A call for research abstracts and presentations is open until 8th July for the upcoming GPE KIX Continental Research Symposium on “Reimagining research and innovation for a better impact on learning outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa”, to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from October 4th – 6th 2022. The Symposium is being jointly organized by the KIX Africa 21 and KIX Africa 19 regional hubs of the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) Hub project, a joint initiative of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). It will bring together regional and national policymakers, researchers and academics to exchange critical knowledge on innovations, evidence and good practices to improve student learning outcomes amidst contextual challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly after the disruption of education systems related to COVID-19.
Proposals for research papers presentations are welcome with a focus on one or more of the KIX Africa 21 and KIX Africa 19 countries and on any of the 7 thematic sub-themes of the symposium, 2 of which are directly related to teachers and teaching issues:
Detailed instructions for the submission of papers are available here. Any questions relating to this call must be sent by e-mail to: kix.iicba@unesco.org and programmekix@francophonie.org.
ProFuturo is a digital education programme that aims to ensure inclusive equitable quality education for boys and girls in vulnerable environments through the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities and the development of 21st century skills and digital tools. To do this, ProFuturo supports teacher professional development through a catalogue of courses.
Within this framework, ProFuturo is currently launching an initiative that specifically targets primary school teachers based in Africa and Asia who have digital connectivity. The initiative proposes the following courses from ProFuturo’s catalogue:
ProFuturo is willing to collaborate with public and private organisations to reach the target group (primary education teachers with connectivity in Africa and Asia). These partners could be:
If you are interested please contact secretaria.profuturo@telefonica.com
ProFuturo is a digital education programme that aims to ensure inclusive equitable quality education for boys and girls in vulnerable environments through the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities and the development of 21st century skills and digital tools. To do this, ProFuturo supports teacher professional development through a catalogue of courses.
Within this framework, ProFuturo is currently launching an initiative that specifically targets primary school teachers based in Africa and Asia who have digital connectivity. The initiative proposes the following courses from ProFuturo’s catalogue:
ProFuturo is willing to collaborate with public and private organisations to reach the target group (primary education teachers with connectivity in Africa and Asia). These partners could be:
If you are interested please contact secretaria.profuturo@telefonica.com
UNESCO’s Section for Teacher Development and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 are organizing a workshop on adult educators and literacy practitioners: recasting the profession as part of the Seventh International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VII).
The workshop will examine the working conditions and professional development of adult education teachers, particularly at the literacy and basic education level, and will identify key challenges to improve the quality of teaching and the social standing of the profession. The session will explore examples -from different world regions- concerning the institutionalization of adult education in teacher training and higher education institutions, and policy measures that have been implemented to harness the social standing, labor standards and professional development of adult education practitioners.
Recent studies and analyses of the impact of the COVID-19 on adult learning confirm that youth and adult literacy educators still find themselves in the most precarious position of any group of educators; they receive much less policy attention compared to schoolteachers; and are among the lowest paid teachers and receive the least training (UNESCO, 2020, p.2). In addition, in many world regions, adult educators are usually characterized by low -or a lack of- qualifications and specific training on the education of young people and adults who have been marginalized from basic education.
Against this background, and inspired by the renewed role of teachers depicted in the Futures of Education Commission Report (UNESCO, 2021) the panel will explore alternatives for the institutionalization and professional development of adult education teachers and will provide policy recommendations in order to recast the profession.
Guiding questions:
Format and languages:
The workshop will be fully in person. It will consist of a brief presentation of the current challenges facing adult education teachers followed by a conversation and examples of policies and education programmes aimed at improving the social standing and professional development of adult educators.
The discussion will have a global geographical scope with interpretation in English and French.
Speakers
The workshops will be moderated by Mr. Carlos Vargas, Chief of Section for Teacher Development at UNESCO and Head of Secretariat for the Teacher Task Force and it aims to bring together voices from universities, teacher education institutions, civil society, teacher organizations and regional intergovernmental organizations.
For more information please see here.
The session can be followed on-line here.
As part of its new main line of action on national and regional policy learning, The Teacher Task Force is co-organising a series of workshops for the Latin America and the Caribbean region with CARICOM in cooperation with St Kits and Nevis and Brazil. The first workshop will be held on 13 July, followed by a second workshop in October/November. Between the two workshops, additional reflection by the TTF Secretariat and the regional Steering Committee members will take place to verify assumptions and refine regional policy learning needs for the second workshop.
In particular, the workshops aim to foster exchange and discussion in support of holistic and comprehensive teacher policy development as illustrated in the Teacher Policy Development Guide (TPDG) and its nine interconnected dimensions as a framework. This workshop will focus on common policy learning need related to teacher professional development and standards. Regional standard frameworks and how these can be translated into countries are critical to establish teacher education, teacher qualification, licensing of teachers, career structure and teacher motivation. In addition to this, countries demonstrated an interest in the pedagogical skills in hybrid and remote education of teacher education including innovative practices to share across countries. They also demonstrated learning needs related to social dialogue and school leadership.
Country focal points and deputies, including both country and organisational members, will be invited to the Latin America and the Caribbean regional workshop. Other key partners with regional remits will be consulted and invited to actively participate as they are familiar with regional policy learning needs.
For more information contact Thomas, Yael (y.thomas@unesco.org) or Soto Echeverri, Emilia (e.soto-echeverri@unesco.org).
Please register here
In the lead-up to the Transforming Education Summit 2022 two public consultations are being organized as part of the Action Track 3 on “Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession”.
The first global consultation held on 24 May involved a discussion of the draft issues paper and focused on teacher shortages, working conditions and teacher preparation and training and development of teacher leadership.
The second consultation will dive deeper into these topics and focus on two questions:
Action Track 3 of the Transforming Education Summit on “Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession” will address the following key issues: (a) addressing teacher shortages; (b) improving working and professional conditions for teachers; (c) improving teacher preparation and training and (d) foster teacher leadership. It will identify successful policy interventions, compile a catalogue of good practices to inspire, and, crucially, to mobilize the global education community to make concrete commitments and to take action, building where possible on existing initiatives, partnerships and coalitions.
It is being led by representatives of two member states (Nigeria and Romania) and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 which has been officially designated as the co-lead stakeholder. The work of the Action Track is being supported by the UN Support team, comprised of the International Labor Organisation (anchor), and UNESCO (alternate), UNICEF, UNHCR, UNRWA and the World Bank.
As part of its new main line of action on national and regional policy learning, The Teacher Task Force is co-organising a series of workshops for the Asia Pacific Region with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO), in cooperation with Philippines. The first workshop will be held on 1 July, followed by a second workshop in October/November. Between the two workshops, additional reflection by the TTF Secretariat and the regional Steering Committee members will take place to verify assumptions and refine regional policy learning needs for the second workshop.
In particular, the workshops aim to foster exchange and discussion in support of holistic and comprehensive teacher policy development as illustrated in the Teacher Policy Development Guide (TPDG) and its nine interconnected dimensions as a framework. This workshop will focus on common policy learning need related to teacher education and teacher standards including issues related to capacity building, teacher training, qualifications, licensing, and its relationship to the professionalisation of the teaching career framed in regional framework to establish teacher standards. In addition to this, countries demonstrated an interest in the ICT dimension of teacher education including ICT skills and pedagogies for remote and distance teaching. They also demonstrated learning needs related to social dialogue and school leadership.
Country focal points and deputies, including both country and organisational members, will be invited to the Asia Pacific regional workshop. Other key partners with regional remits will be consulted and invited to actively participate as they are familiar with regional policy learning needs.
For more information contact Thomas, Yael (y.thomas@unesco.org) or Algohani, Maram (m.algohani@unesco.org).
This blog was written by Maria Teresa Tatto from Arizona State University and was prepared for the Secretariat of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030. It was originally published on the Futures of Education Ideas Lab on 23 May 2022.
Global disruptions – whether technological, economic, social or ecological – present a challenge to sustainable education. To meet the challenge, new thinking is needed on how to organize and deliver education. In response, the International Commission on the Futures of Education has produced a critical report, Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education, which brings together inputs from students, teachers, governments and civil society. With a spirit of optimism and possibility, the report calls on societies to act urgently to guide education transformation, now and into the future.
The report points out the transformative work of teachers in reimagining education. Teachers play a central role in the embodiment of pedagogy and curricula, as well as acting as mediators of educational opportunities toward inclusivity and sustainability. The report calls for reinforcing teaching as a profession and for teachers to ‘take up their roles’ by:
To support teachers in playing this key role, the report advocates for teacher development as a rich and dynamic continuum of learning and experiences. It calls for public solidarity on much-needed changes to the policies that govern the selection, preparation, career trajectories and organization of teachers and the teaching profession.
The reports’ priorities are commendable and urgently needed. However, some other considerations could provide additional nuance to the Commission’s report, if given greater weight. The report could note that teacher education curricula will need to be reformed, to align better with new expectations for teacher knowledge and roles. It is also important to recognize that teaching is intrinsically collaborative, and the role of students in this collaboration should be considered. And more thought needs to be given to what is required to properly equip teachers for a critical role in knowledge production and educational research.
The report rightly recommends that teachers should more often work in teams, to better engage in knowledge production, reflection and research, and further suggests that teachers should participate in public debate, dialogue and education policy. But to achieve this, a deeper cross-national examination of teacher education curricula may be required. This could help to unpack what learning opportunities exist in teacher education programmes that can support teacher agency and solidarity as a new foundation across a number of different geographies. Research can illustrate how, where and whether future and current teachers are prepared to engage deeply in this critical work during their initial teacher training, continuing professional development, and beyond. Promising examples include empirically tested approaches in developing contexts, such as the Escuela Nueva Activa (ENA) and other active learning models like flipped classrooms.
Moreover, given that teachers need to be ready to incorporate a variety of new competencies in their professional profiles, other forms of teacher support need increased attention. For example, to challenge the prescriptive lists of ‘must do’s’ that have in the past characterized top-down teacher policy, teachers must be enabled to use their voices, agency and social dialogue through their official representatives or unions. Teachers must increasingly become leaders as administrators and as professionals in pedagogical autonomy, research and public participation.
By definition, teaching has never been a solitary practice. Teachers typically not only collaborate with each other – they also do so with their students. Previous research shows that teaching is inherently interactive and collaborative with students. Not all teachers manage this resource effectively, but successful teaching requires alignment with standards of good practice such as ‘achieving and maintaining classroom order and purposeful activity, gaining pupils’ attention and interest, ensuring that pupils know what they are expected to do, that they understand the content of the lessons, etc.’[1] While recognizing the importance of teacher–teacher collaboration, the report does not consider students as a fundamental resource and leaves out the important finding that students can and often do teach and assess each other, improving academic achievement. Able teachers can use formative assessments to support this practice, thereby developing authentic learning communities in their classrooms. This aspect of education could become another dimension of the new social contract for education: supporting student agency in their learning and collaboration with teachers and other students in fostering better and wider learning networks.
Collaborative research on a global scale, in which teachers, teacher educators, and researchers in different disciplines explore diverse education models, is also essential and should be a first step to enact a new social contract for education. Action research in the classroom for agentic and effective change should be emphasized: this refers to evaluative, investigative and analytical research methods designed to diagnose problems or weaknesses and help educators to develop practical solutions. Meanwhile, teachers also need to be more involved in systematic academic research in order to maintain appropriate scrutiny and enable educators to influence policy. Since both types of research are essential to help practitioners—including teachers—to reimagine a better education future, building practitioners’ capacity to engage in action and systematic research is critical. These skills are different from those needed to ensure reflective teaching, but they will be no less essential to teachers’ professional work for developing flexible, context-sensitive teaching practices.
Photo credit: Davide Bonaldo/Shutterstock.com