Egyptian Teachers Pilot Civic Education Curricula

As part of the Egypt Civic Education Program, IREX in partnership with the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) has developed a “civic education curriculum kit” for Egyptian primary and pre-school teachers to encourage the integration of concepts such as citizenship and civic engagement, human rights, justice and equality into the classroom. The kit contains a training manual for teachers including a selection of practical exercises, activities, and games meant to develop students’ skills for effective and constructive participation in school and society.

In the first half of 2008, the teacher training materials were piloted through a series of workshops attended by 60 teachers. Teachers were also trained on how to pre-test the civic education curriculum modules and activities with their students and to then begin testing these materials in their schools in the fall. Trainees provided valuable feeback on the training kit, such as the need to develop and include supplemental materials including posters for classrooms and other visual aids that would be appealing to youth. This feedback along with the results of piloting the modules and activities in trainee classrooms are being integrated into the final curriculum kit and teacher training workshops before the program is expanded to a wider audience of Egyptian teachers and schools.

The curriculum for this program has been developed by a coordinating committee comprising Egyptian education experts and university professors in consultation with various focus groups that have included students, teachers, and NGOs or community-based organizations working to promote civic education.

The Egypt Civic Education program aims to foster the further development of democracy and civil society in Egypt through increased integration of civic education in the primary and pre-school system. Program activities include developing civic education curriculum modules and teacher training materials and manuals focusing on integrating civic education topics and activities in existing school curriculum; producing training manuals for NGOs and teachers; and training, testing, and applying the proposed materials in 30 Egyptian schools.