Launch of the Network for Teacher Empowerment in Latin America and the Caribbean

The first meeting of the Network for Teacher Empowerment in Latin America and the Caribbean, of the Empowering Teachers Initiative (ETI), was held on November 28th. The event, which was conducted virtually via Zoom, brought together key representatives and leaders from the educational sector in the region, including ministries, foundations, civil society organizations, think tanks, among others.

The meeting aimed to introduce ETI and the purpose of the Network, establish a welcoming and connecting space for its members, and discuss the initiatives and proposals expected for the Network.

The event began with welcoming remarks by Javier González, Director of SUMMA, who pointed out as one of the key messages regarding Teacher Professional Development (TPD) in the region: “If our ministries do not strengthen one of the most important links in the education system— which is pedagogical support— it is really difficult to achieve lasting change in teachers’ behaviors and support their day-to-day practice through a few courses, webinars, or workshops, as we have always done. Adult practices are not changed with one or two workshops a year, they are changed with persistent support, with modeling, with observation and continuous feedback”. 

Alejandra Vargas, Education and Science Program Officer at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), shared a pre-recorded video message in which she commented: “Having a regional network is central under the recognition and premise that IDRC has, that local realities require local solutions and that there is strength in having a regional exchange on best practices for the professionalization of education systems”. In this sense, she concluded that the Network “is a unique opportunity to understand not only what are the educational problems, but also what are the opportunities to have a systemic impact on educational public policies that guarantee not only an increase in quality, but also in equity, and this is particularly relevant in the Latin American context”. 

Following this, Dante Castillo-Canales, Director of Innovative Policy and Practices at SUMMA and Director of the Network, alongside Francesca Bonomelli, Impact Officer of ETI, gave a brief introduction about ETI and the Network, followed by presentations by ETI research teams from Argentina and Mexico. From Argentina, Andrea Brito, Daniel Pinkasz and Sebastián Fuentes, researchers from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), presented the project “ESCAL.AR: Models for Teacher Professional Development in Initial Literacy in Argentina”. Then, from Mexico, Pablo Gaitán, from the Research Institute for Development with Equity (Equide) of the Universidad Iberoamericana and part of the project’s research team, presented “Educating for Well-Being: An Analysis of the Implementation of Systematic Preschool SEL in Mexico”.

After the presentations, Network members from diverse organizations and countries in the region engaged in a space for brief presentations. The meeting concluded with a preview of the upcoming activities and events included in the Network’s work agenda, which includes, among other milestones, workshops for reflection and learning exchanges and webinars. 

Background 

The Network for Teacher Empowerment in Latin America and the Caribbean was created with the objective of generating connections between different actors in order to discuss, problematize, collaborate and put into practice the lessons learned about teacher professional development. This working group is also participating in a Global Learning Cycle through an online course on TPD@Scale, promoted by the TPD@Scale Coalition.

The Network aims to facilitate and promote the exchange of knowledge and best practices, sharing experiences, resources and effective TPD strategies at scale, and fostering inter-institutional collaboration among key actors in the region. To this end, the work of this group seeks to adapt and contextualize knowledge on global TPD strategies to the local contexts of Latin America and the Caribbean, considering the cultural, institutional and socioeconomic specificities of the region. The ultimate purpose of these actions is to promote advocacy on educational policies at the local and regional level, based on evidence and joint learning experiences.