2021 UNESCO-KEDI Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Seminar: Supporting teachers’ digital and remote teaching capacity in times of COVID-19 and beyond
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted education at all levels and caused unprecedented challenges for students and teachers worldwide. Paradoxically, this crisis has also stimulated innovation within the education sector. Due to the closure of schools, teachers and schools with varying levels of available technology, support, and technological competencies are required to rapidly respond to the unexpected transition from in-person to remote and hybrid teaching methods.
Nevertheless, in many countries, schools and teachers are not prepared to design, deliver and assess distance learning. Many teachers lack the necessary digital skills and readiness for employing distance learning pedagogies, while a great number of students lack digital connectivity, which limits their access to critically important educational resources, especially during emergency times. The pandemic has also had varying impacts on teachers’ well-being, from physical safety to mental health and employment conditions as they strive to ensure continuity of learning for their students.
These conditions have not stopped countries finding ways, however, to leverage existing capabilities and employ various educational platforms and media channels as an alternative or complement to online methods, such as the use of television, radio and paper-based models. The pandemic thus has vividly underlined the need to implement policies that will equip teachers with digital skills and distance learning pedagogies to mitigate the many challenges to learning posed by the pandemic, as well as potential future emergencies, while these pedagogies simultaneously prepare and maximize teachers’ wellbeing and safety in the context of school closures and reopening. The role of teachers has become even more essential in such contexts for preventing and mitigating students’ learning losses, and governments need to focus more effectively on teachers’ training, support and overall well-being.
Organized jointly by the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), the 2021 UNESCO-KEDI Asia-Pacific Regional Seminar on ‘Supporting teachers' digital and remote teaching capacity in times of COVID-19 and beyond’ provides an opportunity for educators and related stakeholders to rethink diverse approaches for strengthening teachers’ pedagogical skills; developing comprehensive core review policies that will support teachers’ needs; and generally re-imagine the teaching profession and education systems in times of crisis.
Event date & time: 21 and 22 October 2021, 14.00 to 16.00 Thailand time (GMT+7)
Type of event: Zoom webinar
Online registration (required): https://bit.ly/UKAPS21z
Participants: Policymakers, educators, related practitioners and researchers in the Asia-Pacific.
An e-certificate of participation will be provided to participants who attend both days of the event.
Language: English with simultaneous translation into Lao, Russian and Thai
Key documents
Contact:
UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Inclusive Quality Education (IQE) Section: iqe.bgk@unesco.org
Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), Office of International Cooperation: international@kedi.re.kr
