Global

Event
  • 30.05.2022

Transforming Education Summit – Second public consultation on the discussion paper on teachers

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:

  1. What national, regional and international practices have successfully tackled these challenges? Which ones can be scaled up to recommend as global initiatives?
  2. Which existing or future possible initiatives, partnerships and coalitions can be developed to bring the transformation we seek?

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.

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Blog
  • 25.05.2022

Reimagining the Future: Developing Teachers’ Research and Collaborative Capacity through Teacher Education Curriculum Reform

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 role of teachers in reimagining education

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:

  1. Working collaboratively to provide each student with the support they need to learn;
  2. Enacting the curriculum using participatory and cooperative pedagogies while managing digital technology; and
  3. Engaging with educational research to reflect on their practice and produce knowledge.

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.

Teaching as a collaborative and research-based 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.

Reforming the teacher education curriculum

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.

Recognizing the importance of teacher-student collaboration

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. 

Developing teachers’ research capacity

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

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Event
  • 20.05.2022

Teacher Wellbeing Guidance Note - launch event

Register here and join us for the launch of INEE's Guidance Note: Teacher Wellbeing in Emergency Settings.

This publication is part of a larger project funded by Education Cannot Wait, to develop a Teacher Wellbeing Toolkit in order to support EiE practitioners to meet the needs of teachers in their local context.

This INEE Minimum Standards-aligned Guidance Note is an opportunity to put teacher wellbeing at the center of our response and recovery efforts in conflict and crisis-affected settings. Not just because an investment in teachers is an investment in children and adolescents, but because at this moment in history teachers deserve our unparalleled attention as an end unto itself.

We invite you to engage in this session by learning about the development and content of the Guidance Note and participating in a Q&A discussion with our panelists:

  • Abla Assaf, Education Technical Officer - Palestine, Norwegian Refugee Council
  • Amy Parker, Learning through Play Programme Lead, Save the Children Denmark – plus former TiCC co-chair
  • Chris Henderson, Co-Chair, Teachers in Crisis Contexts Collaborative, Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies and Teachers College, Columbia University
  • Julia Finder Johna, Senior Education Advisor on Education in Crisis and Conflict at USAID- plus PSS-SEL Collaborative co-chair
  • Jwalin Patel (PhD), President, Together In Development & Education Foundation
  • Nikhit D'Sa, Ed.D. Assistant Professor and Senior Associate Director of Research, Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child
  • Raksha Sule, Education Program Manager (Myanmar), People In Need.
  • Sophia D’Angelo, PhD, Independent Consultant

The webinar will take place at 1pm UTC on Wednesday 1st June 2022. Click here to convert to your time zone.

For more information please contact Rachel Smith (rachel.smith@inee.org).

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Event
  • 19.05.2022

Consultation on 2023 GEM Report on technology and education

See the Consultation Report here

The 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report will examine education challenges to which appropriate use of technology can offer solutions, while recognizing that many of the solutions proposed may also be detrimental. The report will examine issues of access, equity, and inclusion in education, looking at ways through technology can help reach disadvantaged learners but also ensure more knowledge reaches more learners in more engaging and cheaper formats.

The report will also explore three system-wide conditions that need to be met for any technology in education to reach its full potential: ensuring that all learners have access to technology resources, protecting learners from the risks of technology through appropriate governance and regulation and supporting all teachers to teach, use and deal with technology effectively.

In a rapidly changing world affected by technology, and in the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic, teachers face large and increasing demands to engage with technology in education and develop related competencies. As a result, this consultation, convened by the Teacher Task Force and the GEM Report, will look into the way that education systems can support all teachers to teach, use and deal with technology effectively.

Teachers face many barriers to the use of technology. Therefore, in order to identify the best ways to help teachers teach and use technology effectively, the discussion will focus on three key issues, including the lack of access, training and system support. Each area will be discussed on separate rooms:

  1. Barriers to access and equity
  2. Teacher professional development and pedagogy
  3. Systemic support and collaboration

Agenda

Agenda

This event is by invitation only, if you wish to participate or need more information, please contact Soto Echeverri, Emilia (e.soto-echeverri@unesco.org).

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Event
  • 18.05.2022

Transforming Education Summit – First public consultation on the discussion paper on teachers

In the lead-up to the Transforming Education Summit 2022,  the first public consultation focused on the discussion paper prepared as part of the Action Track 3 on “Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession”.

Replay the consultation here.

The second consultation, on 14 June, will focus on the promising practices and potential new initiatives.

Action Track 3 is being led by representatives of two member states (Nigeria and Romania) and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 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.

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Event
  • 16.05.2022

Higher education teachers: reinventing the future of the profession

For more information and registration, see here.

This roundtable on higher education teachers is part of the World Higher Education Conference 2022, to be held in Barcelona on 18-20 May. The discussion will be led by UNESCO PLS and ILO focusing on the challenges of the teaching profession for reinventing higher education.

This 3rd World Higher Education Conference will bring together all relevant stakeholders to define and prepare their roadmap for a new era of higher education systems and institutions. This roadmap will be responsive to the challenges faced by humanity and the planet, as a result of diverse forms of crises, with special attention to the global disruption created by COVID-19. Furthermore, higher education must anticipate and prepare for its role in societies that goes beyond the next decade, inspired by the Futures of Education initiative, mentioned above.

It aims at breaking away from the traditional models of higher education and opening doors to new, innovative, creative, and visionary conceptions that not only serve current agendas for sustainable development, but also pave the way for future learning communities that overcome barriers, speak to all and are inclusive of all lifelong learners.

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Event
  • 13.05.2022

Reimagining teachers, teaching and teacher education policy in the Global South | International symposium

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:

  • provide a platform for dialogue and debate about teacher education in the Global South
  • consider a future teacher education agenda in and of the Global South

Speakers include:

  • Prof Crain Soudien (Centre for International Teacher Education, South Africa)
  • Prof Padma Sarangapani (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India)
  • Dr Yohanna William (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)
  • Prof John Nyambe (University of Namibia)
  • Dr Kristina Stutchbury (Open University, UK)

For more information, please contact Dr Marcina Singh, singhm@cput.ac.za.

Please register here.

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Event
  • 13.05.2022

Reimagining teachers, teaching and teacher education policy in the Global South | International symposium

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:

  • provide a platform for dialogue and debate about teacher education in the Global South
  • consider a future teacher education agenda in and of the Global South

Speakers include:

  • Prof Crain Soudien (Centre for International Teacher Education, South Africa)
  • Prof Padma Sarangapani (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India)
  • Dr Yohanna William (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)
  • Prof John Nyambe (University of Namibia)
  • Dr Kristina Stutchbury (Open University, UK)

For more information, please contact Dr Marcina Singh, singhm@cput.ac.za.

Please register here.

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