Standard 14: Training, Professional Development, and Support

Emergencies may require teachers to learn new content and teaching methodologies. If a crisis has created a demand for additional teachers, such as in situations of displacement, a condensed and targeted teacher training program might be needed. National authorities have the ultimate responsibility for training and professional development standards, policies, and services for teachers engaged in the national education system. The implementing agencies and communities that directly engage teachers should align their support with national standards as much as possible. Training and professional development opportunities should be available to all teachers and other education personnel, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, age, or contractual or legal status.

The need for teacher training may be significant during an emergency. Education actors should consider the following when assessing the need, planning, and support for training and professional development:

• Coordination and collaboration: When possible, national authorities should lead training and professional development efforts, in collaboration with the inter-agency coordination mechanism. All implementing agencies should coordinate training opportunities to ensure greater consistency. Assessments carried out by various stakeholders should be coordinated to guide training needs. 
• Prioritize training participants: All teachers will require training to ensure that they have the skills needed to respond to learners’ changing needs. Training plans should be created as soon as possible after a crisis for the teachers with the greatest need, such as those on the front lines, new teachers, and teachers welcoming refugee learners. Plans should be based on an understanding of teachers’ needs in different situations, such as new and inexperienced teachers and those with previous training or experience. Plans also should reflect the learners’ changing needs in a new learning environment, such as MHPSS, working with larger or mixed groups, and learning in a new language.
• Inclusive opportunities are essential: Professional development opportunities should be flexible enough to accommodate the teachers and other education personnel who may need additional support to attend training sessions. This may include female teachers in contexts where women have historically been excluded from education and teachers with disabilities. Examples of targeted support may include providing flexible training schedules, child care, and safe transportation to and from training sites.
• Training and professional development modalities: Pre-service and in-service training opportunities are important in emergencies. Condensing pre-service training can speed up the preparation of the new teachers needed to respond to the specific needs of an emergency. In-service training is more often provided during the early stages of an emergency response to orient teachers to the specific content. Training opportunities should account for different factors, such as teachers’ safety and ability to travel to learning sites, and the available technology. In-person, online, individual, and group teacher training options may all be appropriate. Teacher training during emergencies should be part of longer-term support, and one-off training with no follow up or continued support should be avoided.

Supporting teachers after training: Head teachers should play a key role in their teachers’ professional development. This should include providing opportunities for school-based training and drawing from the expertise of school staff members, those from a nearby school, or from the community. The creative use of mentors, peer learning, and support programs can provide another layer of sustained support (for more guidance, see Teachers in Crisis Contexts Training for Primary School Teachers; INEE Guidance Notes on Teaching and Learning).

Teaching during emergencies requires specific skills and knowledge. Education authorities are responsible for developing and delivering formal training curriculum and content, while their partners, such as UN agencies, NGOs, and the private sector, can offer support. Stakeholders may need to review and adapt curricula for pre-service programs to ensure that current and future training prepares teachers to meet the specific needs of learners in emergencies. Special concerns may include MHPSS, SEL, health, and protection related content, and issues related to DRR and climate change.

It is particularly important to make sure that training addresses diversity and discrimination. Teachers should be helped to identify and address stereotypes, bias, or prejudice in the curriculum and to promote inclusivity, respect, and nonviolence. Teachers should be confident and competent in discussing these issues with learners, as well as concepts, principles, and practices related to human rights. Those working with teachers to address bias in the curriculum should recognize that some issues may be challenging for the teachers themselves. They should allow time for discussion and emphasize the important role teachers play in promoting diversity and inclusion. Teachers of all genders should be trained to use disability-inclusive and gender-responsive teaching practices. The approaches used in training can model practices and strategies for addressing gender-based discrimination directly, for example, identifying and addressing harmful gender norms and stereotypes (for more guidance, see INEE Guidance Note on Conflict Sensitive Education; INEE Guidance Note on Gender).

Other areas for teacher professional development can include:

• Pedagogy and subject matter
  • Literacy, numeracy, and subject area
  • Formative and summative learner assessment
  • Teaching methods and approaches, including inclusive and diverse approaches and classroom management
  • Teaching for specific age and developmental groups, including early and older learners
• Creating and supporting an inclusive classroom
  • Identifying and addressing curriculum bias and discrimination
  • Supporting learners with disabilities
  • Using content and methodologies that acknowledge and celebrate diversity
  • Teaching the conflict-resolution and peacebuilding skills needed to navigate challenges in the classroom and to teach learners those same skills.
• Skills and knowledge to mitigate and prevent abuse or provide protection
  • Positive discipline and reporting mechanisms for violence against children and young people
  • MHPSS and SEL, including health and safety education
  • Understanding and effectively using school-based referral systems, including referral mechanisms for sexual harassment, coercion, bullying, and mental health or other issues (for more guidance, see Supporting Integrated Child Protection and Education Programming in Humanitarian Action; Minimum Standards for Child Protection, Standard 23)
  • DRR and conflict prevention
  • Human rights principles and perspectives, and humanitarian law
  • Codes of conduct for teachers and other education personnel, and their adherence to them
• Supporting learners beyond the classroom
  • Engaging parents and caregivers and the community in the learning process
  • Providing specific training for school leaders related to professional support for school staff and quality assurance

Teachers should receive training to develop the knowledge and skills they will need to reduce the risks that learners and the community may face. Head teachers and teachers and other education personnel can play an important role in making learners aware of hazards and risks at school and beyond and in teaching them safe practices for dealing with what they encounter. Teachers should have information that helps them to identify, prevent, and deal with potential hazards and risks they and their learners might face (for more guidance, see Comprehensive School Safety Framework; Supporting Integrated Child Protection and Education Programming in Humanitarian Action).

Education stakeholders should identify qualified local trainers to help develop and implement appropriate training for teachers and other education personnel.  Qualified trainers from the context and external stakeholders can engage in capacity sharing activities to create a mutual understanding of the challenges to teaching and learning at all stages of an emergency, from preparedness through to recovery. Stakeholders should make the effort to identify and engage a diverse group of qualified trainers. They should be aware of potential gender and cultural sensitivities and group trainers with teachers accordingly. Trainers' demographics should reflect those of the teachers they are working with.

It is important that education authorities recognize and approve the teacher training and certified professional development provided during emergencies. Their approval and accreditation should ensure the quality of all teacher training. Education authorities in the host or home country should make sure that training for refugee teachers is relevant and adapted to the teachers’ and the learners’ needs. Regional qualifications frameworks, such as the Djibouti Declaration on Refugee Education adopted by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in 2017,  are important tools for supporting the equivalency of qualifications within and across borders. They can help to promote the inclusion of refugee teachers in national education systems and support the recognition of their professional development and certifications.

Teachers and other education personnel will likely need professional development and training in using digital and technology-based teaching and learning approaches. Teachers will need guidance on using technology to support children’s learning in crisis contexts, whether they use distance, face-to-face, or hybrid delivery. Education stakeholders can engage expert trainers, where they are available, to help teachers with less digital competence or confidence. Confident users of technology can be paired or grouped, virtually and in person, with those who are less confident. Training should highlight how resources can vary, from low-tech (print, audio, television) to high-tech (mobile phones, online, interactive), and how to use each technology effectively. Most learners, even in higher education, will need support in using digital approaches, especially if engaged in distance education. Parents and caregivers and older siblings can be important sources of support in any distance education model, but the amount of support they are expected to provide should be reasonable. Parents and caregivers should be given clear guidance on their roles and responsibilities.

Education actors should carefully consider how to deliver distance education so that all children and young people will have access to learning during emergencies. It is important to weigh the benefits and challenges of using digital approaches, and education stakeholders must ensure that these approaches protect learners’ and teachers’ digital safety and promote their wellbeing (for more guidance, see INEE Background Paper on Distance Education in Emergencies).

Teachers and other education personnel should have ongoing and relevant professional support. Within the immediate learning environment, support should be provided by peers, senior teachers, and head teachers. Head teachers can make teachers aware of the value of communities of practice, teacher learning circles, peer support groups, and other forms of teacher collaboration that can supplement the existing formal support.

Having professional development and ongoing professional support will make a difference to teachers’ overall wellbeing in emergency settings. Although most teachers are resourceful and resilient and often can support their own wellbeing, they also are often exposed to the same adverse events and stressors as their learners. This makes support from their peers and managers especially important. Stakeholders managing teachers should provide opportunities for teachers to meet informally and share what they are doing, how they are feeling, and what strategies they use to stay resilient and resourceful. If a teacher does become distressed and feels unable to cope, especially if it is affecting their teaching, the head teacher, professional support staff, and other local partners should make sure the teacher receives the help they need, including MHPSS services (for more guidance, see INEE Guidance Note on Teacher Wellbeing in Emergency Settings).

During emergencies, teachers need a strong, cohesive system of professional support beyond the immediate learning environment. It is important that the various stakeholders who fund and manage teachers work together to ensure the provision of consistent professional support. The roles, responsibilities, and line management of key education personnel should be clear and complementary. A regular needs analysis should take place and guide planning for teacher professional development support (for more guidance, see INEE Teachers in Crisis Contexts Peer Coaching Pack).