Training The Trainer – The Importance of Teacher Professional Development
Teacher Training is central to learning. The first and honorable thing to do is to train teachers to prepare them for the hard task of taking care of learners in the classroom. Education is one of the effective tools used to change societies. It is also somewhat disheartening to witness mediocrity in a sector that should have nothing to do with the word mediocrity. Oftentimes schools, education boards, and the government struggle with budgets for teacher training. Most times it’s assumed the teacher should know and most times, especially in developing countries, teachers are left on their own to train themselves from meagre resources .
In an environment where budgets are not made for training or where training is not seen as top priority or accorded some importance, the teacher suffers and then it trickles down to the learners in the classroom. Teach2030 became the answer for our school and our teachers. We have researched and sought ways to train our teachers over the years of setting up our school. We wanted to do it right in a way that would have lasting impact both on teachers and learners; it has been difficult finding a true match until Teach2030.
The fact that the training is online is an absolute joy and delight and schools and the fact that teachers do not have to pay so much or pay at all to take this training, is incredibly awesome. The transformation of the teachers is incredible as now teachers come prepared and armed with new mindsets to work in the classroom. For our teachers without strong digital skills, they have made an effort to improve their computer knowledge. Again the certificates received at the end of every lesson for the teacher brings joy. Most of our teachers have learnt how to build their teacher portfolio.
Again, there’s been increased teacher-learner interactions in the classroom. Stronger connections, more class activities stemming from the trainer also being trained.
The trainer here is the teacher.
In these complex times of myriad issues, problems and challenges, teachers must be prepared and equipped with the best approach to teaching and handling classroom situations. Teach2030 has done just that and bridged the gap between the lack of training for the teacher making training accessible and easily available. There have been increased conversations because of this virtual training platform created to train teachers by Teach2030 and the fact that you can take the lessons at your pace and comfort is also soothing and helpful.
We have built teacher accountability by pairing with each other and following up with each other, working on our areas of weakness and encouraging each other to do better all thanks to the Teach2030 teacher training platform. Again, let me say it once more: the trainer must be trained so that he/she can confidently and comfortably expedite change and transformation in the classroom. A confident well-prepared, well-informed teacher translates to a confident well-informed learner which in turn helps society/ societies to continue to advance and interpret ever-changing world systems and welcome them if need be.
Written by Kelechi Ezeigwe, Teach2030 Ambassador.
