TPD@Scale Briefing Note: Moving Towards Successful TPD in the Global South

Executive Summary

• There is limited evidence on what constitutes effective and/or successful teacher professional development (TPD) from low-income contexts. A number of challenges can impact the efficacy of TPD in low-income contexts. These range from challenges in initial teacher education to school monitoring and inspection regimes and, more recently, Covid-19.
• Nonetheless, there are some promising examples of TPD from across the Global South which highlight 5 key thematic areas for consideration when designing TPD at scale. They include (but are not limited to): recognition of teachers as professionals/change agents; adequate support for teachers to help them to center pupils’ needs; TPD design being situated, authentic, and practice-based; the provision of opportunities for reflective practice, peer learning/collaboration, and the establishment of teacher communities; and a sustained approach over time. Coaching is also an important area which has been shown to enhance the quality of teaching.
• A number of contextual issues and how they interact at various levels (system, school, classroom and teacher) need to be taken into consideration when designing TPD at scale.

This paper is one of four TPD@Scale Technical Briefing Papers published by the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development, Inc. (FIT-ED) for the TPD@Scale Coalition for the Global South.