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| (Image Source: Orange Magazine TV/Far Eastern University) |
In a sunlit classroom at FEU High School’s Morayta campus, students tinker with robotics kits and 3D printers inside a bright, collaborative space called ‘InnoSpace.’ At first glance, it may seem worlds away from classrooms in Sierra Leone or Ecuador. But the seeds of what’s happening here – innovation, adaptability, and inclusive education – are rooted in the same philosophy now driving reform efforts in education systems across 29 countries in the Global South. At the center of this quiet revolution is the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED), a Philippine non-profit organization steered by senior leaders from the Far Eastern University (FEU) Group of Schools. Together, they are helping develop a framework for teacher professional development (TPD) that is changing how nations prepare, support, and empower their educators at scale.
A Philippine-born approach with global reach
Teacher Professional Development at Scale (TPD@Scale) is a framework that offers a way of thinking about TPD as a complex system nested in the larger education system, increasingly mediated by information and communication technologies, that must be equitable and efficient without compromising quality, particularly in the diverse, resource-constrained environments of the Global South. Backed by the International Development Research Centre of Canada, TPD@Scale was developed collectively through a series of projects led by FIT-ED over the past eight years in partnership with ministries of education, universities, research and policy institutes, NGOs, and multilateral and donor agencies. Within this framework, a wide range of TPD@Scale models have been documented, analyzed, built, tested, and adapted in countries across the Global South. Since its launch in 2018, TPD@Scale has evolved into a recognized global public good that is helping shape policy and practice in countries such as Honduras, Ecuador, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, and Ghana among others. Its ongoing implementation under FIT-ED’s Empowering Teachers Initiative (ETI) is projected to impact over three million teachers and at least 50 million learners by the time the current phase concludes in 2026.
FEU’s fingerprints on a global innovation
Behind FIT-ED’s strategic direction is a leadership team closely affiliated with FEU. The university’s forward-thinking stance on innovation, access, and inclusion provided early ground for testing TPD@Scale principles. This has made FEU not just an early adopter, but a formative co-developer of TPD@Scale itself, including two Philippine TPD@Scale models by FIT-ED that have informed international practice. FIT-ED Executive Director Victoria Tinio emphasizes this synergy, stating, “The work we do at FIT-ED mirrors FEU’s own institutional values. It’s about giving educators the tools they need to thrive, and ensuring those tools are evidence-based, contextually relevant, and accessible at scale.” This alignment is visible in FEU’s broader initiatives. Through its partnership with the Security Bank Foundation, the university supports scholars who are making tangible contributions to their home communities, with many of them future educators and community leaders. At the high school level, FEU has piloted InnoSpace as a makerspace program designed to foster creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration among students.
Driving change where it matters most
TPD@Scale continues to expand its geographic footprint while deepening its integration into national education systems. In countries like Pakistan and Nepal, FIT-ED has introduced Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) that enable school leaders to identify local barriers to inclusion and collectively design data-driven responses. In Tanzania, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Zambia, FIT-ED is supporting research on adaptations and localizations in large-scale TPD implementations that make teacher learning more relevant and effective. In the Philippines, FIT-ED is working alongside the Department of Education to strengthen decision-making by school heads and supervisors on the effective use of educational technology (EdTech). This work includes conducting a study on EdTech decision-making in DepEd schools, creating a framework and toolkit for EdTech decision-making, and developing and piloting a foundational course for school heads and supervisors.
What began as a local innovation now helps guide policy dialogue in regional blocs, informs donor investment strategies, and provides a replicable blueprint for governments confronting systemic teacher shortages, uneven training access, and the pressures of education reform. Perhaps what is most remarkable about TPD@Scale is its reversal of traditional knowledge flows. While many education reforms in the Global South are imported from Global North contexts, TPD@Scale is an example of the opposite: a Philippine-led, Global-South developed approach that is being adapted, localized, and scaled by countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. As FIT-ED continues to expand its partnerships and research portfolio including a forthcoming white paper on TPD@Scale in Africa and a special journal issue on emerging technologies that can support TPD@Scale, the leadership of FEU ensures that the Philippines remains central to these global conversations. It is a powerful reminder that institutions like FEU should not just keep pace with change, but help define what meaningful, inclusive, and scalable education reform looks like in the 21st century.
