This report constitutes the Baseline Report of the multi-year study of the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) investment in teacher development in Lao PDR through the Basic Education Quality and Access in Laos program (BEQUAL). This Lao PDR study is part of a three-country multi-year study series on teacher development, in response to DFAT's Office of Development Effectiveness' 2015 Investing in Teachers report. This study is framed within the context of Lao PDR's staged introduction of a new primary education curriculum, and accompanying in-service teacher professional development support. The overall aim of this study is to investigate the teacher professional development component to answer the question: to what extent does BEQUAL support improve teaching quality and student literacy in Lao PDR?
Education in Hong Kong has developed rapidly since the 70s in parallel with the economic boom. To support such development, the government has invested heavily in initial teacher education and will soon impose professional training and graduate qualifications as prerequisites for entering the profession. Continuous teacher education (CTE), generally regarded as equally important as initial teacher education if not more so, is not given comparable emphasis. This paper aims to study CTE in Hong Kong, including its policy, practice and provision at the system level. Some special features of the system are identified and scrutinized, including ad hoc, policy led, and competence based. The centrally provided CTE is also closely examined in terms of its relevance to the profession, impact on schools, and cost-effectiveness. The paper ends with a close look at its latest developments, obstacles encountered and prospects. ; postprint
In the 21st century, teaching has changed from the past since the era of information and communication technology (ICT) has progressed and come to play an important role in people who live in a knowledge-based society. Therefore, society needs members with the ability to use ICT to solve problems, in collaboration, communication and creation effectively. To prepare all students to meet the said needs, the learning process must be modified to emphasize the role from teacher-centered to focus on student engagement for constructing their own knowledge through ICT. The key element of this learning process is a "teacher". Thus, all teachers need to adjust the paradigm of learning and teaching and need to develop the ability to integrate ICT in teaching and learning process effectively. Although several years ago, the government and the relevant authorities have invested in the development of infrastructure and allocation of budget for ICT training, all reports have shown that the teachers still lack of the ICT skills in teaching and learning. So,in this article,the author has synthesized and summarized the idea to develop skills in using ICT in teaching and learning by focusingon the foundation of "pre-service teacher" through "Studio TEACH" at the pre-service teacher institute. By doing this, when a pre-service teacher graduates, he/she will become a "professional teacher", who has the ability to integrate ICT in teaching and learning in the future. The institutions involved in the production and development of teachers can be used as a guide for policy makers to lead to concrete action to continue. Keywords: pre-service teacher development, ICT skills, integrating ICT in teaching and learning
As a borderlands' institution, we are developing a mission and vision for our HSI identity in the college of education, as well as in our university. We envision pedagogical practices embedded in our teacher preparation that are context specific to our bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural community; one that not only prepares PTs to effectively teach all students, but also promotes strong values for equity and social justice. For our Latinx PTs, this aim has two purposes: 1) to tailor our educational practices capitalizing on their unique strengths and addressing possible challenges in their professional development, and 2) preparing them to successfully promote their students' academic achievement through rigorous, culturally appropriate and sustainable practices (Paris, 2012). We draw on a growing body of seminal work in Latinx teacher preparation to theorize a set of border pedagogies for our context. These represent specific pedagogies that foster the development of Latinx teachers who are knowledgeable of the appropriate teaching practices for all types of students. Furthermore, we pursue practices that can help our students develop into advocates for social justice, aware of the many social and political forces impacting the schools where they will serve. These specific practices should take into consideration the specific cultural and professional identities of our preservice teachers. As a special interest research group within our college, aiming to develop an HSI identity that is context-based, we engaged in a meta-synthesis of professional literature that includes empirical research and theoretical work about the preparation of Latinx PTs in our border region. We foresee the application of these pedagogies for other regions where Latinx PTs can benefit; and envision furthering our research in the future, to explore metaphorical borders, including Latinx PTs' hybrid transcultural identities outside our geographical border.
The global learning crisis has highlighted the urgent need to improve the quality of education. COVID-19 disruptions have placed even greater focus on the learning improvement agenda, and the need to ensure disadvantaged children are not further left behind. Teacher development, and improving teaching quality, therefore is at the heart of many education systems' policies and programs. This paper presents some of the key considerations for improving teaching across three countries which are being investigated as part of a multi-year teacher development study series. This study series, commissioned by the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), involves the investigation of teacher development initiatives in Timor-Leste, Vanuatu and Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos). The overall aim of each study is to investigate: To what extent does the Australian investment produce improved teaching quality and improved student learning?
Teacher education towards teacher and learner autonomy is an ideological, value-laden choice whose purpose and outcomes need to be continuously scrutinised. The authors present three case studies where pre-service student teacher development practices were investigated, and discuss their value and shortcomings as regards their transformative direction. Our experience shows that criticality and role democratisation are difficult to achieve in this context, and that we need to develop further a scholarship of teacher education, as a way to uncover the forces that impinge upon it and to envision new possibilities that best serve the interests of teacher educators, teachers and ...
The spreading of the Covid-19 pandemic to many countries in the world since December 2019, including Indonesia, has made teaching and learning policies happen online. This creates many challenges, including the career development of teachers, especially in public schools. This must be handled considering that the positions filled with potential are based on the subjectivity of the leadership, and performance in government agencies must be objective and based on results with measurable quantity and quality. Based on the normative juridical study, two conclusions were drawn. First, developing a teaching career during the Covid-19 pandemic requires individual abilities and emotional maturity of above-average levels to make quick, accurate, and accountable decisions. Second, to produce maximum organizational performance, the government must regulate the concept of teacher career development whose quantity and quality are measurable, such as an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM).
In an attempt to identify ways to develop effective urban teachers, this study examined a grassroots form of teacher development. This year‑long study examined the efforts of a grassroots community based organization creating teachers‑led professional development for teachers. Teachers'ʹ perceptions were explored to understand how this approach to professional development impacted their pedagogy and the ways they believed they were able to more effectively serve their students. Utilizing critical pedagogy and postcolonial theory as analytic frames, this study deconstructed the complex process of teacher development in bi-�weekly inquiry group meetings. The findings from this research suggest that this teacher-�led inquiry group supported participants in developing the critical capacity to make sense of hegemonic discourses as they engaged in humanizing spaces for learning. Findings also reveal that participants leverage this teacher-�led space for learning to build their network of support and create curriculum that honored the lives and communities of Black and Latino students. The participants were a convenience sample of seven educators that voluntarily attended a bi-�monthly teacher-�led inquiry group during the 2012‑2013 school year, worked in public and charter schools in South Los Angeles, and taught across academic disciplines. This qualitative case study drew from ethnographic approaches relying on traditional data collection strategies such as field notes, a review of teachers' curriculum and other artifacts, and teacher interviews.
The Government of Vanuatu is undertaking significant primary education reforms, including major curriculum changes, to improve equitable access to and the quality of education. Since 2016, a new primary education curriculum has been introduced by stages, accompanied by a suite of in-service teacher training. The new curriculum promotes teaching practices that support new pedagogies focused on student-centred learning and community support, language transition and class-based assessment practices. These reforms are being supported by the Australian Government, through its Vanuatu Education Support Program (VESP). The Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has commissioned a study to investigate how the VESP is making a difference to the Government of Vanuatu's ongoing primary education reforms. This research is part of a multi-year study series undertaken by DFAT's Education Analytics Service to investigate teacher and learning development initiatives in three countries: Lao PDR, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu. The purpose of this summary is to provide a brief overview of findings and recommendations from the first year (2019) of the Vanuatu study.
This research is based on case studies of seven district teacher development centres (DTDCs) in KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The paper describes the perceptions of selected teachers regarding their professional learning and development experiences at these centres. The purpose of the study was to determine the role the centres play in supporting teachers' learning and development as stipulated in South African government policy. The study employed a qualitative research approach in which semi-structured interviews, observation, document analysis and field notes were used to generate data from six centre managers, two librarians, two ICT specialists and 46 teachers at the centres. Findings from the study indicated that the DTDCs create an ideal opportunity for teachers' professional learning with the presence of space, computer and science laboratories and libraries. However, the study noted that teachers seldom used these resources and used the centres mainly for professional development activities such as workshops and meetings. Our analysis concludes that at present, the centres are not supporting the full vision of the policy, and the potential of DTDCs to enhance teacher learning and development remains largely untapped.
Owing to the changes in economy and politics, the education system in Turkey has been exposed to educational reforms. One of the key elements in implementing the educational reforms into the classroom is the professional development of teachers, which has received a great deal of attention for a long time. Thus, the Ministry of National Education has implemented teacher development meetings and workshops to enhance the qualities of teachers. However, the study of Baran and Çağıltay (2006) reveal that not many teachers have engaged in the teacher development activities willingly since they feel that these activities do not contribute to their professional development. As Yumru (2000) suggests, a sense of ownership rests on the core of professional development of teachers. In this study, it was aimed to explore whether Critical Friends Group (CFG), a kind of teacher development program based on reflective teaching, can contribute to teachers? professional development through creating opportunities for them to share their experiences and dilemmas related to their teaching in collegiality. The researcher acted, as a participant observer, called CFG facilitator and 4 participant teachers were included in this study lasted 8 weeks. The data was collected using diary keeping, the researchers? field notes, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that Critical Friends Group programs could contribute to professional development of teachers by enabling teachers to work in collaboratively to improve their professional knowledge and teaching in a supportive and reflective professional community. ; Ekonomi ve siyasetteki değişimler, Türk Eğitim Sistemi'nde birtakım yenilikleri doğurmuştur. Sınıf ortamında eğitime yönelik yenilikleri gerçekleştirmenin temel unsurlarından biri de, uzun zamandır büyük önem verilen bir konu olan öğretmenlerin mesleki gelişimidir. Bu nedenle, Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı öğretmenlerin vasıflarını arttırmak amacıyla öğretmen gelişimine yönelik toplantı ve seminerler düzenlemektedir. Ancak Baran ve Çağıltay'ın (2006) çalışması pek çok öğretmenin bu çalışmaların kişisel mesleki gelişimlerine katkıda bulunmayacağını düşündükleri için öğretmen gelişimi çalışmalarına gönülsüzce katıldığını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Yumru'nun (2000) ileri sürdüğü üzere, öğretmenlerin mesleki gelişiminin temelinde aidiyet duygusu yatmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Eleştirel Arkadaş Grubu'nun, yansıtıcı öğretimi esas alan bir öğretmen gelişimi programı, öğretmenlerin mesleki gelişimine, onlara meslektaş dayanışması dahilinde tecrübe ve çelişkilerini paylaşabilecekleri bir ortam sunarak, katkıda bulunup bulunamayacağını araştırmak hedeflenmiştir. Araştırmacının Eleştirel Arkadaş Grubu yöneticisi olarak katılımcı gözlemci konumunda bulunduğu 8 hafta süren bu çalışmada, 4 katılımcı yer almıştır. Veriler günlük tutma, araştırmacının saha notları, anketler ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmelerle toplanmıştır. Bulgular, Eleştirel Arkadaş Grubu programlarının, öğretmenlerin mesleki gelişimine onlara mesleki bilgilerini arttırma ve aynı zamanda destekleyici ve yansıtıcı bir mesleki ortamda öğretmenlik yapma olanağı sunarak katkıda bulunabildiğini göstermektedir.
Continuing teacher professional development (CPTD) is regarded as key to teachers gaining essential pedagogical-content knowledge needed for the 21st century. Despite the existence of formal structures for this system in South Africa, policy implementation continues to present challenges. This study investigated constraints in the implementation of CPTD policy. The research question was 'What factors inhibit the implementation of CPTD policy in Western Cape education districts? The design was a qualitative case study with purposely-selected sample of principals, teachers, and provincial and district officers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and triangulated through document analysis. Data analysis involved colour-coding, categorisation and emergent themes. Results revealed that CPTD implementation frustrated teachers, resulting in negative attitudes, low morale and demotivation. Teachers perceived the CPTD as a compliance activity rather than as a tool for growth and development. This conclusion could imply that policymakers need to rethink ways of improving CPTD implementation.
This study is based on the assumption that to teach science nowadays implies to contribute to pupils/students' behavioral changes for promoting a better world in the perspective of a sustainable development (at the environment, social and economic domain). This implies to take into considerations in teachers practices educational international agendas, such as the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) and/or the Sustainable Development (SD) Agenda 2015-2030 of the United Nations, and local ones (e.g. MEA, 2008, 2014). One condition for glocalization through education to occur is to have high qualified science teachers, in particular those who continue their initial training, for example by doing master degrees. However, this post-graduation formation needs to incorporate the challenges which arise from those political and institutional agendas. The general aim of this study is to investigate how the Master Course in Science Education (2nd edition), developed in one public Institution of Teacher Education in Angola between 2011-2016, contributed towards teachers' empowerment to integrate in their teaching practices knowledge, strategies and resources associated to the international and national political educational agendas referred to above. The association of these agendas (international and national) should be seen in alignment with a glocalization strategy to be incorporated in science teaching. The empirical study reported here consists in the documental analysis of 27 master dissertations, approved between 2014 and 2016 in the scope of the Master Course mentioned. This analysis has been supported by a framework, build by the authors in which the following documents have been taken on board: (i) the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) & the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 (with its 17 SD Goals), (ii) the Continental education strategy for Africa 2016 – 2025,(iii) the national educational agendas (MEA, 2008, 2014) and vi) the research agenda of the Institution responsible for ...
Innovations are changing everything from school culture to student assessment. Changing educational needs of the student and advancement in technology has widen the area of responsibilities of teachers. Pre-service and in-service teachers training became crucial in this aspect. However, studies in field of teacher education point towards various lacunas in pre-service as well as in-service teacher education. In a bid to robust education system in national Capital, the Government of Delhi, began reforming school education in Delhi in 2015 by designing and successfully implementing large scale programs. Placement of Teacher Development Coordinator (TDC) in each school is one of such initiative introduced by Delhi Government through SCERT in July,2017 as part of the flagship programme of Mentor Teachers. The vision of this programme is to create a collaborative network of teacher-educators for professional development of all teachers teaching in DoE (Directorate of Education) schools for creating 'An education system where everyone learns together'. This programme was started with a view to strengthen the culture of sharing teachers' best teaching practice in the school system, and to identify and work on the specific needs of teachers in particular school to further strengthen the learning of all students. This paper presents a comprehensive understanding of Teacher Development Programme- an innovative project stated by Delhi Government.
Bibliography: leaves 486-504. ; The thesis is an action research study of the work of a university-based facilitator and a total of 34 teachers from four african primary schools in Cape Town between 1987 and 1989. The study is premised on the argument that teachers are important in developing quality schooling, and that teachers should be active producers of pedagogical knowledge, shaping the curriculum through their engagement in a process of reflection-on-practice. It examines a relatively under-researched area in action research studies - namely the role of the facilitator in the process of educational change. The reflective practitioners of the thesis title are both the university-based facilitator conducting 'second-order' action research into her own educational of practice, and the teachers Both levels of the 'first order' reflective practice which the facilitator tried to encourage reflection shape and are shaped as facilitator and teachers explore together the limits and possibilities of curriculum development. The second order research thus: informs the facilitator's action with teachers; generates practical knowledge for INSET; contributes to knowledge of staff development processes; contributes to the general literature on action research; and also provides a comparative dimension for those working in developing countries. The study outlines the historical and political context shaping educational work in schools between 1987 and 1989, including an account of the nature of intellectual production at african teachers' colleges. It highlights two key dilemmas in the facilitator's practice the dilemma of democratic vs directive practice, and the dilemma of only reforming the form and content of the curriculum vs the transformation of teaching. The study found that a recessive role for the facilitator was not appropriate where bantu education has severely limited teachers' exposure to alternative ideas of teaching and learning. The tension was for the facilitator to learn how to share expertise within a participatory framework in which teachers would take responsibility for their own learning. The study explains how teachers changed, or failed to change, in the areas of new methods, new materials and changing pedagogical assumptions - and the influence of the facilitator's interventions in all this. The limits of technical knowledge divorced from critical thinking, and the limits of emancipatory knowledge without technical skills are revealed in the work of both the facilitator and the teachers. A more nuanced reading of the reform-transformation dilemma, arising from the concrete experience of participants in this study, is suggested. Action research is evaluated as a project of possibility, both for teachers and for teacher-educators to research their own practice in pre- and in-service work. Based on the findings generated by this study, suggestions are made for democratic and reflective forms of INSET for teachers, as a contribution to the reconstruction of education in a democratic South Africa.
