“The Blair administration made teaching more appealing by launching a sophisticated national recruiting program to attract more people to teaching,” said Duncan. “And they supplemented that recruiting campaign with generous stipends and signing bonuses to reduce the costs of teacher preparation and encourage more prospective teachers to become instructors in understaffed subject areas, such as math and physics.”
[Read Duncan’s full speech here]
During the Partners in Learning Global Forum, Microsoft also announced a five-year partnership with the British Council to “increase quality and access in education and training around the world,” said the company in a press release.
The partnership aims to support the use of technology in fostering innovative teaching and learning practices to equip millions of students with 21st-century skills.
The first project will build 80 digital hubs at schools across Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda using Windows MultiPoint Server, and it is expected to train more than 20,000 school leaders and teachers and provide more than 100,000 learners and communities with digital access.
“I hope you will resist the idea that international competition in education is a zero-sum game,” said Duncan, “in which one nation’s advance is another nation’s loss. … Today’s knowledge-based economy compels educators and nations to become both more competitive and more collaborative. Advancing achievement and attainment everywhere is not a zero-sum game. It is a win-win game.”
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