This episode focuses on the teacher training component of the Aulas en Paz program, which seeks to foster the development of socioemotional skills in all members of the educational community. Ana Teresa del Toro Mijares, Consultant at the World Bank, talks with Dr. Enrique Chaux, Professor, Universidad de los Andes; José Fernando Mejía, Executive Director of Aulas en Paz, and Lina Maria Saldarriaga, Director of Aulas en Paz, about the design and implementation of the program’s teacher training model.

Este episodio se enfoca en el modelo de formación docente del programa de Aulas en Paz, que busca fomentar el desarrollo de habilidades socioemocionales en todos los miembros de la comunidad educativa. Ana Teresa del Toro Mijares, Consultora en el Banco Mundial, habla con Dr. Enrique Chaux, Profesor de la Universidad de los Andes; José Fernando Mejía, Director Ejecutivo de Aulas en Paz, y Lina Maria Saldarriaga, Subdirectora de Aulas en Paz, sobre el diseño y la implementación del modelo de formación docente dentro del programa.

Today, Mariah O’Mara, Head of Communications of HundrED, speaks with Manal Quota, Senior Education Specialist at The World Bank and edtech innovators Agustín Porres, LATAM Regional Director at the Varkey Foundation – Comunidad Atenea, and Sameer Sampat, Co-Founder – Global School Leaders.

The World Bank and HundrED launched the Teachers for a Changing World global contest to crowdsource tech-based solutions to teacher professional development. From a pool of over 400 applications, the teams identified the ten most impactful and scalable programs as the “T4T Champions”. In today’s episode, we discuss how two of these Champions have integrated technology in their TPD programs to ensure that teachers are engaged with the materials provided, and that their programs achieve the desired impact on teaching practices. What lessons can we learn from these experiences on how to leverage technology to support teachers remotely? This episode features two of the ten T4T Champions - Comunidad Atenea and Global School Leaders.

Today, World Bank Education South Asia Practice Manager, Dr. Cristian Aedo, and World Bank Education Analyst, Tracy Wilichowski, are speaking with Dr. Matthew Kraft, Associate Professor of Education at Brown University, and Dr. Murad Raas, Provincial Minister of Punjab for School Education, about supporting teachers through high-quality feedback and lessons from Punjab's model.

A few years ago, the government of Punjab, under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Raas, introduced a large package of education reforms. These reforms included the introduction of a new classroom observation tool (based on the World Bank's Teach tool), allowing policymakers to track and assess the quality of teaching in the classroom. Teacher mentors regularly observe practice in the classroom and provide tailored feedback on instructional practice. To improve the classroom practices of teachers, the Punjab government has acknowledged mere observations are not enough. As such, they have also developed a video-based mobile course for school mentors and teachers to upgrade their skills (ITSP).

Teacher coaching has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional models of professional development. Often, teacher evaluation reforms have been motivated by the belief that these new systems would promote teacher development through high-quality feedback. Dr. Kraft's recent paper, Can Teacher Evaluation Systems Produce High-Quality Feedback? illustrates the challenges of using evaluation systems as engines for professional growth when administrators lack the time and skill necessary to provide frequent, high-quality feedback.

The World Bank has recently launched our new program Coach, which is focused on helping countries improve in-service teacher professional development. Coach includes a series of tools and resources, focused on giving guidance to stakeholders on the best ways to design, develop, implement and evaluate effective in-service teacher professional development programs and policies. These tools and resources are currently out for consultation, and we strongly welcome listeners to share their feedback with us at [email protected].

The evidence is clear: effective teacher professional development (TPD) needs to include ongoing and individualized support to teachers to impact teachers’ instruction, and subsequently student learning.

Shanghai’s policies and investments have created a great teacher workforce that is supported by clear learning standards, regular and aligned assessments, and a balance of autonomy and accountability in school management. Today, we are speaking with Liang Xiaoyan and Zhang Minxuan, co-authors of the World Bank report “How Shanghai Does It” (https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/publication/how-shanghai-does-it ) to learn about the key features of the Shanghai education system that attract and develop an excellent teaching force. We discuss how lessons from the Shanghai experience can apply and be relevant to other countries around the world. Zhang Minxuan is a Professor and Former President of Shanghai Normal University and Head of UNESCO Teacher Education Center and Liang Xiaoyan is a Lead Education Specialist in East and Southern Africa for the World Bank Education Global Practice. Elaine Ding, Analyst in the Global Knowledge and Innovation unit of the World Bank’s Education Practice, moderates the conversation.

Policymakers around the world can learn valuable lessons on how to successfully fight learning poverty and improve foundational learning from the Brazilian state of Ceará (with its 9 million inhabitants) and Sobral, a municipality in Ceará with 200,000 inhabitants. In 2005, Sobral did not even rank in the top thousand among Brazil’s municipalities. The municipality implemented key education reforms that led to substantial improvements in quality in primary and lower secondary education. Now, Sobral ranks first in Brazil, and ten of Ceará's municipalities are among the nation’s top 20.

Today, World Bank Senior Economist Ezequiel Molina (https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/ezequiel-molina) and World Bank Education Specialist Adelle Pushparatnam (https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/adelle-pushparatnam) speak with World Bank Senior Economist Andre Loureiro (https://blogs.worldbank.org/team/andre-loureiro) about the magic of Sobral.

Learn more about the key education reforms in Sobral at https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/brazil/publication/state-ceara-brazil-role-model-reducing-learning-poverty.

The evidence is clear: effective teacher professional development (TPD) needs to include ongoing and individualized support to teachers in order to impact teachers’ instruction, and subsequently student learning. However, what is less clear are the details of what ongoing support entails at the system level: What should be the ratio of pedagogical leaders to teachers? How frequently should pedagogical leaders visit teachers? How long should observation and feedback sessions be?

In this episode, Meskerem (Lily) Mulatu, Practice Manager, World Bank Education West Africa, Tracy Wilichowski, Research Analyst, World Bank Education, and Nompumelelo (Mpumi) Mohohlwane, Deputy Director of Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation, Department of Basic Education, Government of South Africa, sit down to discuss the World Bank Coach program's Structuring Effective 1-1 Support Technical Guidance Note. This note, which aims to provide guidance on how countries can set the structure for an in-service TPD program that includes 1-1 support, is utilized as a starting point to discuss how education systems can improve how they support pedagogical leaders in coaching teachers. This episode features the case of South Africa, providing firsthand insights into some of the challenges in implementing and sustaining these interventions over time.

To learn more, check out the Guidance Note: https://bit.ly/2QugKUr and associated blog post: https://bit.ly/3enV58s.

In 2020, Ranjit Disale won the Global Teacher Prize, a US $1 million award presented annually to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession.

On today's episode, Ezequiel Molina, Senior Economist in the Global Knowledge and Innovation Unit at the World Bank Education Global Practice, and Adelle Pushparatnam, Education Specialist in the Global Knowledge and Innovation unit of the World Bank Education Global Practice, speak with Ranjit about his journey as a teacher and his vision for teachers in the future.

On March 23, as part of the The World Bank Global Platform for Successful Teachers panel, Ranjit spoke with Jaime Saavedra, Global Director of Education at the World Bank, about how we can support teachers in the age of the pandemic. Watch the recording of the virtual event here.