Teacher training and development: policy, practice, and capacity building

The purpose of this private video meeting for government and education officials, along with civil society leaders - organised in partnership with Brains Global - was to discuss one of the stand-out challenges for educators and governments in light of the COVID-19 pandemic; teacher training and continuous professional development (CPD).

With limitations on face-to-face teacher training and the new demands of blended learning requiring upskilling of teachers, policymakers are now faced with challenges and critical decisions on how to best build capacity whilst also delivering professional development within the teaching profession.

Participants were encouraged to discuss the actions and policies of their governments, and to make recommendations where appropriate. In this blog post, we shall be discussing the main takeaway points from the meeting, as well as tips and guidance on how we can further improve education policies and learning on a global basis. 

Why is Professional Development Important for Teachers?

The key to educational performance is having high-quality teachers. Their motivation, partnerships and leadership are all key to ensuring that the teaching community can deliver and meet the challenges of our time. The case for robust continuous professional development (CPD) is unquestionable given the huge changes that take place during the 30-to-40-year career of a teacher. Hence, it follows that for teachers to keep up with such changes, continuous training is required throughout their working career. Now, the case for online CPD is exceptionally strong. 

How the Covid-19 Pandemic Affected Teacher Training and Education

So, how exactly did the Covid-19 pandemic affect our education system and teacher training? On a whole, the pandemic switched the way that teachers delivered lessons and communicated to students. It rushed the world of education into online teaching and home-schooling. Parents played a larger role in their children’s learning, with ‘Zoom’ classes becoming the ‘norm’. Although technology has been many education system’s saving grace, this has not been the same for emerging and developing countries. Many teachers in said countries do not have the online tools and necessary devices to be able to teach online, on top of connectivity issues surrounding their area’s ICT infrastructure. For example, in Ghana, the government has succeeded in providing WIFI for schools, yet a lot more needs to be done in rural areas, so that inequality in education (read more about here ) does not continue to impact disadvantaged students. 

With regards to teacher training during the pandemic, online training has been well received with many finding the sessions engaging and interesting. The trainers have succeeded in designing interactive sessions, with the majority using platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Classroom. Over the next few years, we will continue to see online teaching and teacher training shift to the forefront, therefore it is imperative that global education policies take into account full access for developing countries too.

Types of Training and Development for Teachers:

The meeting brought to light a plethora of factors impacting teacher training and development, for the better or worse, here, we have highlighted some of the stand-out ones:

Changing Mindsets
The shift in mindset when it comes to responding to the needs of the new digital generation is having the biggest impact on teacher professional development. Teachers cannot be expected to automatically know and understand all new digital skill sets, it is therefore the role of the government to put these structures into place to ensure uniform teaching standards. 

Motivation
All types of training and development for teachers need to have motivation at the core. The system should motivate teachers with rewards that fit their desire to improve their skills and capacities. 

Online Pedagogy
Education is an all-encompassing social system that thrives on creativity and collaboration, but how can we ensure online learning continues to promote these skills? It starts with teacher training, which will require more instructional designers to support them when first constructing their online lessons. Education has previously lagged in adopting new technology, so moving forward with the aim of creating world-class digital platforms for the education system is key. There is no reference point of what a perfect online class looks like, so it will be a learning curve for everyone, however we can’t stress that the entire socialisation aspect of online learning and pedagogy needs to be considered. 

Collaboration
A popular idea discussed would be to create an ‘ideas pool’ for teacher training and development, in particular regions with common languages and practices. Here, they could share their experiences in online teaching and training, alongside communicating different ideas and tips on how to teach in an online classroom environment. Teachers, school leaders and peer groups could all learn from each other and discuss ideas on how to cope moving forward. 

Evolving CPD
Since the pandemic took hold, the importance of remote teacher training and development has become essential. This, in turn, means trainers need to plan for a more virtual environment. Governments have been challenged with not just the upskilling of teachers, but their trainers who have had a lifetime of being effective in classroom and face-to-face situations. CPD must embrace its own regular updates as new innovations appear in education technology. 

Equitable Access
Digital learning is now non-negotiable, and many are concerned about the inequality of access and danger of a digital divide in education. Equitable access is now an essential priority, with the right to education being matched by the right to access. Issues of equity and gaps in learning have always been there – the digital education experience has all but further exposed them. 

Mental Health
Mental health has become a major issue of COVID-19’s impact on education. Both the new stresses on teachers and concern over the mental well-being of students missing the pastoral care of the school day. With a limited institutional playbook for this in education, policymakers are now required to give greater consideration to social and emotional learning.

Importance of Continuing Professional Development for Teachers

Education has moved on from just focusing on student subjects and being a knowledge-based system; it requires teachers to grow their skills simultaneously. The need for continuous professional development of teachers is fundamental, for not just their own job satisfaction, but the students' growth potential also. There is an imperative need to equip students with core skills around critical-thinking, problem-solving, leadership and communication. Thus, it makes sense that their teachers feel confident in teaching these strategies with access to the right information and tools; further highlighting the benefits of teacher training and development.
In terms of professional development, they are now looking more at the micro-credentials of teacher competency and designing programmes that support greater digital literacy. Everyone has had to change their mindset, planning for a more permanent virtual environment, and appreciating that it is going to be a long time before large face-to-face training sessions return.

Adapting to new regimes and training policies is going to be fundamental. It used to be the 'norm' that teachers were trained in colleges of education, taught face-to-face and learnt how to teach at the front of a classroom. Thanks to COVID-19, teachers now need to be taught how to teach in an online classroom, whilst also maintaining pedagogical standards, and monitoring their student's wellbeing and mental health. Therefore, it is a major factor for educational policies to take into consideration - the shift to online learning and training. COVID-19 has brought many lessons - not least of all that digital learning is now non-negotiable, and we must come together to diminish inequality of educational access and the danger of the digital divide.

Moving Forward: Teacher Training and Development

Policy needs to evolve in the post-Covid world; for example, if professional development points were only applicable in face-to-face training, then they need also to be available for online training. Critically, blended learning is not just about incorporating technology into teaching, but about how to teach students both inside and outside the classroom and accordingly how to spot the gaps and deal with students who have a variety of different experiences. Professor McLaughlin will shortly be publishing a new book on the implementation of educational reform and her experience in working with schools in the UK and Kazakhstan has pointed to how the issues of equity and gaps in learning have always been there – the digital education experience is now forcing us to face up to them more. 

Now the education system is having to learn faster than at any time before. In summary, the need for continuous professional development of teachers has never been more important. If we are going to come out from the pandemic better and stronger than ever, then we need to adapt our education policies and methods of teacher training and development to be more informed and relevant.