Figure 1. PIIMA model for teachers of creative, gifted and special needs children

The model moves the focus away from the subject-based approach towards a whole-of-school approach. First, school principals and teachers undergo the training together; second, the teachers participate in online training modules while engaging with mentors. Teachers gain reflections with professional learning communities (PLCs) and apply the knowledge and experiences they acquired to their classroom teaching. Classroom application is considered as the key element of this model as well as teachers’ self-assessment, taking into account not only their students’ academic performance but also their emotional well-being.

The Project conducted the first field testing phase in eight schools located in four regions: Khiva, Nukus, Namangan and Tashkent city in order to explore teachers TPD experiences through in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions with 69 participants: Grades 5 to 11 teachers in eight subjects, mentors and school principals.

Research findings inform improvements to the model, and have also been disseminated among national stakeholders, such as the National Research Institute named after A. Avloniy under the Ministry of Public Education (Avloniy Research Institute), the main governmental body in charge of training public school teachers. Avloniy Research Institute has joined the Project as a partner to test and scale their model for training primary and secondary teachers in the public education sector (see Figure 2). This model enables a shift from periodic to continuous TPD. Teachers are able to choose four different TPD opportunities offered by regional TPD Centers, private TPD centers, universities and the onlinedu.uz platform.