ICT in Education and Teacher Education in Myanmar

ICT in Education and Teacher Education in Myanmar MS HLA THIDA MR PHYO MAUNG 17 OCTOBER 2017

Education policies, priorities and goals The current Government has acknowledged the need for prioritising teacher education and skills development. The 30 -Year Long-Term Education Development Plan (20012031) aims to ‘uplift’ national education through reform programmes including upgrading the teaching-learning processes and the teacher education system. The National Education Strategic Plan (2016 -2021) is a comprehensive plan on nine transformational shifts in education, outlining the roadmap of the sector-wide education reforms in the five years’ time.

Status of ICT in Education policies and programmes Between 2000 and 2008, 741 learning centres were established, with 670 placed within high schools. In 2009, a majority of schools were provided with ICT facilities. More than 90 percent of these facilities were audio only and the frequency of use of ICT for teaching and learning could have been higher. ICT Master Plan (2011 -2015) delineated actionable steps in four major sectors: ICT Infrastructure, ICT for industry, human resource development and e-education. Planned interventions in the latter two sectors have strong connections to the education sector. There is currently no specific ICT in Education policy in Myanmar. A recently concluded first-ever mobile ICT in education project in Myanmar was completed by a public-private partnership between UK Government, Ericsson, UNESCO and other partners.

Teacher professional development and career path Myanmar has over 340, 000 basic education teachers in more than 40, 000 basic education schools. Teacher deployment and promotion are not linked to performance but are based on years of experience. The National Education Strategic Plan (2016 -2021) identified the need for teacher professional development programmes for in-service teachers and improvement of preservice teacher education.

Proposed alignment between current UNESCO initiatives and the KFIT project Selected Education Colleges are to be upgraded from two-year diploma programme to fouryear degree programme in December 2018 1 2 3 4 Current roadmap supported by UNESCO Project Office in Myanmar Proposed intervention through the KFIT project A Teacher Competency Standards Framework (TCSF) is being developed. Strengthening the capacity to incorporate ICT competencies in TCSF for pre-service teacher education New four-year Teacher Education degree curriculum (including syllabi, textbooks and teacher guides) is being developed. Mapping and reviewing of the new curriculum on the ICT subject and ICT across subjects ICT infrastructure (including broadband internet, ICT equipment, an online learning portal and an online library) and ICT basic literacy and ICT in Education training are ongoing. Training of trainers to support the delivery of the new curriculum on the ICT subject and ICT across subjects with the new ICT competencies Advocacy of a comprehensive teacher policy is underway. Facilitating competency assessment, recognition and accreditation for Education Colleges

General expectations and concerns How is the UNESCO Bangkok project team going to support the implementation in Myanmar? How do we ensure that the baseline survey (if implemented) can reflect the actual situations in Myanmar? With the absence of a specific ICT in Education policy, how do we develop ICT competencies in an effective way? As the Government plans to upgrade pre-service teacher education to four year degree programme in December 2018, how can the KFIT activities align with the current project within the tight timeframe? Our focus plans to be for pre-service teachers. We wonder if there may be gaps in implementing ICT competencies, especially if there may not be enough ICT equipment in basic education schools. Has the Philippines encountered similar issue? If so, how did the Philippines deal with it?

ICT in Education and Teacher Education in Myanmar MS HLA THIDA MR PHYO MAUNG 17 OCTOBER 2017