Strong educational professionals in the digital transition

To effectively support students, it is important for teachers to continuously develop professionally. The digital transition brings both challenges and opportunities in this area. Teachers are challenged to adapt their practice to new ways of working and learning, and to help students develop new competencies, including digital skills. At the same time, there are opportunities to use new digital technologies to improve the impact of teachers' professional development and align it better with their needs and work schedules, especially under the pressure of teacher shortages. The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) by the OECD shows that teachers are asking for and in need of more ICT-related professional development. Teachers must be able to confidently use new tools to improve lesson content, teaching, and lesson organization. Digitally competent teachers are also better equipped to help students develop digital skills, including information literacy, media literacy, and computational thinking.

Project Objective

The aim of this project is to support the governments of Flanders and the Netherlands in designing, developing, and implementing reforms in digital education. The forms of digital professional development considered in this research have one or more of the following objectives:

1. supporting teachers in acquiring the digital competencies they need to teach effectively,
2. helping students develop digital competencies as outlined in the curriculum, or
3. fully utilising digital technologies to overcome access barriers and increase the impact on teachers' professional development

The collaborative project aims to make teacher professionalization more effective in order to support the digital transition in education.

Methods

This project is based on comprehensive research and analysis of current needs, facilities, policy measures, and financing mechanisms for professionalization. It involves key stakeholders in teachers' professionalization at every level of the Flemish and Dutch education system. Additionally, school-based pilots have been carried out within this project to test the steps necessary for the implementation of effective professionalization in practice. Furthermore, it investigates how emerging technologies can enhance the offering and effectiveness of in-service training. Some examples include:

• Artificial intelligence for tailored learning trajectories,
• Virtual and augmented reality for richer learning experiences,
• Learning analytics to monitor and optimize professional development,
• Microcredentials to certify learning outcomes or showcase specific skills or knowledge,
• Gamification to increase engagement and motivation.

The project will leverage knowledge from the education sector and the outcomes will be informed by feedback from teachers, schools, and training providers.

Results

The key results are:

• The project demonstrates effective and sustainable approaches to renewing teachers' professionalization in Belgium (Flanders) and the Netherlands.
• The project presents a professionalization framework and explains how this can assist schools in testing the digital component of the provided professionalization offering.
• The project provides recommendations for policy and financing instruments for teachers' professionalization through the integration of innovative digital approaches.

Collaboration

The Flemish Ministry of Education and Training and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science have applied for and received support via the EU's Technical Support Instrument (TSI). This instrument provides tailored expertise to EU member states to support the design, development, or implementation of reforms. In this way, the project is funded by the European Commission. Dialogic is carrying out the project in collaboration with ICF and Idea Consult (within the ASCENT+ consortium).