AI Empowering STEM Educators
1.Background
2026 is the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges, marking a new phase of qualitative improvement and upgrading in cooperation between China and African countries in the fields of culture, education, science, and technology. Since the successful implementation of the 2025 China-Africa STEM Educators Acceleration Program, the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre has established robust and fruitful partnerships in STEM education with numerous African nations. In 2026, actively responding to the call for FOCAC follow-up initiatives, the UNESCO TEC will continue to organize STEM teacher training programs for African countries.
Currently, artificial intelligence is reshaping the global educational landscape at an unprecedented pace. In the field of STEM education, AI is not merely a component of the curriculum but a core tool driving a paradigm shift in pedagogy. The future of STEM education requires teachers to utilize AI for personalized instruction, virtual simulation experiment design, intelligent management of interdisciplinary project-based learning, and to cultivate students' abilities to solve real-world problems using AI. Confronted with the impact of AI, the role of STEM educators is evolving from traditional "knowledge transmitters" to "learning designers" and "mentors for human-machine collaboration." Building on the success of the 2025 collaboration, the UNESCO TEC is launching the 2026 "AI Empowering STEM Educators" program. This initiative aims to address this critical challenge of our times and to assist African STEM educators in jointly adapting to and leading the development of the intelligent education era.
The 2026 China-Africa STEM Educators Acceleration Program will last from September 13 to September 22 in Shanghai. It includes STEM education seminars and discussions, STEM classroom observations, visits to STEM extracurricular activity centers, visits to AI companies, etc. Education administrators or officials, specialists and researchers, and STEM teachers from African countries are welcome to join the program.
2.Objectives
The program aims to:
Understand China’s Policies on AI-Empowered Teacher Development: Gain insights into China’s "AI + Teacher Action (AITA)" policy and its implementation in schools.
Enhance STEM Teachers’ AI Literacy: Understand core concepts such as generative AI and machine learning, as well as their application principles in STEM subject teaching.
Share Chinese Practices in AI-Promoted STEM Teacher Professional Development: Visit teacher education institutions, primary and secondary schools, and enterprises to explore the application of AI in China’s STEM teacher professional development practices.
Build a Resource Network: Establish a community of practice for AI-empowered STEM teacher development between China and Africa.
3.Participants
This program is planned to recruit 60 participants from African countries, specifically including:
National Education Officials: Officials and policymakers involved in STEM teacher development, STEM education, STEM curriculum development, and educational technology-related affairs.
STEM Teacher Trainers: Representatives from teacher education colleges/universities responsible for teacher training, and university researchers on STEM teacher education.
Lead STEM Teachers: Lead STEM teachers from primary and secondary schools.
4.Costs
The UNESCO TEC will provide all participants with local transportation, accommodation, meals, and visit entrance fees during their stay in Shanghai. Participants are required to cover their own round-trip airfares to Shanghai. For high-level national officials, delegation leaders and high-impact STEM experts, round-trip flight sponsorship may be provided upon assessment by the Center's Finance Committee.
5.Expected Impact
Capacity Building: Strengthen the leadership and professional competencies of African STEM educators to create a more robust and sustainable teacher development framework in Africa.
Cross-Cultural Learning: Facilitate knowledge exchange between Chinese and African educators to identify and implement best practices in STEM education.
Policy and Institutional Impact: Inform national policies on STEM teacher training through evidence-based insights gained from the program.
Long-term Cooperation: Establish networks and collaborations between African education stakeholders and Chinese teacher education institutions for continued engagement beyond the training program.
6.Program Agenda
See Appendix B for details.
7.Contact
Interested participants in the program are asked to complete the registration form (Appendix A) as soon as possible and send it to guoxuan@tec-unesco.org.cnby their department or individually before the deadline. The deadline is May 10th, and we will notify the selected participants around May 25th and process their visas and air tickets.
Any updates about the program, please login in the website: https://www.tec-unesco.org.cn/.
Program Assistant
Mr. Shawn: guoxuan@tec-unesco.org.cn
Program coordinator
Dr. Prof. Jia Song: songjia@shnu.edu.cn
The UNESCO Teacher Education Centre
Shanghai, China
Appendix:
Appendix A—Registration Form.docx
Appendix B—Program Agenda.docx
