Blended learning programmes for teacher training in the Caribbean
From UNESCO Office In Kingston Jamaica
The UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean hosted a consultative meeting on “Blended Learning Programmes for Teacher Training in the Caribbean”, as a strategic component of the 11th Policy Dialogue Forum. The forum, organized by UNESCO, The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information in Jamaica, took place November 5-9 2018 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Under the patronage of Ms. Katherine Grigsby, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean, the forum constituted of senior officials in charge of teacher education and training from Ministries of Education in the Caribbean Cluster Member and Associate Member States, in addition to representatives from Teacher Education Institutions, relevant regional and other Inter-Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations. The session was moderated by Dr. Marcia Potter, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of the Virgin Islands.
Although a majority of the Caribbean countries have achieved Universal Primary Education with some even leaning towards Universal Secondary Education, there is a disturbing pattern of growing numbers of secondary school students, in particular young boys, dropping out of the school system. They leave without the minimum required proficiency levels in foundational skills such as basic language reading-comprehension and numeracy skills, let alone the new sets of 21st century skills. These 21st century skills, recently introduced in the majority of curricula, allow Caribbean Youth to be well equipped with key knowledge, competencies and values while they transition to further learning pathways or to an increasingly globalized and interconnected world of work.
This concerning trend does not only put at jeopardy the achievement of SDG4 by 2030 in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), but it seems to be fueling youth related crime across the region due to a lack of opportunity and a sense of hopelessness.
Existing research suggests that better training of educators and continuous professional development of teachers is integral to ensuring young people’s smooth progression and longevity in the schooling system. It is against this background that we now focus on the expansion and modernization of teacher education within the region via the blended learning platform. It is envisaged that this initiative will not only build teacher capacity at an accelerated pace and increase the scope facilitation, but will be a paradigm shift for teacher training in the Caribbean and increase the supply of qualified teachers in Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Significantly, this project will help Governments Entities and Teacher Training Institutions in the Region to reverse the ‘ongoing youth learning crisis’ by equipping a larger number of teachers with up-to-date tools including open learning resources needed for them to constantly adjust to state-of-art innovative teaching practices or adaptive pedagogies.
The aim of the meeting was to design, pilot and roll-out an ICT-Enabled Blended Learning Environment, which provides flexibility for teachers to learn at their pace and to engage in an online community of practice that can more quickly help countries to compensate for teachers’ training gaps.
Given the dialogue, these are the core considerations and mechanisms for the successful implementation of the programme:
- Greater collaboration between Ministries of Education and teacher education institutions to streamline the implementation of policies. This requires a systemic, realistic and phased approach to implementation.
- Comprehensive capacity assessment and stakeholder mapping exercise across Member and Associated Member States.
- Review of existing professional standards to ensure widespread best practices and a common framework for teacher training in the Caribbean. This includes the examination of best practices and alignment of national standards.
- Development of a regional competency profile for teachers, which must be in alignment with existing national standards and systems.
- Establish regional advocacy for the relevance of continuing professional development via the blended platform.
Importantly, the programme will be built on pillars of equity and inclusion, to address existing challenges of learner diversity such as male participation and engagement in learning, which are prevalent across the Caribbean region.
