High-Level Forum on Teacher Competencies in the Digital Revolution: Reaching the Unreached (Virtual)

Background

Issues of availability of and access to educational technologies, e.g., software and hardware, became pronounced when in-person classes were suspended and instructions were being delivered remotely. Headlines like “schoolchildren climbing trees to get signal for online classes” or “students trekking hills and mountains to attend online classes” filled newspapers during school closures due to COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers too were put in the spotlight of such news, particularly those who are teaching in disadvantaged schools.

These disadvantaged schools are at the lower end of disparities when it comes to access to ICT and digitalization. The pandemic heightened the digital divide that is contributing to the education crisis, half of the total number of learners – some 826 million students –  do not have access to a household computer and 43% (706 million) have no internet at home.

Objectives 

The 2021 High- Level Forum on Teacher Competencies in the Digital Revolution hosted by the Teacher Task Force, SEAMEO and UNESCO IITE aims to:

• Examine the solutions proposed by governments, teachers and school leaders to ensure learning continuity;
• Discuss national and regional solutions and an action agenda to address the barriers to inclusive education and digital divide;
• Share innovations during the pandemic in promoting learning continuity in disadvantaged schools that can be replicated or scaled up;
• Discuss policy reforms to enhance teacher competencies in the digital age.

The event will discuss practices to support teachers in implementing remote and virtul education in disadvantaged settings on three breakout rooms.

Expected outcomes

At the end of the High-Level Forum, the following outputs will be shared:

• An Action Agenda on improving teacher competencies in the digital revolution
• Collection of good teaching practices of new normal pedagogies and innovation for reaching the unreached and disadvantaged learners
• Collection of open educational resources on teaching tools for the marginalized learners

Participants and structure of the meeting

The High-Level Forum will invite members of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 and High Officials from SEAMEO Member Countries, Associate Member Countries, Affiliate members and SEAMEO Schools Network.

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Registration link coming soon, please contact Ms. Rhea Rabin (rhea@seameo.org) and Ms. Uyen Ho Thuc Nguyen (jolin@seameo.org) for further details.

Photo credit: SEAMEO