The International Development Resource Centre (IDRC) funded project “A Multi-modal Approach to Teacher Professional Development (MATPD) in low-resource Settings'' achieved a significant milestone with the launch of its Landscape Mapping Study (LMS) Report of Afghanistan, Maldives and Nepal. In the project led by Villa College in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences of India and Afghanistan’s non-profit organization, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, the LMS aimed to understand the current policies and practices of teacher education and Teacher Professional Development (TPD) in these three countries

The ceremony took place on 13th March 2023, at Villa College Hall, with Minister of Higher Education Dr.Ibrahim Hassan as the chief guest, and Dr. Abdul Hannan Waheed, Chief Executive Officer of Maldives Qualification Authority as a special guest to the ceremony. The research team members and invitees from the Maldives were present at the ceremony, while the team and stakeholders from Afghanistan and Nepal participated online.

The LMS report highlights strengths and weaknesses of TPD models, including mentoring, action research, use of information and communications technology, distance teaching and learning, and models of teacher education. In addition, a Policy Brief was launched with recommendations based on findings from the LMS report of Maldives.

Dr.Aishath Nasheeda, the MATPD project’s Lead Researcher, and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, opened the ceremony by highlighting the key findings from the landscape mapping study of the Maldives in her opening remarks. She noted that “the concept of action research in the role of professional development is still in the working progress in Maldives”.

Dr. Abdul Hannan Waheed, commended the project as it was an important study that place importance on professional development in the education sector. He further appreciated the emphasis on gender equality and inclusion, since these were important areas that are critical for the development of education sector in the Maldives.

Video messages from representatives of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and Tata Institute of Social Sciences of India provided information on their respective country findings.

Dr. Ali Najeeb, Vice Rector of Villa College, delivered the closing remarks, emphasizing the significance and impact of the research project to Villa College and its contributions to UN’s Sustainable Development (SDG) Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all and SDG Goal 17, by collaborating with regional partners more specifically to achieve the target ‘Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals’. The Vice Rector also highlighted and appreciated the work being done under this project as it was one of the most impactful projects Villa College has taken thus far, which really contributes to the development of the education sector in the Maldives.