Center for Educational Research and
Development

Aiming to change paradigms regarding higher education in the province of Huíla, and as part of its Institutional Development Plan, ISCED-HUÍLA has embraced the challenge of consolidating three principles that must determine its action: teaching, research, and extension. It is within this analytical framework that the institutionalization of several research centers was conceived, among which we highlight the Center for Educational Research and Development of ISCED-HUÍLA (CIDE-ISCED).

The guiding principles of this Center are rooted in the idea of establishing a new paradigm at the institute level, promoting a research dimension capable of responding to the needs of ISCED-HUÍLA and the province in general. This new approach introduces the responsibility of conducting studies capable of providing diagnoses and feasible proposals to managers of the various sectors that lead the province’s government structure.

Thus, based on Decree No. 07/09 of May 12, which creates new public higher education institutions, granting the Higher Institute of Educational Sciences of Huíla a degree of autonomy, and subsequently Decree No. 143/12 of June 25, which approves the organic statute of ISCED-Huíla, Educational Sciences are defined as the field of knowledge for the research lines of the aforementioned Center.

The initial matrix of CIDE is based on four lines of research:

(1) Society, Education Policies, and Curricular Development;

(2) Teaching Methodologies and Pedagogical Practices;

(3) ICT Applied to Education and Development;

(4) Institutional Evaluation and Impact of Training. The guiding lines of this Center do not overlook new research perspectives that induce a strong component of interdisciplinarity and transversality of knowledge. From CIDE’s range of research lines, we highlight the tasks that converge in its mission:

i. Promote and support postgraduate training projects, as well as extension courses intended for dissemination, updating, improvement, or specialization;

ii. Create and develop, independently or in coordination with other institutions, specialized projects and services;

iii. Develop a database on education management in the province of Huíla, as well as for other research areas relevant to the Center’s scope;

iv. Experiment with and study models to improve the education management system in schools in the province of Huíla and the country;

v. Organize and participate in research activities related to the population, its traditions, education, conservation of mental and physical health, and problem-solving strategies;

vi. Establish scientific exchange;

vii. Disseminate the knowledge and results obtained through the development of its activities.

Despite being a pioneer in terms of scientific research, CIDE-ISCED is, without a doubt, the pivot of scientific research in the southern region of Angola, as educational and other dilemmas are transversal to the other provinces in the region. This institutional breadth is also justified by the various units listed below: Education Unit, Psychology Unit, Teaching Methodology Unit, Languages Unit, Culture and Societies Unit, and Pure Sciences Unit.

From an administrative point of view, the management and operation of CIDE are ensured by a Directorate, Unit Coordination, Secretariat, and Scientific Council, with the following roles highlighted: a) Coordinator; b) Deputy Coordinator for the Scientific Area; c) Deputy Coordinator for Administration and Finance; d) Supervisor; e) Deputy Supervisor; f) Secretary; g) Deputy Secretary; h) Scientific Council.

2. Recently Conducted Activities

Within the scope of activities already carried out, we can highlight an Introductory Course on Field and Office Archaeology Techniques; a Study on Children Outside the Education System or at Risk of Dropping Out; the Educational Profile of the Provinces of Huíla and Namibe; Mapping/Construction of the School Map of the Province of Huíla; and the opening of the Master’s in Teaching African History.

2.1. Introductory Course on Field and Office Archaeology Techniques

This was organized in partnership with the Center for African Studies (CEA) of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto and aimed to introduce a new approach to Archaeology, covering the following themes: Introduction to Archaeology; Research Work; Archaeological Survey; Site Monitoring; Archaeological Excavation; and Laboratory and Office Work.

Taking into account the large archaeological collection stored in one of the rooms at ISCED-HUÍLA and collected in the 1970s, at the height of the former Faculty of Arts, CIDE-ISCED has a project to prepare the Tourist and Archaeological Map of the Province of Huíla. The primary objective is the mapping and inventorying of sites with tourist-archaeological impact and the development of an archaeological museum for the province of Huíla, essentially marking the different phases of the Stone Age and beyond.

2.2. Study on Children Outside the Education System or at Risk of Dropping Out

In 2016, the aforementioned study was successfully completed, and the respective report was presented at the level of the province of Huíla, using a sample of six (6) municipalities and their most distant communes:

After an in-depth approach to the main barriers to access to education, summarized as economic barriers, socio-cultural barriers, education supply barriers, and political and governance barriers, the study inferred that the total population of children in the 5 to 11 age group is 551,981, of which only 381,045 (corresponding to 69%) are attending Primary Education. In turn, for a total population of 170,303 children between 12 and 14 years old, only 12,451 (corresponding to only 7%) are attending the 1st Cycle of Secondary Education.

In the province, there are more girls than boys attending school (191,303 compared to 189,742 in Primary Education and 6,587 compared to 5,864 in the 1st Cycle).

This trend is more pronounced in urban areas and slightly reversed in rural areas (OOSC, 2016: 5,6).

The aforementioned project was funded by UNICEF and supported by the Provincial Government of Huíla, the Provincial Directorate of Education, Science, and Technology of Huíla, and ISCED-HUÍLA.

2.3. Educational Profile of the Province of Huíla and Namibe

In collaboration with the NGO AIF (African Innovation Foundation) and with the objective of diagnosing and obtaining a more comprehensive perspective of the education sector, the Center for Educational Research and Development of ISCED-Huíla participated in the registration of the entire school network of the provinces of Huíla and Namibe to ensure a more effective intervention regarding the various constraints facing the sector. The project in question involved the collaboration of the provincial governments of Huíla and Namibe and was funded by the AIF.

2.4. Mapping/Construction of the School Map of the Province of Huíla

Following the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals regarding equity in access to education and the guarantee of quality in said process, the Provincial Government of Huíla, DPECT-Huíla (Provincial Directorate of Education, Science, and Technology), GEPE-MED (Office of Planning and Statistics of the Ministry of Education), UNICEF, and CIDE-ISCED Huíla began a process of collecting school information at the level of the province of Huíla for the subsequent configuration and development of the “School Map of the Province of Huíla” project. Garcia et al. (1998) define the school map as […] a planning instrument for the educational system or subsystem that allows for the study of the social, economic, demographic, cultural, physiographic, urbanistic, and architectural conditions of communities that house school systems. Furthermore, it indicates the actions that will allow for the organization of the physical school network, in order to meet the specific demands of each level, ensuring ease of access, safety, and comfort compatible with the age groups of the users. […] It is also an operational instrument whose physical support is a topographic map, with a scale that allows for a sufficiently precise and detailed representation of the school network, with its specific characteristics and the elements that will influence schooling (Garcia et al., 1998: 32,33).

In the school mapping process, schools in the province of Huíla were inventoried and georeferenced, and a vast database on the particularities of education throughout the province was developed.

Following the data processing, the finalization of the long-awaited School Map of the Province of Huíla is currently underway, which will serve as the basis for the entire process of management and micro-planning of Education throughout the province of Huíla. Below is a small map illustrating the impact of primary and 1st cycle schools:

Describing the map above, the blue areas delimit villages or neighborhoods with primary and 1st cycle schools; the green color represents areas well-served in terms of schools; the transition between yellow and red includes poorly served areas. The violet lines represent the convergence or divergence regarding the path children take from the center of the village to the school. It is evident that some students live in the same locality as the school and others in different neighborhoods or localities.

2.5. Opening of the Master’s in Teaching African History

Given the need for a re-reading of History, taking into account the shift to a perspective that contradicts the previous model—the History of the victors—CIDE-ISCED took the initiative to introduce a Master’s project in Teaching African History, approved by Executive Decree No. 575/17. This constitutes a unique opportunity to problematize, discuss, and deconstruct certain previously indoctrinated postulates.

This is another training offer in southwestern Angola and beyond, which could provide important didactic-methodological tools for the resurgence of historical research in the region and the country.

Perspectives
In accordance with its mission and the objectives it aims to achieve, CIDE has the following perspectives:

• Organize data analysis courses (qualitative and quantitative research);

• Prepare the tourist and archaeological map of the province of Huíla;

• Prepare the “religious map” of the province of Huíla – georeference and report the history of places of worship in the province of Huíla;

• Organize a conference on the international geostrategic framework;

• Implementation of the project:

“What Remains of the Ethnic in Angola? A Look at the Cultural Idiosyncrasies of Southwest and Central Angola”. This project will be a compilation of short ethnographic films from Southern Angola and will have the technical support of the film production company Geração 80;

• Hold an International Conference on Ethnic Minorities;

Regarding the municipality of Gambos:

• Conduct hydrogeological and hydrological mapping, including boreholes;

• Hydroclimatic study;

• Mapping of land use and occupation with emphasis on pastures and shrub vegetation;

• Study of accessibility to pastures.