What is the National Institute of Excellence in Teacher Education?
This is a guest blog by Rabia Tufail who is a Learning Experience Designer and English Textbook Author working with NIETE to deliver the Accelerated Learning Program in classrooms across Islamabad.
What is the NIETE?
The National Institute of Excellence in Teacher Education (NIETE) is a digital teacher training and licensing programme launched by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) in collaboration with Taleemabad.
NIETE aims to improve student learning levels in Islamabad Capital Territory and reduce rote learning through the following interventions:
Teacher support where teachers are:
provided with daily lesson plans on their devices
training delivered by coaches to access and implement the lesson plans.
Generating regular data on student learning levels through assessments for all pre-primary and primary level students
Secretary MoFEPT, Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, and Director Academics at the Federal Directorate of Education, Ms. Riffat Jabeen share their thoughts on the NIETE project.
How does NIETE support teachers?
Through this initiative, qualified coaches will mentor and train primary level teachers in 340+ public schools in Islamabad to redefine what quality education looks like and equip them with updated pedagogical skills to foster improved learning outcomes.
How does NIETE contribute to data generation?
The NIETE programme has an assessment component built in, which means interventions will be routinely evaluated. The results will provide MoFEPT with regularly updated data on students’ learning levels. Additionally, based on this data and from feedback received from the teachers and head teachers, the programme will be routinely updated to ensure best practices are implemented in the classrooms.
What is NIETE doing to promote foundational learning?
In order to address the widespread demand from teachers and parents to improve basic literacy and numeracy skills of students, Taleemabad launched the English and Urdu Literacy Program in 30 schools in 2023. The initiative quickly reaped positive results with students in Grades 1 to 3 showing an impressive improvement of 0.46 standard deviations in their literacy levels.
Based on these encouraging results Taleemabad upgraded the program and added in an additional numeracy component. This is currently being implemented under NIETE as the 'Accelerated Learning Program (ALP)' in 340+ public schools across ICT. Launched at the beginning of the academic year on April 15, 2024, the ALP is designed to equip students with essential literacy and numeracy skills and to address learning losses following prolonged school closures due to the pandemic. Through the ALP, students get a two-week refresher course before starting a new grade, which catches them up according to their grade requirements.
What does ALP teach children?
The literacy component of the ALP emphasizes letter recognition, pronunciation, and phonics to promote independent reading. This approach integrates reading, writing, and listening within each lesson plan, thus enhancing comprehensive language skills.
Similarly, the numeracy lessons revisit and reinforce concepts from previous lessons, ensuring that students solidify their understanding and are prepared for future learning challenges. Moreover, the numeracy lessons enable students to apply abstract mathematical concepts in their everyday lives by using common real-life examples.
What does the ALP contain?
The ALP features meticulously designed lesson plans in English, Urdu, and Mathematics, accessible to teachers via the NIETE app. These plans include:
Detailed step-by-step guidance for conducting lessons.
Advanced teaching strategies that foster 21st-century skills.
Visual aids and graphic organizers to enhance classroom learning.
Age-appropriate, contextualised storybooks.
Audio notes that motivate and inform teachers about various teaching methodologies.
These resources are designed to be implementable across different settings and contexts, and require minimal resources.
NIETE's transformative initiatives, including the Accelerated Learning Program, are setting new standards for educational excellence and inclusivity in Pakistan, driving a brighter future for students across the country.
