Lessons learned from developing and implementing a national, technology-supported school-based teacher professional development programme in Tanzania

• In Event: Emerging trends in the use of technology for teacher professional development in low- and middle-income countries.

Proposal

Can school-based, teacher continuous professional development (TCPD) improve the quality of teaching in Tanzania? What are the most effective modalities for TCPD that can reach marginalised communities? What role might technology play in this? These are the questions that the Government of Tanzania (GoT) sought to address in their national TCPD plan. This presentation reports on how the GoT, supported by our team, used existing evidence (e.g. Allier-Gagneur, et.al., 2020; Komba & Mwakabenga, 2019; Piper & Dubeck, 2020; Popova, et.al. 2018) and ongoing research on effective TCPD programmes, as well as Teacher Needs Assessments (TNA) conducted in Tanzania, to shape directly shape and inform the new national, school-based TCPD plan.

This plan shifts TPD from discreet workshops to cost-effective, continuous school-based programs, and is among the first of its kind at a national level, particularly in low- and middle-income country contexts. The model adopts a collaborative, reflective, participatory approach, where all teachers are required to attend ongoing weekly sessions delivered through communities of learning (CoL) at the school-level. It is tech-enhanced, when applicable, with the materials available in both print and digital format through the learning management system. The model is streamlined and decentralized through coordination at the district level, and it is constantly iterated through ongoing teacher needs assessment used to monitor and develop the CoL modules.

To support evidence-based development of the national TCPD implementation plan, our team worked alongside the government and offered adaptive technical assistance and innovative sandboxes. This support aided the successful completion of seven deliverables measured against Distribution Linked Indicators determined by Education Programme for Results 2 (EP4R2).

Through the technical assistance support, GoT have been able to actualise the school-based TCPD model that centres CoL. This has been done through successfully developing a national school-based TCPD plan, district-level implementation guides, costing for national and district-level implementation plans, a list of planned TCPD modules, a map of supplementary resources addressing teachers’ needs, and plans to train relevant stakeholders on the TCPD plans.

The sandbox approach provides a space for partners to test and grow ideas in conditions of uncertainty, using real life experimentation to test assumptions in areas like teacher motivation, and how to best enable local government to implement plans during the design process. Findings from the sandbox have, and will continue, to feed back into iterations of the model while it is rolled out. For instance, practical insights into variable access to technology-enabled the Government to consider ways to make the plan flexible, with teachers able to access the learning management system on technology at school or their own smartphones.

The development of this model by the government, and our team’s research that supports it, will have an immeasurable impact on filling evidence gaps on the use of technology to support school-based TCPD as well as the scalability and (cost) effectiveness of such models. This has direct implications for other country contexts where teachers lack opportunities for regular, effective TCPD.

Authors

• Fika Mwakabungu, EdTech Hub

• Aneth Komba, EdTech Hub

• Salma Abdelrahman, EdTech Hub

• Ciku Mbugua, EdTech Hub

• Alice Carter, EdTech Hub

• Kristeen Chachage, Independent Consultant

• Taskeen Adam, EdTech Hub

• Yomna El-Serafy, EdTech Hub