Technology Use for Teacher Professional Development in Low-and Middle-Income Countries Recommendations for policy from a systematic review

An output of the EdTech Hub, https://edtechhub.org

■ In particular, work and test with a wide range of users to understand how to effectively use technology to support TPD for marginalised teachers and learners.
■ For sustainability and scalability, consider the wider TPD ecosystem and coordinate / manage partners closely; understand structural and cultural influences on technology-mediated TPD operating at classroom, school, district, regional, and national levels

Introduction: Using EdTech for TPD
Educational technology (EdTech) can play a powerful role in supporting teachers. Pre-service education and in-service teacher professional development (collectively defined here as TPD) are pivotal in raising teaching quality and, therefore, learning outcomes for children and young people in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, TPD opportunities in LMICs are limited and unsustained, with mixed outcomes.
To be effective and sustainable, TPD should assess and cater to teachers' diverse needs and contexts; technology offers productive opportunities to provide tailored and flexible forms of formal and informal professional learning.
This briefing paper summarises the key messages for policymakers and TPD programme designers and implementers emerging from a recent systematic literature review conducted by the same authors.⇡Hennessy et al. (2022)  Key outcomes of the review ■ Overall, the review highlighted some promising forms of technology-mediated TPD in LMICs for teacher-supported learning and coaching, teacher self-learning, and peer learning; these include virtual coaching, social messaging, blended learning, video-stimulated reflection, devices pre-loaded with lesson plans, and teaching guides, and use of subject-specific software / applications.
■ However, it revealed a paucity of published research that addresses the sustainability, cost-effectiveness, or tangible impacts on classroom practice and/or student learning, especially literacy skills. Further research on technology-supported TPD programmes focusing on marginalised learners and teachers is also needed.
■ Few studies have used participatory or design-based approaches to TPD research. An important opportunity to leverage the voices and experiences of teachers and local communities at all stages of a TPD programme is thus missed.
Building on the successes and addressing the gaps identified should in turn help policy-makers, school leaders, teacher educators, trainers and other practitioners, to design effective technology-supported TPD that fits the needs of all teachers, and ultimately their students.

Work with teachers to design TPD interventions
All teachers are professionals capable of reflecting on, critiquing, and developing their own practice and recognising their own agency to effect change. TPD initiatives must therefore support teachers as individuals, and work with them to co-create TPD models that are relevant to their needs and that leverage their skills and capacities to improve teaching and learning (e.g., ⇡Anwar, 2017, Pakistan). For example, consider establishing a teacher advisory group or forum, or using focus groups or surveys to assess teacher needs' and interests.

Leverage EdTech to enhance teaching practices
EdTech should be used to complement, not supplement or replace, the skills and capabilities of teachers and practitioners. Preloaded devices that provide teachers with easily accessible, innovative teaching and learning resources to use in the classroom, SMS messages with lesson plans, or guides for (semi-)structured pedagogy, are all examples of how EdTech can be used to enhance teachers' classroom practices. While structured lesson plans can support teachers in utilising new teaching techniques, overly scripted ones may be inappropriate to sustain pedagogical change across contexts (⇡Piper et al., 2015: Kenya). Thus, EdTech must be leveraged in appropriate forms and quantities to ensure practices are in fact enhanced, and not hindered. Indeed, lesson planning and the use of dynamic curriculum-aligned teaching and learning materials are two practices that can improve student learning.

Systematically monitor and evaluate how TPD impacts on student learning
Professional learning mediated through technology use can contribute to improving teaching quality and student learning outcomes. While several studies measured TPD programmes' impact on teachers' pedagogical / subject knowledge (17%), skills (10%), or classroom practice (12%), very few examined the subsequent impact on students' knowledge and skills (5%). Impact on student learning must remain central to all technology-supported TPD programmes and evaluations. Pre/post student evaluations or more rigorous randomised control trials (RCTs) are two ways of doing this.

Explore how EdTech-mediated TPD can improve student literacy
Literacy was examined in only 13 (<8%) of the 170 publications reviewed, while nearly twice as many studies (25) examined maths. This makes literacy one of the less-frequently studied subjects, despite pre-Covid-19 statistics estimating that the majority of 10-year-old children in LMICs cannot read a simple text (⇡UIS, 2017). TPD's potential impact on student literacy is an important evidence gap that must be prioritised.

Use EdTech to support teacher trainers and educators
While there is a need for more evidence in this area, EdTech can support the work of teacher trainers and educators. Structured coaching software and observation tools can prompt feedback provided to teachers (⇡Bruns et al., 2018, Brazil). Virtual learning environments can allow teacher trainers and educators to share content with teachers or to provide support outside of normal class / training time (e.g., ⇡Basal, 2015, Turkey). These are important uses of EdTech to help teacher trainers or educators do their jobs more effectively, in turn supporting teachers to reflect on their own practices and progress regarding personal and reform priorities.

Foster trust and positive relationships
TPD is most effective in an environment of trust and mutual respect for trainers, coaches, district officials and school leaders, the education system, the TPD programme goals, and/or technology in general. ⇡Cilliers et al. (2021: South Africa), for example, found that virtual coaching loses efficacy over time because trusting relationships are harder to secure without face-to-face interaction. Supportive and constructive relationships should be prioritised in technology-supported TPD programmes, integrated into teachers' codes of conduct, teacher qualification frameworks, or education sector plans.

Explore formal and informal uses of EdTech to facilitate teacher communities of practice
Informal models of TPD include organic and teacher-or facilitator-led online and/or remote communities of practice (CoP) through, for example, Facebook, WhatsApp, or other commonly-used social media (e.g., ⇡Taner, 2018: Ghana). Blended models are particularly powerful. CoPs are increasingly recognised (featured in 37 publications) as critical for teacher well-being, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic and school closures. Effective forms of informal social media use should be explicitly encouraged, while simultaneously ensuring pedagogical rigour of the ideas being promoted, and alignment of content and TPD objectives.

Focus on equity and supporting the most marginalised
Technology-supported TPD needs to include strategies for using technology to reach and include marginalised groups of both teachers and learners, and to cater for diverse (learning) needs. This includes women and girls, displaced persons, and learners and teachers with disabilities, among others. Although 40 LMICs were represented in the reviewed publications, 96 further LMICs were not. Only 5 countries (all middle-income) had 10 or more studies. More research is needed in under-represented countries and regions, as well as in remote or rural communities, which often have additional challenges (e.g., infrastructure, socio-economic status, conflict / emergency, attendance of girls, language barriers). Marginalised teachers and learners can benefit hugely from tailored TPD and technology-facilitated connection to others in similar contexts.

Consider the TPD ecosystem
When designing technology-supported TPD programmes, it is imperative to consider the whole ecosystem (see ⇡Hennessy et al., 2022, Figure 1), including: ■ At the district and national levels: developing a deeper understanding of the structural and cultural factors that can support or constrain technology-mediated TPD.
■ At the school level: ensuring schools and communities are equipped with the physical and human resources to support technology-mediated TPD.
■ At the teacher level: taking account of teachers' professional learning needs, experience, expertise, motivations, and agency, to increase appropriateness and efficacy of programmes.
■ Most importantly, at the student level: monitoring impact on student learning outcomes.

Strive for scalability and sustainability of TPD programmes
Only 11% of all studies reviewed reported any detail of cost, few were large-scale, and only 18% were longitudinal (evaluating impact along multiple points in time). This suggests an urgent need to commission, support, or advocate for more research that focuses on larger-scale and longer-term programmes that consider costs and/or cost-effectiveness, as well as scalability and sustainability.
Policymakers and TPD implementers can support this by openly publishing a breakdown of costings. In addition, funders or global educational development actors can work on establishing protocols or standards for how to report on costs.

Coordinate and manage partners closely
To achieve the necessary coherence around national priorities, close coordination is needed between governments and partners, including implementers, sponsors, or TPD providers. A push to promote a culture of collaboration and learning across the TPD system would "avoid unnecessary duplication and help large-scale initiatives to learn from both mistakes and successes of small-scale pilot projects" (⇡Piper et al., 2015, p. 11). This serves to join up a disparate system of initiatives, actors, and funding. ■ Impact on Teachers: Teachers reported using the mobile devices (a) to access the internet and engage in self-directed TPD, for example, to find content on how to support SEND learners, and (b) to share innovative teaching practices through photos or exemplar videos. Further research might investigate the impact for student learners.

Further information
Read the full systematic review journal article here.
An associated technical report (⇡Hennessy et al., 2021) provides the quantitative outcomes from an initial systematic mapping review of the whole research field concerning use of EdTech related to teacher learning in LMICs (including teacher learning about technology that supports both student learning and teaching, planning and assessment practices). It includes information about regional distributions of the studies; TPD settings, audiences, and intended outcomes; design features of the TPD models and the tech devices and resources used; and contextual factors shaping the effectiveness, scalability, or sustainability of approaches.
The full database of 170 references with quality assessment and detailed thematic coding is openly available for others to conduct their own specific searches, for example by country or technology device. It includes a further set of 95 sources related to teacher learning and technology use for classroom teaching and learning, from the wider mapping review.

Contact details
To find out more about the systematic review or our ongoing work in the field, please contact: