How systems have supportcd teachers in their new role?

Almost 90% of countries that responded to the survey of Ministries of Education on National Responses to COVID-19 conducted by UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank (2020) supported teachers by sharing guidelines stressing the importance of: providing feedback to students, maintaining constant communication with caregivers, and reporting to local education units to keep track of learning. Fewer governments took a different approach: Costa Rica developed a digital toolbox with pedagogical resources such as a guide for autonomous work, the state of São Paulo in Brazil organized frequent two-hour conversations between Secretary Rossieli Soares and teachers through the mobile application developed by the state. These conversations and tools allowed governments to have an open line of communication with teachers to better understand their concerns and adjust remote lenrning programs.

As teachers started to implement these guidelines and recommendations, they found themselves balancing educating and providing feedback to students remotely, filling administrative reports, and taking care of their families. Some governments recognized early-on that their well-intentioned teacher support systems ended up generating burnout. Peru's Ministry of Education was open to receive feedback and reacted rapidly by changing the guidelines to reduce teacher's administrative workload. The state of Minas Gerais in Brazil developed the mobile application 'Conexão Escola' to encourage teacher-student interaction during designated time after each class, avoiding a situation in which students contacted teachers through WhatsApp or text message throughout the day. ln Uruguay, teachers were expected to fill administrative information, but instead of requesting new information from them, the government decided to use GURI, a digital platform that has been used by Uruguayan teachers for over 10 years to report information such as student attendance and grades.

Beyond providing guidelines and tools, some governments have leveraged existing professional development programs that worked before the pandemic. The state of Edo in Nigeria trained all 11 thousand primary school teachers who are part of the Edo-BEST program in the past two years to effectively use digital technologies in the classroom; during the pandemic, this in-service teacher training program transitioned from in-person to remote training. Similarly, in Uruguay, The Institute for in-Service Teacher Training took an existing coaching program online to provide remote pedagogical support and Ceibal strengthened its teacher training program and Open Educational Resources repository. While over 90% of Uruguayan teachers were satisfied with the remote training received during the pandemic, some expressed the need for further training.

From: https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/changing-role-teachers-and-technologie-amidst-covíd-19-pandemic-key-findings-cross. Accesed on 09/13/2021