Continuing professional development for teachers: beyond training

During the second meeting of our Series of dialogues on policies, current tendencies in professional development for teachers were studied.  

The mass change to digital classes caused by the pandemic opened up possibilities to implement new models of professional development for teachers as, during the dialogue, a balance was made between traditional and non-traditional training models. 

These were the results of the survey:

  • 100% of the attendees expressed the need to implement non-traditional models of professional development for teachers in their country of residence.  Of these, 50% expressed a strong desire by the teachers in their country, whilst 50% expressed a moderate desire. 
  • 26% preferred support between colleagues for their professional development for teachers. 
  • 18% would like to have the opportunity to access tutoring schemes for professional development for teachers in their country. 
  • 12% communicated the importance of creating communities of practice between teachers in their country to strengthen professional development. 

These were some of the comments:

“Teachers need support to plan online learning, from the creation of content to hybrid teaching strategies, to manage synchronous/asynchronous sessions and maximise the benefits of virtual learning platforms.  Hybrid focuses are the tools of the modern, evolving teacher.” Allison Solomon, Jamaica.

 

“Computing knowledge is a priority for the implementation of any type of remote learning teacher training.  It is also important to work with motivated and creative teachers who dare to use computer resources in the classroom.” Mayda Ramos, Cuba.

There were 46 participants present during the dialogues. Among these were directors and leaders of educational policies from the 9 countries of America and the Caribbean, together with the United Kingdom.