TEACHER MOTIVATION AND EDUCATION GOVERNANCE

9th International Policy Dialogue Forum on Teacher Motivation Siem Reap, Cambodia

December 7, 2016

Moderator: Fatimata Ba Diallo (bfatima@confemen.org)Rapporteur: Isabelle Byusa (isabelle_byusa@mail.harvard.edu)Presenter: Martial Dembélé (martial.dembele@umontreal.ca)

Context ■ Peter Lind – Motivating Teachers through Registration Standards: a

shield, a map and a lighthouse■ Martial Dembélé – The Use of Contract Teachers in Sub-Saharan

Africa: A review of the situation in 24 countries■ Liu Jing – Teacher Honour System in China and its Impact on Teachers

and Teaching Profession ■ Winsome Gordon – Enabling a Motivated Teacher

Key Discussion Points

■ The need to appropriately recognize and value teaching as a profession

■ The impact of awards and recognition in motivating teachers in different contexts

■ Financial implications associated with reforming teacher policies ■ Good governance framework including equity, fairness, transparency,

accountability

Recommendations

#1: Attract good candidates, develop them into effective teachers and retain them

■ To recognize teaching as a profession:– a knowledge base for practice;– a specialized, high level and high quality professional education program designed to

help candidates acquire this knowledge base;– professional autonomy, including some control over the curriculum and pedagogy of

the professional education program, certification and recruitment;– high symbolic economic value, which depends in part on remuneration;– public recognition, including of the specialized nature of the knowledge base for

practice, of the expertise of the practitioners and of the importance of what they do for society; and

– This includes the recognition of qualifications, setting a standard, providing sufficient recourses, providing appropriate salary based on their education, level and compared to other professions.

#1: Attract good candidates, develop them into effective teachers and retain them

■ Attraction– Find ways to make teaching a first career choice (recognition, salary incentives, clear career path) – High level of training– Fair and transparent recruitment■ Deployment – comprehensive, supportive induction period for all teachers, and particularly for areas that are in

difficult-to-staff areas– Regionalization of teachers, with care■ Retention– Decent remuneration– Recognition through award systems (China, Jamaica case studies)– CPD– Professional autonomy– Professional code of conduct

#2: Gather data to create a better understanding of the concept of motivation, and influence policy based on data collected

■ Teacher Management information systems should be created ■ A need to develop instruments to measure success of teacher policy

interventions ■ Commission a review of teacher award systems

#3: Decisions that are made between government and teacher unions should have a legal basis

■ Negotiations must simply not be changed by the whims of political terms

■ all major decisions should have a legal basis, and longer timeframe

#4: Regulate the proportion of contract teachers in proportion to tenured teachers■ Because teaching is a profession of human interactions, stability is an

important factor. It takes time for people to develop as professionals/develop expertise

■ If teachers do not have clear career prospects, it is hard to retain them long enough to this end. We know that high turnover and attrition are harmful to student learning 

#5: Ensure school principals are prepared and supported to play the roles expected of them

■ The roles of principals should be clearly defined■ Find ways to place teachers in conditions where they will succeed ■ School principals must build in CPD in staff time■ Important for principals to creating conditions where there is a

mandatory induction period along with a mentorship program (as in Jamaica)

#6: Allocate resources for the implementation of teacher policy reform■ There are financial implications associated with implementing all the

above. As such, we encourage governments to generate internal revenue to support these efforts

– An example would be through a tax scheme on large corporations

Q & A