The Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE) and the SARCHI Chair for Teaching and Learning are organising an International Symposium on Reimagining teachers, teaching and teacher education policy in the Global South: Current experiences and future implications.
The aim of the symposium is to:
Speakers include:
For more information, please contact Dr Marcina Singh, singhm@cput.ac.za.
Please register here.
The Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE) and the SARCHI Chair for Teaching and Learning are organising an International Symposium on Reimagining teachers, teaching and teacher education policy in the Global South: Current experiences and future implications.
The aim of the symposium is to:
Speakers include:
For more information, please contact Dr Marcina Singh, singhm@cput.ac.za.
Please register here.
The Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE) and the SARCHI Chair for Teaching and Learning are organising an International Symposium on Reimagining teachers, teaching and teacher education policy in the Global South: Current experiences and future implications.
The aim of the symposium is to:
Speakers include:
For more information, please contact Dr Marcina Singh, singhm@cput.ac.za.
Please register here.
By Carlos Vargas Tamez, Head of the Secretariat of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 and Chief of UNESCO’s Section for Teacher Development & Anna Conover, Consultant.
This blog has been originally published by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) on April 22, 2022.
Unforeseen crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and violent conflict remind us that teachers and education systems need to be able to adapt rapidly to changing circumstances to meet the learning needs of children and youth. Capacity for innovation is one of the keys to building resilient education systems. Capitalizing on the many education innovations prompted by the pandemic, the Teacher Task Force chose “Innovation in teacher policy and practice for educational recovery” as the theme of its 13th Policy Dialogue Forum, which took place in Kigali, Rwanda, and online, 2-3 December 2021.
Some of the main insights documented during the Forum are presented below, including those related to innovations in teaching and learning, teacher education and policy. These have been compiled in the Forum’s Final Report, released recently.
Teachers are best placed to assess the conditions of their own classrooms. Based on these, they innovate and adapt their practice, but their innovations often go unrecognized. The Forum highlighted the need to promote teacher autonomy and agency – that is, the capacity to act in an autonomous manner – to generate meaningful pedagogical innovation. However, they need training, sufficient resources, good working conditions, and support to develop the autonomy and agency needed to initiate, implement and evaluate new ways to teach that will improve student learning and wellbeing.
Emphasizing how teaching and learning are based on relationships, Forum participants shared innovative examples of how teachers collaborated with peers and parents during the pandemic. For instance, in response to school closures, Kenya’s Teachers’ Service Commission provided educators with guidance on how to support other teachers and offer psychosocial support to families and learners. By providing teachers with opportunities to discuss their teaching practices and exchange resources with each other and with students’ families, key lessons learned now inform Kenya’s policies to support online learning and teacher professional development.
The role of digital technologies in innovation was also explored during the Forum, emphasizing tailored and context-sensitive use of technologies rather than one-size-fits-all solutions. While the pandemic hastened the need for technology-assisted innovations, mechanisms to assess, scale up, and refine are also necessary to ensure these innovations meet the needs for equitable, quality, and inclusive education. However, it is important that digital technologies do not reproduce top-down, rote learning resulting in excessive standardization, but rather are designed and implemented using a range of approaches to help foster student-centered pedagogies and facilitate education transformation.
Teacher professional development should be embedded in teacher career paths and be aligned to teacher standards and accountability systems. Forum participants explored how countries need to avoid innovating in a fragmented fashion that does not follow commonly agreed principles. This requires alignment across levels of education and between initial teacher education and continuing professional development. It also requires better alignment between existing curricula, teacher professional development and student assessment to strengthen student outcomes.
Based on lessons learned during the pandemic, teacher education should also include peer learning and mentoring programmes. In particular, teacher education needs to integrate inquiry and research skills which prepare teachers to be lifelong-learners, able to adapt their practice to changing conditions and meet their students’ evolving needs. Teacher training and educational research institutions have an important role to support this kind of continuous exchange, particularly to address challenges brought on by rapid transformations.
Teachers need to be part of decision- and policy-making processes. One example presented was the development of the Comprehensive National Teacher Policy (CNTP) in Ghana. This process was coordinated by the Ghana Teacher Task Force (GTTF) with contributions from the Ghana Education Service, development partners, and other actors. This collaborative process established a framework for social dialogue with teachers and their representatives at the local, district, and national levels.
Policy also needs to be informed by data which reflect realities on the ground. Grassroot-level innovation can be enhanced by teacher participation in data collection and analysis. With proper training, teachers and school leaders can use data to assess their own practices and address challenges in their own schools. An example of innovation in data use came from The Gambia, where schools develop their own indicators and targets through a process of consultation that involves teachers, parents, students, and their communities.
Innovations in teacher policy presented during the Forum included establishing new forms of partnerships with civil society organizations and funding agencies. For instance, an innovative workshop organized by UNESCO and the TTF brought together policymakers from various countries to inform the development of St Kitts and Nevis’ National Teaching Council. Rather than imposing a ‘one size fits all’ approach, this process allowed policymakers to explore different types of national structures and the roles played amongst a number of high- and low-income countries before establishing their own National Teachers’ Council.
Teachers are essential to the innovation necessary to ‘build back better’ in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their professionalism needs to be recognized and supported, and experimentation and adaptation must take place within clear policy frameworks. Governments, teacher training institutions, and other actors must balance structure and flexibility to foster both bottom-up (grassroots) and top-down (system-wide) innovations, so that they can contribute to ensure equitable, inclusive, and quality education for all.
Download the Final Report from the Policy Dialogue Forum on Innovation in teacher policy and practice in education recovery.
Photo credit: GPE/Alexandra Humme
The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 will launch its new 2022-2025 Strategic Plan. This event will showcase how the international community is joining forces in this unique global alliance for teachers. Their goal is to promote the teaching profession as the cornerstone of ensuring that every child has access to quality teaching and learning.
Speakers include UNESCO’s Assistant Director General for Education and the two co-Chairs of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 Steering Committee - representatives of Germany and South Africa.
Provisial agenda:
Photo credit: Dominic Chavez/World Bank
UNESCO and all Partner Organizations of the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI) are pleased to invite you to the NTI Final Forum. Within four sessions, we will celebrate, share, and discuss main achievements and lessons learned within the framework of NTI.
To register, click on the links provided:
Session 1 (21 October, 13:30-15:00 CEST): Looking back – what has been achieved under NTI?
Registration: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkcu-oqDsvHdw-caV9EbTjJe-4nN43HKHD
Session 2 (21 October, 15:30-17:00 CEST): Social dialogue in education – Considerations for teacher policy development and implementation
Registration: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMod-GspjgiH9wxB22h1tC3Wo6BgsYYP1Tl
Session 3 (22 October, 13:30-15:30 CEST): Looking forward – NTI Exit Strategies
Registration: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qf-quqTguE9aPh5tTnDmBxEyPHfLSuT8d
Session 4 (22 October, 16:00-17:30 CEST): NTI Final Steering Committee Meeting (closed session for NTI Steering Committee members only)
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information for joining the session.
During the session, simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English and French. Please find further information about the event in the concept note attached to this mail.
The initiative Strengthening Multi-Partner Cooperation to Support Teacher Policy and Improve Learning, also known as the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI), set-up in 2017, aims at supporting countries in developing their teacher policy while reinforcing the coordination among key international organizations and national actors working on teacher matters thereby bringing more coordinated support to countries. UNESCO, the overall coordinator of NTI, joined forces with seven key education partners: Education International (EI), the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (TTF) supporting the Governments of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda. While Burkina Faso, Ghana and Malawi have been developing a national teacher policy under NTI, Uganda’s focus has been on planning and starting the implementation of its national teacher policy.
In addition to developing and initiating the implementation of their national teacher policy, all countries have achieved important results. One of the key innovations of NTI has been the active involvement of teacher unions in teacher policy development processes and the strengthening of their capacities in this area.
If you have any questions about the NTI Final Forum, please contact sm.richter@unesco.org.
Photo credit: Christiaan Triebert-Shutterstock.com
UNESCO and all Partner Organizations of the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI) are pleased to invite you to the NTI Final Forum. Within four sessions, we will celebrate, share, and discuss main achievements and lessons learned within the framework of NTI.
To register, click on the links provided:
Session 1 (21 October, 13:30-15:00 CEST): Looking back – what has been achieved under NTI?
Registration: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkcu-oqDsvHdw-caV9EbTjJe-4nN43HKHD
Session 2 (21 October, 15:30-17:00 CEST): Social dialogue in education – Considerations for teacher policy development and implementation
Registration: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMod-GspjgiH9wxB22h1tC3Wo6BgsYYP1Tl
Session 3 (22 October, 13:30-15:30 CEST): Looking forward – NTI Exit Strategies
Registration: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qf-quqTguE9aPh5tTnDmBxEyPHfLSuT8d
Session 4 (22 October, 16:00-17:30 CEST): NTI Final Steering Committee Meeting (closed session for NTI Steering Committee members only)
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information for joining the session.
During the session, simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English and French. Please find further information about the event in the concept note attached to this mail.
The initiative Strengthening Multi-Partner Cooperation to Support Teacher Policy and Improve Learning, also known as the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI), set-up in 2017, aims at supporting countries in developing their teacher policy while reinforcing the coordination among key international organizations and national actors working on teacher matters thereby bringing more coordinated support to countries. UNESCO, the overall coordinator of NTI, joined forces with seven key education partners: Education International (EI), the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (TTF) supporting the Governments of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda. While Burkina Faso, Ghana and Malawi have been developing a national teacher policy under NTI, Uganda’s focus has been on planning and starting the implementation of its national teacher policy.
In addition to developing and initiating the implementation of their national teacher policy, all countries have achieved important results. One of the key innovations of NTI has been the active involvement of teacher unions in teacher policy development processes and the strengthening of their capacities in this area.
If you have any questions about the NTI Final Forum, please contact sm.richter@unesco.org.
Photo credit: Christiaan Triebert-Shutterstock.com
The Inclusion and Equity Thematic Group is organising two webinars on 19 October at 8.00 am and 17 November at 12.00pm (London time) prior to the Policy Dialogue on Innovation in Teacher Policy and Practice for Educational Recovery, to collect the perspectives of stakeholders, which we will both inform the design of the workshop and provide content for sharing during the workshop.
The Webinars and the Workshop will provide an opportunity for stakeholders from across all UNESCO regions to share their perspectives on the following questions :
Both webinars will last for one hour. We will present perspectives gathered during the webinars at the Policy Forum to assist policy makers understand the role of inclusion and equity in innovation in teacher policy and practice for educational recovery.
For more information please contact Purna Shrestha - Purna.Shrestha@vsoint.org.
Photo: Kenya, copyright VSO/Paul Wambugu.