Transforming education: the power of ICT policies - Commonwealth ...

Teacher Professional Development
The GoR acknowledges in the ESSP that teachers are the main instrument for bringing about the desired
improvements in learning and states that the education sector consists of policy-makers, administrators, teachers,
students, and parents, and other relevant stakeholders all are responsible for contributing to the task of ensuring that
educational goals are achieved. The ESSP also acknowledges that the use of ICT in learning, teaching and education
institution management compels the emergence of a different skills, attitudes and pedagogical approaches that
require continuous training programmes to build suffi cient capacity among teachers, developers, educators and
administrators. Here, the Policy suggests that training will take place in the form of pre-service, in-service and
continuous professional development opportunities in areas of ICT literacy, content development, pedagogical
teaching approaches using ICT, Educational Management Information System capacity-building and maintenance
of ICT facilities to make sure they are available at all times to all users.
The draft ICT for Education Policy proposes that ICT-enabled training methods be explored, including distance
education, e-learning, and blended learning and that training will be offered continuously to enable teachers to keep
abreast of technological and pedagogical developments. The Policy specifi cally proposes a host of mechanisms for
the continuous development of teachers, principals, inspectors and head teachers. These include pre-service teacher
training, in-service teacher professional development, ICT literacy training programmes for all teachers as well as
professional development opportunities for school inspectors on the integration of ICT in learning and teaching.
It also includes supporting head teachers to establish an ICT vision for schools, training curricula developers on
creating and developing digital learning materials, training education administrators, developing standards as well
as a cadre of technical expertise to manage and maintain ICT facilities at all levels and to optimize uptime. It also
proposes to use UNESCO’s ICT Teacher Competency Standards to plan appropriate training for teachers; to develop
mechanisms to manage the quality of training and to use ICT to scale innovations from training.
Since the development of the Policy, MINEDUC has been able to develop a draft ICT for Teacher Professional
Development Matrix with the support of the Global eSchools and Communities Initiative. This matrix is based on
the UNESCO ICT Teacher Competency Standards and considers the progressive evolution of teacher professional
development from an emergent stage of integrating ICT in the classroom towards a “knowledge-deepening” stage
where the integration of ICT in teaching and learning practice occurs at a deeper and more advanced level. This
matrix is currently under discussion and aims to integrate the authentic contexts of Rwandan teachers more
intimately.
Pedagogical and Curricula Change
The Policy proposes a host of measures to support the integration of ICT in the country’s national curriculum reform
process and in support of continuous pedagogical improvement. It does so by articulating what is possible in the
short- to medium-term and how to consider longer-term curriculum and pedagogical reform enabled by ICT. The
Policy recognizes that ICT can play an integral role in enhancing the relevance and quality of the national curriculum
at all levels. Here the emphasis is on regular curriculum reviews to ensure that competencies are developed that
are also “culturally aligned.”
It proposes that in the short- to medium-term, available electronic content can be integrated in learning and teaching
practice while Rwanda develops its locally relevant electronic content. In addition, educators are encouraged to
conduct their own research and to create their own digital materials to be used in the classroom, and also to apply
project-based learning, requesting learners to conduct research and prepare digital materials for their assignments.
It proposes that content produced in this way has to be aligned with the curricular goals and objectives of the
national education policy. It proposes that guidelines be developed to promote and encourage the development
and regulation of high-quality local e-content, while ensuring that the content is made uniformly available in all
learning institutions through the use appropriate ICT.
Case Study: Rwanda | 177