Minister of Education meets with the Head of UNESCO's Teacher Development Unit
Mr. Mohamed Abdel Latif, Minister of Education and Technical Education, met with Mr. Carlos Vargas, Head of UNESCO's Teacher Development Unit, to discuss enhancing cooperation in the field of professional development for teachers and building their capacities, and areas of future cooperation.
This came on the sidelines of the "Digital Learning Week 2024" conference held in France, organized by UNESCO, during the period from September 2 to 5, 2024, in the presence of Ambassador Alaa Youssef, Egypt's Ambassador to France.
During the meeting, Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif praised UNESCO's efforts in supporting the development of education with a number of educational projects, especially in the field of professional development for teachers, and building their capacities to use technology and digital content, and looking forward to more cooperation during the coming period to serve the educational system in Egypt.
The Minister stressed the importance of the teacher's role in the educational process, in addition to the importance of exchanging visions and experiences and benefiting from the experiences of other countries and studies in the field of professional development for teachers, reviewing the Ministry's efforts in this regard in light of Egypt's Vision 2030, as well as addressing the problem of the shortage in the number of teachers.
The Minister also pointed out the importance of cooperation with UNESCO to accredit the Professional Academy for Teachers (PAT) as a UNESCO Category II Center and a distance learning center for teachers, which contributes to enhancing the Academy's global reputation, as well as access to UNESCO's global network of experts, researchers and policy makers, in addition to enabling cooperation in international projects and initiatives related to education and capacity building by benefiting from UNESCO's expertise.
For his part, the Head of the UNESCO Teacher Development Unit appreciated the efforts of the Minister of Education in developing the educational process in Egypt, and the measures recently announced to address current challenges, stressing that these efforts reflect the Ministry's commitment to improving the quality of education and providing an appropriate educational environment for all students.
Mr. Carlos Vargas also stressed the importance of cooperation between the Ministry and UNESCO to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the field of education, and UNESCO's full support for these efforts, expressing his hope that these efforts will contribute to achieving a qualitative shift in the education system in Egypt.
The meeting discussed Egypt's initiative to establish a Regional Professional Academy for Teachers (RPAT) to build capacity, create a common understanding and regional frameworks for standards for the teaching profession, in addition to strengthening networks and partnerships to develop teachers' capacities in Arab countries, promoting digital learning in teacher training institutions in Arab countries, and providing innovative policy solutions to respond to regional challenges such as teacher shortages in countries suffering from crises, ensuring the quality of education, and promoting lifelong learning for all in order to reduce gaps and enhance learning and creative society, especially in the digital age.
The two sides also discussed the launch of the Global Report on the Teacher Shortage, with the aim of providing appropriate treatment and improving the quality of education in line with the Education 2030 goals, to ensure quality, inclusive and equitable education, and to enhance the importance of the teaching profession and advocate for policies that support the development of teachers' professional performance, as well as exchanging experiences on best practices to achieve common goals related to teacher policies and education quality.
The meeting also touched on proposed areas for future cooperation, including teacher development and capacity building programs, exploring strategies to enhance teacher training programs in Egypt to improve teaching methods and digital skills, addressing the shortage of teachers in schools, especially primary school teachers, sharing insights on effective strategies to motivate high-quality teachers to teach in crowded classrooms, teachers’ digital skills, as well as how to support teachers in Egypt within its strategy for digital transformation in education, monitoring and evaluating teachers’ performance, and data-driven methods to measure the effectiveness of teachers’ performance and improve educational outcomes.