TEACHERS AND EDUCATIONAL QUALITY: Monitoring Global Needs for 2015 - UNESCO

TEACHERS AND EDUCATIONAL QUALITY:

Monitoring Global Needs for 2015

TEACHERS AND EDUC ATIONAL QUALIT Y:

MONITORING GLOBAL NEEDS FOR 2015

UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal, 2006

UNESCO

The constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was adopted by 20

countries at the London Conference in November 1945 and entered into effect on 4 November 1946. The Organization

currently has 191 Member States and six Associate Members.

The main objective of UNESCO is to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations

through education, science, culture and communication in order to foster universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and

human rights and fundamental freedoms that are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex,

language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.

To fulfill its mandate, UNESCO performs five principal functions: 1) prospective studies on education, science, culture and

communication for tomorrow¡¯s world; 2) the advancement, transfer and sharing of knowledge through research, training

and teaching activities; 3) standard-setting actions for the preparation and adoption of internal instruments and statutory

recommendations; 4) expertise through technical co-operation to Member States for their development policies and projects;

and 5) the exchange of specialised information.

UNESCO is headquartered in Paris, France.

UNESCO Institute for Statistics

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the statistical office of UNESCO and is the UN depository for global statistics in the

fields of education, science and technology, culture and communication.

UIS was established in 1999. It was created to improve UNESCO¡¯s statistical programme and to develop and deliver the timely,

accurate and policy-relevant statistics needed in today¡¯s increasingly complex and rapidly changing social, political and

economic environments.

UIS is based in Montreal, Canada.

Published in 2006 by:

UNESCO Institute for Statistics

P.O. Box 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville

Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7

Canada

Tel:

(1 514) 343-6880

Fax:

(1 514) 343-6882

Email: publications@uis.



ISBN 92-9189-033-2

The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of UNESCO and

do not commit the Organization.

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of

any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its

authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

? UNESCO-UIS 2006

Cover and graphic design: JCNicholls Design ¨C

Interior design conception: Sabine Lebeau

Photos: ?UNESCO ¨C Gillette, A. / Tibet, V. / Bakary, E.D. / Jonqui¨¨res, A.

Printed by: Imprimerie L¡¯Empreinte

Ref: UIS/AP/06-01

To access the electronic version of data tables, see uis.publications/teachers2006.

Foreword

Massive teacher shortages are quietly

looming over countries in sub-Saharan

Africa, the Arab States and South Asia and

could risk efforts to provide every child

with a good quality primary education by

2015. But it is not only the imperative of

translating a target into sufficient numbers

of teachers, but the support for teachers and

teaching quality which will finally lead to the

attainment of universal primary education.

This report provides a comparative

assessment on the state of teachers and

education quality based on a wide range

of data sources, including school censuses,

assessments of student and teacher

knowledge, and statutory teacher data. It

uses these data to highlight trends in teacher

quantity and quality and explores the policy

implications of bridging the gap between the

two, especially in developing countries. It

compares the strengths and shortcomings in

the recruitment and deployment of teachers

in countries around the world.

The greatest challenge lies in countries in

sub-Saharan Africa. According to estimates

presented in the report, the region will

need to raise its current stock of teachers

by 68% ¨C from 2.4 to 4.0 million ¨C in less

than a decade. For example, by 2015, Chad

will need almost four times as many primary

teachers and Ethiopia will need to double its

stock of primary teachers. Additional primary

teachers will also be needed in countries in

the Arab States and in South Asia.

Moreover, countries needing the most

new teachers also currently have the

least-qualified teachers. In countries that

consider about nine years of schooling as

the absolute minimum qualification to

teach, 43% of teachers in the Congo and

55% of teachers in Lao PDR fall short of this

standard. The report stresses that policies

must address both teacher quantity and

quality. Countries like Niger or Cambodia

cannot achieve universal primary education

simply by hiring more teachers but by

training them well and by supporting them

in the classroom. Quality teaching brings

children into school and keeps them there.

At the same time, some countries will

need fewer teachers because of declining

school-age populations. China can expect to

reduce its stock of teachers by 1.8 million

in 2015, while more moderate reductions

are projected for Brazil and India. This may

provide an opportunity to improve education

quality by investing more resources per

teacher and pupil.

The report examines the recruitment

and training of new teachers to better

understand the trade-offs between

increasing teacher supply and lowering

educational standards. It also examines

a set of policy variables associated with

teacher deployment and working conditions

¨C namely instructional hours, class size and

salary structure ¨C that can be adjusted to

accommodate more pupils.



This report reflects the ongoing efforts of

the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

to draw on and further develop the ¡®state

of the art¡¯ in teacher-related indicators in

order to provide a comparative perspective

that informs policymaking. It uses a similar

indicator framework as developed by the

Indicators of National Education Systems

(INES) project, which has made great

strides in OECD countries. The UIS, together

with the OECD, has already expanded this

approach to the 19 countries that participate

in the UIS/OECD World Education Indicators

(WEI) programme. The special UIS data

collection undertaken for this report carries

this approach even further afield, resulting

in a critical mass of countries across

development contexts from which to analyse

different policy approaches.

The use of this framework presents many

new perspectives, but represents only a

modest step towards a better understanding

of teachers, teaching and education

quality at the school level. Cross-national

surveys of student achievement, such as

those cited in this report (e.g. SACMEQ,

PIRLS, TIMSS) provide another important

source of information on teachers. With

a select group of WEI countries, the UIS is

currently involved in the collection of data

on teachers and teaching at the school

level. The WEI Survey of Primary Schools

has interviewed thousands of school

headmasters and 4th grade teachers in ten

countries to help shed light into the black

box of classroom teaching and learning

processes.

Finally, this endeavour is of some

significance to the broader efforts of

UNESCO towards improving education

quality as the world seeks to achieve

the 2015 EFA goals. The Analysis and

Information team of the UIS has worked

hard to see to it that one of the Institute¡¯s

main statutory responsibilities ¨C to help

Member States through better evidencebased policymaking ¨C is a reality.

Michael Millward

Director a.i.

UNESCO Institute for Statistics



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