Capturing Incremental Improvements in Real-Time
A world-class education system requires clarity over what are the essential elements for improved teacher professional practice. The competencies need to be assessed, and good practice nurtured and sustained. The Teachers First behaviour framework has been developed especially for Egypt by the Open University and is based on the UNESCO Competency Framework for Teachers. It means each school will be able to describe what a 21st Century, digitally literate teacher and student will look like. This will allow each school to identify practitioners who need professional learning and development opportunities (pre and in-service) to help them reach and use the competencies in their daily practices. Increasingly important is the role of professional networks and teachers need to be able to support each other through well-defined peer-to-peer support systems and develop skills for self-reflection to implement change at the classroom level. The world into which students are entering is technology-driven, highly competitive and globally connected requiring 21st Century teaching and learning to be learner-centred, inquiry-based, technology-rich, interdisciplinary, collaborative, and personalized. Students need to become agile lifelong learners so they have the skills to adapt to change.
