Transcript teachers
World Teachers’ Day 2012 “Take a stand for teachers” Teaching in developing countries Brussels, 11 October 2012 Dennis Sinyolo, EI Senior Coordinator, Education and Employment Outline • • • • • The teacher gap challenge The quality challenge The professional challenge The financing challenge What can we do about these challenges? The teacher gap challenge • Globally, over 2 million teachers are needed to meet the goal of universal primary education by 2015, 55% of them in Sub-Saharan Africa • There are 49 countries with a moderate teacher gap (0.25-2.9%) and 34 countries with a severe teacher gap (3-20%) Source: UIS Number of primary teachers needed to achieve UPE by region Region Number of primary teachers Arab states 243 000 North America and Western Europe 155 000 South and West Asia 292 000 Sub-Saharan Africa Other regions 1 115 000 215 000 Countries with severe teacher gap (3-20%) Djibouti, Kuwait, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Qatar, Sudan, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Bermuda, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, EquatorialGuinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia The quality challenge • Recruitment of unqualified, under qualified or contract teachers to meet teacher shortages and to “reduce” costs – Mali, Niger, India, Nepal, Indonesia… • Large class sizes (STRs: Chad-61; Rwanda-68; Liberia-82; Central African Republic-84; Tanzania-54; Zambia-61) • Shortage of basic infrastructure, facilities, teaching and learning resources Quality education requires quality teachers The professional challenge Deprofessionalisation and casualisation of the teaching profession caused by: the recruitment of unqualified, under qualified or contract teachers Low salaries and poor/deteriorating conditions of service for teachers Accountability mechanisms based on competition rather than cooperation among teachers and schools Linking teacher performance and remuneration to standardised assessments and its impact on the school curriculum and learners Deskilling and loss of professional status for migrant teachers Attack on teachers’ human, trade union and professional rights Excluding teachers from education policy-making & social dialogue Source: EI’s report to CEART • The financing challenge • Too little money is invested in education: Many states invest less 6% of their countries’ GDP on education (global average for developing countries-3.8%) and allocate less than 20% of their national budgets to education e.g. This year Uganda’s education budget fell from 17 to 14 % of the national budget The total external annual financing gap for basic education in poor countries stands at $16 billion. In 2009, the total provided by all donors was $5.6 billion The 23 major bilateral donors that make up the OECD Development Assistance Committee gave less than 3% of their total aid to basic education What can we do about these challenges? • • To address the qualified teacher gap-for all levels of education, including early childhood, primary and post-primary education (UIS to calculate the entire teacher gap) To focus on the Student to Qualified Teacher Ratio (SQTR) rather than the STR, which may include unqualified teachers ADOPT A LIFE-LONG LEARNING APPROACH TO TEACHER EDUCATION • • Governments to invest in initial teacher preparation, to recruit and deploy female and male teachers in such a way that every child is taught by a qualified teacher Governments need to institute induction programmes for all newlyqualified teachers and to invest in in-service training for all teachers and school leaders What can we do about these challenges (cont.) • To promote social dialogue and the involvement of teachers and their organisations in policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation • To improve conditions for effective teaching and learning (teaching and learning resources, salaries and conditions of service for all teachers) • To promote and support establishment of teacher professional councils • Governments to invest at least 6% of their countries’ GDP in education • Development partners to allocate at least 10% of their development aid to basic EI/GCE campaign on teachers “Every Child Needs a Teacher: Trained teachers for all” Aim: To close the trained teacher gap by encouraging and persuading governments and development partners to invest in teachers (teacher training, recruitment, professional development, salaried and conditions of service…) Target: 2 million teachers recruited by 2015 Money put into education is not an expense but an investment. It is an investment in our children, young people and the future of our nations. Thank you! [email protected] g