Quality in Action - Case Studies Capacity building in regenerating/developing contexts Working as consultants within partner quality assurance frameworks Working with partner ‘standards’ and curricula

THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TEACHER EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT IN PALESTINE (TEIP) Libyan Delegation, Canterbury 3 rd October 2013 Sue Kendall-Seatter Director of International Partnership and Development Petra Engelbrecht, Viv Wilson, Tony Mahon

Outline of presentation Introduction to the project Context Project outputs A collaborative participatory approach Challenges Transferability Sustainability Impact

Introduction to project Project origin in Palestinian government’s aim to promote quality education in all educational institutions in Palestine with a focus on quality education World Bank funded a three – four year project ( ) that specifically focuses on improving the quality and relevance of the school experience component of initial teacher education (teaching practicum) Overall objective of project: improve teaching practicum experience within the framework provided by the Palestinian Education Development Strategic Plan ( ) and Teacher Education strategy for Palestine (2008) in line with international best practice

“teacher education programmes in Palestine are not aiming at equipping student teachers with the pedagogical skills and teaching competences which are needed to implement a curriculum which is intended to stress critical thinking & higher order thinking skills. In other words the current system of pre-service training is too centered on traditional curriculum content and lacking the necessary practical training and internship components” ( UNESCO 2011). Context

“Across the board, the best performing countries are working to move their initial teacher education programmes towards models ……. in which (student teachers) get into schools earlier, spend more time there and get more and better support in the process.” OECD (2011) Lessons from PISA for the United States: strong performers and successful reformers in education

Context

1. Practicum Template 2. Readiness to Teach Index (RTTI) 3. New university practicum courses linked to field experience at each year (years 2 – 4) 4. Alignment of education courses, methods courses and practicum 5. Assessment framework based upon authentic assessment tasks and performance criteria derived from the RTTI 6. Development of school partnership 7. Mentor training programme 8. Capacity development of academic staff Project outputs

A collaborative participatory approach The project has been framed from the outset within a transparent and participatory partnership approach which seeks to respect the unique local contexts of partnership universities and schools in the project. The focus is therefore on collaboratively developing and implementing contents of the project rather than providing ‘ready-made’ resources from the consultancy team. Collaboration in this complex socio-cultural context requires that the research team continuously self-reflects not only on the context but also on their own possible pre-conceived perceptions in order to develop legitimate rapport across differences (Mertens, 2009).

A collaborative participatory approach To achieve Project Aims a professional and collaborative relationship of high mutual equity is being developed with colleagues and students from 4 participating universities (Arab American University, Jenin, Bethlehem University, An Najah University, Nablus and Al Azhar University, Gaza), teachers in the 50 participating schools and colleagues in the Ministry of Education.

Transferability CCCU values and principles lend themselves to promoting collaboration through genuine partnerships Participatory approaches and strategies are embedded in much of the work at CCCU across teaching, research and knowledge exchange CCCU has a history of successful collaboration in international settings -Social workers in Kurdistan -English language and primary teachers in Malaysia -Police officers in the Netherlands

Sustainability Collaborative participatory approaches can build capacity in all participants. For the international partners, the project is culturally and contextually situated; and the processes of working collaboratively have the potential to support sustainable change. 'this is not another project on the shelf'.... 'this will be a revolution in how we train teachers'

Impact “In a type of contagion effect the … same model of practicum is being adapted for use in other training programmes outside of the education sector like Accountancy and Banking. This is a very significant and welcome outcome of TEIP. The speed of this development has surpassed the expectations.” Burke, A and Cuadra, E (2013)