Managing EFA: Education as Transformation (spring 2012 course – GWU)

In a graduate course led by Dr. Laura Engel, Assistant Professor of International Education and International Affairs, 18 GWU students from the Graduate School of Education and Human Development and the Elliot School of International Affairs participated in a study abroad course to Dakar, Senegal over spring break. The course is entitled Managing Education for All (EFA): Education as Transformation. The course was also led by teaching assistant Teresa Speciale, a second year Master student in the International Education Program at GWU, who played a primary role in developing and planning the course, and in country coordinator, Mass Mbeye, a Senegalese musician and teacher.

Using the global Education for All policy initiative as a backdrop for the course, the course focused on a multi-leveled analysis of education in Senegal, providing students with perspectives on the intersection of different local, national, and global education strategies. The primary course objective was to systematically peel back the layers of the Senegalese education system and society in order to get a full understanding of all the actors and contexts that come into play. Prior to travel, students studied trends in global education policy reform, and critically examined different education policy issues in Senegal, including Koranic education, talibé children (street children forced into begging), HIV/AIDS and sex education, and the education of girls and women. The course also focused on the February 2012 Presidential election, which presented students with a unique opportunity to witness a political system in transition.

To explore these issues in country, students traveled to Dakar, Senegal for 10 days over spring break. The program was intensive and incorporated interactions with Plan International, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Africa, the Academy of Sciences and Technology at the Ministerial level, Université Cheikh Anta Diop (a local public university), ImagiNation Afrika, and five schools, including a daara to explore Koranic education. GWU students also had the opportunity to participate in one-on-one discussions with a former talibé and a local gay rights leader. As one student in the course stated, “For me the short term study abroad trip to Senegal was a defining moment in my Master's program here at GWU. The trip was the bridge between my coursework composed mainly of policies/ theories in congruence with actual education frameworks being developed on ground in another country. I don't think it can be stressed enough how important trips like these are to make those connections between coursework and the 'ah-ha' moment you have of rhetoric being much easier than action” (Erin Grosso, second year International Education Program MA student).

The trip also integrated several cultural excursions including to Gorée Island, which was a major port during the slave trade and a World Heritage Site, to Lake Rose, and to Touba, home of the second largest mosque in Africa. As part of the cultural learning component, students attended several traditional meals and sabar (drum) parties with Senegalese musicians in and around Dakar.

As part of the service learning component of the course, GWU students engaged with ImagiNation Afrika, an organization which works directly with schools in and around Dakar to foster creativity and academic achievement for all students, and which developed the first children’s museum in the continent of Africa. Working with the leaders of ImagiNation Afrika, GWU students developed and carried out lesson plans in two schools in Dakar, focused on tolerance, respect, and developing interconnections between different groups.