An International Conference “Teacher Competencies in Knowledge Society: Policy, Pedagogy, Social Skills” was held on 1-2 December 2011 in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. The event will be organized jointly by the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The main purpose of the Conference is to provide a space for reflection on strategies, trends and practices of teacher professional development on the basis of competency based approach with application of different models of Knowledge Society key competencies – ICT, professional (pedagogical) and social – for teachers. Thus, the Conference will support the achievement of the high-quality education for all (EFA) goals in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and other UNESCO Member States, and will give a possibility to define concrete steps on the way towards a creation of generalized system for sustainable development of key teachers’ competencies in Knowledge Society.
It become the platform for discussion both of the research findings and best practices, as well as for close cooperation and constructive dialogue of expertsand policy makersto exchange experience and opinions to develop joint recommendations for policy in the field of ICT based teacher development.
Main Objectives of the conference
- To exchange, share and compare data, knowledge and skills related to teacher competences in the Knowledge Society.
- To illustrate regional and international research and findings by practical examples in the field and discuss empirical work on creative and innovative use of teacher competencies development;
- To examine the policy regulations on teacher competences development in terms of ICTs, Pedagogy and Social Skills.
- To identify priority areas for intervention and research in order to contribute to the full-scale use of ICT potential for modernization of teacher training system.
- To build consensus and develop recommendations on the ways of development, enhancement, evaluation and improvement of teacher competencies formeeting the needs of the knowledge societies and economies and implement EFA goals.
Target Audience
The purpose of the conferenceis to bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers involved in teaching, training and instructional guidance.
The conference was attended by heads and senior specialists of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, heads of the educational institutions of the Republic of Azerbaijan, directors of educational centres, UNESCO IITE experts and other international participants, representatives of IT companies. Overall number of participants: 80-100.
Main topics of the conference
A. ICT Competencies and Teacher Professional Development
1. Media literacy and new competences for teachers and learners in education.
2. New approaches, trends and strategies of ICT application in pre-service and in-service teacher training programs.
3. National approaches on educational technology standards development.
4. UNESCO vision of the ICT role for teachers and UNESCO ICT CFT integration into the national systems of teacher training
B. Open educational resources
1. Application of OER in teacher training
2. Promoting Open Educational Resources in CIS
C. ICT in TVET
1. The role and potential of ICT in TVET.
2. New approaches, trends and strategies of ICT application in pre-service and in-service teacher training programs in TVET.
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