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Book
  • pdf
  • 16.10.2020
  • FR  |  ES

UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers

The ICT CFT Version 3 is intended to inform teacher-training policies and programmes to strengthen the use of ICT in Education. Its target audience is teacher-training personnel, educational experts...
Event
  • 21.09.2020

Rebuild Education Summit - A virtual summit giving teachers a voice on how their leadership can rebuild education

COVID-19 has changed education systems forever. Please join us this 9 October at 12:00 BST for the “Rebuild” Summit, a global conversation on how teacher leadership can rebuild education.

 

Hosted by the Varkey Foundation, “Rebuild” will bring together different voices to collectively reimagine the future of education. The event will hear from some of the world’s best teachers on how they have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

It will convene discussion groups for hundreds of participants to think about education in a post-COVID world. And it will attempt to answer three critical questions about the future of education:

 

  • How do we reopen schools? Identifying innovative models of teacher leadership and best practice from reopened classrooms and schools;
  • How do we rebuild educationLearning from teachers around the world about what’s worked and what hasn’t worked for their students during global school closures;
  • How do we reimagine learning? Reimagining education systems to put quality and equity at the heart of the learning process post COVID-19.

We look forward to seeing you at the summit! Please follow this link to register and be part of the conversation and, if you can, invite others to join the conversation.

Blog
  • 10.09.2020

Teachers of today on teaching in the future

Five years have passed since the UN set its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and there is serious concern the world is not on track to achieve them. Even before the COVID crisis, a July 2019 report warned that progress has been slow, with inaction on the “existential threat” of climate change having the potential to compromise all other SDGs.

In order for teachers to contribute to achieve Target SDG 4 – which aims to ensure quality education for all – they must be supported through the unfolding challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

The Teacher Task Force 12th Policy Dialogue Forum, which was held in Dubai in December 2019, brought together educators to discuss how teachers’ experiences and needs will change over the next decade. Attendees debated how teachers may seize opportunities and show resilience in a rapidly-changing world, while contributing to a more equitable and sustainable future.

The Forum recommended that models of teaching, teacher training, and professional support for teachers must evolve as the meaning of a ‘foundational education’ shifts; for instance, versatile future-facing skills like critical thinking, digital skills, and entrepreneurship can be at odds with traditional top-down educational models, and remain on the periphery in many countries. It also called for teachers’ education to be adapted to brace for coming crises, which could result in more large, linguistically diverse, and virtual classrooms.

 

How classes could change

Teachers warned that it is “increasingly urgent” to prepare for large class sizes, multilingual classrooms, and scarcity of resources, particularly as migration – which can drive these challenges – is likely to increase in the face of climate change and political instability.

Teachers are already grappling directly with climate change as flooding, wildfires, and other extreme weather disrupts education infrastructure and networks; Dr Natalio D Wheatley, Education Minister of the British Virgin Isles, told the Forum that 90 per cent of the territory’s educational infrastructure was destroyed by a “devastating” Category 5 hurricane in 2017.

 

Preparing for future crises

Education systems can prepare for crises by taking cues from flexible teacher training and continuous professional development models which have been adapted to crisis settings. For instance, the Teachers in Crisis Contexts Collaboration created an open-source training pack to quickly build basic competencies for unqualified and under-qualified teachers recruited to teach in emergency settings. It was deployed in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, where just three per cent of children eligible for secondary schooling enroll, largely due to a shortage of teachers.

Teachers called for training in pedagogies that leave behind rigid concepts of didactic teaching and rote learning, and instead seek child-centred approaches that support every child with consideration for their prior experiences and education. This is essential for teaching children who have lived through distressing experiences such as displacement.

William Mushobya, a teacher at Jamhuri Primary School, Kenya, explained that his school handles many refugee children with trauma and psychosocial issues: “Children from conflict areas have limited social skills and need a lot of guidance and counselling,” he said. Training to prepare teachers for diverse and challenging educational settings could include units focused on wellbeing, stress management and inclusive education. Save the Children Jordan and MIT’s TREE programme, for example, aims to promote education of refugee children by focusing on teachers’ social and socio-emotional traits with the hope that the school can become a more friendly, nurturing and inclusive environment.

 

Developing digital

Over the next 10 years, education systems must respond not just to emerging challenges but also to emerging opportunities like technological advances. Digital technology offers almost unlimited opportunities for teachers – from accessing open-source resources to undergoing professional training remotely – and the Covid-19 pandemic has proved that the internet can be a lifeline for educators in crisis settings.

Yet there are serious disparities in access to digital infrastructure and remote learning is not possible for at least 500 million students: “Private schools in urban areas are investing in online schooling for their pupils. However, the level of investment is not standardised and not consistent among schools,” commented Nadya Faquir, a teacher from Mozambique. “Online education is not a feasible option in a country where most people have no access to the internet.” In order to expand these opportunities, teachers supported calls for sustainable and socially-responsive investment in digital infrastructure.

Across the globe, there is wide disparity in access to resources, infrastructure, and current levels of educational attainment. As teachers and education systems work towards the goal of guaranteeing inclusive, equitable and quality education for all, it is important to remember that – while there is shared interest in modernising models of teaching to prepare teachers for new responsibilities and diverse, challenging classrooms – there is no one-size-fits-all solution for teachers.

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Consult the full report from the 12th Policy Dialogue Forum on The Futures of Teaching in English, French and Arabic.

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This blog is part of a series of stories addressing the importance of the work of, and the challenges faced by teachers in the lead up to this year’s World Teachers’ Day celebrations.

Event
  • 28.08.2020

Seminar Series on The Future of the Teaching Profession in Africa 2020

Teacher Professionalism & Curriculum in an Age of Disruption: The Impact of Pandemics and Other Crises on Education Systems

Education International (EI), International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (TTF), Open Society Foundations (OSF), and UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) are organising the third in a three-part seminar series on The Future of the Teaching Profession in Africa. Building on the learning and outcomes of the two previous seminars and in light of the current disruption in teaching and learning worldwide, the theme for the 2020 seminar is Teacher Professionalism & Curriculum in an Age of Disruption: The Impact of Pandemics and Other Crises on Education Systems. This seminar contributes to the realisation of the objectives of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA), specifically in the area of Teacher Development, and supports the work of the CESA Teacher Development Cluster. This seminar also supports the work of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030.

The concept note can be consulted here: 

Please note that there will be three virtual seminars on 15, 22, and 29 September and the final one will be held on 6 October. The exact hour will be confirmed soon. 

News
  • 24.08.2020

Seeking qualified experts to explore the future of the teaching profession

UNESCO is seeking qualified experts to explore the future of the teaching profession. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and in alignment with UNESCO’s initiative on the Futures of Education, UNESCO will commission a series of research papers and think pieces to investigate key issues and trends that will impact the future of teachers and teaching in four key thematic areas:

  1. Students and curriculum;
  2. Pedagogies and learning environments;
  3. Teacher education and development; and
  4. Teacher leadership and governance.

More details can be found in the Request for Proposals.

Deadline for submissions is 11 September 2020.

Meeting document
  • pdf
  • 11.06.2020
  • FR  |  AR

The Futures of Teaching - Final Report

This report summarizes the core thinking on the future of teaching discussed at the 12th Policy Dialogue Forum in Dubai in December 2019, drawing on examples of emerging approaches and good practice...
Presentation
  • pdf
  • 08.04.2020

AI and the future of education

Presentation made by Dr Nicky Mohan during the Mobile Learning Week 2019 Strategy Lab titled "Using AI to support teachers and teacher development".