Learning in emergency settings: The use of technology in Professional Learning Communities to support teachers

• In Event: Investigating Local and National Learning Outcomes in Contexts of Inequality, Conflict, and Emergency

Proposal

This paper brings together existing literature and primary research to discuss how technology can be used effectively to support Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in emergency settings (El-Serafy, Adam & Haßler, 2022). In emergency settings, including pandemics, natural disasters, and conflict, PLCs are important given the lack of formal in-service teacher professional development programmes and teachers’ needs for real-time support (Burns and Lawrie 2015). Moreover, where teachers have experienced significant trauma, such communities offer highly valued spaces for socioemotional support. We provide an overview of the key uses of and barriers to technology for supporting PLCs in emergency settings focusing on three main core functions: communication and collaboration; resource sharing; and monitoring and evaluation.

Primary research was conducted by the authors with more than 280 practitioners of PLCs in emergency settings globally. The primary research was commissioned by Save the Children Norway, and involved: a survey with 250 teachers, facilitators, and coordinators of PLCs in emergency settings; interviews with 10 programme coordinators; and workshops with 20 practitioners and facilitators of PLCs in emergency settings. Practitioners were from emergency settings including refugee settings (Turkey, Lebanon, Kenya, Uganda, and Bangladesh), fragile contexts (Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Somalia), contexts affected by natural disasters (Haiyan Typhoon response in the Philippines), post-conflict settings (Rwanda), and settings with forcibly displaced populations (Myanmar). These settings differ as regards to the types of emergencies, but they are all characterised by disruption to formal schooling structures; low levels of financial, material, and human resources for education delivery; low levels of connectivity; lack of physical safety; and recent or ongoing traumas affecting the students and teachers in these populations.

We conclude that, while the challenges of technology-supported PLCs are not yet fully overcome or even itemized (such as technology theft and endangerment of teachers holding technology), the current available evidence suggests that technology can play a valuable role in enhancing access to and effectiveness of PLCs in emergency settings, provided that programmes are intentionally designed to address the challenges of the context. As well as improving the effectiveness of existing PLCs, technology makes engagement possible for teachers who may otherwise be unable to participate at all due to challenges with distance and security, and can respond directly to some of the persistent issues characterizing emergency settings relating to costs, time, and access to teaching and learning material and qualified coaches. In so doing, technology has the potential to create spaces for teachers to engage in PLCs where this may otherwise have been impractical or impossible.

Authors

• Yomna El-Serafy, Open Development and Education

• Taskeen Adam, EdTech Hub