Kigali, 2 December: The 13th Policy Dialogue Forum of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (TTF) will take place from 2–3 December 2021 in Kigali, Rwanda and on-line, to discuss Innovation in teacher policy and practice for educational recovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated more than ever the need for innovation as an engine of improvement in education. Global school closures due to COVID-19 affected 1.6 billion learners, and educators and education systems had to make unprecedented changes to ensure that learning continued for all students. Innovation of this kind is critical for education to be inclusive, equitable and of good quality, and it must be placed at the heart of education policies and policy-making – but education systems and policy-makers must also ensure that innovations, including the expanded use of ICTs, do not amplify existing inequalities.

Teachers play a pivotal role in educational innovation and must be supported with an environment that values willingness to take risks and seize opportunities by departing from established ways of practice. To innovate, teachers must also be enabled to make connections with peers, researchers, and existing and emerging knowledge. Policy and teacher education should be oriented towards giving teachers the tools they need to drive progress in teaching and learning through innovation.

Moreover, the international community and national governments need to recognize and address the challenge in recruiting and retaining qualified teachers. Sub-Saharan Africa alone requires 15 million more teachers to reach the educational goals by 2030. Greater investments must be made, and innovative approaches adopted to face this issue.

Jointly organized by the TTF Secretariat and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Rwanda, The Policy Dialogue Forum will open on 2 December with a High-Level Teacher Summit, hosted by the Minister of Education, Dr Valentine Uwamariya and UNESCO’s Assistant Director General for Education, Stefania Giannini. The Opening Ceremony will feature statements by the President of Rwanda (tbc), the UNESCO Director General (tbc), Ministers and other dignitaries, including the recently rewarded winner of the Varkey Global Teacher Prize.

The PDF will bring together education stakeholders from around the world to consider ways to support innovation in teaching and learning; in initial and in-service teacher education; and in policy-making and orienting policy to enable and sustain innovation. In doing so, the PDF will generate recommendations and lessons learned that:

• Help teachers, school leaders and officials to foster innovations in teaching and learning
• Improve teacher education by diagnosing gaps in teacher education curricula; integrating new collaborative, online and hybrid professional learning models; and aligning curricula with shifting teacher standards and teacher appraisal
• Ensure critical, evidence-based appraisal of bottom-up and top-down and inter-disciplinary / cross-sectoral innovations to inform decisions about expanding their implementation
• Foster innovation in new or revised policies on all aspects of teacher preparation and work – including recruitment; preparation and professional development; deployment; remuneration; standards; accountability; employment and working conditions – with flexibility to allow for experimentation and local variation
• Develop or revise teacher policy frameworks at national, sub-national and local levels through an open innovative inclusive approach, harnessing and building on existing social dialogue mechanisms.

The International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 is a global network of over 90 governments and some 50 international and regional organisations (including UN organisations, civil society organisations, the teaching profession, and foundations) working to promote teachers and teaching issues. Its Secretariat is hosted by UNESCO at its headquarters in Paris.

To register and join the forum on-line, please see: https://teachertaskforce.org/events/13th-international-policy-dialogue-forum

For more information, please contact:

• International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (TTF): Anna Ruszkiewicz ae.ruszkiewicz@unesco.org
• For the Ministry of Education of Rwanda: Flavia SALAFINA , fsalafina@mineduc.gov.rw