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Teacher training supports the professors by updating and perfecting their knowledge and skills so they can improve the training they offer to their students. The preparation of these professionals contributes to quality education. Today, teachers guide the students, given that with them, they will learn to identify and understand the world’s problems, use technology, and discover their personal and professional aspirations.
Consolidating teacher training ensures their professional growth, allowing them to access methods and tools that generate confidence to develop in the classroom and transmit their teachings to students. In addition, equipping teachers with modern pedagogies and strategies leads to optimal student management and improving their relationship with them, their family members, and tutors.
As Francisca Delia Sandoval Moreno described in her study, in-service teacher training is vitally necessary. Frequently updating and developing management, connections, and pedagogical and research skills is critical for professionals to add value to the education of new generations. Latin America and the Caribbean have directed intensive efforts to ensure their development; however, gaps persist in teacher training.
These efforts gained strength beginning in the nineties with government agendas for educational reforms when the areas and directorates of primary, secondary, or initial education in each country undertook specific actions because specific organisms for these levels did not yet exist.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) affirmed that the pandemic awakened the world to realize that teachers did not have the necessary skills for remote education. In addition, it reported that some regional evaluations led by UNESCO showed that improving teachers’ pedagogical skills to promote students’ learning and competency development is necessary.
An analysis by UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) of the Ministries of Education in Latin America showed that various specialists had provided governments with evidence supporting the strengthening of teacher training to face educational challenges. However, in some countries, offering programs and research on the scope of continuous teacher training is still nascent.
In the case of Mexico, in 2023, the educational authorities made teacher training budget cuts. Each teacher will receive only 85 Mexican pesos per year for preparation; in 2016, the amount was 1,644 pesos per teacher.
Journalist Dulce Soto explained that this contradicts the Ministry of Public Education’s (SEP) promise to revalue teachers’ roles in the country. Likewise, she shared a study conducted by Mexicans First and the Latin American Network for Education (Reduca), which suggested that teaching staff require skills to teach in the context of educational lags and students suffering emotional influences that impact their academic performance.
“Not only is less spent on training, but the offering of courses we provide is not very relevant and does not focus on teachers having the skills they need to be true catalysts for learning,” stated Laura Ramírez, researcher and Director of Agent Activation in Mexicans First.
A priority program of the SEP is the Teacher Professional Development Program, which since 2014 has provided continuous training to teachers at different levels, but its budget has also decreased. What is also worrying is that in 2022, their budget had 249 million pesos allocated to train education professionals, but in the first half of the year, the program only spent 0.2% of the budget (600 thousand pesos).
Fátima Masse, an economist specializing in inclusion, reported to the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) that 70% of primary education teaching staff were women. She described that reducing the budget also reduces the possibility of resolving issues of gender equality, peaceful school coexistence, use of information and communication technologies, promotion of science, incorporation of elements of other cultures, and management and leadership skills for educators in supervisory or managerial positions. All the above is relevant to improving the teaching work environment and implementing best practices for student instruction.
The study Two Years Later: Saving a Generation, conducted by the World Bank and Unicef, in collaboration with Unesco, suggested four essential measures to recover learning ravaged by the pandemic in the short term. One of these measures includes valuing, supporting, and training teachers.
What options are there for teachers?
Teachers deal with multiple challenges in specific educational contexts in each region while delivering learning and knowledge to their students. They are the principal figures in classroom teaching, so focusing on offering them resources for continuous training is highly relevant.
Therefore, we present some tools available to teachers to support their preparation and help them improve their class content. Some solutions come from TPrize, the open innovation initiative that responds to different challenges with the aim of reducing the skills gap in the world of work, and IFE Explora, an incubation program for educational ventures; both are initiatives of the Institute for the Future of Education at Tecnologico de Monterrey.
Inneddi – Colombia
IFE Explora Participant, 2022
Inneddi is a digital-literacy training program for teachers that offers educational institutions a solution to strengthen their teachers’ digital skills. Through WhatsApp, teachers can find accessible educational content, accompaniment, and continuous training for their educational practices.
The learning experiences are high-impact and adaptable to the needs of each teacher, so they can innovate in the classroom while training.
Kimple | Argentina
Winner of TPrize 2022
Kimple is a content platform aimed at teachers and school managers. This tool provides class proposals and teaching accompaniment in emerging topics to develop current skills. In addition, it offers face-to-face or virtual learning dynamics and bilingual learning.
Some topics available in its educational resources and programs are diversity, environment, digitalization, verification of information, globalization, equality, and other social, political, environmental, or economic challenges.
Edu.digital – Argentina
IFE Explora Participant, 2022
Edu.digital is a startup that provides online courses so teachers can improve or learn new skills to enhance their performance and competitiveness in the labor market. Its solutions offer an incentive to teachers with little training in information and communication technologies but who have connectivity to positively impact their students’ learning outcomes.
The skills acquired by teachers who use it allow the possibility of a better job and more income for teachers.
Skalo – Colombia
Winner of TPrize 2022
Skalo is a digital platform that facilitates designing personalized strategies and activities so teachers can support students with academic vulnerabilities. In this way, the teacher can set clear objectives, monitor progress adapted to each case, and measure the effectiveness of strategies to generate best practices. This resource makes it easier for schools and their teachers to manage learning diversity and inclusion. Additionally, the platform calculates students’ progress and guides data-driven pedagogical decision-making.
T-Share – Chile
Winner of TPrize 2021
T-Share is an online-teacher-collaboration professional network to democratize access to innovative pedagogical resources and meaningful learning experiences that are effective in the classroom. Teachers can belong to a community where they share their knowledge and amplify their educational impact. The collaboration shortens the preparation time for their classes. Disseminating and testing new resources and adapting to emerging educational trends is easier and improves the educational environment.
Teachers commit to their students to provide the most helpful knowledge adapted to their needs and/or contexts. However, it is difficult for teachers to meet these objectives if they do not have the support tools to train frequently. Countries and institutions worldwide must strive to guarantee instruction that profoundly transcends students’ lives.
In the meantime, teachers can rely on the above resources to provide quality material and prepare their classes. Which of these solutions are you most interested in using? Do you have any other suggestions? Share your favorite tools in the comments.
Translation by Daniel Wetta
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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
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