Background
In her Strategic Plan for 2020-2030, Makerere University set to become a truly research-led university that should effectively respond to the different national, regional, and global development challenges. To realize this goal, the University approved a Policy for Establishment of Research Centers and Capacity Building entities. The roles of research centers and capacity building entities include designing evidence-based strategies, utilizing emerging technologies, innovating, as well as participating in knowledge transfers and partnerships with the public and private sector to jointly address the most pressing of the country’s development challenges.
In line with the 2020-2030 University Strategic Plan and the Policy on the Establishment of Research Centers and Research, in 2020, the College of Education and External Studies (CEES) of Makerere University proposed to establish the Makerere Institute of Teacher Education and Research (MITER) to propel a research and capacity building mantra in the field of teacher education. In the same year, the CEES was given an interim approval by the Vice Chancellor to develop structures for establish for MITER.
At its 173rd Meeting, the University Senate approved the establishment of MITER as a large scale multi-disciplinary teacher education research and capacity building entity established as part of the University’s long-term strategic commitment of contributing to national development through research and innovations in the field of teacher education. Under MITER, the three (3) centers of the CEES namely the Makerere-IREAD Early Childhood Development (ECD) Center, the Center for Teaching and Learning Support (CTLS), and the Center for Wisdom Pedagogy (CWP) were approved and operationalized.
Vision
To be a thought leader of knowledge generation for societal transformation and development.
Mission
To provide transformative and innovative research and capacity programs that are responsive to the dynamic national and global needs.
Overall Justification for the Establishment of MITER
Whereas the College of Education and External Studies (CEES) of Makerere University is a protuberant public teacher training institution in Uganda with the mandate to prepare educators, community workers, administrators, inspectors of schools, curriculum designers and community outreach implementers to work at all levels and forms of the education system (http://cees.mak.ac.ug/about-college), and while the CEES has well established structures (Schools) namely the School of Education (SoE), the East African School of Higher Education Studies and Development (EASHED), and the School of Distance and Lifelong Learning (SoDLL) which offer regular academic programs in the field of secondary, higher, and distance education respectively, it does not have a specific entity to conduct research and capacity building programs especially in the field of ECD/pre-primary and primary education. To this end, the CEES proposes to establish MITER with the view to making the institute a large scale multi-disciplinary teacher education research and capacity building entity that shall be part of the CEES’ and the university’s long-term strategic commitment to contributing to national development through research and innovations in the field of teacher education.
By focusing on the above research and capacity building areas the CEES hopes, MITER will empower educators and other educational stakeholders in Uganda and beyond to re-imagine teacher education for Development. MITER’s research and capacity building activities shall be specifically anchored on target numbers; 3, 5, 8, and 10 of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, all of which are premised on the view that education is the driving force for the production of capacities and skills requisite for innovations and inclusive development of any country. For this matter the MITER teams shall be engaged in research and capacity building activities that are informed by current and futures-based analysis of teacher education skills deficits and general education challenges. Some of the most pressing educational challenges and priorities that were recently identified by the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) include: improving the delivery of early childhood care and education services, bridging gaps in students’ achievement in STEM, development of curricular and pedagogical frameworks for vocational education, as well as fostering informal apprenticeship-based education (MoES, 2021). Other education sector priorities that were identified by the MoES include: collection of evidences to improve support systems for education service delivery including documenting novel ways of financing education, innovative ways of improving infrastructure to support education, better ways of monitoring delivery of education at lower and higher levels, accounting for teacher time, suggesting ways of enhancing public-private partnerships in education, as well as enhancing regulatory frameworks, among other education sector priorities (MoES, 2021). By undertaking research on these and other education sector challenges and priority, the CEES believes, MITER will not only significantly contribute to the realization of the university-wide research of contributing to national development, but it will also contribute to the growth of educational intellectual property including:
- Teacher Education Capacity Development Programs
- Technology-based Learning Programs
- Curricular and Curricular Frameworks
- Seminal Classroom and Laboratory Observations
- Educational Licenses and Copyright
- Educational Patents
- Educational Databases, Software and Simulations
- Educational Policies
- Any other IPs arising from educational research.