2nd Global meeting of the Empowering Teachers Initiative (ETI): learning and exchange of experiences in teacher professional development in the Global South

Hanoi, Vietnam, September, 2024 – On September 25, 26 and 27, the second global meeting of the Empowering Teachers Initiative: TPD@Scale (ETI) was held in Hanoi, Vietnam. During the three-day event, ETI research teams from Africa, Asia, and Latin America engaged in various meetings and activities. These interactions allowed participants to exchange experiences, discuss key lessons, and highlight the progress made in their ongoing research efforts.

On the first day of the event, teams shared project progress reports and discussed emerging findings and the similarities and differences between them. The second day focused on reflecting on key concepts related to large-scale TPD systems—such as adaptation, teacher agency, and scaling—while emphasizing gender equality and social inclusion as transformative approaches that ETI aims to mobilize. The third and final day centered on knowledge mobilization, with discussions exploring relevant regional events and strategies for addressing regional challenges. Teams worked collaboratively to advance the Policy and Practice Influencing process, moving beyond individual projects to foster broader, systemic change.

Also during the event, the management team presented key milestones from the initiative’s first year of implementation and introduced new communication resources, including the ETI website and the CoRe platform, a collaborative space for researchers and team members to share knowledge, tools, and relevant information.

Victoria Tinio, Executive Director of FIT-ED, commented that “it’s crucial for our ETI Country Research Teams to have the opportunity to engage face-to-face and collaboratively tackle the complex challenges of understanding quality and equity in TPD@Scale research. While we’ve all had to adapt to working productively online, there’s no substitute for being in the same room, where our researchers are able to share emerging findings and explore both shared perspectives and differing viewpoints. This in-person interaction deepens their intellectual, professional, and personal connections, not only with each other but also with the ETI Team, strengthening the bonds they’ve built over the past year”.

Dante Castillo-Canales, Director of Policy and Innovative Practices at SUMMA, also commented that “The 2nd Global Meeting in Hanoi has proven to be a highly productive space for sharing countles insights and emerging findings from research conducted across the Global South. Building on the collaborative spirit of the 1st meeting in Kigali, the gathering focused on strengthening the global community of researchers working on large-scale teacher education systems”. He added that a key priority of this meeting was “fostering a collective vision for a GESI (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) approach, which places the principles of equality and inclusion at the core of the research activities supported by the Empowering Teachers Initiative”.

This second global meeting offered teams a valuable opportunity to reflect on the impact of their research, share insights and knowledge, foster the exchange of information, and explore how the initiative can drive new ideas and actions to promote quality, inclusive, and effective TPD in the Global South.

The initiative is led by the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) and SUMMA, the Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Hybrid Event “Teacher Professional Development Systems for Equity and Quality: Tinkering or Shifting the Paradigm?”

In addition to the workshops held during the second global meeting, on September 26, the event “Teacher Professional Development Systems for Equity and Quality: Tinkering or Shifting the Paradigm?” was held, a discussion on the transformation of TPD systems in the Global South, based on the results of the latest research and reports. The event was streamed and you can watch it again here.

Relive the event here

Check out ETI’s website