Please note that Course 4 is set at 4 hours of study. You may decide to work through the course in a series of 3 or 4 meetings.

There are substantial activities in this course:

• working through the TPD@Scale Compendium questions
• working through the IDRC Scaling Playbook activity of four quadrants of stakeholders
• drafting a TPD@Scale model for your context
• readings about TPD@Scale and cost and TPD@Scale and assessment.

Your group may decide to do the Course 4 readings before you meet, so that the meeting time can be devoted to the discussion activities.

There are different ways to organize the discussions:

• Distribute questions to pairs or groups of three, and then come back together as a group to discuss the ideas. Have someone record on chart paper or a board the key ideas generated.
• Hold several meetings over a period of time, and have individuals or pairs present their ideas and draft models for TPD@Scale.

As you work through the activities, you can include these additional questions. You can distribute the questions to individuals, pairs or small groups, or the whole group can discuss each question together.

Questions and considerations when designing, delivering, and evaluating TPD programs

Keeping in mind the TPD@Scale draft programme that you are developing for your context, work through these questions:

• What is the added value of technology (low, medium, or high-tech) in supporting TPD in different contexts (e.g. remote rural teachers, urban teachers, teachers in crisis contexts)?
• Can the same results be achieved more effectively without ICT?
• Are there any assumptions being made about the appropriate scale for the program and how this will impact cost over the time?
• What access do teachers and schools have to ICT infrastructure and technology that can potentially reduce the need for significant upfront infrastructure investment in phones, tablets, etc.?
• Are human, technological, and financial resources available for scaling the program? Is there sufficient capacity within the education system to support scaling?
• Who funds TPD in your context – teachers themselves, the government, or donors?

Reflective questions for the design of teacher assessment in large-scale TPD programmes

Keeping in mind the TPD@Scale draft programme that you are developing for your context, work through these questions:

System context

• How does the assessment design sit within current system capacity?
• What opportunities/bottlenecks/challenges might affect assessment implementation in different national contexts e.g. north/south, urban/peri-urban/rural etc?
• Which roles at the school/district/regional/national levels are needed to support the sustainability of the assessment approach?
• How does the assessment approach align with existing teacher competency frameworks?

Assessment design

• How can it be ensured that all teachers and their various starting points (of knowledge/skills/practice) are considered in assessment design, content and access?
• How are different authentic, classroom contexts within the country being considered in assessment design?
• What kind of practitioner-led assessment can teachers use?
• Does the assessment relate to student learning and outcomes?
• How does the assessment take different forms of inclusion for both teachers and students into account?
• What proportion of the assessment focusses on classroom practice?
• Is this being given sufficient emphasis?
• In what ways is teacher knowledge/practice/skills expected to change and be applied in the classroom?

Feedback

• What opportunities do teachers have to reflect (whether individually or collaboratively)?
• In what ways are teachers being offered opportunities to share and collaborate with others at the school and local levels to strengthen learning?
• How do teachers receive feedback?
• How does the feedback teachers receive link to further professional learning?
• What kind of follow-up support will teachers receive?
• How will this follow up support be assessed and sustained?

Recognition

• How is progress in teachers’ professional competence being validated/recognised/awarded/celebrated?
• What different mechanisms are being used?
• What criteria are being used?

Evaluation of the assessment in the TPD/professional programme

• What mechanisms are being used to measure teachers’ experience of the assessment modalities and tasks ?
• How is this informing programme improvement?
• What assessment is most useful to teachers and why?
• How is assessment being evaluated in relation to quality, (cost) efficiency or equity?
• Is the assessment design/tools providing relevant data for improvement?

You can start an online discussion forum to talk about the course with other students, for instance, on WhatsApp, Facebook, or any digital platform that is readily accessible to your study group.