**3. Definition of open and distance learning**

94 International Perspectives of Distance Learning in Higher Education

In the Global South, millions of children have no access to schooling and no opportunity to engage with any teacher at all. Teachers' professional development has become a policy priority for all nations across the globe. For most countries in the Global South there is an acknowledgement that the quality of teacher education and extent of the provision of training will need to be increased. In many countries explicit policies to improve the level of qualification, to establish meaningful forms of career long professional development and to enhance the status and education level of teachers are being put in place. The institutional structures and capacities are completely inadequate for providing quality teacher education

The provision of a high quality professional development programme for teachers in the Global South represents one of the critical educational challenges for the 21st century. For instance, in Bangladesh, 1 in 5 teachers have no teaching qualification (UNESCO Institute for Statistics [UIS], 2006). The quality of education and training of teachers is central to the success of the EFA campaign worldwide and 'schools and teachers remain central to the achievement of a quality education process' (Yates, 2007, 2). Millions of unqualified teachers are already working in schools in the Global South. They need professional training and access to qualifications to improve their skills and knowledge. There is a pressing need for continuous professional development (CPD) programmes for teachers who are already qualified. If that is to be school based, then it follows that some form of supported self-study

The emerging technology is going to be a solution for teachers' professional development in meeting the crisis of inadequate teacher supply in the Global South. By using school-based training, the Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) project is working for teachers and student teachers in 12 African countries. Led by the Open University (OU) UK, the TESSA project brings together 20 universities and organisations across those countries involoved, giving teachers access to high-quality resources which they can use to develop their own practices without leaving the school. As a result, TESSA's open educational resources (OER) provide ODL opportunities for disadvantaged teachers in remote areas, this way of training and developing their own skills and gaining resources is invaluable. The OU is also working in the South Asian countries, specially in Bangladesh to develop teaching and learning materials as well as teachers' professional development programmes. Teachers as specialists in learning recognise that the new technology which they will be exploiting in their own teaching have the potential to be an important means of their own professional development (Shohel and Banks, 2010). Therefore, the OU is creating opportunities of open and distance learning for teachers' by introducing mobile technologies for enhancing

School-based supported ODL provides a more effective way for the in-service teachers to put into practice compared to face-to-face traditional training away from their schools. Since supported ODL for teachers' professional development programme provides opportunities for teachers to apply and experiment with the pedagogical techniques that they are learning, rather than waiting until after the training period to do so. Similarly, case studies of teachers' professional development in the Global South show that open and distance learning can be used for all four components of teacher education such as for general education, to strengthen teachers' knowledge of the subject, in teaching pedagogy and child

development, and as a guide towards good classroom practice (Perraton, 2007).

**2. Teachers' professional development: The contexts of the Global South** 

as well as overcoming the challenges for the scale required of this century.

seems the only feasible and appropriate way forward (Moon, 2003).

teaching and learning in resource constrained contexts.

Open and distance learning (ODL) is defined as an educational process in which a significant proportion of learning takes place remotely and flexibly beyond the formal learning environment. Therefore it is organised educational activities, based on the use of learning materials, in which constraints on learning are minimised in terms of access, time and place as well as pace and method of study or any of these. However, open and distance learning is used as an umbrella term to include both concepts of distance education and open learning. Supported open and distance learning improves the potential for teachers to develop better links between new teaching practices, their own subject expertise and the application of the new methods in their own classrooms (Perraton et al., 2002) as well as becoming competent in using emerging technologies for teaching and learning purposes (Shohel & Power, 2010).

According to the European Commission (1995):

'Open and distance learning (ODL) is concerned with the use of new resources (technical and/or non-technical) for rendering the learning process more flexible in terms of space, time, content, selection, access qualifications and teaching resources and/or for improving distance access to education systems. In this way, educational opportunities are extended to people who, because of their geographical, economic or socio-professional situation or because of a handicap, do not readily have access to the mainstream system of education. Open and distance learning can help overcome barriers to transnational mobility and develop a kind of virtual mobility.'

Open and distance learning involves a conceptual shift from the teacher to the learner and emphasises the importance of student-centred learning that means a 'shift in research and practitioner interest from teaching and instructional design towards learning and the particularity of individual student response' (Thorpe & Grugeon, 1987). Therefore, open and distance learning focuses more on what the learner wants to learn, how the learner approaches learning and the socio-physical conditions for learning than what the learner should learn. To engage individuals in their learning processes, open and distance learning tries to motivate and empower for professional growth of individual teachers. However, supported open and distance learning is also preferable for other reasons such as scalability, sustainability and cost effectiveness compared with the traditional 'face to face' centre-based training approaches (Oliveira & Orivel, 2003).
