizations.
Some examples include the Disaster Awareness in Primary
School (DAPS) project and the Yogoyakarta earthquake
response programme (see below for further details).
In the wake of the 2004 Tsunami, UNESCO developed two
supplementary learning materials on natural disaster preparedness
for junior and senior high school students (Folding Picture
Kit and Disaster Master-Natural Disaster Preparedness Game).
They paid attention not only to improving cognitive understandings
of the six most devastating and common hazards in the
country (i.e., earthquakes, tsunami, floods, landslides, volcanic
eruptions, hurricanes) but also to using principles of ‘joyful
learning.’ The Folding Picture Kit includes 12 different pictures
explaining what is to be done before, during and after a natural
disaster. In the classroom, students are divided into small
groups to discuss one disaster before plenary exchange
session is held. The Disaster Master is a board game which
also focuses on the same six common and most serious
hazards. The game was designed to help students understand
concepts concerning disasters and appropriate actions to
reduce disaster risks. A key skill to be developed through
those activities is oral communication (UNESCO, 2007).
Student Assessment
Research thus far has revealed very little evidence on DRR
student assessment.
Teacher Professional Development/Guidance
There are some successful examples in integrating child-centred
pedagogies into formal school curriculum by mobilizing teacher
training opportunities.
The Disaster Awareness in Primary Schools (DAPS) project
was implemented by the Science Education Quality Improvement
Project, Indonesia, and the German government from October
2005 to December 2008. DAPS aimed at developing understanding
of natural hazards as well as disaster prevention and
mitigation knowledge and skills. It was implemented in eight
provinces involving 58,000 primary school students (Department
of Interior and Local Government et al., 2008). DAPS first
trained key people (e.g., local consultants in targeted provinces)
on major hazards (earthquakes, landslides, floods, and tsunami)
who then spread information on what they had learned to
school directors, teachers and other key stakeholders. The
number of those attending each training event was limited to
20 so as to maximize active participation. Understanding the
government authorities' reluctance to introduce new topics into
the crowded curriculum and to further overburden teachers’
workload, the emphasis was on integrating topics on hazards
Disaster Risk Reduction in School Curricula: Case Studies from Thirty Countries