Highlighted Session: Comparative analysis of pre-service teacher training models across six domains

Group Submission Type: Highlighted Paper Session

Proposal

This session includes three presentations on the analysis of pre-service teacher preparation programs in Georgia and Tajikistan for two USAID-funded projects: the USAID Educating the Future Activity in Georgia and the USAID Learn Together Activity in Tajikistan. Georgia and Tajikistan have both undergone rapid transformations since the end of the Cold War, with continuous government and international donor investment in the education sector. However, in recent years, gaps have arisen between the effort placed on training in-service and pre-service teachers. Both of these USAID-funded programs seek to bridge the gap and support pre-service universities and colleges to provide enhanced experiences for teacher trainees. They each designed and undertook rigorous studies in their first year of implementation to gain a deep understanding of the state of pre-service programs.

This panel includes a series of three presentations. The first two presentations discuss a deep-dive into three partner universities’ teacher pre-service programs, their strengths and weaknesses, and early findings and recommendations that translate into continued work. The final presentation shares the initial analysis of multiple institutions’, how this analysis was used to address gaps in programming, and what adjustments have been made over time as gaps persist.

First presentation: Needs Assessment of Teacher Preparation Programs in Georgia

Second presentation: Targeted Interventions for Improving Pre-Service Teacher Preparation Programs in Georgia: A Response to Comprehensive Needs Analysis

Third presentation: Analysis of Pre-service Programs in Tajikistan and Resulting Interventions

Sub Unit

• Europe and Central Asia SIG

Chair

• Gita Steiner-Khamsi, Columbia University Teachers College & NORRAG

Individual Presentations

• Needs Assessment of Teacher Preparation Programs in Georgia - Ketevan Chachkhiani, Arizona State University; Iveta Silova, Arizona State University; Irine Samsonia, Arizona State University; Natia Mzhavanadze, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Discussants

• Gita Steiner-Khamsi, Columbia University Teachers College & NORRAG

• Nutsa Magda Kobakhidze, The University of Hong Kong

• Sopiko Beriashvili, Qatar Foundation-World Innovation Summit for Education

• Magda Magradze, Millennium Foundation

• Maia Chankseliani, University of Oxford

• Aliya Bizhanova, Michigan State University

• Nataliia Zakharchuk, University of Saskatchewan

• Elise S Ahn, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Max Antony-Newman, University of Glasgow

• Aliya Kuzhabekova, University of Calgary