In the latest episode of the World Bank’s Teachers Podcast Elaine Ding, Analyst for the Teachers Thematic Group in the Educational Global Practice at the World Bank hosted a conversation on teacher-directed vs. student-centered pedagogical approaches with Lucy Crehan, an international education consultant, researcher, and author. Lucy is the author of ‘Cleverlands: the secrets behind the success of the world's education superpowers’, one of The Economist’s books of the year in 2016, as well as a book on teacher career structures for the International Institute for Educational Planning and UNES ..read more

This episode utilizes findings from the Facilitating Effective 1-1 Coaching Sessions technical guidance note (and summary slides) as a starting point to discuss how education systems can support pedagogical leaders in training and coaching teachers. Rita Almeida, Practice Manager for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank, leads an engaging discussion on the importance of coaching relationships being rooted in trust and teacher autonomy, emphasizing how this research translates into reality in Finland. During the episode, Tracy Wilichowski, a member of the World Bank’s Teachers Team, discus ..read more

In celebration of the World Teachers’ Day 2022, the Teachers Thematic Group at the World Bank brought together policymakers, practitioners, and international education leaders to underscore the essential role of teachers in accelerating learning recovery efforts, and to discuss how to best support them with a strong focus on their well-being, motivation, and empowerment ..read more

In this episode of the Teachers Podcast, Elaine Ding, Analyst with the Education Global Practice at the World Bank spoke with Dr. Keishia Thorpe, English Teacher at the International High School Langley Park in Maryland, USA and the winner of the prestigious 2021 Global Teacher Prize. Keishia received this award from UNESCO and the Varkey Foundation for her devotion to preparing young immigrants and first-generation Americans to succeed at her school. Keishia’s work to incorporate culturally relevant learning content into her school's curriculum helped her students connect with the material be ..read more

There is now a fair bit of evidence to suggest that a financial insentive by itself does not always lead to better teacher performance. So what does? In this episode of the Teachers podcast, we discuss intrinsic motivation and its impact on student and teachers’ performance. The guests on this episode share their thoughts on how to develop educational environments that encourage intrinsic motivation. Tara Beteille, a Senior Economist in the World Bank’s East Asia Pacific Region and the Human Development Program Leader for Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar hosts this discussion with John McIntosh, Di ..read more

The evidence is clear: effective teacher professional development (TPD) needs to include ongoing and individualized support to teachers in order to impact teachers’ instruction, and subsequently student learning. However, what is less clear are the details of what effective coaching looks like in practice, especially in low-and-middle country settings. This episode tries to answer these questions, building on the World Bank’s new “Facilitating Effective 1-1 Support Technical Guidance Note." This note provides guidance on how pedagogical leaders can effectively carry out coaching sessions ..read more

Today, Mariah O’Mara, Head of Communications of HundrED, speaks with Manal Quota, Senior Education Specialist at The World Bank and edtech innovators Agustín Porres, LATAM Regional Director at the Varkey Foundation – Comunidad Atenea, and Sameer Sampat, Co-Founder – Global School Leaders. The World Bank and HundrED launched the Teachers for a Changing World global contest to crowdsource tech-based solutions to teacher professional development. From a pool of over 400 applications, the teams identified the ten most impactful and scalable programs as the “T4T Champi ..read more

Today, World Bank Education South Asia Practice Manager, Dr. Cristian Aedo, and World Bank Education Analyst, Tracy Wilichowski, are speaking with Dr. Matthew Kraft, Associate Professor of Education at Brown University, and Dr. Murad Raas, Provincial Minister of Punjab for School Education, about supporting teachers through high-quality feedback and lessons from Punjab's model. A few years ago, the government of Punjab, under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Raas, introduced a large package of education reforms. These reforms included the introduction of a new classroom observation ..read more

The evidence is clear: effective teacher professional development (TPD) needs to include ongoing and individualized support to teachers to impact teachers’ instruction, and subsequently student learning. Shanghai’s policies and investments have created a great teacher workforce that is supported by clear learning standards, regular and aligned assessments, and a balance of autonomy and accountability in school management. Today, we are speaking with Liang Xiaoyan and Zhang Minxuan, co-authors of the World Bank report “How Shanghai Does It” (https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/pub ..read more

Policymakers around the world can learn valuable lessons on how to successfully fight learning poverty and improve foundational learning from the Brazilian state of Ceará (with its 9 million inhabitants) and Sobral, a municipality in Ceará with 200,000 inhabitants. In 2005, Sobral did not even rank in the top thousand among Brazil’s municipalities. The municipality implemented key education reforms that led to substantial improvements in quality in primary and lower secondary education. Now, Sobral ranks first in Brazil, and ten of Ceará's municipalities are among the ..read more