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Snapshot
Teachers must show
they can use new skills
and knowledge being
certified.
Certification through Practice, Not Attendance
Photo: Snezana Jankulovska,USAID Primary Education Project
A USAID staff member explains teacher certification procedures to a group of primary school teachers.
“The best thing is that I can always get support from my colleagues when I am not sure about something.”
To ensure that teachers incorporate new skills into their practice,
USAID/Macedonia developed an innovative certification
process for its teacher training programs. These programs no
longer provide certificates for simply attending training. Instead,
through a professional portfolio, teachers must first provide
evidence that they are using the newly acquired skills and
knowledge in their classrooms.
USAID/Macedonia worked with government officials and other
education experts to design a comprehensive school-based
mentoring and evaluation system. After attending a workshop,
teachers work with a Learning Support Team (LST) at their
schools to practice new skills, discuss their performance with
mentors, and receive feedback from peers and students.
This new system is improving the quality of education. It has
sparked opportunities for teamwork and collaboration among
teachers and encourages joint lesson planning, peer review of
lesson plans, and classroom observations.
Research suggests that teacher training should take place in
the classroom where it is most relevant to teacher practice;
school systems must provide focused one-on-one coaching in
the classroom; and schools must enable teachers to continue to
learn from each other. All of these elements are now a part of
Macedonia’s in-service teacher training program.
USAID/Macedonia has provided high-quality in-service teacher
training since 2002. To date, 2,300 teachers have been certified
through this process, and the number continues to grow.
“The best thing,” says Vebi Jahiu, a master trainer and a primary
school teacher, “is that I can always get support from my colleagues
when I am not sure about something.”
The donor community now recognizes the value of USAID’s
Teacher Certification Process. UNICEF uses the model for its
in-country training programs, and, most importantly, the Government
of Macedonia has adopted it as a part of the National
System for Professional and Career Development of Teacher.
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