Education(1)

Education in Morocco The aims of the Moroccan educational programme is yet far from being accomplished. The literacy rate is still low, the access to public schools is limited or non-existing many places, and the universities produce candidates which still have problems finding relevant work. School was made compulsory for all children between 7 and 13 already in 1963, but according to 1996 figures was only 81% of all boys and 63% of all girls in this age group attending school. The building of new schools have over the last 40 years been on a slower scale than during the first 8 years of independence. Secondary education offers different curriculums, and lasts up to 6 years. As of 1996, 44% of all boys and 34% of all girls attended this. Morocco has 8 universities, including one Islamic and one Englishlanguage. The universities had in 1998/99 about 265,000 students.

Morocco is currently opening up to the concert of modern societies, which are marked by the lightning development of science and technology. This does not go without raising a number of adjustment problems, especially with regard to the renewal of the educational system in general and the teaching of science and technology in particular. The Ministry of National Education is aware of this and considers the development of basic and secondary education to be a priority. Consequently, the five-year plans for 1988-92 and 1993-97 promote two types of objectives: quantitative objectives, such as schooling for all both in rural and urban contexts; qualitative objectives, such as an improvement in science and language teaching, and the development of training courses and programs. In these training courses and programs, Education in Population Matters is given a choice position. These objectives, which apply to basic and secondary education, should be integrated into teacher training. In 1992, the Head Office for Executive Training decided to include Education in Population Matters (EPM) in the various teacher training centers (1). A committee set up in the framework of the Head Office for Executive Training and called the EPM Central Committee (2), was put in charge of defining the modalities for integrating EPM into teacher-training curriculum. The committee went by the definition previously elaborated by the Head Office for Basic and Secondary Education, according to which "the idea is to make Moroccan students aware of the importance of the demographic movements in their country and in the whole world, and of their connection, on the one hand to cultural, economic, and environmental factors, and on the other to the requirements of general development." (3) Following the instructions of the Ministry of National Education, EPM was to be integrated into so-called "receptive" disciplines, i.e.: Arabic, History and Geography, and Natural Science. The Central Committee then proceeded to analyze the programs in these three departments to define the most relevant components for an integration of EPM concepts. The courses chosen were the Teaching Methods courses in the various departments, complementary training courses, training sessions, and dissertation

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papers. Following, we shall report essentially on the Teaching Methods course in the Natural Science department. A module intended for the integration of Education in Population Matters was developed. (4). It is a flexible, adjustable module intended for the trainers, which takes into account the spirit of the Natural Science Teaching Methods program for fifth-year students (5) in the Biology-Geology section. Three kinds of objectives are involved: notion acquisition, methodology, and attitude. This module, which is progressive in its approach, groups together different activities related to the ecologicalenvironment context. It is structured into six stages: 1 - study of teachertrainees’ conceptions related to the ecological-environment concept; 2 exploration and identification of problems related to the ecological environment. 3 - planning of a strategy for solving the specified problems; 4 - completion of a research project; 5 - communication of specific research-project results; 6 assessment by means of a log. Each stage includes the objectives that are to be reached, activity proposals, and assessment instruments. This module was experimented at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Higher Teacher- Training School) at Rabat and that at Fes, and at the CPR in Casablanca in 1992/93. (6) Comments The data on this experimentation is currently being processed. The various reports seem to agree on the fact that the teacher trainees were very motivated by the proposed activities. Nonetheless, some trainers have requested training in group-activity techniques. The Ministry has therefore, on their request, planned for 1995/96 a series of seminars to provide this type of training. Notes: 1. The various training centers for teachers are: CFI: Centre de formation des instituteurs (grade school teachers) CPR: Centre pédagogique régional (middle school) ENS: Ecole normale supérieure (secondary school) CFIE: Centre de formation des inspecteurs de l’enseignement (school inspectors) 2. Khadija Zaim-Idrissi is a member of the EPM Central Committee. 3. L’Education en Matière de Population, Ministère de l’Education Nationale, Société d’Impression: Voix de Meknès, 1986. 4. Zaim-Idrissi, K., Intégration de l’EPM dans le cours de Didactique des Sciences Naturelles des ENS, Al Maarif. 5. The students have a degree in Biological Science or in Earth Science and have passed the entrance examination to the ENS for a year of professional training, the elements of which are: Teaching Methods, Psychology and Education, complementary training, training sessions, and a dissertation. 6. Souad Kassou oversaw the experimentation of the module in the ENS at Rabat

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