TPD@Scale concepts and principles

1.1 What is TPD?

What do you understand by ‘teacher professional development’? Compare your ideas with ours.

This is our definition of effective teacher professional development:

‘activities that develop an individual’s skills, knowledge, expertise and other characteristics as a teacher’ (OECD, 2009, p. 49)
learning that includes formal and informal experiences
a long-term and continuous process that includes regular opportunities and experiences planned systematically to promote growth and development in the profession (Darling-Hammond, et al., 2017)
a systems approach that is adopted to strategically develop high-quality teachers at scale in a cost-effective way (Asian Development Bank, 2017)

As you can see from this definition, TPD@Scale is not a set of structured lesson plans, or a teacher’s guide to the student textbook – although these resources for teachers do have value and purposes.

Notice that our working definition of TPD operates at the systemic level and at the individual level. The definition focuses on individual growth that is systemically planned and sustained.

TPD@Scale is fundamentally different to the ‘cascade’ model of TPD.

In face-to-face cascade models of TPD, national expert instructors train regional or divisional trainers who, in turn, train district trainers, who then reproduce this training to school leaders and teachers. A small number of educators at the ‘top’ end of the cascade may experience high-quality learning, but the quality of TPD diminishes the farther it travels down the ‘cascade’. High quality experiences, learning and resources do not reliably ‘trickle down’ to teachers at lower levels of access and provision. This is particularly true for rural teachers and teachers in underserved communities.

TPD@Scale is about scaling through adaptation – rather than scaling through replication, adoption or re-invention. Scale is achieved through the widespread use of model programmes that are modified according to the needs of different users. In TPD@Scale programmes, the creative use of ICTs aims to achieve more equitable distribution of quality TPD for all teachers.

Watch this brief presentation about scaling and how we scale teacher professional development to achieve the impacts that matter – improvement in classroom teaching practices.

Disclaimer: This video has been uploaded for testing purposes only. Not for quotation or circulation.

1.2 TPD@Scale principles

Start by reading this mini case study of TPD@Scale in Honduras.

Mapping teachers’ access to ICTs for TPD@Scale

In Honduras the GPE – KIX project is adapting and scaling teacher professional development mediated by technologies, to improve the access to quality training for all teachers in the country. First, field research mapped teachers’ internet connectivity, possession of digital devices and geographical location (rural / urban). This mapping identified three broad groups of teachers to consider in planning large scale ICT mediated TPD:

(i) teachers who have high access to the internet and live in urban centres;

(ii) teachers with limited internet access who live in semi-urban/rural areas, and

(iii) teachers with very occasional internet access, basic smartphones, who live in rural areas. These teachers work in the most socioeconomically and culturally disadvantaged areas of the country.

Three different digital environments for TPD are being used to reach the three groups of teachers:

(i) the Ministry of Education virtual platform (ibertel) based on Moodle

(ii) a Moodle application for smartphones, and

(iii) WhatsApp.

In this brief example, careful consideration of teachers’ access to ICTs makes TPD more equitable and efficient, and scalable.

The example from Honduras shows how programme designers can plan from the start to achieve the three core principles of TPD@Scale:

Equity: fair access to learning for teachers that helps them respond to the learning needs of all their students, so that student participation, learning and achievement will increase.
Quality: movement in teachers’ practice that will enable greater student learning.
Efficiency: the use of resources to ensure that desired outcomes are achieved in an equitable way.

For teacher professional development, there is always a ‘balancing act’ between these three elements.

TPD@Scale triangle: Quality, Equity, Efficiency

For instance, to reach teachers who work with marginalised groups, so these teachers have equitable access to TPD that helps them improve student learning, it might be necessary to have TPD that costs more and requires more contact time – this would mean higher quality, but less efficiency.

1.3 Your experiences of TPD@Scale principles

Think about these questions. There are no right or wrong answers here. You can jot down your answers in your Personal Blog.

(a) How do you think ‘equity’ is different to ‘equality’? Give an example from your professional experience.

(b) In your local, regional or national context, what would equity in teacher professional development look like?

(c) Think of a successful TPD programme that utilises ICTs, that you know of. How could this model be implemented further, for more teachers in other locations, where conditions are different? What would need to be changed or adapted, and why?

(d) Think of a successful TPD programme that does not currently use ICTs. Could this programme be expanded to more teachers with the use of ICTs? What type of ICT might be appropriate, given what you know about teachers’ access to connectivity and to digital devices? How could ICTs make the programme more equitable, efficient, or higher quality?

Now click to compare your ideas with some of our ideas. Compare your experiences with others, if you are working in a group.

‘Equality’ tends to mean giving everyone the same thing. ‘Equity’ recognises that we do not all have the same needs or starting points. Individuals may need to receive something different (not equal) in order to overcome barriers to learning. ‘Equality’ can mean treating every student, or every teacher, the same. ‘Equity’ means making sure that every student, and every teacher, has the support they need to be successful.

Equity in education has two dimensions. The first is fairness: ensuring that personal and social circumstances – for example gender, socio-economic status or ethnic origin – should not be an obstacle to achieving educational potential. The second is inclusion: ensuring a basic minimum standard of education for all – for example that everyone should be able to read, write and do simple arithmetic (OECD 2008).

When we focus on equality, we think of everyone having the same rights, opportunities, and resources. Equality is beneficial, but it may not address specific needs. For instance, giving every teacher a laptop might not help teachers who have very low digital competencies; giving teachers training resources in English will not help teachers who do not use English; training teachers to use single-grade lesson plans will not help teachers who have large, multi-grade classes.

Equity in teacher professional development means putting models and systems in place to make sure that every teacher has an equal chance to learn and improve. Equitable TPD programmes recognise teachers’ different starting points.

Information and communication technologies can improve teachers’ access, engagement, and learning outcomes. In the example from Honduras, field testing first identified the different levels of connectivity and the different technologies that teachers have across the country. With this knowledge, a high quality TPD model could be adapted to be more equitable and efficient.

In Course 2, you will read about the very wide range of ICTs, online and offline, that are currently being used to achieve TPD@Scale across the Global South.

1.4 Balancing equity, quality and efficiency

In your region or area, what are the most challenging problems of TPD in terms of quality, efficiency, and equity? You can jot down your answers in your Personal Blog.

Can you think of examples in your professional context:

when a programme was less efficient in order to be equitable and high-quality, so TPD was delivered to more teachers, or at higher standards, but at extra cost and resourcing?
when a programme was less equitable in order to be high-quality or efficient, so TPD was available to fewer teachers, but it was high-standard and cost-effective?
when a programme lost quality in order to be equitable, so TPD was delivered to more teachers, but at a lower standard?

Now click to see some of our ideas. Share your ideas with others, if you are working in a group.

1.5 Design for scale, adapt for inclusion

The TPD@Scale model is to design for scale and localise for inclusion. This is how TPD@Scale aims to resolve the EQE triangle.

Designing for scale and localising for inclusion involves the widespread use of a general programme model that is adapted and modified. The adapted models create professional learning that responds to local perspectives and needs.

Why is this important?

It can be fairly easy to design a model of teacher professional development. It is far less easy to make this accessible to all teachers. Inclusion and access must be understood - and acted on - at local, district and national levels. Therefore:

TPD should be adapted to reflect local problems, for example, meeting the learning needs of displaced children.
TPD should be adapted to meet the needs of different groups of teachers, for example, refugee teachers.
TPD should be translated into local languages
TPD should be available on different online and offline platforms, for different levels of connectivity
TPD should give opportunities for peer collaboration and support in different forms: online, offline/asynchronous, in person, through telephone calls or texting.

In the next activity, you will read another mini-case study of TPD@Scale.

1.6 A case study of TPD@Scale in India

Watch two short presentations about TESS India: Teacher Education through School Based Support in India. The first presentation is about the key components of TESS India. The second presentation is about an online course that TESS India provided.

As you watch, think about how TESS India exemplifies, in practice, the key principles of TPD@Scale that you have been reading about.

View discussion

1.7 Effective TPD in the Global South

COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges for teaching and learning. Teachers around the world have had to implement distance learning, often without sufficient guidance, training, or resources.

At the same time, COVID-19 has also created an opportunity to reconfigure TPD. In many places, TPD has moved online or has taken place via phone, radio and TV.

But remote TPD has not reached marginalized teachers. And even in contexts with sufficient digital infrastructure, many educators lack confidence and/or basic ICT skills, meaning they are likely to struggle with their own ongoing professional development, let alone with facilitating quality distance learning.

Building remote and ICT skills can enhance professional learning for teachers. This, in turn, can improve teachers’ capacities for planning and managing distance learning for children.

Now read this 4-page extract from a TPD@Scale Briefing Note – Moving Towards Successful TPD in the Global South. You can find the complete Briefing Note (4.0 MB) , with references, in the Resources section.

There are five mini case studies in the extract. As you read, notice the different forms of remote and/or ICT support that made large-scale TPD successful in these contexts:

STIR Education in India and Uganda
TESS India in seven Indian states
ELLN Digital in the Philippines
BFL in Rwanda
Escuela Nueva from Colombia adapted in Vietnam

As you read, can you notice

other common factors in the case studies that contribute to effective, scalable TPD in these diverse contexts?
TPD@Scale principles of Equity, Quality, and Efficiency in action?

Click to reveal some of the common components of these cases. Discuss what you notice in the case studies with others, if you are working in a group.

You can read more about TESS India (p. 7), BLF in Rwanda (p. 17), and ELLN Digital in the Philippines (p. 44) in the Compendium (2.5 MB) , in the Resources section.

The next section explores how TPD@Scale responds to global challenges in teacher professional development.

Site:	OpenLearn Create
Course:	TPD@Scale: Introduction and key principles
Book:	TPD@Scale concepts and principles

Printed by:	مستخدم ضيف
Date:	Saturday, 18 May 2024, 12:23 PM