Regional Virtual Meeting for the Arab States

COVID-19 education crisis - Supporting teachers in remote learning and on school reopening

The Teacher Task Force Secretariat (TTF) is organizing a virtual regional meeting in collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States (in Beirut) and the UNESCO Cluster Office for Gulf States and Yemen (in Doha) on 3 June 2020, at 15.00 (Mecca time/GMT+3hrs).t

The virtual meeting seeks to provide a platform to engage in dialogue on the main challenges and potential and planned interventions related to teachers and teaching, including the proposed reopening of schools. It follows on from the recent regional meeting which addressed the question of safe school reopening in the Arab Region, as well as measures to be taken to ensure that all learners benefit of equitable access to continuous quality education following the Covid-19 crisis.

In particular, the objectives of the meeting are:

• to understand the challenges faced by countries in addressing issues related to teachers and teaching while designing education responses to COVID-19;
• to share promising practices to support teachers, including training and psycho-social support;
• to highlight challenges and opportunities in the reopening of schools.

Some of the main questions to be covered will include:

• How are governments ensuring adequate training and support for in-service teachers to deliver effective remote, including online instruction? How prepared are education systems in deploying online platforms and supporting teachers in using digital technology?
• How are governments supporting teachers working in areas with poor or no internet connectivity?
• What are the challenges and opportunities for the reopening of schools and how to best include teachers in responses? How should governments support teachers to meet their professional and personal needs?

The meeting' s recording is available online.