Supporting future English teachers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to bring technology into the classroom

In this blog post, Elmouth Mesila, lecturer and researcher at the University of Kinshasa and Loyola University of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, explores the opportunities and challenges that future teachers face in integrating information and communication technology (ICT) into their classes.

His reflections stem from a workshop he designed and delivered as part of a multi-stakeholder initiative in teacher education reform in sub-Saharan Africa.

Consisting of a year-long online course and community of practice (CoP), this initiative is the result of a partnership between UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA), the Global Partnership for Education’s Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX), the European Union’s Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa (EU-RTIA), the Shanghai Funds-in-Trust, the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA) and the African Union. The initiative was launched by the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub in 2025.

"We hear about technology in teaching, but we don't know how to use it in our classrooms." This is a reflection I heard at a community of practice I attended last year, where education professionals discussed teacher education reform in sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated experience; it’s a challenge faced by many pre-service teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Although digital technologies are increasingly recognized as essential for quality education, opportunities to develop practical skills for integrating them into teaching remain limited in many teacher education institutions.

During my participation in the Community of Practice (CoP) on Teacher Education Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa — a regional knowledge-sharing initiative under GPE KIX — I engaged with educators from across the region who shared innovative approaches to improving teacher preparation. Not only did these exchanges deepen my understanding of the importance of practical, context-sensitive professional learning, but they also demonstrated how collaboration among future teachers can be transformative even in resource-constrained environments.

In many classrooms across Kinshasa, teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) still relies heavily on traditional, teacher-centred approaches. While digital technologies are transforming education globally, their integration into teacher education programs in the DRC remains limited and uneven. This raises an important question: How can pre-service teachers be better prepared to integrate ICT into their future classrooms?

To explore this question, I organized a two-session workshop with 15 teachers on ICT integration in EFL teaching.

In the first session, I introduced educational technologies such as Canva, Google Classroom, Kahoot, PowerPoint, Zoom and YouTube. This session helped to assess participants’ prior knowledge and introduced the pedagogical purpose of each tool. I was surprised when some participants shared, “It’s the first time I’ve heard about Canva, Google Classroom, Kahoot; and I only know YouTube as a platform to watch movies.” This moment highlighted the digital gap that still exists in teacher preparation.

We also discussed how digital tools can support vocabulary development, listening comprehension, and learner engagement through interactive tasks. The focus was on building a foundational understanding of ICT in education.

The second session shifted to practice. Participants worked with PowerPoint for lesson planning and learned how to use a video projector in class. These tools were deliberately chosen because many of the schools where pre-service teachers complete their internships have limited or no internet access. This session emphasized how technology can still be meaningfully integrated even in low-resource environments.

The workshop revealed three important insights:

1. Strong motivation to use ICT when given practical guidance. Many pre-service teachers expressed a clear desire to make their teaching more engaging. As one participant explained, “I also teach geography but without maps or visual aids. Students need visuals to understand better.” Another added, “ICT helps engage students, especially in overcrowded classrooms where attention is difficult to maintain.” 

2. Lack of digital skills. While participants were confident in their subject knowledge and classroom management, many had low IT literacy. One shared, “I’m not very comfortable with digital tools. I mostly use Microsoft Word and sometimes my phone for videos.” Another admitted, “I don’t even know how to type in Word, and I don’t have a computer.” 

3. Teaching environments strongly shape what is possible. Participants mentioned overcrowded classrooms, lack of electricity, limited resources and outdated textbooks as key constraints. One teacher noted, “In rural schools, electricity shortages and lack of computers make it impossible to apply what we learn in ICT training.” Another added, “There are no computers in our school, not even electricity.” 

Importantly, and related to this last point, the workshop showed that contextual relevance is essential. Participants responded better to low-tech and offline solutions such as PowerPoint, downloadable materials and mobile-based resources. This suggests that ICT integration must reflect real classroom conditions rather than ideal digital environments.

The CoP provided a space for knowledge exchange, reflection and collaboration with educators from different contexts. Through this experience, I learned the importance of:

• evidence-based approaches to teacher training

• collaborative learning and peer feedback

• connecting research with classroom practice         

This knowledge-sharing space demonstrated how collaboration among future teachers can have a transformative impact, even when resources are limited. For example, during one of our discussions on low-cost approaches to ICT integration, participants learned from one another how digital tools can be used creatively despite limited access to technology and infrastructure.

One participant described how a computer and video projector helped make lessons clearer through visual aids. This prompted educators from Kinshasa to reflect on how a similar approach could be adapted to their own classrooms.

Most importantly, the CoP showed me that classroom-level ideas can be even more powerful when connected to bigger-picture conversations on digital transformation, equity and inclusive education. For example, one teacher mentioned giving students offline materials or having peers help each other as a local solution to a real problem: students without reliable internet. This solution gained more weight and relevance when discussed in the context of the global digital divide, becoming a concrete illustration of how a global issue can be addressed on the ground.

The findings from this workshop highlight a clear gap in technological knowledge among participants, i.e., pre-service teachers. Although derived from a relatively small group of participants, these findings should not be interpreted in isolation. Instead, they are consistent with broader evidence on the limited levels of ICT competency and digital integration among teachers and pre-service teachers in the DRC.

Over the years, national education sector reports and international monitoring data have repeatedly highlighted gaps in teachers’ digital skills, limited access to ICT training and uneven integration of technology into classroom practice. In this sense, the experiences shared within the CoP reflect a wider systemic challenge rather than an isolated phenomenon, and they provide qualitative depth to trends already identified in large-scale education studies and monitoring frameworks.

Without an IT foundation, the integration of pedagogy and content remains largely traditional. This aligns with the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, a standard reference point in discussions of teacher capacity building around technology use. Formally launched in 2006, this framework emphasizes that effective teaching requires the integration of technology, pedagogy and subject knowledge (Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Koehler et al., 2020). Research also shows that teacher confidence in using technology depends on sustained, hands-on training rather than one-off workshops (Tondeur et al., 2021; Gudmundsdottir & Hatlevik, 2020).

All this points in one clear direction: Teacher education programs in the DRC must move beyond theoretical exposure to ICT and focus on continuous, practice-based learning grounded in real classroom conditions.

Despite its limitations in scope, my first-hand experience produced practical take-aways for the broader education context. To ensure that teachers are well-equipped to integrate ICT into their classrooms, three key priorities need to be addressed by the government and the education community at large:

1. Training programs for teachers should strengthen digital literacy and focus on the pedagogical use of ICT, not just technical skills on how to operate digital devices and software. 
2. Investment in infrastructure must go hand in hand with investment in teacher capacity. Technology alone is not enough.
3. ICT training should be continuous, context-specific and embedded in both pre-service and in-service teacher education programs. One-off workshops are not sufficient to create lasting change.

This workshop on ICT integration in EFL teaching revealed both the challenges and opportunities facing pre-service teachers in Kinshasa. While participants demonstrated strong commitment to teaching and pedagogical skills, they face significant barriers to bringing technology into their classrooms due to limited training and infrastructure.

To move forward, ICT must become a core component of teacher education in the DRC, not an optional add-on. Ministries of education, teacher training institutions and development partners must work together to improve infrastructure, strengthen training and support context-relevant digital solutions.

Partnerships such as GPE KIX can play an important role in supporting this process by promoting knowledge sharing and scaling up low-tech innovations.

Ultimately, preparing teachers for the digital age requires more than access to tools; it requires sustained support, collaboration and a shared commitment to transforming teaching and learning for all learners.