Digital Learning: Reforming Teacher Education to Promote Access, Equity and Quality in Sub-Saharan Africa

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the present and future impact of digital learning on teacher education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The focus of the report is student-teachers and teachers, and its central argument is that existing institutional structures will be insufficient to meet the scale of demand for well-prepared, qualified teachers. The report describes digitally enhanced programme innovations that can be identified in many institutions across the region, as well as three phases to full-scale adoption of new digital technologies. 

 Four contextual factors are identified as key to the teacher supply challenge:

• The very rapid developments in technology (most notably online communication and resource provision) that are already beginning to affect teacher education programmes. This has followed increasingly rapid improvements in connectivity across the region.

• The very high number of additional teachers needed to staff the growing number of pre-, primary and secondary schools.

• The concerns about low levels of teacher knowledge and learner achievement.

• The increasing global recognition that teacher education should have a strong focus on school and classroom-based practice.