EASE and Quallity Results for Youth Affected by the Syrian Crisis

About the Project

UNESCO Amman Office, in partnership with The Queen Rania Teacher’s Academy is implementing the project:   “Enhancing Access to Secondary Education and Quality Results for Youth Affected by the Syria Crisis” (EASE): Blended Approach to Teacher Training (BATT). The project, generously funded by the Saudi Fund for Development, is working on creating a blended face to face and online teacher-training course that will combine three important factors: utilizing technology, creating specialized content and delivering the BATT. The project’s design and implementation will be applied in two stages. The first stage will concentrate on developing and piloting a blended approach to the training course. The second stage will involve the scaling up and extending the training to a large number of teachers across Jordan.

Contributing to the professional development of teachers is proven to increase the overall quality of an education system. The benefits of well-trained teachers trickle down into the community, as learning outcomes improve for students who are the future citizens of the society. By contributing to improving teacher training through the EASE project and the BATT, UNESCO and its partner are contributing to improving the quality of education in Jordan.

What is a Blended Approach to Teacher Training (BATT)?

The blended approach to teacher training and learning, is usually viewed as a combination of face-to-face and online delivery methods, and has been proven to influence teachers’ perceptions of the learning environment and subsequently their teaching practices. The benefits of a blended approach to learning offers the participants an opportunity to learn at their own pace, and to reflect on their learning while participating and sharing ideas and experiences with colleagues in an open, friendly and conducive to learning environment. Blended learning also has the capacity to reach a larger audience of teachers without adding extra strain on their time or teaching load. The nature of blended learning is in line with the current needs of Jordan’s teachers, allowing them to take advantage of flexible hours, and collaborate with peers easily.

This specialized BATT will concentrate on developing concepts in Math and Science that have proven to be problematic for students to learn and for teachers to teach. The Math and Science BATT program will concentrate specifically on secondary Math and Physics teachers. The program will be designed to shift the focus of instruction in Math and Science from “procedural instruction” to “conceptual comprehension,” increasing student engagement and improving learning outcomes.