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
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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
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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?
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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
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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!
dennis.sinyolo@ei-ie.or
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