Constructing A Future-Oriented Teacher Competency Framework for Secondary Education: A Framework Synthesis of Global Models and Local Policy Discourses

Abstract Book of the 10th World Conference on Future of Education

Year: 2026

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Constructing A Future-Oriented Teacher Competency Framework for Secondary Education: A Framework Synthesis of Global Models and Local Policy Discourses

Min Li, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zawawi Bin Ismail

ABSTRACT:

Based on the 2023 UNESCO report, education systems worldwide are facing serious challenges in equipping students with the values, knowledge, and skills needed to navigate an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Teachers lie at the heart of this challenge, and teacher competency has become a critical factor shaping the quality of future education. However, most existing international teacher competency frameworks stick to big-picture visions, and they fall short when it comes to fitting specific regional contexts or policy settings in a practical, workable way. This study focuses on secondary teachers in Ningxia, an underdeveloped region of China, employing a framework synthesis approach to blend OECD, Singapore, and local Chinese models, while folding in a second round of synthesis from Ningxia’s policy documents over the last five years to make sure it’s relevant and doable. By using a coding strategy that combines deductive and inductive analysis, competency components from different sources were aligned, compared, and restructured, resulting in a preliminary teacher core competency framework organized around three dimensions: knowledge, skill, and value. Findings show that global standards share strong overlaps with local policies but also require key tweaks to fit the context. What the study adds is a straightforward, repeatable method for tailoring teacher competency frameworks to real-world settings, offering a theoretical guide for similar work in such educationally disadvantaged areas.

Keywords: Knowledge; Skill; Value; Contextualization; Integration