UNESCO Bangkok-Intel project to accelerate teacher development

MANILA, Philippines - UNESCO Bangkok and Intel have signed an agreement which is expected to advance the 21st century teaching skills of pre-service teachers in nine countries across the Asia Pacific region. The countries are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU), UNESCO and Intel will collaborate to deliver the ‘Next Generation of Teachers’ Project, which positions pre-service teachers to more effectively integrate information and communication technology (ICT) into teaching and learning. The training will use resources from the Intel® Teach program targeting teacher education institutions (TEIs) across the region.

The Intel Teach program helps teachers be more effective educators by training them on how to integrate technology into their lessons, as well as promote problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills among their students. The program has trained more than six million teachers in over 40 countries to date, including 15 countries in Asia Pacific.

“Intel’s leadership in ICT and its commitment to transforming education through Intel Teach and other signature learning programs makes it an ideal partner to support UNESCO in the Next Generation of Teachers Project,” said Gwang-Jo Kim, director at UNESCO Bangkok.

“We share a common belief in the important role ICT has to play in the progression of the knowledge economy in countries across Asia Pacific. By encouraging teachers to understand how, when and where to incorporate ICT into their lesson plans, they can effectively develop students’ digital literacy competencies and higher-order thinking skills that are necessary to function in and shape the world ahead,” Kim said.

As part of this collaboration, workshops already have been conducted in Bangladesh, Mongolia and the Philippines in more than 23 teacher education institutions.