**12. Conclusion**

104 International Perspectives of Distance Learning in Higher Education

If the school achievement levels are to rise up to a certain standard then appropriate teacher education and training must be available for all teachers. It seems clear that there should be some sort of school-based professional development programme through technology enhanced open and distance learning such as multi-media player. However, children's 'cognitive achievement […] increases as school expenditure, teacher education and school facilities are enhanced' (UNESCO 2005b, 228). Therefore, Bangladesh needs to invest more on teacher education including school-based technology enhanced teacher training, to

The status of teachers in the community as well as the professional world and their involvement in policy development and implementation are as important as their academic qualification and training. Countries which perform well in offering quality education to their citizens have placed a high value on teacher education and CPD as well as social

In the context of Bangladeshi educational culture where education is seen as 'simple memorisation for an examination by both teachers and parents' (Banks 2009, 7) it is very difficult to bring changes in practice without making changes in policy and curriculum. As an emergent economy, 'the relevance of education to everyday life is paramount' (Banks 2009, 7) in Bangladesh. So Bangladesh needs to focus on these issues to achieve the EFA and MDGs targets as well as strengthening its economy by developing its human resources. The lessons learned in Bangladesh can be adapted to language education in both global southern

General concern and trends around teacher education and training relate to 'the resolution of the balance between theory and practice; the attempts to match the demand for and supply of teachers; the degree of central control of teacher education; the status, recruitment and output of teachers' (Morris and Williamson, 2000, 281). Successful teacher education and training could happen in the context of school, though there is no evidence of this happening in the Global South. Considering the urgency of teacher education and training, teachers' professional development should be school-based and it is essential to provide a

'Training models for teachers should be reconsidered in many countries to strengthen the school-based pre- and in-service training rather than rely on lengthy traditional, institutional pre-service training' (UNESCO, 2005b, 3). This kind of suggestion has been resistant by traditional teacher training institutes and sometime**s** supported by teachers themselves and their unions. However, 'It is only now that people are starting to listen to those who saw the shortage of qualified teachers as a major impediment to national development and that national and international authorities are beginning to realize that the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All objectives depends on the training of professionals capable of the long-term effort to promote education effectively, in particular through the training of teachers and managerial staff in

networking (UNESCO, 2005b). Teachers also enjoy high status in those countries.

**10. Policy recommendations for Bangladesh** 

provide quality education for its citizens.

and northern countries alike.

**11. Implications for the Global South** 

stable policy basis for continuous development.

the education system' (UNESCO, 2005b, 2).

The crisis of trained and qualified teachers in the Global South requires urgent responses from the national governments as well as the international development partners of the developing countries. The rapid expansion of education systems is creating difficulties in establishing coherent teacher supply policies. Investment in high quality teacher training programme design and implementation is necessary to realise the potential of new models of teachers' professional development programmes through open and distance learning such as the EIA Secondary Teaching and Learning Programme (STLP). Therefore, in response to the Government of Bangladesh, the Government of the United Kingdom came forward to help the country to train and develop the English language teachers as well as to provide opportunities and resources to access English language learning.

The pre-pilot EIA intervention in UCEP schools is a very fruitful initiative 'to secure a professionally trained, well-supported and highly motivated teacher workforce' in Bangladesh. The EIA intervention gives cause for optimism that the secondary education sub-sector in Bangladesh could be developed from current low quality teaching by putting resources in place through 'short term interventions completed by longer term institutionalisation and sustainable societal interaction' (Yates, 2007, 12) that will ensure the continuity of quality education which EIA is aiming for.

The future development of open and distance learning for teachers' professional development requires greater clarification of terms and purposes of learning. In a study of eleven distance teacher education projects, Perraton (1993, 385) suggests that 'two broad conclusions to emerge from the studies… where it has been possible to measure effectiveness, teacher training at a distance can be effective and that its costs tend to be lower than conventional education… where we have detailed figures it is reasonable to conclude that distance education programmes can be designed for teachers at a cost of between one third and two thirds of conventional programmes'.

The move towards more school-based, particularly technology-oriented and integrated open and distance learning courses calls for a greater level of support from experienced teachers locally as their mentors. A range of new courses are now appearing that integrate the school experience into the course frame work, for instance, Bangladeshi secondary school teachers were offered a course entitled 'Making Your Teaching Experience Count (MYTEC)' by the Open University, UK. The first cohort of this teachers group has been awarded their course completion certificate in 2011.

Advantages and disadvantages of open and distance learning models certainly provide more important basis for further comparative studies on those models in their own terms as well as in comparison with more conventional models. It has been suggested that school-

Open and Distance Learning for Teachers' Professional Development:

Keynes, United Kingdom: The Open University.

Canada: Commonwealth of Learning.

*Distance Learning.* Paris, France: UNESCO.

*Education at Distance*. Oldenburg, Germany: BIS-Verlag.

African Institute of Distance Education (SAIDE).

*Education 3-13*, Vol.36, No.3, pp. 293-309.

Canada: UNESCO Institute for Statistics*.*

from http://www.ucepbd.org/index.htm.

7-31.

Learning.

Routledge.

Learning.

No.2010, pp. 5483-5494.

No.3, pp. 201-215.

Longman.

The English in Action (EIA) Model for the Global South 107

McCormick, R. (1992). Distance higher education in China, Unpublished *PhD Thesis*. Milton

Moon, B. (1997). Open Learning and New Technologies in Teacher Education: New

Moon, B. (2003). A retrospective review of the national case studies on institutional

Oliveira, J. B. & Orivel, F. (2003). The Cost of Distance Education for Training Teachers*.* In B.

Perraton, H. (2010). *Teacher Education: The Role of Open and Distance Learning.* Vancouver,

Perraton, H. (Ed.) (1993). *Distance Education for Teacher Training.* London, United Kingdom:

Perraton, H., Creed, C. & Robinson, B. (2002). *Teacher Education Guidelines: Using Open and* 

Perraton, H., Robinson, B. & Creed, C. (Eds) (2007). *International Case Studies of Teacher* 

Robinson, B. & Latchem, C. (Eds.). (2003). *Teacher Education through Open and Distance* 

SAIDE. (1995). *Teacher Education Offered at a Distance.* Johannesburg, South Africa: South

Shohel, M. M. C. & Banks, F. (2010). Teachers' professional development through the

Shohel, M. M. C. & Howes, A. J. (2008). Informality of teaching and learning in nonformal

Shohel, M. M. C. & Power, T. (2010). Introducing Mobile Technology for Enhancing

Shohel, M. M. C. & Shrestha, P. N. (2010). Mobile Technology in Communicative Language

UIS. (2006). *Teachers and educational quality: Monitoring global needs for 2015.* Montreal,

Underprivileged Children's educational programs (UCEP). (2008). Transforming

*Learning.* London, United Kingdom: Routledge Falmer/The Commonwealth of

English in action secondary teaching and learning programme in Bangladesh: Experience from the UCEP schools, *Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences,* Vol.2,

schools: Socio-cultural processes as mesosystems of student development,

Teaching and Learning in Bangladesh: Teacher Perspectives, *Open Learning,* Vol.25,

Teaching (CLT) Practice in Bangladesh: Experience from the UCEP Schools, *the XIV Congress on Comparative Education Societies,* Istanbul, Turkey, June 14-18, 2010 Thorpe, M. & Grugeon, D. (Eds) (1987). *Open Learning for Adults.* London, United Kingdom:

underprivileged children into productive human resource. Retrieved on 29.o6.2009

*models and new developments.* Bucharest, Hungery: UNESCO.

paradigms for development, *European Journal of Teacher Education,* Vol.20, No.1, pp.

approaches to teacher education, In: B. Moon, L. Vlasceau, and L. C. Barrows, (Ed.), *Institutional approaches to teacher education within higher education in Europe: Current* 

Robinson, and C. Latchem, (Eds.), *Teacher Education through Open and Distance Learning.* London, United Kingdom: Routledge Falmer/The Commonwealth of

based support systems through open and distance learning for enhancing teachers' professional knowledge which have implications in developing countries such as Bangladesh for language learning (Shohel and Shrestha, 2010). However, it remains still unclear to many practitioners whether the increasing power, affordability and availability of mobile technologies can be harness to enhance effective open and distance learning activities based on the classrooms of the resource constrained Global South contexts.
