The Africa Teachers Webinar Series is a monthly learning event that aims to provide education stakeholders with insights, best practices, and innovative approaches to strengthening Teacher Professional Development (TPD) across the continent. It highlights effective models, policy recommendations, and practical strategies for making TPD more accessible, relevant, and sustainable.

The third set of the Africa Teachers Webinar Series will concentrate on education for health and well-being, with three sessions planned as follows:

• October 9, 3pm (GMT+3): Promoting Learners’ Health, Well-being, and Life Skills: Practical Approaches for Pre-service Training for Teachers
• November 20, 2pm (GMT+3): Launch of “planning for Healthy and Thriving Learners”: Global Innovations
• December 11, 3pm (GMT+3): Supporting Teachers for Inclusive Education: School Eye Health and Other Programs for Children with Disabilities

Register now to follow the webinar series. Simultaneous interpretation is available in French and Portuguese.

Attend all three sessions in the third set to earn a digital certificate participation!

The series is co-sponsored by the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities, the African Union, the European Union’s Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa, and the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX), a joint endeavour with the International Development Research Centre, Canada. The third set is also supported by the UNESCO flagship programme - Our rights, Our lives, Our future (03), UNESCO's section of Health and Education and Inter-Agency Group on School Health and Nutrition. The webinar series is organized by UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa, which leads the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub and is a partner in the European Union’s Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa.

Happy to teach: Strengthening supportive school communities

Part III of UNESCO’s Happy Schools webinar series

In many school systems, happiness and academic achievement are seen as competing priorities. However, a growing body of global research shows that positive school environments are important levers for long-term learning outcomes and the well-being of students and teachers. Simply put, a happy learner will keep learning and a happy teacher will keep teaching.

UNESCO helps policy-makers understand the vital role of happiness in – and for – learning through the Happy Schools framework. The framework divides the concept of a 'happy school' into 4 pillars: people, process, place and principles. This framework helps governments adopt a system-wide approach to developing holistic policies that enable safe, supportive, and stimulating learning spaces where all students can learn and thrive.

On World Happiness Day 2023, UNESCO kicked off a Happy Schools webinar series to discuss each of the four pillars of framework in a dedicated discussion. This third installment will explore the people pillar to:

• Discuss systemic changes needed to improve relationships between teachers, students, parents, school leaders, staff, community members, and managers to establish and sustain positive learning environments where teachers are happy to teach and students are happy to learn.
• Share perspectives from around the world on the importance of supporting teacher well-being by strengthening the happiness of the school environment and attractiveness of the teaching profession.
• Encourage all to join Happy Schools in partnership and commit to happiness and a whole school approach to learning as the foundation of quality education.

Strong school-based relationships are the foundation of positive learning environments and outcomes. This webinar will celebrate World Teacher’s Day by highlighting the critical need to strengthen relationships between teachers, students, families, staff, communities and managers to ensure schools are happy places to teach and to learn.

Participants: Policy-makers, development partners, researchers, school leaders, teachers, young people and their guardians.

Format & session logistics: The webinar will take place on Zoom in English and Spanish.

Register here to participate