INTRODUCTION

TEACHER MOTIVATION AND INCENTIVES IN RWANDA:

A SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDED PRIORITY ACTIONSPAUL BENNELL

withJOHNSON NTAGARAMBA

DECEMBER 2008

Final draft: strictly confidential

TABLE OF CONTENTSContents

ACRONYMS

vACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

viEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

vii1INTRODUCTION

11.1STUDY BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

11.2STUDY DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

21.3REPORT STRUCTURE

32THE TEACHING PROFESSION: AN OVERVIEW

42.1SCHOOLS AND ENROLMENTS

42.2.TEACHERS

53THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION

133.1VOCATIONAL COMMITMENT

134TEACHER MOTIVATION AND BEHAVIOUR

164.1MOTIVATION LEVELS

164.2MOTIVATION TRENDS AND PATTERNS

174.3TEACHER BEHAVIOUR

185PAY AND OTHER BENEFITS

205.1PUBLICLY FUNDED SCHOOLS

205.2PRIVATE SCHOOLS

235.3HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE

245.4INTERNATIONAL PAY COMPARISONS

25

6WORKING AND LIVING CONDITIONS

276.1OVERVIEW

276.2TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

297TEACHER COMPETENCE

327.1PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION

327.2QUALIFYING UPGRADING

327.3CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

338HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

368.1STAFFING SITUATION

368.2PAY AND OTHER BENEFITS

369CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

399.1TEACHER MOTIVATION IS A TOP PRIORITY

399.2FOCUS ON NON-PECUNIARY MOTIVATORS

40FiguresFigure 2.1Experience profile of primary and secondary school teachers, 2007

7Figure 2.2Percentage under-qualified secondary school teachers at government and libresubsidie schools by district

8Figure 2.3Average teachers of experience among primary school teachers by district, 2007

9Figure 2.4Average years of experience among secondary school teachers by district, 2007

9Figure 2.5Scatter plot of learner-teacher ratios and average years of teaching experienceamong primary school by district, 2007

10Figure 2.6Scatter plot of % qualified and learner-teacher ratio among secondary schoolsby district, 2007

11Figure 2.7Scatter plots of teachers and enrolments at public secondary schools, 2007

12Figure 4.1Percentage of teachers indicating that they would like to change schools by surveydistrict, October 2008

17Figure 5.1Monthly household expenditure of A0 and A2 teachers with and without secondaryincome and no other wage income earners in the household

22Figure 5.3Median monthly household expenditure among A2 teachers in the 10 surveydistricts, October 2008

24Figure 5.4Average monthly income of qualified primary school teachers in selected Africancountries 2004-2006 (US$ per month)

25

Figure 6.1Primary school learner-teacher ratios by district, 2007

27Figure 6.2Learner-teacher ratios at public secondary schools by district, 2007

28Figure 7.1Percentage of A2 and A0/1 teachers who have undertaken at least one INSET activity during the 12 months by survey district, October 2008

34Figure 7.2Mean INSET days for A0 and A2 teachers by survey district during the last 12 months, October 2008

35Figure 8.1Net monthly pay of teaching staff at public higher education institutions, 2008

37TablesTable 2.1Size distribution of public primary and secondary schools, 2007

4Table 2.2Teachers on the government payroll by district, mid-2008

6Table 2.3Percentage female teachers in the 10 survey districts

10Table 2.4Percentage single teachers at survey schools by district, October 2008

11Table 3.1Agreement rates of statements concerning primary reasons for opting for teacher training, October 2008 (rounded percentages)

13

Table 3.2Percentage distribution of the overall S6 examination mark among teachers byqualification level, October 2008

14

Table 3.3Percentage English and Mathematics grade distribution in the S6 examinationby qualification level, October 2008

14

Table 3.4Percentage of teachers responding negatively to the question do you expect tobe a teacher in five years time? (rounded percentages)

14

Table 4.1Agreement rates to general statements among teacher motivation , June-July, 2008(rounded percentages)

17

Table 4.2Personal statements on current level of job satisfaction, working conditions andpay, June-July 2008 (rounded percentages)

18

Table 4.3Primary and secondary school teacher ratings of trends in job satisfaction andstandard of living, October 2008 (rounded percentages)

18

Table 4.5Agreement rates of general statements about teacher absenteeism and time-keeping,June 2008

19

Table 4.6Teacher absenteeism rates during the previous month by reason and type of school, October 2008 (%)

19

Table 5.1Median net monthly basic and supplementary income for primary and secondaryschool teachers, October 2008 (RwF 000 rounded)

20

Table 5.2Teacher and other civil servant net monthly pay by qualification grade, late 200821Table 5.3Median monthly household expenditure by main category among teachers, October2008 (RwF 000 rounded)

24

Table 5.4Primary school teacher pay scales in Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique, 2004-05(US$/year)

26

Table 6.1Teaching loads for secondary school teachers in selected countries, 2003(hours/week)

29Table 6.2Agreement rates to general statements concerning the school environment,June-July 2008 (rounded percentages)

30Table 6.3Agreement rates to general statements about teacher management, June-July, 2008(rounded percentages)

31Table 7.1Personal statements on qualifications upgrading and in-service training, June-July 2008 (rounded percentages)

33Table 7.2Percentage of teachers by qualification level attending in-service training workshopsand mean duration during the last 12 months (rounded percentages)

34References

46

Annex 1: People Interviewed

47Annex TablesTable A.1Primary schools, learners and teachers by district, 2007

49Table A.2Secondary schools, learners and teachers by district, 2007

50ACRONYMS

BNEPBureau National de lEnseignment Protestant

CPDContinuous professional development

DFIDDepartment for International Development

DHSDemographic Health Survey

EMISEducation management information system

FTIFast Track Initiative

HEIHigher education institution

KHIKigali Health Institute

KIEKigali Institute of Education

KISTKigali Institute of Science and Technology

LTRLearner-teacher ratio

MoEMinistry of Education

MICSMulti-Indicator Cluster Survey

MIFOTRAMinistry of Public Service

NURNational University of Rwanda

SACCOSavings and Credit Cooperative Organisation

SCRStudent-class ratio

SNECSecretariat National pour lEnseignement Catholique

SNEPSyndicate National de lEnseignment Primaire

TCRTeacher-class ratio

TSCTeaching Service Commission

VSOVoluntary Service Overseas

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe gratefully acknowledge the excellent support and assistance from the many people from both inside and outside the Ministry of Education in the preparation of this report. Emmanuel Kaviziya and his team completed the data entry for the teacher questionnaire survey in a timely and professional manner.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis study comprehensively examines teacher motivation and incentives in Rwanda. The main expected outcome, as stated in the terms of reference, is a realistic assessment of the current motivational factors affecting teachers in the districts and justification for adopting a different system.

The findings of the study are presented in nine chapters. Chapter 2 provides a brief overview of the school system and the key features of the teaching force, including patterns of teacher deployment. Chapters 3 and 4 assess the overall attractiveness of the teaching profession and the level and trends in teacher motivation. The following three chapters look in more detail at the main determinants of teacher motivation, namely pay and other benefits, living and working conditions, and teacher training and continuous professional development. The situation in the higher education sector is briefly reviewed in chapter 8. The main conclusions and recommendations of the study are presented in chapter 9.

Teacher deployment: The uneven deployment of teachers in Rwanda is a major incentive issue. Despite its small geographical size, the spatial distribution of teachers across the country with respect to key teacher characteristics (especially qualification, experience and gender) is markedly uneven. The main reasons for this situation are the unattractive working and living conditions in many rural schools. Staffing imbalances across schools, sectors and districts are particularly acute among the secondary school teaching force.

The attractiveness of the teaching profession: A high level of vocational commitment is a key feature of all professions. In spite of poor pay and working conditions, this commitment appears to be surprisingly high among the teaching profession in Rwanda. However, the findings of the teacher questionnaire survey show that teaching is not a first-choice career option for as many as one-third of primary and one-quarter of secondary school teachers The occupational status of primary school teachers is lower than secondary school teachers mainly because they are paid very little and are relatively poorly trained. Teaching is still generally quite well respected in most communities in Rwanda, especially among secondary school teachers.

Teacher motivation and behaviour: The teacher survey reveals that sizeable proportions of teachers are concerned about poor job satisfaction and motivation. In particular, only one-half of primary school and two-thirds of secondary school teacher respondents agreed with the general statement that teachers at my school are well motivated. With regard to trends, almost 40% of teacher respondents at publicly funded schools agreed with the general statement that teachers at my school are increasingly de-motivated, which is worryingly high.

Teachers who are dissatisfied with their jobs and are poorly motivated are not likely to perform well and may even behave unprofessionally. Teacher absenteeism is quite high, but attendance at training courses and official duties account for a large proportion of absences, especially at secondary schools. Poor timekeeping among teachers does not appear to be a serious issue at most schools.

Pay and other benefits: The most noticeable features of the teacher pay structure at publicly funded schools in Rwanda are; (i) there is no pay progression within each of the three main qualification groups; (ii) non-education university graduates earn over 50% less than education graduates, which is likely to result in lower retention rates among this group; and (iii) there is no income differential between the classroom teacher and the head teacher. The total net basic income of the A2 primary school teacher is around RwF40,000 (US$73) per month, which is far below a living wage let alone the standard of living expected for a professional level civil servant. The recently introduced annual performance bonus for primary school teachers of RwF12,500 per month has increased net pay by around one-third. Even so, the majority of primary school teachers are living below the official poverty line. Trained A0 university graduate secondary school teachers earn around three times more than the A2 primary school teacher, which is a large income differential both in absolute terms and compared to other countries. Around 15% of A0 teachers and 20% of A1 and A2 teacher respondents indicate that they earn additional income outside of their normal job.

In real terms, teacher pay has declined precipitously since the late 1980s. Taking into account increases in the cost of living, the starting income of an A2 teacher in 2007 was, in real terms, nearly eight times less than the starting income in 1990. With regard to likely future trends, the scope for significant pay increases for teachers on the government payroll is likely to remain limited. The current fiscal situation is particularly tight.

Working and living conditions: The rapid expansion of primary schooling in Rwanda since the mid 1990s has been achieved through a marked intensification of the teachers workload. Even by African standards, the workload of primary school teachers is exceptionally high. The workload norm in government and libre subsidie secondary schools is 24 periods per week out of a 40-period school week. This norm is widely adhered to, but teachers in most secondary schools teach for only four days a week.

While the school environment is challenging in Rwanda, around three-quarters of teacher respondents agreed with the general statement that the working environment at this school is adequate. Rural teachers tend to have higher teaching loads but lower pay because there are no parental motivation primes/contributions, no additional teachers are paid for by the PTA, and opportunities to earn secondary income are considerably less. They also often have to travel quite long distances to school even when they are from that district. Teacher competence: Well trained teachers are likely to be better motivated than poorly trained teachers. However, there are widespread concerns that pre-service teacher education in Rwanda is too academic and theoretical with the bulk of lecturers having little or no direct experience of the day to day challenges of classroom teaching. If teachers are not adequately prepared, this makes it that much more difficult for them to cope, especially during the early stages of their career, which in turn could well have a negative impact on motivation.

Only around 10% of teacher questionnaire respondents have completed or are currently undertaking further studies in order to acquire additional qualifications. This is a very low percentage compared to most other countries in Africa. The bulk of this studying is done independently with no formal support or guidance from MoE. Only 8% of the survey teachers have ever been granted study leave.

The provision of regular, high quality in-service training is essential in order to ensure the attainment of consistently high teaching standards. However, around 60% of A0 and A1 teacher respondents and 75% of A2 teachers rated the current availability of in-service training as very poor or poor. In overall terms, only around one-third of teachers attended at least one INSET activity during the last year and the incidence of training activities varies considerably from one district to another.Higher education institutions: In the time available, it was not possible to undertake a detailed assessment of motivation levels and trends among lecturing staff at the six publicly funded higher education institutions in Rwanda. However, given pay and working conditions, it appears that the overall motivation of lecturers is quite low and possibly declining. While the staffing situation at the publicly funded HEIs varies quite considerably, given relatively low salaries (compared to those paid by private HEIs and the private sector in general), they all face major challenges in retaining academic staff on a long term basis. Pay and other benefits are set by MIFOTRA and are uniform across the six publicly funded HEIs. Expatriate salaries at the public HEIs are not high by international standards. The scope for salary supplementation varies appreciably from one HEI to another. Teaching loads are not particularly heavy at most of the HEIs.

RECOMMENDATIONS

There is no realistic prospect of sizeable pay increases (in real terms) for teachers in the foreseeable future. This highlights, therefore, the importance of trying to improve non-salary material benefits for teachers as well as enhancing more intrinsic, non-material motivators, in particular pre-service teacher education, continuous professional development, improved teacher management, and greater professional solidarity and support. The report makes the following eight main recommendations, which build on the MoEs ongoing efforts to improve teacher motivation.

1. Strengthen human resources planning and management

There is an urgent need to improve the human resources planning and management in the education sector. MoE should, therefore, develop and implement a long-medium human resource development strategy for the teaching profession, which covers all areas include pay and career progression, working and living conditions and continuous professional development. Even though the government cannot afford to introduce all measures in the short term, it is still important that teachers are aware of governments strong commitment to professionalise teaching and ensure that teachers are properly remunerated and trained as soon as possible. Another key component of the strategy is to analyse ways of improving the utilisation of teachers, which could result in major costs savings.

2.Improve the quality and status of primary school teachers

Steps are being taken to improve the status and quality of primary school teachers, but more should be done. In particular, it is crucially important that better educated and trained teachers are employed at primary schools. Well trained university graduate and non-graduate (diploma level) teachers would be key change agents and motivators who could take the lead in introducing effective school-based CPD and improving school management. It is recommended, therefore, that MoE begins to employ a limited number of university education graduates in primary schools.

It is also recommended that pre-service, diploma level teacher education is introduced for primary schooling immediately and that the current certificate-level teacher training in the upper-secondary TTCs be rapidly phased out. All primary and lower secondary teacher trainees should enrol at newly established Colleges of Education and study for the same qualification, namely the Basic Education Teaching Diploma. Relatively large colleges of education should be established with at least 2,500-3,000 enrolments in order that all subject areas can be adequately catered for and economies of scale can be reaped. It is also essential that the most able and committed serving A2 primary school teachers are given the opportunity to upgrade their qualifications to the diploma and even degree level.

3.Create an effective system of continuous professional development.

An effective system of continuous professional development should be institutionalised within the MoE at both central and district levels. The MoE should, therefore, develop its own capacity to provide training as well as contract other institutions to provide training services. It is recommended that a CPD Advisor should be appointed in each district who would be responsible for developing a CPD strategy and plan for each district as well as directly facilitating district and school-level training activities, especially in teaching methods. The possibility of introducing school clusters for CPD should also be explored.

4.Institutionalise proper school management structures with effective management development and support.

School management urgently needs to be professionalised. Three sets of measures are required. First, school management teams should be established with head teacher, deputy head teacher, and heads of departments. Secondly, school management posts should be graded according to school size and school managers should be paid substantially higher salaries than classroom teachers. School managers should also have reduced teaching loads. And thirdly, the MoE should create a cadre of fulltime school management advisers whose main responsibility is to ensure comprehensive management training provision. It is recommended, therefore, that a national school management development programme is established with a full-time staff of two-three managers and experts based at MoE head office and, initially at least, one school management adviser in each of the six regions.

5.Provide universal access to subsidised housing loans for teachers

In the absence of large pay increase, the provision of long-term, subsidised housing loans is likely to be the single most effective measure to improve the livelihoods of teachers, and especially primary school teachers. It is recommended, therefore, that the feasibility of establishing a housing loan scheme for teachers, possibly based on some kind of revolving fund with subsidised interest rates, should be carefully examined.

6.Reduce the workload of teachers, especially in primary schools

Teachers in Rwanda are overburdened. It is important, therefore, to try to reduce the workload of teachers as quickly as possible. MoE is committed to phasing out double shifting in primary schools almost completely by 2015 as well as reducing class sizes. The school day itself should also be shortened to no more than six hours in primary schools and the curriculum should be rationalised.

7.Improve the staffing situation in rural schools with weak qualification and experience profiles and persistent teacher vacancies

Rectifying imbalances in the spatial deployment of teachers is a top priority. Research is needed in order to identify the hardest-to-staff schools and sectors and also to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of possible interventions, which target both push and pull factors. A teacher staffing index should be developed, which is based on key staffing indicators. The current staffing norm formulae should be reviewed so as to ensure a more uniform and thus equitable deployment of teachers. It is also recommended that MoE takes greater control over the posting of newly appointed teachers.

8.Strengthen the professional organisation of teachers

The professional organisation of teachers in Rwanda needs to be considerably strengthened. It is recommended, therefore, that a National Teacher Council is established with chapters at the regional and district levels. A small national secretariat would be responsible for the publication of a quarterly teachers newspaper, the broadcasting of a regular radio programme for teachers, the management of a national teacher award scheme, and generally promote opportunities for teachers to attend professional meetings, seminars, etc.

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1STUDY BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

1.1.1Study context 1.The Government of Rwanda (GoR) recognises that the achievement of Vision 2020 hinges on the development of highly competent, world class human resources, particularly in advanced technology, knowledge-intensive growth sectors. The education sector and, in particular, teachers are at the forefront of this effort. It is essential, therefore, that teachers are adequately motivated to deliver high quality educational services throughout the country. To this end, a key goal of the current national Education Sector Strategic Plan is to improve the status of teachers and provide incentives to increase motivation (p. 3).

2.There are widespread concerns that school teachers in Rwanda lack adequate incentives. As the appraisal report of the Fast Track Initiative points out, there is no system to support and motivate teachers in the classroom (FTI, 2007, p.10). The declining quality of education in Rwanda has been widely attributed to the low calibre of teachers, but it may also be the consequence of low commitment levels. To redress this situation, GoR and, in particular, the Ministry of Education (MoE) are currently introducing a variety of monetary and non-monetary measures to improve teacher motivation. The MoE, along with its international partners, want to ensure that the ministry adopts the most cost-effective strategy for improving teacher motivation. Consequently, they decided to commission an external review in order to analyse the current situation and make practical and realistic recommendations about what could be done to increase levels of teacher job satisfaction and commitment. 1.1.2Terms of Reference

3.This study comprehensively examines teacher motivation and incentives in Rwanda. The main study outcomes, as stated in the Terms of Reference, are follows:

A realistic assessment of the current motivational factors affecting teachers in the districts and justification for adopting a different system

The development of a generic model for motivation for teachers based on financial and non-financial incentives, taking into account financing frameworks and national budget projections.

Mode of implementation of the model in line with the decentralisiation policy of GoR.

The main tasks of the study include the an analysis of the teacher pay structure and the living conditions and basic needs of teachers drawing where appropriate on good practice from countries in the Africa region and beyond.1.2STUDY DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

1.2.1Data collection and analysis

4.Information on all aspects of teacher motivation and incentives was collected. The major data collection activities were as follows:

Interviews with all departmental directors and other key personnel in the Ministry of Education and other key ministries and organisations, including the Ministries of Finance and Public Service, four higher education institutions (KHI, KIE, KIST and NUR), one college of education, the National Institute of Statistics, National Union of Primary School Teachers, the Catholic and Protestant education secretariats, and the main international partners of MoE. The full list of interviewees is presented at Annex B.

Visits to a representative selection of eight primary and secondary schools and five district education offices in order to discuss a range of pertinent issues relating to teacher commitment and motivation, and teacher deployment, workloads and other staffing matters.

A questionnaire survey of teachers at a random sample of 60 schools in 10 districts (two districts per province). The questionnaire covers all aspects of teacher motivation and incentives. See annex C. A total of 550 teachers completed the questionnaire. Analysis of all available statistical data, in particular, the 2007 School Census, the 2007 school survey conducted by EMIS, and MIFOTRA payroll data.

Review of all relevant reports and other documentation including the Teacher Development and Management Policy, the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP), the proceedings of the Joint Education Sector Review, the education public expenditure review and the 2003 study by VSO on teacher morale and motivation in Rwanda.5.Most of the required data was successfully obtained. However, much of the requested school-level EMIS data was not available in the required format, which meant that detailed analysis of teacher deployment and utilisation was not possible.

1.2.2Study team

6.The study was conducted by Dr. Paul Bennell, Senior Partner, Knowledge and Skills for Development, Brighton, United Kingdom. His national counterpart was Mr. Johnson Ntagaramba, Teaching Service Commission, MoE. Data collection was undertaken during a two-week period in late October 2008 which was followed by two weeks of data analysis and report writing. The main findings and recommendations of the first draft of the report were discussed at meetings of the senior management group in MoE as well as representatives of the main international partners in late November 2008, which were attended by Dr. Bennell. The report was revised in the light of comments and suggestions made at these meetings. 1.3REPORT STRUCTURE

7.The findings of the study are presented in nine chapters. Chapter 2 provides a brief overview of the school system and the key features of the teaching force. Chapters 3 and 4 present the main findings of the study with regard to the attractiveness of the teaching profession and the level and trends in teacher motivation. The following three chapters look in more detail and the main determinants of teacher motivation, namely pay and other benefits (chapter 5), living and working conditions (chapter 6), teacher education and continuous professional development (chapter 7). The situation in the higher education sector is briefly reviewed in chapter 8. The main recommendations of the study are presented in chapter 9.

2.THE TEACHING PROFESSION: AN OVERVIEW

8.This chapter provides a brief overview of the school system and teaching profession in Rwanda. Information from a variety of sources has been drawn upon including the annual school questionnaire, the 2007 school census, and payroll data from MIFOTRA. As will be discussed below, not all this information is consistent. 2.1SCHOOLS AND ENROLMENTS

2.1.1Primary education 9.Primary school enrolments have increased rapidly from 1.27 million in 1997 to 2.15 million in 2007. The gross enrolment rate increased from 88% to 152% during the same period. Private schools account for only around 1% of primary education enrolments. There were 2,370 registered primary schools in late 2007. Primary schools are quite large in Rwanda; 30% have more than 1000 learners (see table 2.1).

Table 2.1: Size distribution of public primary and secondary schools, 2007PRIMARYSECONDARY

School sizeNumberLearners%NumberLearners%

(learners)schools('000)Learnersschools('000)learners

1-2504684.12112816.9

251-5003411387.01525633.7

501-75064440420.6845130.7

751-100053346123.517159.0

1001-150051662031.611137.8

1501-200014324112.3231.8

2000>40924.7000

Total22631964100477166100

Source: 2007 school census10.High repetition and low completion rates are a striking feature of the primary education system in Rwanda, which are a consequence of pervasive poverty coupled with poor quality education. Repetition rates have, however, declined from 29% in 1999 to 18% in 2006. The primary school completion rate is among the lowest in Africa. The official completion rate for primary schooling was only 52% in 2007. According to the 2005 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), 6.3% of children aged 10-14 had never attended school.

2.1.2Secondary education

11.Secondary school enrolments have increased from 105,000 in 1998 to 267,000 in 2007. However, the gross enrolment rate based on the DHS was still only 6.9% in 2005 (urban 20.7% and rural 4.5%). This is much lower than the MoE estimate of 20.5% in 2007.

12.There were 643 secondary schools in 2007 (405 government and libre subsidie and 238 private) Private schools have consistently accounted for around 40% of secondary school enrolments during the last decade. The MoE has only limited control over these schools with respect to teacher pay, utilisation and other employment issues. Secondary schools are generally smaller than primary schools; according to the 2007 school census, only 23% have more than 500 learners (see table 2.1).13.The creation of basic schools and the rapid expansion of lower secondary education (tronc commun) will place very considerable additional strains on the education system, including teachers. A total of 245 community secondary schools are currently operational. The integration of lower secondary schools with primary schools and their disarticulation from the upper secondary phase has been a major challenge in those African countries that have attempted this type of restructuring of their school systems.

2.2TEACHERS

2.2.1Numbers and key characteristics14.The MIFOTRA payroll data base is the most reliable source of information on teacher employment at publicly funded schools. There were 35,953 (30,070 primary and 5,883 secondary) school teachers at government and libre subsidie schools in mid 2008 (see table 2.2). This does not include 2,000 odd contract teachers at primary schools who are paid out of the student per capitation grant by district education offices. In addition, according to MoE data, there were 5,071 teachers employed by private secondary schools in 2007. The ESSP envisages a rapid expansion in the size of the teaching force; from 30,637 in 2006 to 41,883 in 2012 for primary school teachers and from 7,818 in 2006 to 15,712 in 2012 for secondary school teachers.Table 2.2: Teachers on the government payroll by district, mid 2008DISRICTPRIMARYSECONDARY

BUGESERA1007112

BURERA1208175

GAKENKE1183214

GASABO82277

GATSIBO1015224

GICUMBI1194248

GISAGARA792231

HUYE937234

KAMONYI1065110

KARONGI1105255

KAYONZA773160

KICUKIRO603107

KIREHE80095

MUHANGA1184204

MUSANZE1238221

NGOMA852279

NGORORERO1107238

NYABIHU1339231

NYAGATARE1002151

NYAMAGABE1113244

NYAMASHEKE1332290

NYANZA869167

NYARUGENGE592175

NYARUGURU870178

RUBAVU1031223

RUHANGO992272

RULINDO948215

RUSIZI1221209

RUTSIRO1063148

RWAMAGANA813196

Grand Total300705883

Source: MIFOTRA15.The number of primary school teachers has increased from 26,200 in 1999 and from 2,875 for secondary school teachers. The proportion of female primary and school teachers has remained roughly constant at 55% during the last decade while it has increased slightly from 23% to 26% for secondary school teachers. Only 49% of primary school teachers were qualified in 1999 compared to 98% in 2007. The corresponding figures for secondary school teachers are 33% and 54% respectively. Despite this increase, Rwanda cannot expect to become a high-skill country with such a sizeable proportion of poorly educated and trained secondary school teachers.

16.A large majority of teachers in Rwanda is inexperienced, which highlights the need for good quality mentoring and professional support; over 70% of primary and 60% of secondary school teachers have less than 10 years experience (see figure 2.1). Almost 10% of secondary school teachers are foreigners, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nearly one in five secondary school teachers in Kigali Ville is an expatriate and one in six in the Western Region. In Rusizi District, one-quarter of teachers are expatriates.

2.2.2Teacher deployment

17.Despite its small geographical size, the spatial distribution of teachers across the country with respect to key teacher characteristics (qualification, experience and gender) is markedly uneven. The main reason for this is are the unattractive working and living conditions in many rural schools. This is, therefore, a major incentives issue, which needs to tackled in a comprehensive and systematic manner.

18.Staffing imbalances across schools, sectors and districts are particularly acute among secondary school teachers. More than 80% of secondary school teachers have only the A2 qualification in Kirehe and Nyaruguru Districts whereas this figure is less than 25% in Kigali Ville (see figure 2.2). The experience from other countries in Africa suggests that the move away from the centralised postings of secondary teachers to decentralised recruitment by each district could aggravate these spatial imbalances.

19.The spatial distribution of teachers with regard to years of experience is also unbalanced (see figures 2.3 and 2.4). Among both primary and secondary schools, there exist fairly strong negative relationships between mean years of experience and teacher workload as proxied by the learner-teacher ratio (see figure 2.5 for primary schools). The same is true for the proportion of qualified teachers and LTRs (see figure 2.6 for secondary schools). Consequently, the hardest to staff districts, such as in Kirehe District, not only have the least experienced and qualified teachers, but they have the highest workloads, which mean that these districts are doubly disadvantaged.

20.No national data on the distribution of teachers by gender was available. However, among the 10 districts that were included in the teacher questionnaire survey, it can be observed in table 2.3, that the share of female teachers at both primary and secondary school varies appreciably from one district to another. In Burera District, only 10% of primary school teachers are female compared to 67% in Gisagara District.Table 2.3: % female teachers in the10 survey districtsDISTRICTPRIMARYSECONDARY

Burera1014

Rusizi3030

Karonge3035

Kayonza4625

Nyanza467

Musanze5040

Rwamagana5931

Kicukiro6142

Gasabo6720

Gisagara670

Source: Teacher questionnaire survey21.The incidence of single teachers also varies markedly across districts (see table 2.4). In many countries in Africa, a high proportion of single teachers in schools or groups of schools reflect staffing difficulties. It is noticeable that Kayonze District has high proportions of both female and male single teachers.

Table 2.4: % single teachers at survey schools by district, October 2008

DISTRICTFEMALEMALE

Burera1836

Musanze2437

Gasabo2632

Kicukiro3134

Gisagara3653

Rwamagana3818

Nyanza4039

Rusizi4740

Karonge478

Kayonze5265

Source: Teacher questionnaire survey

2.2.3Staffing norms

22.The official staffing norm for teachers at secondary schools is based on the following formula: number of classes x number of timetabled periods per week/teacher workload norm (periods/week). Adherence to this norm would result in a fairly tight linear relationship between the numbers of learners and teacher among publicly funded secondary schools. However, it can be observed in Figure 2.7 that, while this relationship is linear, there are numerous schools which clearly do not keep to the prescribed staffing norm with some schools having more than their entitlement of teachers and others with less. The latter group are mainly hard-to-staff schools in remoter rural areas that have a relatively high incidence of teacher vacancies.

3.THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION

23.As is generally the case throughout Africa, teaching is not regarded as an attractive career option in Rwanda, especially among young people, which has, in turn, fuelled concerns that we are not getting the right people into teaching. As noted above, the fact that out of a total of 36,000 teachers on the government payroll, only five percent are university graduates with a recognised teaching qualification is symptomatic of this lack of attractiveness.

24.A high level of vocational commitment is a key feature of all professions. In spite of poor pay and working conditions, this commitment appears to be surprisingly high among the teaching profession in Rwanda. The following discussion considers a number of contributory factors including levels of respect for teachers in the community, education and training entrance requirements, and occupational solidarity and cohesion. 3.1VOCATIONAL COMMITMENT 25.Without in-depth personal interviews, it is difficult to gauge accurately the level of vocational commitment to teaching by individual teachers. However, nearly 80% of all the 560 teachers who were surveyed agreed with the statement I had a strong desire to become a teacher. It was my first career choice (see table 3.1). Agreement rates are slightly higher for primary than secondary school teachers. It is clear though that around one-third of primary and one-quarter of secondary school teacher respondents opted for teaching because they did not do well enough in their secondary school leaving examinations to be able to be study their first choice subject either at upper secondary school and/or at university or another higher education institution. Less than 10% of A2 teachers passed English and mathematics with an A or B grade and, given the competition for places, were unlikely, therefore, to be admitted to the national university to study for a degree (see table 3.2 and 3.3).

26.A long-term commitment to teaching is another key indicator. Around three-quarters of primary and secondary school teachers responded affirmatively to the question do you expect to be a teacher in five years time? (see table 3.4). The main reason given by the one-quarter of teachers who responded negatively is poor pay. Religious personnel at church-managed schools are generally very committed.Table 3.1: Agreement rates to statements concerning primary reason for opting for teacher training, October 2008 (rounded percentages)PRIMARYSECONDARY

STATEMENTSPublicPrivatePublicPrivate

I had a strong desire to become a teacher/it was my first career preference84897869

I did not have enough exam points to study for my most first choice area of study30291511

Funding was readily available for teacher training22201920

I could not obtain funding for my first choice course36312325

Source: Teacher questionnaire surveyTable 3.2: Percentage distribution of the overall S6 examination mark among teachers by qualification level, October 2008MARKA0A1A2