African Union & AFTRA: A Partnership for Teachers in Africa

The African Union is the mother organisation to all indigenous associations in Africa established to realise Africa’s dream of being a prosperous, united, and globally competitive region of the world. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA), and the Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, all provided for the formation of a coalition of stakeholders to work towards the attainment of the SDGs, CESA and Agenda 2063 targets. The Africa Union has latched onto this provision to identify and work with critical international associations in Africa. One of these is the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA). This is the intergovernmental umbrella body of the Ministries of Education and national agencies which have the statutory mandate of regulating teaching as a profession in Africa. 

The story of AFTRA began on October 12, 2010, when it was inaugurated in Abuja, Nigeria as an initiative of the Ministers of Education in Africa. That initiative was led by Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Education at the time, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i and South Africa’s Minister of Basic Education, Hon. Mrs. Angela Motshekga, MP. Sixteen countries participated in the inauguration. Thirteen years down the line, AFTRA has become Africa’s leading organisation on matters related to the regulation of teaching. Based on the laws of their respective countries, the Ministries and national agencies that are members of AFTRA have the mandate to set standards for individuals who wish to enter into the teaching profession. They also register and license teachers and school leaders and they regulate teacher continuous professional development. AFTRA’s members also advise authorities in higher education regarding teacher education curricula. They accredit pre-service teacher education and induct newly qualified teachers into the profession. Finally, they also discipline teachers on matters of professional misconduct, suspending or withdrawing teaching licenses as needed. 

The role of AFTRA in the critical aspects of teacher professionalism made it to be one of the African Union’s closest allies in the repositioning of education in Africa. Every year since AFTRA’s inception, the African Union takes a centre stage in participating in the AFTRA Ministerial Session, which is the annual summit of the African Ministers of Education within AFTRA. The African Union has also used the occasion of the AFTRA Conference to organise a physical meeting of the Teacher Development Cluster under the Continental Education Strategy for Africa, and more recently to participate in a half day training event organized at the annual conference by UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity Development in Africa (IICBA). AFTRA is the Co-Chair of the Teacher Development Cluster together with Education International, with UNESCO IICBA managing the secretariat of the cluster. 

On policy, AFTRA has led the African Union’s development of the core frameworks for the regulation of teaching in the continent. The first is the Continental Framework of Standards and Competences for the Teaching Profession (2019) which was adapted from the UNESCO/Education International Global Framework of Teaching Standards (2019). The second is the Continental Teacher Qualification Framework (2019) which defines who a teacher is and what level and quality of training and competences are required for professional registration and licensing. The framework also suggests a career path and stages for teachers and school leaders and the requirements of each career stage. The third is the Continental Guidelines for the Teaching Profession which discusses measures an African Union member state should take to professionalise its teaching force. For instance, it encourages countries to enact a law that legalises teaching as a profession so that only adequately trained and registered teachers can engage in teaching; it provides for the establishment of a national teaching council to serve as the apex national body to regulate teaching; it recommends that member states have their Ministries of Education become member of AFTRA and the world body of the teaching councils (the International Forum of Teaching Regulatory Authorities); etc. The Guidelines also include a toolkit containing the laws, tools, and instruments for the regulation of teaching extracted from selected countries that are currently regulating the profession. 

Other core frameworks for teachers that benefitted from AFTRA’s contributions include the African Union Teacher Mobility Protocol and, as it pertains to teachers, the Free Trade Agreement. AFTRA is also serving on the Advisory Board of the African Union Continental Qualifications Framework, and a host of other areas of joint operation. As an example of recent analytical work informed by the African Union frameworks and instruments, AFTRA together with UNESCO IICBA published for World Teachers’ Day in October 2023 an analysis of professional standards and competencies for teachers in West Africa, with in-depth situational analyses for Sierra Leone and The Gambia. As another initiative with UNESCO IICBA that builds on the African Union frameworks, the Journal of Teaching and Learning in Africa will be relaunched in early 2024 with at least two issues per year and quality contributions.

On November 13, 2023, the leadership of AFTRA, led by its President, Professor Josiah Ajiboye, who is also the Registrar/Chief Executive of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, paid a courtesy visit to the African Union Commissioner of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI), Professor Mohamed Belhocine, in his office at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The visit was to congratulate the new Commissioner on his appointment and to pledge continuing support and collaboration with the African Union. The Commissioner assured that it will use its platforms to project AFTRA’s ideals and mandates and directed the Head of Education Division, Mrs. Sophia Ashipala to meet with AFTRA to come up with a new blueprint to drive the collaboration with AFTRA. 

Beyond Africa, AFTRA speaks for the teaching profession in Africa as a member of the International Forum of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (IFTRA) which is the coalition of the agencies regulating teaching in the world. In this capacity, AFTRA is the Africa regional branch of IFTRA. The membership of IFTRA has helped AFTRA to exchange best practices with other parts of the world. This has impacted positively in the regulation of teaching in Africa and enabled teachers registered and licensed in Africa to be on par with their peers in other parts of the world. In Africa, AFTRA will hold is next annual conference in Zambia, 20-25 May 2024. If you are able to join us, we would love to welcome you. Please register via the AFTRA website.