About
The Empowering Teachers Initiative (ETI) is a research-for-development programme working to improve teaching and learning practices in low- and middle-income countries by strengthening the equity, quality, and efficiency of teacher professional development (TPD) systems, a key step toward achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4): Quality education for all. ETI comprises 10 country projects examining how different adaptations and innovations in TPD can be implemented at scale to empower all teachers to develop their practice.
The Empowering Teachers Initiative focuses on:
- Scaling quality TPD effectively and efficiently across low- and middle-income countries
- Building capacity among education stakeholders to strengthen and expand national TPD programmes
- Supporting evidence-informed policies and practices that promote equity, inclusion, and quality in teacher development
An EdTech Hub team is leading the 2-year ETI Tanzania project, conducted in partnership with the Aga Khan University and the Tanzania Institute of Education, and coordinated by the prime organisation, the Aga Khan Foundation. This research examines whether and how a national technology-mediated TPD programme is designed and adapted at each level of the system to support equitable participation of different teacher groups and to meet their diverse needs, especially women teachers, teachers with disabilities and chronic illnesses, and those in rural schools with limited technology access. This includes exploring how local adaptations can be scaled sustainably, as well as the success factors and challenges in reaching all teachers.
Key Themes in Our Work
- Teacher continuous professional development
- Equity — gender, disability, connectivity
- Teacher agency
- Technology use — learning management system
Planned Activities
2023-2024: Planning, recruitment and data collection
- Inception of the project
- Round 1 research data collection in 12 schools
- National stakeholder workshop 1 to engage key stakeholders in the work
2024-2025: Data collection, analysis, dissemination and stakeholder engagement
- Round 2 research data collection in 12 schools
- Data analysis
- National stakeholder workshop 2, and a wider stakeholder workshop to reflect on key findings from data collection and analysis
- Writing and dissemination
Learn More
Learn more about our wider involvement in this work through our research study, The Impact of a Tech-Supported, School-Based Teacher Continuous Professional Development Model on Learning Outcomes in Tanzania.
