The Empowering Teachers Initiative: TPD@Scale (ETI) is a 42-month program that seeks to improve teacher practices in the Global South by improving equity, quality, and efficiency in TPD systems. It intends to 1) understand how to effectively and efficiently scale quality TPD in the global south, 2) strengthen the capacity of in-country education stakeholders to scale quality TPD programs, and 3) contribute to evidence-informed policy and practices for inclusive and effective TPD.
The aim of this research for development project, undertaken from 2018 to 2021, was to harness the potential of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to address the challenge of providing inclusive, high-quality, cost-effective, and sustainable teacher professional development (TPD) to teachers in the Global South. The term “teacher professional development at scale” (TPD@Scale) refers to TPD programs that are able to engage large numbers of teachers at a time (i.e., “go to scale”) through some form of ICT mediation. Informed by the principles of effective TPD and depending on the particular contexts of the teachers, teacher education institutions, and schools, approaches to TPD@Scale may be “blended,” combining online and offline methods, modalities, resources, and activities when and where appropriate.
This TPD@Scale project will apply information and communication technologies (ICTs) — blending online, offline, digital, and traditional teacher training modalities — to enable more equitable access to and participation in quality teacher learning experiences not otherwise possible through conventional means. The project’s main objectives are to develop a framework and guidelines for adapting, implementing, evaluating, and continuously improving upon proven TPD@Scale models; to build the capacity of ministries of education and relevant education stakeholders at all levels to design, develop, implement, evaluate, and continuously improve TPD@Scale; and to promote evidence-informed changes in policy and practice towards improved access to quality teacher professional development using the TPD@Scale approach.
School leaders are central to this development research. The central research problem is the need to strengthen the quality of school leadership as a means of improving education quality in challenging school contexts. This research set out to explore the extent to which use of a specific continuous improvement approach–Improvement Science (IS)–supports sustainable change in the practices of school leaders in Chile, Kenya and the Philippines and contributes to increased institutional resilience.
Equity and inclusion in education are policy priorities yet many children and young people are frequently excluded from quality education. This project investigates how a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) approach can be adapted and deployed in three countries—Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan—to develop the capabilities of school leaders to identify barriers to equity and inclusion, and enact data-driven solutions towards sustainable change in access and learning of girls, children with disabilities (CWD) and other marginalized learners.
The Digital Learning for Development (DL4D) project aimed to improve educational systems in developing countries through expanding understanding about digital learning, fostering collaboration on research, testing digital learning innovations, and scaling proven ones.