TESS-India OER: Collaborative practices to improve teacher education

As the numbers of children attending school in India rises rapidly ensuring a productive learning experience for every student is a huge challenge. Quality is central to the Government of India’s education policy; major education goals recognise that changes in teachers’ classroom practice are critical to improving students’ learning in elementary and secondary schools across India. This paper describes the rationale and pedagogy of an innovative response to these challenges harnessing contemporary ideas on ‘open’, learning and the increasing availability of network technology in the form of a multilingual Open Educational Resources (OER) teacher education toolkit. The main section of the paper then describes the processes for multi-stakeholder participation in the development of the elements of the OER toolkit and the paper concludes with a discussion of the ‘open’ dimension of the project and how this enables ‘local’ authentication and mediation of use of the OER in each of the project states

Building new modes of teacher education: research analyses for the Teacher in Education in Sub Saharan Africa programme

The provision of basic education for all children by 2015 is now one of the world’s major educational objectives. Through UNESCO’s Education for All (EFA) commitments and the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) national and international attention has been focussed on measures to achieve this end. There has been some progress. The number of school age children with no access to schooling is dropping (from x to y in the period 1999–2005?). There is, however, some way to go in terms of the basic provision and the gender parity that the MDGs seek to achieve. Most significantly attention has now turned to the challenge of providing sufficient teachers of the appropriate quality to staff such rapid expansion. The focus of enquiry of this proposed keynote symposium is the ways in which different forms of research are contributing to: • analyses of factors impacting on teacher supply and retention; • developing conceptual understanding of the ‘life’ experiences of teachers working in challenging circumstances, with a special emphasis on female teachers in rural communities; • evidence about the nature and effectiveness of new modes of education and training. The symposium papers will explore the different research and investigative methodologies being drawn on and the different forms of international co-operation and collaboration being used. The papers will explore the issues of teacher supply, retention and education through educational and development studies, theories of change and intervention. A key issue the symposium will address is the need to bring together theoretically and through research practice the related separate specialist domains of education and development enquiry. In doing this the papers will provide a new patterning or mapping of the literature. The five papers draw particularly on the work of UNESCO, including the widely respected annual monitoring reports evaluation the progress to EFA and the new Teacher Training in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) initiative (see tessaprogramme.org). One of the papers will look at the research around teachers in Sub-Saharan Africa by reference to developing country contexts in other parts of the world. It has been argued that the challenge to provide schooling and teachers for the children of Sub-Saharan Africa represents the world’s biggest educational challenge (Moon, 2007). In identifying key research findings, for example significant variables impacting on teacher supply and retention, the relationship between teacher quality and pupil achievement and comparative evidence on the effectiveness of different modes of education and training, the symposium will point to the ways in which researchers in the field of education and the research community generally can contribute to increasing capacity in this enormously important area

A new paradigm for teacher education: supported, open teaching and learning at the Open University

In this paper we draw on our experience over the last twelve years with three large scale distance education programmes for UK teachers to suggest factors which need to be considered by those embarking on large scale distance learning teacher education programmes. We focus on three programmes: a pre-service programme in initial teacher education, the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE); and two in-service programmes, the Learning Schools Programme (LSP) and TeachandLearn.net. which have made been significant in promoting access, entitlement and diversity. We suggest that in each case the programme structure and design was influenced by the interplay of a number of factors: the nature of teacher professionalism; current policies and priorities; financial constructs; technological tools and the regulatory framework. A number of themes emerge from analysis of participant data together with evaluation evidence back from institutions and individuals participating in these programmes. These can be identified as: (1) linear versus modular structures; (2) the importance of broking between the university and the school settings; (3) interactions of programme elements; (4) the role played by contemporary forms of ICTs. We draw together our experiences and research data for these programmes to suggest characteristics of the next generation of teacher education programmes

Supporting induction to the teaching profession for women in Malawi

Gender parity in primary and secondary education has yet to be achieved in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Malawi. The presence of female teachers is recognised as positively impacting on girls’ enrolment and learning success, but in many rural areas in Malawi, there are few qualifi ed female teachers working in primary or secondary schools. This paper contributes to the current debates on how to address this gap in qualifi ed female teacher recruitment and retention in rural areas. One suggested solution to breaking the cycle of low female achievement in rural areas is the use of distance education to prepare local women to become teachers in their own communities. In the programme reported on in this paper, aspiring female teachers are supported to take on the role of “learning assistants” in their local community primary schools while studying to achieve the qualifi cations necessary for application to a formal primary teacher training course. Using applications, interviews and workshop data from the early stages of the programme, the backgrounds and motivations of applicants to the programme are explored. The paper also discusses the implications for the design of this distance learning programme, emerging constraints on the achievement of programme intentions and areas for further study.Proceedings of the 4th biennial International Conference on Distance Education and Teachers’ Training in Africa (DETA) held at the Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique, 3-5 August 2011

Supporting induction to the teaching profession for women in Malawi

Gender parity in primary and secondary education has yet to be achieved in many countries in Sub Saharan Africa including Malawi. The presence of female teachers is recognised as one factor positively impacting on girls’ enrolment and learning success but in many rural areas in Malawi there are few qualified female teachers working in primary or secondary schools. This paper contributes to the current debates on how to address this gap in qualified female teacher recruitment and retention in rural areas. We suggest one solution to break the cycle of low female achievement in rural areas is through use of distance education to prepare local women to take on teaching roles within their own communities. In the programme reported here aspiring female teachers are supported to take on the role of ‘learning assistants’ in their local community primary school whilst studying to achieve the qualifications necessary for application to a formal primary teacher training course. Using applications, interviews and workshop data from the early stages of the programme, we explore the backgrounds and motivations of applicants to the programme and implications for the design of this distance learning programme, emerging constraints on the achievement of programme intentions and areas for further study

MOOC adaptation and translation to improve equity in participation

There is an urgent need to improve elementary and secondary school classroom practices across India and the scale of this challenge is argued to demand new approaches to teacher professional learning.  Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) represent one such approach and which, in the context of this study, is considered to provide a means by which to transcend traditional training processes and disrupt conventional pedagogic practices. This paper offers a critical review of a large-scale MOOC deployed in English, and then in Hindi, to support targeted sustainable capacity building within an education development initiative (TESS-India) across seven states in India.  The study draws on multiple sources of participant data to identify and examine features which stimulated a buzz around the MOOCs, leading to over 40,000 registrations and a completion rate of approximately 50% for each of the two MOOCs

It takes a village to raise a teacher: the Learning Assistant programme in Sierra Leone

This is a report on research funded by Plan International on the impact of Learning Assistant (LA) component of Girls Education Challenge Sierra Leone. The LA programme has enabled nearly 500 young women to train as teachers in remote rural areas where schools are understaffed and there are few female teachers. The LA programme provides a pathway to teaching through guided distance study and in-school work experience. This research examines empowering and constraining factors of the LA programme. The research draws on interviews in two rural locations with 18 participants: Learning Assistants themselves, and those who work alongside and support them: headteachers, class teachers, subject tutors, community leaders, family members and programme staff

Promoting gender inclusion in a distance learning course to increase female recruitment to teaching

The paper discusses data from an open distance learning programme ‘Supporting women into teaching in rural Malawi’ funded by the Scottish Government and designed and led by the Open University UK in partnership with FAWEMA ( Forum for African Women Educationalists in Malawi). Recruiting more women into teaching is seen as supporting girls’ continued participation in primary schooling, particularly in rural areas. This access programme offers participants distance learning study to achieve the qualifications necessary for application to a formal primary teacher training course combined with practical experience as a ‘learning assistant’ in their local primary school. Support is provided by a local tutor, usually a secondary school teacher. Programme materials adopt a participatory approach to learning recognising learning as a transformation of identity, where identity is the pivot between the individual and the collective. This focuses attention on the affordances made available to learners to negotiate ways of being a student within the systems of relations in the programme. Hence the tutor –learner relationship is crucial. School subjects have values attached to them that reflect their gendered sociocultural legacies. These influence tutors and learners and mediate their interactions shaping the possibilities for female learners to develop identities as successful students. Tutor mediation thus poses critical challenges to achieving programme aspirations. Interview and workshop data indicate that for many tutors the approach is in tension with their ‘teacher –centred’ pedagogic practice and reveal how they attribute learners’ previous lack of success to particular behaviours and innate abilities that reflect gendered beliefs. The discussion considers how to disrupt tutor beliefs and practices so that identities of competency and belonging as subject learners and novice teachers are extended to, and experienced by learners. The implications for tutor induction and practice on distance learning programmes to advance gender equality are also drawn out

Education Workforce Initiative: Initial Research

The purpose of this initial research is to offer evidenced possibilities in the key areas of education workforce roles, recruitment, training, deployment and leadership, along with suggested areas for further research to inform innovation in the design and strengthening of the public sector education workforce. The examples described were identified through the process outlined in the methodology section of this report, whilst we recognise that separation of examples from their context is problematic – effective innovations are highly sensitive to context and uncritical transfer of initiatives is rarely successful. The research aims to support the Education Workforce Initiative (EWI) in moving forward with engaging education leaders and other key actors in radical thinking around the design and strengthening of the education workforce to meet the demands of the 21st century. EWI policy recommendations will be drawn from a number of country level workforce reform activities and research activity associated with the production of an Education Workforce Report (EWR). This research has informed the key questions, approach and structure of the EWR as outlined in the Education Workforce Report Proposal. Issues pertaining to teaching and learning in primary and secondary education are at the centre of the research reported here; the focus is on moving towards schools as safe places where all children/ young people are able to engage in meaningful activity. The majority of the evidence shared here relates to teachers and school leaders; evidence on learning support staff, district officials and the wider education workforce is scant. Many of the issues examined are also pertinent to the early childhood care and education sector but these are being examined in depth by the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative. Resourcing for the Education Workforce was out of scope of this initial research but the EC recognises, as outlined in the Learning Generation Report, that provision of additional finance is a critical factor in achieving a sustainable, strong and well-motivated education workforce, particularly but not exclusively, in low and middle income countries. The next stage of EWI work will consider the relative costs of current initiatives and modelling of the cost implications of proposed reforms. EWI aims to complement the work on teacher policy design and teacher career frameworks (including salary structures) being undertaken by other bodies and institutions such as Education International, the International Task Force on Teachers for 2030 and the Teachers’ Alliance, most particularly by bringing a focus on school and district leadership, the role of Education Support Professionals (ESPs) and inter-agency working

Designing teacher professional development with ICTs to support system-wide improvement in teaching

This working paper from the TPD@Scale Coalition for the Global South argues that harnessing the power of information and communications technologies (ICTs) is essential to address the challenge of providing equitable, quality TPD for all teachers. Drawing on scholarship and initiatives in diverse contexts, it proposes the TPD@Scale Framework to guide the design and implementation of high-quality, equitable, and efficient professional development at scale for teachers. The TPD@Scale Framework is specifically concerned with meeting the professional learning needs of large numbers of teachers with diverse characteristics and skills, many of whom have limited access to resources and poor social conditions of work