PROJECT BRIEF Supporting Competency-Based Teacher Training Reforms to Facilitate ICT-Pedagogy Integration Project Background There is no doubt that teachers play a key role in successfully integrating ICT into education. Realizing the importance of teachers capacity, governments, teacher education institutions, private sector, and NGOs alike provide various training for teachers ranging from how to use a particular software, to how to integrate educational technologies, to how to innovate teaching to promote 21 st century skills. However, more often than not, teachers actual use of ICT in the classroom is reported as incremental, merely reinforcing traditional teacher-centred approaches using slides and drill-andpractice exercises. Teachers use of ICT to innovate teaching is an exception rather than a norm. Research shows that there are a number of reasons and factors why teachers are not using ICT in a transformative way. From the policy perspective, a recent study that looked into conditions that foster innovative teaching and learning (2011) 1 attribute the observed incremental change in teaching practices to a disconnect between what the policy envisions and what actually happens in classrooms. For example, although a new national education policy requires teachers to adopt an innovative ICT-enhanced pedagogy that promotes student-centred learning, teachers have not been offered any training that guides them to implement such a policy. This is also evident in UNESCO Bangkok s previous project experiences. A close examination of lessons learned from past ICT in Education projects of UNESCO Bangkok revealed that the needs of the Asia Pacific region are associated with a lack of alignment and coordination between national ICT-in-education policy and actual teacher development on how to effectively use ICT to enhance pedagogy and student learning. Inappropriate tracking and monitoring of the teachers development and actual use/integration of ICT in the field has also been constantly raised in the region and beyond. This ultimately leads to low capacities among teachers to support ICT-in-education policies at the practice level. This issue has been verbalized in various regional and local meetings in the region. Dialogues during the 2012 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Forum on ICT in Education also manifest the growing needs from our Member States on reforming teacher education to harness the potential of ICT in education. The findings from the survey 2 administered at the Forum indicated that one of the top priority areas that the Member States require supports for is teacher training/education that systematically enables teachers to effectively use ICT to enhance teaching and learning. Indeed, findings from a review study by UNESCO Bangkok as part of the preparation of the project clearly stress the need from the region. Out of 16 reviewed countries in Southeast and East Asia, only five countries have national ICT competency standards for teachers in place most of them from ICT-advanced countries, like China, Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Few of the ASEAN countries have operationalized their ICT in education policy or master plan into teacher competency and training. 1 2 Innovative Teaching and Learning: Findings and Implications. Standford Research Institute, 2011. URL: www.itlresearch.com Accessed: April 2013 Ministerial/high-level officials from 20 countries across the region were invited to respond to this survey.
In view of this, through the support of Korean Funds-in-Trust (KFIT), UNESCO Bangkok is commencing the implementation of the Supporting Competency-Based Teacher Training Reforms to Facilitate ICT-Pedagogy Integration Project (KFIT-II Project). It aims to support Member States in determining and developing the required ICT competencies for teachers that are clearly aligned with their policy vision, goals, and ICT in Education Master Plans. These national standards would guide the development of a comprehensive roadmap that promotes competency-based teacher ICT training programmes where teachers development is systematically guided, monitored, assessed, and tracked at policy and institutional levels. UNESCO Bangkok will utilize the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT-CFT) as a main reference and thereby contribute to the meaningful localization and adaptation of this normative framework at the country-level. Objectives The specific objectives of the project are: 1. To develop a set of generic tools and training modules in the form of a Toolkit to help build national capacity in defining national ICT competency standards and developing an assessment/monitoring system that can be later adapted and localized into the context of a country (to be piloted in three selected countries); 2. To build the capacity of national TEIs in developing appropriate curriculum to support the developed national ICT competency standards; and 3. To share and disseminate evidence-based information with other member states in the Asia- Pacific region and support localizing the developed tools/training modules into different languages and contexts (the beneficiary countries will be further discussed and selected through steering committee meetings) It is envisaged that by reforming and converting existing teacher training modules into competencybased, teachers development can be systematically guided, assessed, monitored, and tracked at policy and institutional levels. The Project s outputs and processes employed in the pilot countries would serve as models for other countries to follow suit and develop their own localized roadmaps for teachers professional development. Activities and Outputs The project will have four (4) main activities: 1. Tools Development 2. Pilot testing & implementation 3. Knowledge Sharing & Localization 4. Progress Monitoring & Evaluation Component 1: Tools Development The main output of the proposed Project is a set of generic tools in Toolkit form that will help governments reform their existing teacher training for ICT into competency-based. The Toolkit will consist of a package of tools/instruments, training modules on development processes, and mechanisms that will be useful in assisting Member States particularly in (1) assessing the current status of teacher ICT competencies in light of existing ICT in Education policies, (2) setting national ICT competency standards for teachers, and (3) developing an appropriate assessment system and curriculum for teachers ICT competencies. The title, format and contents of the Toolkit will be further discussed and decided through a series of consultative meetings with international/ regional/local experts at the beginning of the project.
Data gathered on existing policies, tools, and practices on teacher professional development and competency standards will provide baseline information in the development of the Toolkit. Such data will be gathered through desk research and a series of regional/sub-regional meetings or workshops. Experts from International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Korea Education & Research Information Service (KERIS), SEAMEO INNOTECH, and other international/regional/ national institutions with experiences in this area will be brought together to collaborate in sharing/reviewing existing data and developing necessary components of the Toolkit. Component 2: Pilot Implementation To test its viability and effectiveness, the Toolkit will be piloted and contextualized in three (3) countries (Nepal, Philippines and Uzbekistan) 3. The selection of the pilot countries is based on (a) countries baseline e-readiness; (b) availability of institutional supports from the Governments, TEIs, and UNESCO Field Offices; and (c) regional balance. First, these countries are seen to have the baseline e-readiness to develop and implement ICT competency standards for teachers (characterized by existing ICT policies, resources and infrastructures and expressed intent to develop competency standards for teachers). These are critical pre-conditions that can lead to successful implementation of the project. Second, key institutions and government bodies in the three countries have been closely collaborating with UNESCO-Bangkok s ICT in Education Team, showing their passion in scaling up ICT-pedagogy integration to the national level. Examples include the Department of Education of the Philippines, UNESCO Tashkent Office in Uzbekistan, and UNESCO Kathmandu Office in Nepal. Finally third, a regional balance should be taken into consideration to facilitate opportunities for the project team to prepare for the later phase of the project, localization of the Toolkit and capacity building modules. Government officials and policy makers from the selected pilot countries will be invited to a series of regional capacity building workshops to develop competency standards for their own country and to create a corresponding assessment/monitoring system. This will be followed by national consultation, focusing mainly on the effectiveness of the Toolkit in examining gaps between what competencies teachers currently have and what they should have. In doing so, the existing ICTrelated teacher training policy of the country will be reviewed and teachers current competency levels will be analysed through surveys and focus group discussions, using the instruments that have been included in the prototype Toolkit. Multi-stakeholder involvement among policy makers, teacher education/training providers (public and private), education officials, teachers, and students will be highly encouraged to promote ownership and actual implementation. Upon the finalization of the respective countries national ICT competency standards for teachers and corresponding assessment/monitoring systems, national teacher education institutions will be invited to collaborate and develop/update/modify their new/existing curriculum into competencybased. Annual regional-level workshops and consultation meetings will provide a platform for the pilot country representatives to share their experiences and lessons learned as well as to check on the progress of each country. In addition, these regional workshops/meetings will allow the project team to gather valuable insights and recommendations on the continuous enhancement and tweaking of the Toolkit within the project timetable. 3 The selected countries are tentative and subject to change upon discussion with Donor as well as the Ministry of Education of the respective countries.
Component 3: Knowledge Sharing and Localization Versions of the Toolkit will be disseminated through various UNESCO regional and sub-regional meetings for diverse stakeholders, such as Asia-Pacific Ministerial Forum on ICT in Education (AMFIE), Central Asia Symposium on ICT in Education, Teacher Education Deans Forum, among others. Comments and feedback from such meetings will enrich the development process of the Toolkit. The Toolkit will be finalized for publication and be made available to Member States. Whereas the initial version of the Toolkit will only be published in English, the Project aims to produce localized versions of the Toolkit beyond translated version. Case studies from the pilot implementation will provide valuable insights into customization and localization of the tools and training modules. These will likewise spell out lessons learned and good practices that other countries can model from if and when they decide on developing/enhancing and implementing their respective national ICT competency standards for teachers towards improving teacher competencies in effectively integrating ICT in education/learning. Component 4: Project Progress Monitoring & Evaluation The Project Team will ensure the conduct of regular monitoring activities to look into the progress of project implementation. This will allow the project team to enhance project design, along with corresponding activities and workplan, if necessary. Contact Information Ms. Jonghwi Park Programme Specialist, UNESCO Bangkok APEID/ICT in Education +66-2- 391-0577 loc. 223 j.park@unesco.org