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Event
  • 31.03.2023

Survey on Culture and Arts Education

​​​​​​The survey is open, deadline 15 April 2023. Link to the survey.

This online survey aims to seek the views of educators in culture and arts education. It was designed by the World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE), in consultation with UNESCO. The World Alliance for Arts Education is a network of four organizations: International Drama/Theatre and Education Association (IDEA), International Society for Education through Art (InSEA), International Society for Music Education (ISME) and World Dance Alliance (WDA).

Culture and arts education take on complex meanings to different people worldwide. Convinced  that culture and arts education, in its diversity, shape a more sustainable and peaceful future for people and the planet, we are asking professionals working in culture and arts education to help us identify the current and near future challenges and needs of teachers and educators, cultural and social workers, artists, as well as community organizers around the world who are often at the frontline of addressing the shifting priorities and challenges in this field.

The results of this questionnaire will contribute to the global consultation process to develop a UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education. The development of the UNESCO Framework responds to the call by Member States in 2021 to update guidance to address current trends, issues and priorities in culture and arts education, as well as factoring in a broader understanding of culture that has emerged in recent years, including heritage, the cultural and creative industries, and the influence of digital technologies.

The 20-minute online survey comprises a series of 18 questions. The survey is being distributed through relevant networks of the WAAE and UNESCO. Participation is voluntary and the data collected is anonymous. If you wish to participate in this study, survey completion will represent consent.

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

Event
  • 15.03.2021

Gender-responsive Education Toolkit for Teachers, Teacher Educators, School Managers and Curriculum Developers in Africa

  • Background

Gender biases and stereotypes are continuously impeding girls and women to unleash their full potentials in development processes for the befit of themselves and their community at large. In education, lack of quality and relevant curriculum including gender biased teaching and learning methods, together with absence of safe learning environments are among the critical factors hindering girls from thriving to self-reliance and empowerment through education. In most African countries, these challenges are outstanding requiring concerted efforts by all stakeholders. Though there are recent developments in education systems in terms of improved gender party particularly at primary level through policy actions, there is an un met need by education professionals, including teachers to improve knowledge and skills of gender mainstreaming in day today practices of education provision, with the aim of ensuring continued and sustainable improvements on education outcomes of girls.


In support of national efforts in Africa, the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA), has been providing targeted technical support for member states to improve institutional capacities on gender mainstreaming in education and teacher training. Recently, partnering with UNESCO-HNA project, IICBA has developed a publication entitled: Gender-responsive Education Toolkit for Teachers, Teacher Educators, School Managers and Curriculum Developers in Africa, to support efforts by education institutions in the continent.

This webinar introduces the toolkit to participants with presentations on content and main functions of the toolkit, including discussion on how end users are supposed to utilize the toolkit for intend education purposes. The toolkit addresses target SDG 4.5, aiming to eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable. It also supports the implementation of the AU strategy on gender equality and women’s empowerment 2018 -2028, which sets forth a plan to realize Aspiration 6 of the African Union’s Agenda 2063: “An Africa where development is people driven, relying upon the potential offered by people, especially its women and youth and caring for children.”

  • Objectives of the webinar

The main objective of this webinar is to support promotion of gender equality in education systems through the use of gender mainstreaming tools. Specific objectives include:

  1. Introduce the content and usability of the toolkit
  2. Encourage participants to indulge in continuous learning and practices
  3. Get feedback on usability of the toolkit for education purposes in accordance with its intended objectives
  • Expected outcomes

The expected outcomes of the webinar are:

  1. Knowledge and skills on using the toolkit for teaching and learning, curriculum development and teacher training.
  2. Inventories on opportunities and potential challenges in using the toolkit in Africa
  • Target audience

The Webinar is open to all education stakeholders including school leaders, teachers, teacher educators, partners in education, and education authorities at diverse levels in Africa and beyond that are interested and engaged in girls’ education.

Join the webinar here.

  • Webinar program

programme

Photo credit: Doug Linstedt/Unsplash