Learning in motion! Design of an evidence-based professional development programme to empower teacher educators to adopt play-based, gender-responsive pedagogies

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for action to achieve global goals relating to quality education and gender equality. Teacher education is a setting where novel pedagogical practices can be introduced and mainstreamed, ultimately influencing the educational experience at the school level. This study aimed to design a professional development programme to support teacher educators at Palestinian universities to adopt gender-responsive and play-based learning practices. The researchers used the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) to develop an evidence-based intervention, resulting in the selection of six intervention functions (education, persuasion, training, environmental restructuring, modelling, and enablement) and 16 behaviour change techniques from the following taxonomy categories: natural consequences, feedback and monitoring, comparison of outcomes, comparison of behaviour, shaping knowledge, repetition and substitution, antecedents, social support, and goals and planning. Mode of delivery primarily involved face-to-face group-based facilitation. Using the BCW to guide the intervention development process allowed for a comprehensive review of teacher educators existing perspectives and the design of programme content to support them to change their teaching practices. The resulting novel professional development programme for teacher educators will be further researched to confirm relevance and impact.