Ed-Tech Policy Report Roundup

UNESCO Report Calls for Ed. Tech. Training

By Mary C. Breaden — January 15, 2008 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The technology-standards project—launched last week in London—released three booklets that outline the policy framework for the effort and the guidelines for the skills educators should be developing.

If teachers around the world do not take part in more professional-development training in information and communication technologies, or ICT, they will continue to lack the skills necessary to integrate technology into the classroom and improve student learning, concludes a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization .

Curriculum- and technology-training providers do not have a comprehensive set of international guidelines for training, and as a consequence, teachers in many countries have not developed the skills necessary to integrate technology into classroom curricula, says UNESCO, the Paris-based body of the United Nations that promotes international cooperation in education, science, and culture. It wrote the report in collaboration with the Washington-based International Society for Technology in Education, a nonprofit group that sets standards for how educators should use technology to improve student learning, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in Blacksburg, Va.

UNESCO’S goal in producing the report is to establish a basic set of skills and qualifications that educators must acquire and to encourage countries to provide professional development to help them develop those skills.

The technology-standards project—launched last week in London—released three booklets that outline the policy framework for the effort and the guidelines for the skills educators should be developing.

See Also

For more stories on this topic see Technology.

A version of this article appeared in the January 16, 2008 edition of Education Week

Events

Artificial Intelligence Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: Math & Technology: Finding the Recipe for Student Success
How should we balance AI & math instruction? Join our discussion on preparing future-ready students.
Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Ed-Tech Policy Cellphone Ban Adopters Share How They Did It—and How It's Changed Students
School administrators detail how they got staff, students, and parents to believe in new, stricter cellphone policies.
6 min read
A phone holder hangs in a classroom at Delta High School, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Delta, Utah. At the rural Utah school, there is a strict policy requiring students to check their phones at the door when entering every class. Each of the school's 30 or so classrooms has a cellphone storage unit that looks like an over-the-door shoe bag with three dozen smartphone-sized slots.
A phone holder hangs in a classroom at Delta High School, Feb. 23, 2024, in Delta, Utah. At the rural Utah school, like in schools across the country, there is a strict policy requiring students to check their phones at the door when entering every class.
Rick Bowmer/AP
Ed-Tech Policy Download Four Ways to Supercharge Your School's Cellphone Policy (Downloadable)
The first step is creating a cellphone policy. But it takes these four ingredients to make the policy work.
2 min read
Cell phones sit in a cell phone locker at Boys’ Latin School of Maryland in Baltimore on Oct. 24, 2024.
Cell phones sit in a cell phone locker at Boys’ Latin School of Maryland in Baltimore on Oct. 24, 2024.
Jaclyn Borowski/Education Week
Ed-Tech Policy Opinion If You're Going to Ban Cellphones, Do It Right
An educator offers school and district leaders a cooperative, restorative approach to restricting cellphone use in schools.
Nicholas Bradford
5 min read
School cellphone ban policies to restrict cell phones in schools to reduce distractions and help avoid social media addiction resulting in academic problems and mental health issues in a classrooom.
Wildpixel/iStock
Ed-Tech Policy More States Are Moving to Ban Cellphones at School. Should They?
While cellphone bans are popular with many educators, some researchers say there's not much evidence yet that these policies work.
A student uses their cell phone after unlocking the pouch that secures it from use during the school day at Bayside Academy on Aug. 16, 2024, in San Mateo, Calif.
A student uses a cellphone after unlocking the pouch that secures it from use during the school day at Bayside Academy in San Mateo, Calif., on Aug. 16, 2024.
Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP