Education Services

Education and learning for development

Education is anchored as one of the Millennium Development Goals. MDF recognises the importance of education and training for long term sustainable development and poverty reduction. Besides being a basic human right, education has shown considerable impact on both poverty levels as well as increased social justice. It is education that is preparing people for the future that we can not grasp.

It is still true that rural and remote areas often benefit less from the national budgets on education. Modernisation efforts do not reach sufficiently these areas where teachers are often badly motivated because of delayed payments, negligence in attention from the Ministry and poor working conditions.

Although the number of children going to school is increasing, the number of girls has not yet reached its target values and quality standards need to be improved. Arrears in primary education continue to be seen in secondary, vocational and higher education.

In 2004, MDF acquired STOAS International, a group of consultants with specific experiences in Education and Rural Development. Since then MDF has increased its involvement in education-linked assignments.

At the moment we are involved in multiple long term projects dealing with vocational training institutes and higher education institutions. Our projects spread over different continents: Latin America, Africa and Asia.  In these projects, MDF acts as the process facilitator, offers expertise in all aspects of institutional development and include where needed in a flexible way the expertise from relevant (inter)national higher education institutions.

The strength of MDF lies in combining the facilitation of learning processes with the management of educational institutions in relation to its wider context.

Our challenge

Our continuous challenge is to assist education managers to pick up the challenges which accompany the introduction of new curricula (whether Bachelor, Masters or others), of new insights in ways of learning, assessments, evaluation and other education development. This to integrate these changes in the education-system and to get them anchored and owned by the institute itself.

Training

MDF facilitates multiple training courses and consultancies on among others curriculum development, competency based learning, gender awareness in education, and the relationship of the labour market with education. Have a look at the course calendar for our current schedule.

Consultancy and Support

We have long lasting experiences with the support, evaluation and assessment of educational organisations and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centres as well as with educational programmes and project evaluations around the world. Currently, MDF is increasingly gaining experiences in education related areas such as HIV/AIDS, gender and entrepreneurship.

Approach

Our approach is clearly holistic and demand driven. MDF realises that existing organisational structures and local contexts are central for long term impact. MDF takes a facilitating and training role through a participatory way and includes, where needed, technical expertise from relevant (inter)national higher education institutions and/or vocational education and training centres. While conducting projects, we always works closely together with local/regional experts in the specialised field of study and take (inter) National Qualification Systems (NQS) into account.

Relation with the labour market

We are more and more specialised to explore the relation between educational institutions and education programmes with the labour market. MDF runs a specific two week course on Labour Market and Active Learning in Education in relation to education in Ede. In the course the linkages between needs of the labour market and educational organisations are enhanced with the alignment of the learning content ensuring increased employability. For this course, MDF works in close partnership with higher education institutions to assure up to date information for relevant learning. Have a look at the course outline here.

Competency Based Learning

MDF provides a two week course for educators and managers on different approaches towards Competency Based Learning (CBL). Hereby, the combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes is central. The CBL course includes coaching and assistance on how to integrate CBL in your education system. It provides tools on how to mainstream CBL in different educational areas such as curriculum development, assessment, teaching and learning strategies, the relation and influence of labour market, gender issues and how to use ICT in education. The course is accessible for education inspectors, teachers, managers, specialists and government personnel working in the education and/or training sector. For the CBL course MDF works in close collaboration with Education for Competency Studies of Wageningen University. Have a look at the course outline here.