The Botswana Teaching Professionals Council (BOTEPCO), Botswana Open University (BOU) and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) have collaborated in an initiative aimed at enhancing teachers’ training through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) as well as digitalisation.
Dubbed “Beyond Numbers: Scaling Quality Teacher Development in Sub-Saharan Africa with ODL,” the project seeks to create a sustainable teaching workforce by advancing teacher training through ODL and equipping teachers with 21st century skills using digitalisation.
The project was launched in Maun this week followed by a three-day long workshop held with the aim of advancing teacher development.
BOTEPCO registrar, Dr Raphael Dingalo explained that the project focuses on leveraging strategic partnerships to accelerate the delivery of value adding services to the teachers.
He said the council was established for the purpose of professionalising teaching and therefore the teacher as an agent of societal change is a catalyst of such transformation. “Professionalisation of teaching is a critical endeavor for it can and should contribute towards improved quality of education,” he added.
For her part, BOU regional director, Boipelo Kesamang added that the project is anticipated to bring an immerse transformation in the teaching profession and the whole educational landscape of the country. She said the project focuses mainly on empowering educators through using the principles of ODL and also through the uptake and utilisation of open educational resources as part of their professional development.
She said ODL philosophy emphasizes accessibility, flexibility and allows members to pursue education without being bound by location, time or specific entry requirements. She indicated that the workshop was mandated to explore how the open distance and the e-learning philosophy can transform education for both teachers and the coming generation.
The project consultant, Professor Nkobi Pansiri also explained that the three-day long workshop was meant to generate ideas that will be used to develop the Botswana Teacher Education and Professional Development Framework. The framework he said will provide the roadmap to a comprehensive national action plan for scaling the delivery of the teacher capacity-building programme.
Pansiri further said that their aim is to further identify, evaluate, adopt, and adapt at least two continuous professional development modules for teacher capacity building. He added that they also seek to identify, evaluate, adopt, and adapt at least two open distance learning short courses also for teacher capacity building.
