High-Level Implementation Phase Launch Meeting within “Adapting and Scaling Teacher Professional Development Approaches in Uzbekistan” Research Project was held on September 8, 2021 in a hybrid format, with the physical part to be hosted in Tashkent Wyndham hotel and an online format. The main objectives of the meeting were (i) to launch Online Phase of Uzbek TPD@scale model; (ii) to present the project progress update and detailed implementation plan for the next months; (iii) to share knowledge and research findings with national stakeholders and global partners; (iv) to collect feedback on prototype of Uzbek TPD@scale model and the project’s planned implementation activities and relevant experiences.
Within this project, UNESCO focuses on examining how the TPD@Scale approach can be used in Uzbekistan to improve equitable access to quality teacher professional development. More specifically, this action aims to develop a framework and guidelines for adapting, implementing, evaluating, and continuously improving upon proven TPD@Scale models, or core components of such models, in the Uzbek context and for different sub-groups of teachers, as an approach to scaling in-service teacher training. It is focused on examining the challenges and opportunities for enacting a blended model of TPD@scale through assessing the context with different subgroups of teachers.
The meeting brought together international and national experts in the teacher professional development and training, experts from UNESCO and other international organizations, high-level officials from the Government of Uzbekistan, Representatives from the Agency for Presidential educational institutions of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Also, representatives from the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO and other international organizations, as well as members of the academia from various higher education institutions participated at the event.
The event was organised within the framework of the UNESCO project “Adapting and Scaling Teacher Professional Development Approaches in Ghana, Honduras and Uzbekistan”, funded by the International Development Research Centre in the amount of $435,000, as part of the GPE-KIX (The Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange) initiative.
The two-year project (2020-2022) will elaborate an in-service teacher professional development model to be implemented in Uzbekistan, engaging more than 600 teachers from 16 schools.
This meeting was also dedicated to 2021 International Literacy Day, which is celebrated under the theme “Literacy for a human-centered recovery: Narrowing the digital divide”. The 8th of September was declared International Literacy Day by UNESCO in 1966 to remind the international community of the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies, and the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies. The issue of literacy is a key component of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.