The Defence Academy has hosted 17 members of the Iraqi Ministry of Defence as part of a NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) Foundational Faculty Development Programme.
Developed and certified by the Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP), and co-funded by NATO and the Partnership for Peace Consortium, the programme develops instructors’ skills in active adult learning methods, focusing on student-centred, outcome-based learning, and the promotion of continuous professional development.
Course members are drawn from instructors at the Education Cadre Development Centre (ECDC) in Baghdad, and the Iraqi Military Academy’s sites across the country.
The Defence Academy workshop was the third and final module of the programme, focusing on the instructional design aspects of developing a lesson. It afforded the opportunity to collaborate and consciously reflect on emerging technologies for education and training, in support of democratic values of defence education for reform.
Attendees were pleased to identify key similarities between the Defence Academy and the ECDC in terms of set-up, organisational structure, and approach to training. In a post-delivery review, it was noted:
The new graduates are the latest of 106 military instructors that NATO has trained over the past 12 months.
Graduates from the course will go on to join the DEEP Master Instructor Programme, which focuses on curriculum development. The outcome will be qualified NATO Master Instructors who are able to build a sustainable Iraqi-led faculty development programme in their own institutions.
NATO Mission Iraq is a non-combat advisory and capacity-building mission that assists Iraq in building more sustainable, transparent, inclusive, and effective security institutions and forces, so that they themselves are able to stabilize their country, fight terrorism, and prevent the return of Daesh.