experience sharing workshop for more effective management...
TRANSCRIPT
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WORKSHOP REPORT
EXPERIENCE SHARING WORKSHOP FOR MORE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT
OF TEACHER ALLOCATION DAKAR, 11-13 JULY 2016
IIP
E P
ôle
de
Dak
ar
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Table of Contents
Workshop Agenda ............................................................................................................................ 3
Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... 5
Goals, Dimensions and Challenges ................................................................................................... 6
Section 1: Presentations ......................................................................................................................... 8
Session 1: General Presentation of the Teacher Allocation Issue .................................................... 8
Session 2: Country Experiences in Teacher Allocation: Difficulties, Lessons Learned and/or
Promising Experiences .................................................................................................................... 10
Session 3: Tools to Support the Management of Teacher Deployment ........................................ 16
Session 4: Perspectives for the Improved Management of Teacher Allocation ............................ 19
Session 5: Group Work ................................................................................................................... 20
Section 2: Challenges, Practices and Tools ........................................................................................... 23
Challenges ...................................................................................................................................... 23
Practices and Solutions ................................................................................................................... 25
Tools and Success Models .............................................................................................................. 28
Section 3: Perspectives ......................................................................................................................... 31
List of Participants .......................................................................................................................... 34
Speeches ......................................................................................................................................... 38
International Institute for Educational Planning/Pôle de Dakar (IIEP - UNESCO) The IIEP/Pôle de Dakar is a platform of expertise in education sector policy analysis. Founded in 2001, it has been providing expertise to African governments for over 15 years. The Pôle de Dakar’s activities contribute to UNESCO’s support for the development of effective, feasible, equitable and endogenous education policies in Africa.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors; they do not necessarily reflect the points of view of UNESCO or IIEP.
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Workshop Agenda This agenda reflects the effective sequence of activities, according to the adjustments made to the agenda throughout the workshop, which took place in French, English and Portuguese.
Monday 11 July 2016 09h00 – 09h30 Opening Ceremony, with the Speeches of:
- Guillaume HUSSON, Coordinator - Pôle de Dakar/IIEP - Véronique SAUVAT – Head of Projects, Education Division, AFD Paris - Ann-Thérèse NDONG-JATTA – Director, UNESCO/Dakar - Ousmane SOW - Secretary General, MEN, Republic of Senegal – in
representation of the Minister, Selim MBAYE DIAM
09h30 – 10h00
Presentation of the Workshop Goals and Adoption of the Agenda (Beifith KOUAK-TIYAB – Deputy Coordinator, IIEP/Pôle de Dakar)
10h30 – 12h30 SESSION 1: General Presentation of the Teacher Allocation Issue (Moderator: Nebghouha mint MOHAMED VALL - Consultant)
- Presentation of the Working Paper (Patrick NKENGNE – Education Policy Analyst, IIEP/Pôle de Dakar)
- Presentation of the key results of the analysis of the country questionnaires (Koffi SEGNIAGBETO – Education Policy Analyst, IIEP/Pôle de Dakar)
- Sharing and discussions
14h00 – 17h30 SESSION 2: Country Experiences in Teacher Allocation: Difficulties, Lessons Learned and/or Promising Experiences (Moderator: Douglas LEHMAN – Country Lead, GPE Secretariat)
- Managing Teacher Allocation in Burkina Faso: Challenges and Perspectives (Evariste SAWADOGO – Director, DRH, MENA)
- The Allocation of Teachers in The Gambia by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Mohamed JALLOW – Deputy Permanent Secretary and Lamin FATAJO – Director of Human Resources, MOE)
- Randomness Reduction Strategies in the Allocation of Teachers to Secondary Schools: The Togolese Experience (Boèvi Dodzi LAWSON –DRH, MEPSFP)
- The Nigerian Experience in Teacher Deployment (Mohammed BELLO UMAR – Director of HR, Federal Ministry of Education)
- Questions and Sharing
Tuesday 12 July 2016 09h00 – 11h00 SESSION 2: Country Experiences (Continued)
- Teacher Allocation, Management and Issues in Asia-Pacific (Chang GWANG-CHOL – Education Specialist, UNESCO/Dakar and Asmah AHMAD - SEAMEO Programme Specialist/Thailand)
- The Experience of a Policy-Maker: Improving the Management of Human Resources in Mauritania, 2007-08 (Nebghouha MOHAMED VALL – Past National Education Minister)
- Questions and Sharing
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Tuesday 12 July 2016 (Continued) 11h30 – 15h15 SESSION 3: Tools to Support the Management of Teacher Deployment
(Moderator: Valérie DJIOZE-GALLET – Education Specialist, UNESCO/Dakar) - Information Systems for Teacher Allocation and Use (Marc BERNAL –
Regional Advisor, UIS/UNESCO) - Burundi-UIS Collaboration to Incorporate a Human Resource Management
Module into the StatEduc EMIS (Kamon Yaya HEBIE - UIS Consultant) - The Tool to Support the Management of Teacher Allocation in Côte d’Ivoire:
CODIPOST (Mamadou BARRO - Director of Human Resources/MEN) - Integrated Management of Resources Based on Rational Allocations
(MIRADOR) in Senegal (Ibou NDIATHE – Director of Human Resources and Mamadou SONKO - MIRADOR Administrator, DRH/MEN)
- Questions and Sharing
15h15 – 16h15 SESSION 4: Perspectives for the Improved Management of Teacher Allocations (Moderator: Fatimata Ba DIALLO – Advisor to the Education Policy Unit, CONFEMEN)
- The Issue of Teacher Allocation in Planning Education Policy: Challenges and Perspectives (Nebghouha MOHAMED VALL, Consultant)
- Questions and Sharing
16h15 – 17h15 SESSION 5: Organization of Group Work (Beifith KOUAK-TIYAB – Deputy Coordinator, IIEP/Pôle de Dakar)
- Distribution of participants into two groups - Presentation of the two themes:
- Group 1: Information Systems to Support the Management of Teacher Allocations
- Group 2: Governance Mechanisms and Transparency in the Teacher Allocation Process
- Explanation of the guidelines
Wednesday 13 July 2016 9h00 – 10h00 SESSION 5 (Continued): Group Work
- Retreat of the groups to carry out the group work - Finalization of the restitution by the groups’ rapporteurs and presidents
13h30 – 14h30 SESSION 5 (Continued): Restitution of Group Work (Moderator: Jacques MALPEL - PASEC Coordinator, CONFEMEN)
- Restitution of group work by the presidents - Sharing and discussions
14h30 – 15h30 Proposed Synthesis of the Workshop’s Key Recommendations and Outlook (Barnaby ROOKE, Consultant)
15h30 – 16h00 Closing Remarks - Union Representative: Assita BAKAYOKO - President of the Women’s
Committee, Centrale Syndicale Humanisme, Côte d’Ivoire - Parliamentary Representative: Paulin GBENOU, Member of Parliament,
Education Commission, National Assembly, Benin - GPE Representative: Douglas LEHMAN – Country Lead, GPE Secretariat
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Acronyms and Abbreviations
AFD Agence Française de Développement
ANP Assembleia Nacional Popular
CONFEMEN Conférence des ministres de l'Éducation des États et gouvernements de la Francophonie
CSH Centrale Syndicale Humanisme
CSR Country status report
DDC Direction du développement et de la coopération
DPP Direction de la prospective et de la planification
DRH Direction des ressources humaines
EFA Education for All
EMIS Education management and information system
ENI École nationale d’instituteurs
FESET Fédération des Syndicats de l’Enseignement du Togo
FME Federal Ministry of Education
GEPASE Bureau d’études de la planification et d’évaluation du système éducatif
GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
GPE Global Partnership for Education
ICT Information and communication technology
IIEP International Institute for Educational Planning
MEMP Ministère des Enseignements Maternel et Primaire
MEN Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale
MENA Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale et de l'Alphabétisation
MEPSFP Ministère des Enseignements Primaire, Secondaire et de la Formation Professionnelle
MEPU-A Ministre de l'Enseignement Pré-Universitaire et de l’Alphabétisation
MESTFP Ministère de l’Enseignement Secondaire
MoBSE Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education
MOE Ministry of Education
PASEC Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Éducatifs de la CONFEMEN
PTR Pupil-teacher ratio
SACMEQ South African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SEAMEO Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization
SINAPROF Syndicat national des professeurs
SLECG Syndicat Libre des Enseignants et Chercheurs de Guineé
SNEF Syndicat National de l'Enseignement Fondamental
SNESS Syndicat national des enseignants du secondaire et du supérieur
UIS UNESCO Institute for Statistics
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
UNICEF WCARO
United Nations Children’s Fund - West and Central African Regional Office
UPE Universal primary education
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Goals, Dimensions and Challenges The Main Goals of the Workshop
- Inform about the need and relevance of paying particular attention to the teacher allocation
issue (beyond the usual aspects of recruitment and training), with a view to improving the
equity and efficiency of teacher management;
- Share country experiences and question teacher deployment/allocation systems/
mechanisms, highlighting strengths and weaknesses;
- Exchange and capitalize on good practices and innovative tools for a better management of
teacher allocations, considering national contexts; and
- Disseminate innovative practices and tools to contribute to the development and enrichment
of common “public goods.”
Key Dimensions Covered
The workshop focused mainly on the management of teacher allocations; however, the teacher issue
being central to education in general and to the quality of learning in particular, discussions broadened
to encompass several issues in order to reach interrelated perspectives of a set of processes and
parameters related to the topic. In this context, the following dimensions were covered in the course
of the presentations, exchanges and discussions:
- The projection of teacher needs, and the identification of staff gaps to fill
- Recruitment
- Training
- Deployment
- Teacher use
- Pedagogical management
- Transfers
- Monitoring of attendance and performance
- Revalorization of the profession
- Intrinsic and external motivation
- Professional development
- Remuneration
- Attrition
Challenges Identified
A number of sector challenges related to the broader teacher issue were highlighted:
- Equity. This dimension is dual, in as much as on the one hand teaching must be provided to all
children in comparable conditions, and on the other, all teachers, regardless of their personal
characteristics, must be allowed to work in good conditions. This implies a trade-off.
- Quality. The multidimensional factors of learning quality include the majority of the
dimensions mentioned above, from the learning environment (class size), to teacher profiles
(training), as well as motivation, attendance, etc.
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- Efficiency of public spending. In a context where enrollment numbers are exploding and many
countries are setting their goals in terms of universal basic education, the sustainability of
salary spending necessarily implies an improvement in the use of teachers.
- Credibility. The mid/long term sector planning of education systems, whose financing and
implementation rely on multilateral partnerships, requires an unequivocal demonstration that
optimal solutions are sought out in terms of teachers, that represent the greatest expense
item. Due to unavoidable budgetary trade-offs, the achievement of SDG4 and other
international commitments are at stake.
- Transparency. Transparency in the management of teachers is a challenge not only in terms
of efficiency and credibility, but in terms of teachers themselves, being a basic mechanism to
combat demobilization and demotivation.
In the light of these objectives, dimensions and challenges, this report’s goal is to account for the
workshop’s activities, and the wealth of exchanges, discussions and sharing. It may be used as an aide-
mémoire by participants, not to find all the detail required for the technical and political management
of teacher allocation processes, but to make available to them a thought-provoking document that
constitutes a starting point towards a body of resources, documentary and human, that are relevant
to the initiatives and experiences of the region.
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Section 1: Presentations
Session 1: General Presentation of the Teacher Allocation Issue Moderator: Nebghouha mint MOHAMED VALL – Consultant
Presentation of the Workshop Working Paper: Teacher Allocation and Utilization in Africa, May
2016, IIEP/Pôle de Dakar
Patrick NKENGNE – Education Policy Analyst, IIEP/Pôle de Dakar
Several sector diagnoses highlight a common reality: the shortage of teachers and their inequitable
allocation. The presentation reviewed the analyses carried out by the Pôle de Dakar, and common
findings.
The analyses carried out are based mainly on the following indicators, according to the cycle:
- Primary, characterized by the one teacher-one pedagogical group binomial: the PTR, the
degree of randomness in teacher allocation, the relationship between the two, or between
the number of teachers and the number of pedagogical groups at the school level.
- Secondary, characterized by a situation of several teachers, one per subject-several
pedagogical groups: the ratio between theoretical and effective teaching times, and the
availability of teachers per subject.
These indicators, that reflect countries’ policy choices, enable an appraisal of the sufficiency of overall
teacher numbers, national capacities to achieve set goals, disparities among countries, regions or
schools, and some of the difficulties encountered.
They also raise certain questions about the relevance of measurement tools, the criteria for the
creation of a pedagogical group or its minimal size, about the definition of what constitutes a
reasonable allocation, or about the criteria used to appraise the equity of deployment.
Presentation of the Results of the Questionnaire on the Institutional/Statutory Framework and
Teacher Allocation Practices, Completed by Countries in Preparation for the Workshop
Koffi SEGNIAGBETO – Education Policy Analyst, IIEP/Pôle de Dakar
A questionnaire containing 28 questions relating to the teacher allocation issue was sent to 16 West
African countries. The responses of 14 countries were compiled to extract key findings.
The findings are that: (i) in West Africa, recruitment is highly centralized; (ii) the determination of
needs is carried out mainly at the local level (schools) by school directors; (iii) teacher transfers are
well regulated, but the enforcement of rules is insufficient and unsatisfactory; (iv) almost all countries
have set norms in terms of PTRs; (v) commissions’ posting decisions are fragile, vulnerable and little
respected, which appears to be related to the reality that few countries practice a post-based
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recruitment policy and to the absence of decision-making tools in a majority of countries; and (vi) the
uses of teachers reflect very diverse practices, in particular with respect to teachers’ workloads and
pupils’ study times.
The majority of countries would appreciate technical assistance in micro-planning (school catchment
areas) and the implementation of software and online tools, and agree on the need to involve all
players, political and legislative, civil, technical and financial in the allocation process.
Exchanges and Discussions
Participants’ contributions focused mainly on the following issues:
- Standards for teacher allocations and transfers, and their review. It was noted that having and
applying standards are two different things. Recruitments are sometimes carried out on the
basis of positions identified as constituting a requirement, but allocations do not reflect this.
- The nature of posting decisions, political motives priming on technical ones. It was underlined,
as much for taking as for respecting posting decisions, that decision-makers’ good faith is
important, and that technical staff bear responsibility for informing them on the
consequences of their decisions.
- Gender and the issue of female postings. The equitable posting of women throughout a
country is noted as often being problematic (due to family reunification) as is their periodical
replacement (due to maternity leave). In relation to this point, their working conditions, the
perspective of planning for female staff according to their life-cycles, and their retention in
lower secondary posts, in relation to programme content, were raised. It was however
suggested that failures should not be accepted as norms, citing the case of Latin America,
where a majority of teachers are women.
- The relevance of several indicators. A number of limitations were mentioned, regarding: (i)
the degree of randomness in teacher allocations, because the values estimated for urban and
rural areas could cancel each other out, resulting in an overall underestimation; and (ii) the
PTR, in particular for incomplete or bilingual schools. At any rate, it is important to be aware
that any average measurement can conceal disparities.
- The need to account for national realities in diagnostic analyses. Specific geographic and
demographic realities can impact the appraisal of the efficiency of resource use in sector
diagnostic studies. The consideration of national characteristics at these stages of analysis is
encouraged.
- Decentralization. A reflection emerged on the value of greater decentralization, starting with
recruitment, and considering the greater mobility of teaching staff that is necessary to
propose career and professional development plans, in the light of the level of preparedness
that assuming all of the consequences of such processes entails.
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Session 2: Country Experiences in Teacher Allocation: Difficulties,
Lessons Learned and/or Promising Experiences Moderator: Douglas LEHMAN – Country Lead, GPE Secretariat
Presentation: Managing Teacher Allocation in Burkina Faso: Challenges and Perspectives
Evariste SAWADOGO – Director, DRH, Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale et de l'Alphabétisation
Burkina Faso offered a review of its teacher allocation processes, difficulties encountered and lessons
learned.
The allocation process follows three stages. A need is formulated locally (by schools), and relayed to
the central level with the involvement of the statistics directorate. Since 2003, a centralized
selection/recruitment process is carried out competitively, prioritizing the consolidation of
recruitment needs at the regional level. Finally, the distribution of teachers among schools is based
on set criteria with the help of software. However, the software is not integrated with other databases
(EMIS, payroll, etc.) that also provide information on teachers.
The main difficulties encountered are at the following levels: (i) administrative (social pressures, low
digitalization of data, making their relay to the central level difficult, recurrent budget deficits); (ii)
structural (lack of candidates for given subjects, in particular sciences, weak valuation of the teaching
profession, deployment software not being integrated with the SIGASPE – Integrated Administrative
and Payroll Management of Civil Servants System); (iii) social (spouse and family reunification; illness;
attractiveness of urban areas); and (iv) data collection (delays in the relay of data from the
deconcentrated to the central levels).
These experiences, and the lessons learned, have enabled the implementation of some favorable
measures, such as limiting postings for personal convenience to set dates, regulating service-
requirement postings by a ministerial decree detailing seniority criteria, etc., or the involvement of
social players at all decision-making levels.
Presentation: The Allocation of Teachers in The Gambia by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary
Education
Mohamed JALLOW – Deputy Permanent Secretary and Lamin FATAJO – Director of Human Resources,
Ministry of Education
The Gambia illustrated the steps for the elaboration of its annual teacher posting plan, underlining the
results achieved, good practices and ongoing challenges.
In the context of an education management system that is decentralized to the six regions, the
projection of requirements takes demographics into account and is disaggregated at the school level
according to the number of pupils and teachers, by qualification for the latter. The HR directorate
coordinates deployment activities, the schedule and the collection of data, and identifies gaps
between the supply of and demand for teachers. Consultation plays a key role in the process. Meetings
are held at the following levels: (i) bilateral, between regional directorates and the HR directorate, for
the assessment of school-level needs and for transfers among regions where applicable; (ii)
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multilateral, to determine trade-offs among regions and administrative postings, and to elaborate a
draft posting plan; and (iii) national, under the authority of the Permanent Secretary, for review and
validation of the plan. The posting plan is then shared with each regional directorate and teachers are
notified of their posting by SMS.
To ensure implementation, only the Permanent Secretary can approve transfers after deployment. A
rare exception to this rule is when teacher swap agreement is reached between regional directors.
Thus, the efficiency in teacher allocations, measured by the R2 of the relationship between the
number of teachers and the number of pupils at the school level, reached 89 percent in 2014, thanks
in particular to the participatory nature of the process and its ownership by stakeholders, and to the
monitoring of teachers’ assumption of duty, but also to decentralized training and incentives for
postings to remote locations. The ongoing challenges in terms of efficiency include the socio-economic
status and health of teachers, and double-shifts in small schools.
Presentation: Randomness Reduction Strategies in the Allocation of Teachers to Secondary Schools:
The Togolese Experience
Boèvi Dodzi LAWSON – Director of Human Resources, Ministère des Enseignements Primaire,
Secondaire et de la Formation Professionnelle
Togo showcased its iterative approach to the allocation and redeployment of teachers, enabling a
gradual improvement in the coherence of allocations.
The allocation process is based on the projection of requirements, which is centralized at the HR
directorate. Funds for recruitment are then negotiated between the education and finance ministries.
A competitive entry process is held. Successful candidates are immediately sent to teacher training
schools, and registered with the civil service. After posting, transfer requests are receivable after three
years at the regional level and five years at the central level. The budget deficit and lack of candidates
for specialized subjects are recurrent difficulties. Monitoring furthermore indicates a high degree of
randomness at the regional level, especially for civil servants, reflecting unequal allocations, an urban
concentration of teachers, situations of under-use and over-work.
A redeployment plan is proposed to correct noted inconsistencies, after consultation with involved
players, aiming for equity. At preprimary and primary, the PTR is used to guarantee consistency; at
secondary, calculations are based on teachers’ workload and pupils’ study time. Thus, for each school,
the number of teachers available and required is determined, to identify the excess or gap in staff.
The annual reduction of the degree of randomness, thanks to monitoring and corrective measures,
opens perspectives to reduce regional disparities based on the average regional PTR, and of better
balancing PTRs and teaching workloads by subject among inspectorates. Teachers’ living conditions
would be improved by the regularization of their status, voluntary transfers and post-based
recruitment processes.
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Presentation: The Nigerian Experience in Teacher Deployment
Mohammed BELLO UMAR – HR Director, Federal Ministry of Education
Nigeria underlined and explained the particularity of its federal government, to place teacher
deployment processes, difficulties and lessons learned in context.
With an administrative system operating on three levels (federal/central, state/region and local
government), responsibility for the recruitment and deployment of teachers is shared. Regional
governments lead the process of needs identification and teacher deployment, but receive support
from the federal level. In addition to the Federal Civil Service Commission, a Federal Teacher Scheme
has been implemented to improve equity in the distribution of teachers, the quality of learning thanks
to teacher training, increase access to basic education, and encourage retention within the profession.
This programme aims to recruit 500,000 teachers over a period of four years to bridge the gap in
numbers, and provide higher education level training through the hundred or so existing universities
that propose teacher training courses.
Disparities between urban and rural areas nevertheless persist, due to the difficulty of posting
teachers to rural locations, which are therefore particularly short of qualified teachers. Other
problems raised include financing, remuneration, security, ethnic divides and strikes. The solution
would appear to be related to local recruitment, enabling teachers to practice in their area of
residence.
Exchanges and Discussions
The interventions and debates focused mainly on the following points:
- Improving the equity of postings. Integrated systems enable to automate deployment and
transfer processes, according to set criteria such as seniority or merit.
- Determining teacher requirements. Reaching sound results implies decentralizing data
collection, starting at the school level; the estimation of temporary absences, and the impact
of measures taken to reduce them; and the projection of permanent departures, including the
detachment of teachers to administrative functions.
- Managing teachers’ status. Although a key factor of motivation, country experiences vary: for
some, the insecurity of non-civil servant status can entail lower levels of posting stability,
distorting the results of the allocation process; for others however, teacher tenure sometimes
entails a drop in motivation or remuneration. The issue being delicate, it is recommended that
the determination of teachers’ status be negotiated with unions, HR directorates, the ministry
of finance, etc.
- Revalorizing the teaching profession. The aspects mentioned include: job content; the often
low remuneration; the alternative employment available to science graduates; incentive
measures; promotion criteria and career plans, considering status upgrades, ethical and
deontological issues, and vertical mobility on the basis of qualifications obtained; the
perspective of quality-based performance appraisal; and the revalorization of the profession
by teachers themselves.
- Teacher training and qualifications. Challenges were identified at the organizational level; the
number of players involved raising the question of coordination, and in terms of effective
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outcomes, the better trained teachers being likely to want to live in cities, migrate towards
the private sector, or evolve towards higher education cycles. The question of the measures
to be taken to avoid the resulting imbalances was raised.
- Retaining teachers in difficult areas. In response to this broadly shared issue, numerous
solutions are offered, relating to the preferential development of careers, dialogue with
unions, financial, material or housing incentives, support mechanisms, or even the facilitation
of salary collection.
- Service requirement transfers/postings. Excessive politicization and unionization makes the
transparent and efficient management of teacher mobility difficult, and service requirements
have an impact on motivation, attendance and the profession’s bad image. The solutions
considered include the involvement of stakeholders in transfer decisions, including unions and
parents; corrective and incentive measures, spot checks and sanctions; the fulfillment of a
minimum length of service prior to transfers; the establishment of objective criteria for
transfers; and awareness-raising actions.
- The role of national assemblies. Members of parliament are encouraged to get involved in the
better distribution of teachers, interceding in conflicts between governments and unions, but
not in posting decisions. The sensitization of members of parliament helps to roll out support
measures to encourage the retention of teachers in difficult areas. Their vote of budgets is
also fundamental, to provide a decent allocation to education, as well as their elaboration of
legislation that sets a framework for teacher practices.
Presentation: Teacher Allocation, Management and Issues in Asia Pacific
Chang GWANG-CHOL – Education Specialist, UNESCO/Dakar and Asmah AHMAD - SEAMEO
Programme Specialist/Thailand
A new light is shed on teacher allocation practices in Africa by an illustration of those of Asia-Pacific
countries, based in particular on the examples of the Republic of Korea and Malaysia, before
describing UNESCO’s work in this region.
Although in the Asia-Pacific region countries differ in terms of size, demographics, economy, language
and learning outcomes, teacher management is generally centralized and expectations in terms of
their qualifications (12 years of education) and pre-service training (4 years) are similar. Furthermore,
although the teaching workload is generally slighter than in Africa, the time devoted to non-teaching
tasks is considerable.
Education in the Republic of Korea went from elitist to mass to universal in 20-30 years, between 1980
and 2000, thanks to considerable private financing, and the fact that PTRs were well below pupil-class
ratios due to the practice of double/triple-shifts. Disadvantaged population groups gained greater
access to better qualified teachers thanks to a system of financial incentives for difficult areas.
For Malaysia, the efforts to reduce disparities were underlined, in terms of gender (access and learning
outcomes) and urban/rural areas, while improving quality by reducing pupil-class ratios. The
profession is characterized by low attrition, competitive training, salary raises according to seniority,
and a dismissal policy for ineffective teachers.
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UNESCO has supported a series of studies, on teacher status and rights, the gap between supply and
demand, careers and the attractiveness of the profession, among others. The results have highlighted
the need to improve government and social perceptions of the profession, and to make working,
remuneration and scholarship conditions competitive.
Questions and Sharing
The questions raised by participants provided the opportunity to clarify the following points:
- Gender. In Malaysia, girls are highly motivated to study; incentive measures therefore focus
more on the enrollment and retention of boys. The majority of teachers are women (90
percent), despite efforts to recruit men. Gender-based violence is not widespread.
- The deficit of teachers by subject. Recruitment in Malaysia is organized in waves, successive
five-year plans focusing on math and science teachers, then technical and vocational teachers,
etc.
- Financing quality. The funding made available to the sector has historically been high in the
Asia-Pacific region. Resources are channeled to the lower levels of the system, which
generates demand for the later cycles that families are then willing to finance, the private
sector bridging the supply gap.
- Competition for remote postings. Incentives are very attractive and include housing. Teachers
are recruited from these areas, trained and then posted there. School administrators are
responsible for periodically collecting their salaries.
- The dismissal policy for inefficient teachers. This new initiative consists in firstly offering those
concerned a second chance, raising their performance through in-service training or
transferring them to an administrative position. Those for whom such measures are
ineffective, as well as those who are in illegal situations, are dismissed.
- Teacher status and motivation mechanisms. The employment of contract teachers is
considered to be unsustainable, so few teachers have this status. Although the use of
temporary staff does exist, and is planned to cover for maternity leaves for instance, it is
limited to the minimum.
- Religious education. In Malaysia, religious and moral education is a subject in its own right,
and a government programme to mainstream madrassas into the formal education system is
under review. Some parents choose to enroll their children in extracurricular Koranic studies.
- The recruitment and training system. The selection process is very competitive, strict and
gradual. Training is only offered to candidates having passed rigorous assessment stages,
covering their qualifications, tests and interviews breaching both their academic suitability,
their passion for the profession and their love of children.
- The balance between the supply and quality of teachers. In Korea, the quantitative
development of the profession never entailed a sacrifice of quality, thanks to the temporary
use of double/triple-shifts, pending the availability of a sufficient number of qualified
teachers.
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Presentation: The Experience of a Policy-Maker: Improving the Management of Human Resources
in Mauritania, 2007-08
Nebghouha MOHAMED VALL – Past Minister of National Education
A personal testimony conveyed the initial impressions of a minister when she assumed her duty, the
measures implemented to improve the teacher issue, and her conclusions.
The analysis of a dysfunctional system highlighted a number of issues, questioning the processes of
teacher recruitment, training, posting and monitoring.
A series of practical measures were implemented to improve transparency and management at every
level, after broad consultation with unions, politicians and elected representatives to facilitate their
acceptation, including: (i) the recruitment of bilingual regional education directors having a
development plan for the sector in their area; (ii) a census of personnel, coupled with an evaluation
of their language capabilities; (iii) the determination of posting criteria, based on a consensus with
unions; (iv) the consensual review of the criteria for the allocation of hardship allowances; (v) the
rationalization of teacher availability, and competency-based redeployment; (vi) the participative
monitoring of attendance, creating an accountability culture; (vii) the medical approval of sick leave;
(viii) the strict application of salary deductions for unjustified absences; and (ix) the serving of notices
and dismissal for abandonment of duty. A broad range of incentive measures was also made possible
thanks to the savings made by trimming misallocated allowances, without increasing the overall
budget.
In such a politicized sector, characterized by the difficulty of dissociating education governance from
that of other public sectors, the lack of union members’ training and information on their rights and
responsibilities and the disrespect of norms, it should be noted that transparency requires constant
efforts and that a strong political will and the support of parents are needed to correct malfunctions.
Questions and Sharing
The questions raised by participants provided the opportunity to clarify the following points:
- Sustainability and impact of the measures. The key results achieved were the improvement of
the national examination success rates and a reduction of dropout, but the degree of
randomness in teacher allocations was not computed.
- Measures to fight absenteeism. The new government was responsible for dealing with this
issue, through the recruitment of regional directors and inspectors. The enforcement of
existing rules with respect to unjustified absences for all personnel was critical, including
salary deductions, which apply to all civil servants. For health certificates, a commission was
created and much work was done to validate each case of sick leave, even if this required
those concerned to undergo further medical checks.
- Mainstreaming Koranic schools into the education system. In Mauritania Koranic schools fall
under the authority of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. A project to establish bridges between
formal and Koranic education is being implemented, and is already operational for some
education levels and streams/subjects. It is problematic for the science subjects that are not
taught in Koranic schools.
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Session 3: Tools to Support the Management of Teacher Deployment Moderator: Valérie DJIOZE-GALLET – Education Specialist, UNESCO/Dakar
Presentation: Information Systems for Teacher Allocation and Use
Marc BERNAL – Regional Advisor, UIS/UNESCO
A case was made for the deployment of integrated information systems, which consolidate all teacher-
related data within a single global management system. This should be done on the basis of prior
understanding of management requirements, needed statistics and with UIS support.
Among others, UIS’ role includes strengthening national capacities in terms of data collection and the
implementation of information systems. The latter should provide a bridge between management and
operating systems. Integrated systems are preferable because of the communication between their
respective sub-systems, the reduced duplication of data, infrastructure and maintenance, and the
provision of consolidated information to decision-makers. Common practice has evolved over time,
from software interfaces, towards unique databases and on to an integrated modular approach.
Statistics are the main resource for the allocation of teachers, but their sources are varied and each
has limitations: (i) overall system data cover both teachers and pupils, but in aggregated form, is
collected only once a year and available late in the year, limiting their use for management purposes;
(ii) HR data focusing on personnel respond to specific situations (vacant posts, ghost teachers, etc.)
but have no link to information on pupils and are therefore of limited use for management and
postings; (iii) school registry data have detailed information on teachers, their posting and attendance,
but require decentralized EMIS systems, which are complex to deploy due to the electrical supply,
competencies and hardware required.
Given the need for an overall network, be it manual or automatic, the proposal is to evolve towards
realistic integrated systems, consolidating education and human resource statistics, and including
several sub-sets of key data, on pedagogical groups and civil service, producing real-time dashboards
for the management of teachers.
Presentation: Burundi-UIS Collaboration to Incorporate a Human Resource Management Module
into the StatEduc EMIS
Kamon Yaya HEBIE - UIS Consultant/UNESCO
A practical snapshot of Burundi’s StatEduc2 EMIS system, still under development but including a HR
management module was provided, illustrating the potential shape and functionality of a realistic
integrated information system such as that promoted by UIS.
Real-time navigation throughout the tool displayed some of its modules, such as:
- Organization charts of units and services, at each institutional level (region, local authority,
inspection and school), detailing roles and positions;
- The possibility to see which teachers are posted to each school, and the information relating
to each, including their career progression;
- The possibility to directly redeploy teachers according to unfulfilled posts in schools; and
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- A reporting tool connected to the system, which automatically produces graphs, tables and
indicators to support decision-making, and provides the possibility of creating further bespoke
reporting tools if required.
Presentation: The Tool to Support the Management of Teacher Allocation in Côte d’Ivoire: CODIPOST
Mamadou BARRO - Director of Human Resources/Ministère de l’éducation nationale
CODIPOST was created in the context of the policy to digitalize the civil service, to strengthen the
sustainable management of jobs and competencies and reinforce the operational capacity of the HR
directorate to reduce regional disparities in the distribution of personnel.
The functions of this decision-making tool are numerous (See Box 1 in Section 2 for a more detailed
review), and include among others:
- The monitoring of staff, active or inactive, and their effective assumption of duty;
- The volumetric study of positions and an inventory of vacant positions;
- The management of staff mobility (transfers, postings, travel abroad);
- Career monitoring and staff profiling to improve the profession’s qualification level; and
- The availability online, through a complete, historical and secure database, of the documents
relevant to teachers on the one hand, and required by the government on the other.
Presentation: Integrated Management of Resources Based on Rational Allocations (MIRADOR) in
Senegal
Ibou NDIATHE – Director of Human Resources and Mamadou SONKO - MIRADOR Administrator,
DRH/Ministère de l’éducation nationale
MIRADOR addresses the need to manage increased teacher flows following the explosion of
enrollment and efforts to achieve UPE, while reinforcing equity and transparency, according to a real
strategy of rationalization.
This modular system for the post-based management of human resources includes the following
functions, among others (See Box 2 in Section 2 for a more detailed review, including its strengths):
- The recruitment and posting of teachers according to needs, by region and subject;
- Teacher training and career management;
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- The management of personnel transfers and redeployment thanks to dynamic school
organization charts and an online request form;
- The forecasting of retirement departures, thanks to a dynamic age pyramid; and
- A warning system for temporary departures (for training for instance).
Questions and Concerns
The questions raised by participants provided the opportunity to clarify the following points:
- Managing teacher mobility. The tools enable the software-based monitoring of transfers at
different levels, from the identification of vacant posts to fill thanks to organizational charts,
to the automatic rejection of transfers towards schools that are not in need. The automation
of transfer decisions is certainly one of the most appreciated benefits, for the effort saved,
but also because it removes the human factor from posting decisions, in the greater interest
of all involved.
- Integration and harmonization of tools. Whether the tool is based on an existing EMIS, or
constitutes a total innovation, the need for the real-time consolidation of data from different
directorates and departments raises the imperative for adequate personnel and technical
officers, to ensure the coherence and unity of systems.
- Institutional anchorage. Questions about the level of responsibility (Ministry of Education or
another? Minister’s Cabinet or elsewhere?) and of the potential creation of an inter-
ministerial steering committee were raised.
- Functionality and limitations. Some countries face the difficulty that this type of system
enables the monitoring of civil servants, but not that of staff of other status that are employed
at the regional level, such as contract teachers. How then to avoid duplication? A centralized
system is recommended, or one incorporating modules that synchronize regional sub-
systems. It is important to define terms of reference to include functions that reflect the
national policy vision and local needs. For instance, the provisional management of female
staff could be considered, taking maternity leave periods into account, as well as a module to
monitor teacher performance, if the specification requirements so stipulate.
- The implications of transparency. A key aspect of transparency and of the acceptance of the
tools and decisions it leads to is teachers’ access to the tools. This raises several concerns, in
terms of infrastructure (networks and internet connection hardware in remote areas) and
training (capacity building in the use of the tools is often necessary).
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Session 4: Perspectives for the Improved Management of Teacher Allocation
Moderator: Fatimata Ba DIALLO – Advisor to the Education Policy Unit, CONFEMEN
Presentation: The Issue of Teacher Allocation in Planning Education Policy: Challenges and
Perspectives
Nebghouha mint MOHAMED VALL, Consultant
Policies that focus on moderating the teaching payroll while enabling mass recruitments have left in
their wake new management issues, related to status, training, career development and pedagogical
organization, which constitute new institutional and political challenges in relation to teachers.
The first sector plans were marked by excessive emphasis on limiting salary growth in the context of
efforts to achieve UPE. Salary policies encouraged the emergence of new teacher categories, subject
to different posting criteria and less well prepared, with several and diverse consequences, in
particular in terms of quality and motivation.
On the basis of the latest available diagnostic assessments, new policy and technical orientations have
appeared, including:
- The regionalization of recruitment;
- The multiplication of staff databases, that raise issues of harmonization, in particular between
those of education ministry HR directorates and of the payroll; and
- Containing staff numbers, targeting new profiles, training and skills (bi/polyvalence), to roll
out new pedagogical models.
Key ongoing challenges include the fact that teachers’ careers are still managed by the civil service,
rather than education ministries; the lack of a true meritocracy in favor of quality; the centralization
of mechanisms; and the sometimes complex relationship between technical officers and policy-
makers.
Tools are therefore very helpful, offering the perspective of depoliticizing management processes,
reinforcing local accountability, and supporting the regularization of teachers’ status.
Questions and Concerns
The questions raised by participants provided the opportunity to clarify the following points:
- Relationship between the teacher budget and quality. The impact of teachers on quality is
unquestionable. Much as advocacy in parliament is helpful to increase the budget and the
number of teachers and their salaries, considerable gains are possible thanks to a better use
of the teaching resource, trimming excesses and reinvesting the savings made to fill certain
gaps.
- Social dialogue. Good management of union concertation is all the more crucial that teachers
are among the most politicized civil servants and those most prone to absenteeism and
strikes. Furthermore, it helps to validate local recruitment approaches, and to facilitate
transfers and redeployments, often demonized by unions.
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- Depoliticizing teacher management. The transparency offered by tools that automate
decisions affecting staff (postings, salaries) contribute to mitigate demobilization and
demotivation. Some situations nevertheless illustrate the fact that the divorce between
technical officers and policy-makers is not unavoidable or real, but a pretext or an excuse to
maintain the status quo.
Session 5: Group Work
In order to further reflections on the rationalization of teacher use and deployment, participants
retreated into two groups, each mandated to focus on one of the following themes:
- Information systems and tools; and
- Governance, transparency and social dialogue.
Group 1: Information Systems to Support the Management of Teacher Allocation
President: Djibril Ndiaye DIOUF (Senegal)
Rapporteurs: Boèvi Dodzi LAWSON (Togo) and Jonathan JOURDE (IIEP/Pôle de Dakar)
Restitution: Mamado FOFANA (Côte d’Ivoire)
Group 1 organized its brainstorming around the following three questions:
1. What information do countries need to identify teacher needs and allocate them efficiently?
Three types of information were identified to align supply and demand in terms of teacher
numbers, provide an overview of the current situation and forecast future needs:
i) Information on infrastructure (number of schools, plans to build or extend facilities, their
location, the workload to be provided on the basis of the number of classes or pedagogical
groups);
ii) Information on pupils (enrollment by school and area, a projection of the school-aged
population, class organization – multigrade, multi-shifting, etc.); and
iii) Information on teachers (number by level, levels of qualification, experience and training,
PTR standards and goals, temporary and permanent departures, transfer requests,
absenteeism).
2. How to obtain this information, what mechanisms to use to update it and what tools to help
to better allocate teachers?
Ideally, schools should be interconnected and information would be available on those
teachers that are in class each morning. This is unrealistic however, requiring excessive means.
Intermediate information collection should be preferred, between the school and national
levels, according to each country’s technical capability, while aiming for ever greater
deconcentration.
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Collection frequency and approaches should be adapted to the information required, to
ensure sustainability:
i) To assess teacher requirements, the number of pupils per pedagogical group can be
evaluated once or twice a year. In many countries, paper forms are the norm, but data
collection could be improved thanks to technology and by strengthening institutional
capacity.
ii) To manage teachers, the system could be updated in real-time according to each
administrative act that has an impact on teacher requirements (requests for transfers,
leave, and sick leave).
iii) To monitor absences, automated control systems could be implemented, such as an
individualized biometric system (as in Liberia), or confirmation of presence by SMS.
Increasingly, technology is a central part of teacher management, but as it is difficult to deploy
in the African context, the human factor will remain prominent. Beyond the performance of
tools, the credibility of data will depend on its proper use and rigorous administration. The
goal is to depart from an attitude of technological determinism to better account for the
factors and players involved in the information processes relating to teachers.
3. How to ensure the inter-connection of information sources on teachers (directorates of
planning and HR, civil service, ministries of economy and finance, etc.)?
The three main needs identified are: (i) a unique coding system, to register teachers and
ensure that different directorates’ data can be linked; (ii) system integration; and (iii)
institutional data mapping, specifying information circuits and processes, with a permanent
steering committee that guarantees data quality.
Group 2: Governance Mechanisms and Transparency in the Teacher Allocation Process
President and restitution: Mohammed BELLO UMAR (Nigeria)
Rapporteurs: Jane Sabina OBENG (Ghana) and Léonie MARIN (IIEP/Pôle de Dakar)
Group 2 organized its brainstorming around the following three questions:
1. What mechanisms do countries need to make sure teacher allocation procedures are
vulgarized and transparent?
A broad concertation mechanism must involve all stakeholders (government, opinion leaders,
unions, teachers and parents) from the start, in the definition of norms and procedures, and
the development of policy guidance for teacher allocations. Moving decision-making closer to
beneficiaries will help to provide greater transparency.
The procedures will need to be properly documented and shared with all stakeholders, at
every level, from the central to the most decentralized. Sensitization and information
campaigns will help to create awareness of the documents’ content. The press and media
could be involved more to ensure greater dissemination.
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2. How to ensure standards are effectively applied and what would be the consequences if they
are not?
Sharing and communicating the rules and sanctions for their transgression will be primordial.
It would be desirable to provide some guidance and training to teachers on their roles and
responsibilities after their posting or transfer, such as they are described in the rules and
regulations.
Monitoring and control should be carried out to ensure the effective implementation of
policy. Inspections could be involved, both in terms of teacher presence and to assess learning
outcomes. Regional education councils could also provide recommendations.
Sanctions (or precautionary measures, such as the suspension of pay) must be applied without
fail, distortion or interference. The involvement of unions in their determination and
application may favor their acceptance, but also help to ensure the human dimension is
respected, teachers’ claims are considered, and fair and just treatment is provided.
Finally, where teachers’ results are weak, measures should be taken such as training or
qualification upgrading to improve performance, or redeployment.
3. Do you believe it is necessary to decentralize teacher recruitment and deployment? How?
The arguments in favor of decentralizing teacher management are numerous. In a perspective
of ownership of the different mechanisms implemented by the relevant players, and taking
timing issues, motivation and mobilization into account, the study of ownership processes
should enable to give significant importance to players’ experiences, autonomy and
competencies.
More practically, the following were mentioned: needs expressed at the community level
encourage local ownership of schools by parents, while teachers become more accountable
towards beneficiaries and committed, improving the quality of teaching and equity.
Transferring resources is easier than transferring people. Finally, several success stories exist,
concerning religious education and community schools.
However, the challenges are plentiful, which in itself constitutes a problem in reaching
effective solutions. Governance systems vary considerably between countries, and
communities and districts within each region have variable access to resources. Sometimes,
local government is absent. In brief, the regulation and supervision of regional teacher
allocation activities should be centralized, to avoid all duplication. Thus, a key further question
is raised with respect to the measures supporting decentralization.
Remarks and Contributions
The remarks made in plenary touched on the following aspects:
- Role of the private sector. Considering the gradual privatization of the education sector in
many African countries, it seems important to consider it in simulations, and to clarify to what
extent this sub-sector is concerned by national policy. This process involves inspections,
unique minimal learning standards, horizontal and vertical education opportunities, state
subsidies, the training of staff, the distribution of pedagogical material, etc.
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- Languages. The use of local languages in the recruitment and deployment of teachers, as well
as in class, can foster the quality of learning outcomes, as long as it is possible to incorporate
this parameter in planning processes.
- Technology. A warning is issued to take different factors into account (economic, human,
time-related, etc.) for the integration of ICT into teacher allocation management systems, to
ensure the true ownership of the technical arrangements developed according to targeted
needs.
Section 2: Challenges, Practices and Tools This section offers a brief summary, in three sub-sections, of the issues discussed throughout the
workshop: (i) the challenges encountered by countries in teacher deployment or related questions;
(ii) the practices and solutions implemented by countries; and (iii) the tools and success models in
teacher management. It differentiates between the technical and policy aspects where possible.
This section simply provides a synthesis of the perspectives that emerged from the workshop
activities, and does therefore not aim to fully detail all challenges, practices and tools in terms of
teacher management. It was indeed underlined that the models presented, that provided a basis for
the discussions that followed, were chosen for their illustrative potential, given that country initiatives
are too numerous and rich for the workshop or this report to comprehensively cover.
Challenges
The context of strong demographic growth throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, coupled with the adoption
of broad and ambitious goals in terms of education coverage in the context of SDG4, de facto imply
exponential growth in teaching staff numbers. However, considering countries’ variable degrees of
development in terms of the management and allocation of teachers, differentiated approaches
reflecting local realities must be considered, adopted, implemented and supported. These approaches
will imply several, and variable challenges, of a technical or political nature, or both.
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Policy Challenges
The key policy challenges raised in the course of the workshop were:
- Updating a global vision. It is now critical for several countries, having taken stock of the
progress achieved in the course of the EFA period, and having committed to the goals of the
2030 Framework for Action, to review their teacher policies, so that they evolve from policies
focusing on recruitment and pay turned towards the achievement of UPE, towards teacher
deployment and training policies. Management models will require adjusting accordingly.
- Equity. The concern of eliminating disparities in teacher deployment between schools is
predominant and constant. It is fundamental to provide children from urban and rural areas,
private and government schools, large or small, the same chances of receiving a quality
education, provided by adequately trained staff.
- Attractiveness of the profession. The need felt to revalorize the teaching profession is great,
not only in the eyes of parents or the general public, but also in those of the government
services involved in their management, and those of teachers themselves. The future of the
profession, in several dimensions (recruitment, the quality of teacher profiles, subject
specialisms, retention, motivation, etc.) hinges on it.
- Rational politicization of the sector. Given the size of its civil service staff, the education sector
is most prone to excessive politicization and unionization. Much as the importance of this right
is recognized, excesses in its use are considered to have a detrimental effect on the sector’s
smooth running.
Technical Challenges
On the technical level, the main challenges identified are:
- Information systems. The majority of the solutions promoted to improve teacher
management include the advanced harnessing of ICT. In this context, numerous challenges
are identified, including: (i) the digitalization and modernization of government, and the
digitization of data; (ii) the coverage of ICT infrastructure, particularly at the regional level; (iii)
the coherence, integration and harmonization of different directorates’ information systems
and databases; (iv) the centralization of tools, or the synchronization of regional tools, as well
as delays involved in the relay of data between deconcentrated and central levels; (v) the
training of staff and teachers in the new technologies and tools adopted; and (vi) accounting
for teachers that are not on the civil service payroll in EMIS, to avoid duplication in postings
and pay.
- Managing teacher profiles. In order to optimize pedagogical management, necessary for the
rationalization of teacher spending, it is particularly important to better succeed in aligning
the supply of and demand for teachers with specific profiles: bilingual, polyvalent, specialized
in given science subjects, multi-level, female, etc. This implies doing some groundwork in
terms of recruitment and deployment processes. Indeed, it is noted that even when
recruitment is post-based, postings do not always reflect it.
- Teacher retention. The retention of staff confronts several specific risks, such as teachers’ wish
to evolve towards administrative positions; the drain of the most qualified teachers towards
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private sector jobs; the difficulty of sustainably maintaining teachers in remote, rural or
difficult locations, resulting in attrition; and the transfer of the better trained teachers towards
urban areas and exam classes. Retention is thus an issue that requires differentiated
approaches in order to fulfill all of the system’s needs.
- Validity of monitoring indicators. Concerns persist in terms of the appropriateness or
limitations of indicators. Some can mask regional realities or even understate national
realities; others can prove to be particularly ineffective to measure specific situations, such as
those of incomplete or bilingual schools, for which they lack precision.
In the space between these two types of challenge (policy and technical) are a further set of
challenges, that stem either from the need to design technical tools and solutions that reflect the
national vision, or from the implementation of these tools:
- The elaboration of teacher qualification frameworks and standards;
- Decentralization and regionalization, confronted in particular by the absence of teacher
training institutes at the regional level;
- The training of players in procedures, including teachers and unions, for their understanding
and respect of their rights and responsibilities;
- The involvement of political, legislative, civil, technical and financial players in the definition
of decision-making models;
- The status of teachers, contract teachers tending to leave without notice, making planning
difficult, whereas the normalization of their status is costly;
- The coordination between the civil service and education ministries, in particular in terms of
the management of teachers’ careers;
- The development of a meritocracy in the profession, based on the quality of learning
outcomes, rather than just seniority and qualification levels; but above all
- The elimination of the human factor that affects deployment or transfer decisions, reducing
social and political pressures.
The diagnoses lean towards the need for policies and technical approaches that are starkly different
from those of the past. The implementation of their recommendations and findings will entail a further
challenge, that of change management, in terms of attitudes, practices and behaviors.
Practices and Solutions
As it was underlined in the previous section, the challenges facing the management and deployment
of teachers are not all of a policy or technical nature. Indeed, these two dimensions are necessarily
intertwined. Thus, it is logical that the solutions encountered comprise both political and technical
approaches, for all of the challenges identified. This section will mention the main approaches and
solutions reported by countries, to each of the categories of challenge previously identified.
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Approaches and Solutions to Policy Challenges
- Global vision. The main trends in teacher management verge on post-based recruitment
according to transparent approaches defined in ministerial decrees that regulate deployment
(as has been the case in Burkina Faso). For efficiency in teacher spending, a reflection on the
distribution among sub-sectors of education financing must be initiated, as well as on the role
wanted for the private sector. The Asia-Pacific experience is instructive, focusing public
funding on primary government education, which in turn created demand for later cycles,
which families were disposed to pay for in the private sector. Similarly, pedagogical
organization models could be reviewed according to coverage and access needs and the
quality imperative (as for instance in the Republic of Korea), considering all available options,
such as multiple vacations, multi-level classes, etc. Finally, this vision should take the place of
religious education into account. Should madrassas be part of the system in their own right,
while creating bridges towards formal education (such as in Malaysia)? Should moral and
religious education be incorporated into basic education?
- Equity. The will to eliminate disparities in teacher deployment between schools could
translate into an assessment of needs by school, inspection, region and then at the national
level (as in The Gambia), or into the decentralization of recruitment, reducing the effort
involved in monitoring postings (as suggested by CONFEMEN). At any rate, it is recommended
that synergies be sought out between the activities of the ministries of finance, civil service
and education, to appropriately address needs, as well as concertation with unions on
deployment criteria (Mauritania). As equity must exist both on the ground and on paper, some
experiences were shared of aiming to ensure resources are well used once distributed, such
as the participative monitoring of attendance, the follow-up of sick leave with potential pay
cuts where these are unjustified, and measures of serving notices or dismissal where
abandonment of duty occurs (Mauritania).
- Attractiveness of the profession. To revalorize the teaching profession, initiatives include: the
implementation of incentive systems for posts in difficult locations (Republic of Korea), that
can include free accommodation, for which one proposal is to enact solutions on the military
model of making government land available (Nigeria), and in concertation with unions on the
topic of the criteria for the allocation of allowances (Mauritania); the revision of teacher status
according to seniority, attendance and merit; the strengthening of teachers’ motivation and
their perception of their job by making recruitment processes more selective, competitive and
gradual (as in Asia-Pacific); the creation of reflection groups to promote the profession
(Mauritania); or the implementation of one-off measures, such as for the collection of salaries
in rural areas by head teachers, for instance.
- Rational politicization of the sector. To moderate the politicization of the sector, several
countries have resorted to the cooptation of social (The Gambia, Togo) or political (Benin)
partners in the teacher deployment process, or to help solve conflicts between unions and the
government (Togo), or between politicians and members of parliament (Mauritania). A
quorum was reached on strengthening the role of technical officers to inform policy-makers
on the consequences of their decisions, to reduce the impact of pressures and increase
transparency.
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Approaches and Solutions to Technical Challenges
The following section on tools will complement the elements presented here, in particular in relation
to information systems.
- Information systems. A great number of decision-making tools have been elaborated and
implemented, in several countries. The panorama includes the implementation of a unique
staff database followed by an integrated HR management tool (MIRADOR) in Senegal, or a
tool for the automation of transfers (GESTMUT) in Côte d’Ivoire. The most advanced
functionalities include dynamic age pyramids to provide a better forecasting of attrition. The
Gambia has implemented a decentralized education management system, based on merit. In
Côte d’Ivoire, the issue of system harmonization has been addressed by the creation of an
inter-ministerial steering committee for the integration of information systems.
- Managing teacher profiles. In order to ensure the adequate deployment of teachers with the
required profiles, which includes redeployment and transfer processes, different types of
approach were shared: (i) for transfers, a calendar for transfers for personal convenience can
be established to limit surprises in the course of the school year (Burkina Faso); the swao of
teachers by agreement between regional directors has been established with success (The
Gambia); a minimum length of prior service and other criteria have helped to frame the
process (Togo); but the most common is the annual redeployment plan based on the PTR for
primary, or the teaching workload for secondary; (ii) in order to respond to the need for
teachers with specific profiles, Togo is piloting a system of scientific high schools, The Gambia
has decentralized teacher training, offering them bespoke support, Malaysia organizes
recruitment in waves by specialism (subject by subject, according to the most pressing
requirements), whereas Niger has placed bets on multi-disciplinary approaches in rural areas.
In order to ensure the best possible employment conditions for women, it is advised that the
planning of their deployment consider their life-cycles (fecundity, motherhood, post-
motherhood) and their specific needs (crèches).
- Teacher retention. Beyond the measures to strengthen the profession’s attractiveness
mentioned above, the following initiatives were mentioned, contributing to the retention of
effective teachers: sensitization campaigns, to enhance the acceptance of transfers that
address a clearly identified need (Togo); the roll-out of a reconversion or dismissal policy for
ineffective teachers (Malaysia); the systematic monitoring and follow-up of posting stability
(The Gambia); the development of a teacher certification programme (The Gambia); the
connection of postings with teachers’ performance appraisals (on the basis of learning
outcome quality); and the recruitment of teachers from the remote areas where postings are
least sustainable and stable (Asia-Pacific).
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Tools and Success Models These pragmatic approaches rely in turn on a certain number of practical tools, be they diagnostic,
legislative, technical or of guidance. Integrated information systems being strongly recommended,
two success models are presented in the following boxes.
Diagnostic Tools
- CSRs and other sector analyses;
- Assessments of learning outcomes by teacher training levels (PASEC, SACMEQ);
- Studies on effective learning time;
- Diverse studies on teachers, such as SABER, the international conference on contract
teachers; and teaching staff audits (The Gambia).
Legislative Tools
- Regulations and standards;
- The pedagogical framework project for pre-service training in West and Central Africa;
- Qualification frameworks, including the regional qualification standards project for ECOWAS
basic education teachers.
Technical Tools
- Statistical data and indicators (PTRs, the degree of randomness, the relationship between the
number of teachers and pedagogical groups, the ratio between learning time and teaching
workload, the number of teachers per subject, exam success rates);
- Global SDG indicators and the international policy dialogue forum;
- Education management and information systems (EMIS);
- Staff databases or censuses;
- Integrated information systems, including school and HR data, and including redeployment
functions that enable the software-based control of transfers, steering, management and
reporting dashboards such as StatEduc (Burundi), CODIPOST (Côte d’Ivoire), MIRADOR
(Senegal) or BAREME (Guinea);
- Systems for the communication, dissemination or notification of posting decisions, by SMS for
instance (The Gambia).
Guidance Tools
- Methodological guidebooks for the reform and development of teacher policies;
- Roadmaps;
- South-South experience and best practice sharing.
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Box 1: Côte d’Ivoire’s Tool to Support
Teacher Management (CODIPOST)
Côte d’Ivoire is pursuing a policy of public service digitization. The country has already adopted several steering tools that support education sector management:
- GESTMUT was the first software package developed to reduce transfer times. It ranks teachers according to their merit, to process transfer requests preferentially. The human factor is attenuated, limiting political and social interference, and the automation enables time and efficiency gains for all.
- GESTAUTO monitors border entry/exits, and facilitates the swift identification of absent teachers, after a training trip for instance, through the analysis of absences by duration, destination, reason for travel, region of origin, etc. in order to implement potential remediation measures, such as the suspension of pay.
CODIPOST aims for the sustainable management of employment and skills, while strengthening the HR directorate’s operational capacity to combat regional disparities in the distribution of staff. This will henceforth be the main and overarching tool, to which GESTMUT will be incorporated.
The basic principle the tool seeks to reflect is the “one post, one officer” binomial. This requires the identification of all work posts, administrative and pedagogical, the definition of post content, the codification of all posts, the codification of all teachers, and finally, linking a post code to a teacher code.
Each teacher will have an access account and password, and will be responsible for entering their personal and professional data. This information will be checked by their immediate supervisor, against their documentation to ensure it is correct. Similar checks will be carried out at every level by the following echelon.
Monitoring teacher attendance will be performed by school directors, who will enter relevant information to CODIPOST, thus enabling the monitoring of attendance regularity, and potential sanctions or disciplinary measures. Any request for further staff will therefore be accompanied and justified by accounts on the use of human resources already available.
To date, out of 106,000 registered teachers, 98,500 have been linked to a post, and 420 CODIPOST administrators have been trained.
The tool enables:
- In terms of data, to: (i) improve the reliability and speed of collection; (ii) access a complete, secure and historical database; (iii) make relevant documents available to teachers online; and (iv) make information on teachers’ careers available to government.
- On the institutional level, to: (i) facilitate the monitoring of active and inactive teachers; (ii) draw-up an inventory of vacant positions; (iii) manage staff mobility (deployment, transfers and border crossings); (iv) manage and monitor careers; (v) elaborate profiles of the teaching staff to support qualification upgrading; (vi) regionalize recruitments and exams; and (vii) elaborate a referential yearbook of jobs and positions.
Overall, CODIPOST therefore presents multiple benefits as a decision-making tool, enabling the equitable and transparent management of staff, and reducing the impact of the human factor (distortions, favoritism, corruption, etc.)
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Box 2: Integrated Management of Resources
Based on Rational Allocations (MIRADOR)
Senegal has witnessed an explosion of teaching staff between 2000 (there were 12,000) and 2010 (reaching 96,000), following the policy acts voted according to the international Jomtien and Dakar agreements. This growth in teacher numbers was only made possible thanks to the use of contract teachers, and then voluntary/bursary teachers, to follow the explosion of enrollment. The need to manage flows, equity and transparency increased concomitantly.
A unique staff database (FUP) was implemented, enabling an improvement of the management of deployments and transfers, but some of the difficulties encountered made a real strategy of personnel management rationalization impossible.
MIRADOR, on the other hand, comprises eight modules, enabling the integrated management of human resources, on a post basis. The modules are: (i) career management; (ii) absence and leave; (iii) merit and disputes; (iv) staff numbers and jobs; (v) mobility; (vi) recruitment; (vii) training; and (viii) health. It therefore enables:
- The gradual redeployment of staff, taking advantage of natural movements and attrition. Departures from schools with staff in excess, determined according to school organization charts, are not replaced.
- Recruitment and deployment according to system needs, region by region and subject by subject, thanks to the “residual mirror” system.
- The forecasting of departures for retirement and potential replacement needs, thanks to a dynamic age pyramid.
- The monitoring of temporary departures, thanks to an incorporated warning system. This enables a better follow-up of sick leave, among others. A health committee may be called upon to advise, deciding on where to refer patients, their sick leave rights, suspensions or even sanctions. At any rate, abuses are limited, as long-term “patients” are restricted in their application options.
- The gradual reclassification of contract teachers as civil servants, while managing flows, a key stake to control both the evolution of numbers and the payroll.
- Online transfer requests, which are ranked on a post by post basis, offers being made firstly to those teachers having most points.
The integration of MIRADOR with FINPRONET (Payroll) and the civil service is assured by a bridging system, GIRAFE. Thus, an integration approach has been launched for the harmonization of coding systems, teacher ID numbers, the integration of data and their ongoing update. The data exchanged among systems include identity, marital status, administrative acts, management acts, and family, employment and salary information.
Transparency is strengthened, as each teacher has an account, through which they have access to much information and can carry-out a number of procedures. In this context, the training of teachers to the use of the tool, at the deconcentrated level by academic inspections, also helps to improve understanding of the need to rationalize the management of the teaching resource.
Finally, a significant advantage of MIRADOR is to have enabled considerable savings in terms of transfer processing times. Down from two months, the average processing time now stands at between one and two weeks.
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Section 3: Perspectives The analysis of teacher deployment policies and strategies requires consideration of specific aspects
such as: the development of norms and tools, aligned with different contexts; understanding the
involvement and roles of different players and teachers’ motivations; improving communication
between different levels and players; and carrying out appropriate assessments to develop structural
and strategic plans. Following this, the impact on teachers, pupils and management (considering
decentralization and deconcentration) can be measured. Participants repeatedly discussed the fact
that the definition of a regulatory and normative framework and its respect is invariably a critical
success factor. However, “how to ensure that standards and rules are respected?” is a question whose
answer requires the development of recognition arrangements to enable teachers’ career
development and the revalorization of their job.
These leads seem easy to explore, but it should not be forgotten that West Africa faces several
constraints, such as political conflicts, and at the administrative level, the weight and rigidity of
procedures was raised. Strengthening institutional capacities and standard-setting processes require
reflection so that changes in teacher management can take place and countries can adapt as quickly
as possible to an education environment in full mutation.
Consequently, overarching issues were raised by the majority of participating countries that they will
have to untangle to rationalize the deployment of teachers, and implement solutions in line with their
needs, capacities and contexts:
- An overhaul of the sectors’ policy vision and planning, considering decentralization or
deconcentration on the one hand for greater accountability and transparency, while
addressing deployment, retention and specialization issues, and the potential role for the
private sector on the other at a time when education privatization experiences are
increasingly common and favorable, improving both quality and access.
- The involvement of education ministries in the management of human resources, which
should offer the prospect of linking teacher performance, that may be monitored more
regularly through inspections and learning assessments, with their career paths, promotion
opportunities, training options, and redeployment or transfer choices. Furthermore, the
harmonization of non-civil servant teachers’ status should help to revalorize the profession,
improve remuneration, and strengthen motivation, for those concerned as well as the rest.
- The management of social dialogue, to better administer redeployments, and thus achieve a
better trade-off between the revalorization of the profession and intensified recruitment. It is
advisable to create sincere collaboration and frank partnerships with social partners,
according to precise government expectations, and to involve unions in debates and decision-
making regarding the models and policies to adopt, beyond administrative issues. Initiatives
to disseminate the decisions taken are also important, being a stage at which social partners
can also play a significant role.
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- Strengthening the role of members of parliament, that have identified several areas where
they believe they are able to contribute to the process of teacher deployment. Indeed, they
have offered to act as a political vector to sensitize locally elected representatives in favor of
their involvement in the better allocation of teachers, and will be available to education
ministries to play a facilitation role in conflicts over the implementation of education policy.
Furthermore, several more concrete concerns were often mentioned by participants, pointing to the
actions to undertake:
- The need to pursue sensitization on the issue of teacher deployment, its consequences and
the need to address it with a greater public, going beyond the fora of education sector
management.
- The development of reliable and integrated teacher databases. Within an education system,
information on teachers is available at different levels (planning, human resources and
payroll). Some databases may present a lag with the reality on the ground, but there is almost
always a lack of coherence among different databases. From this stems the importance of
paying particular attention to the issue. The use of an integrated teacher database is perceived
as the path to follow to provide coherence.
- Participants wish for greater collaboration among countries so that each can benefit from the
experiences of others. For instance, Senegal’s experience with MIRADOR, Côte d’Ivoire’s with
CODIPOST and Togo’s with GESTMUT have led to a general wish by other participants to
develop similar tools in their countries (although these tools require further improvement
their contribution is already considerable).
- Countries stongly request support in the development of teacher deployment decision-
making tools. This request covers a broad range, from the elaboration of coherent texts on
the posting of teachers, to the quasi-automated management of the allocation process
through dedicated software, and the identification (for instance with a guidebook for users)
of those criteria to be considered by all actors involved in the deployment decision-making
process.
Finally, some recommendations were shared to guide countries in their GPE financing requests, as
detailed in the following box.
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Box 3: Recommendations to Limit the Risk of Facing Difficulties when
Submitting a Financing Request to the Global Partnership for Education
The focus on risks derives from one of the mandates of the GPE secretariat to help countries avoid bad and untimely surprises in the process of submitting a financing request, leading to a situation that could be uncomfortable for governments.
1. Ensure that the teacher allocation issues raised in the country sector analysis are adequately dealt with in the education sector plan. The sector analysis, for example, could touch on problems in the teaching corps relating to absence from class, discouragement, improper behavior, or weakness in pedagogical practices. Avoid a situation where the sector plan deals with the teacher allocation issue without recognizing the link between the problems identified in the analysis that could very well be related to teacher allocation.
2. Avoid any disarticulation between endorsed education sector strategies and existing national (and inter-sectoral) policy on devolution and decentralization.
3. Ensure that measures included in the sector plan benefit as a top priority those populations who have been marginalized to date; avoid the logic of continuing a very slow expansion of the education system toward eventual equity; rather, be proactive, especially with respect to the challenge of the equitable supply of teachers, as the neglect of any one group constitutes a vulnerability for the nation.
4. GPE funding can be granted only after a series of requirements is satisfied. One of these requirements is that 45% of the sector budget (including both recurrent and investment costs) go to primary education. If a country provides bursaries for both higher education and pre-service teacher training, but many university graduates cannot find work in their field, while remote communities must hire community school teachers and/or there are vacant teaching positions, then the balance in education spending should be readjusted, to orient more funding to pre-service teacher training and basic education.
5. Avoid disarticulation between the national budget and the sector plan’s activities in the area of recruitment, allocation and management of teachers, as when applications for funding to GPE are being reviewed by its Board of Directors, the national budget covering the first year of the sector plan’s implementation will have either been voted or submitted to the national assembly for review and debate and will therefore be in the public realm. If the budget does not reflect the plan, questions will arise as to whether the government considers its own plan to be credible, which could easily be raised at a GPE Board meeting.
6. Ensure that civil society, including teachers’ associations and unions, are fully involved in the process of developing the sector plan, as the process will be enriched and more efficient if the critical issues are discussed and dealt with prior to its launch, rather than entering a dynamic of strife and contention once the sector plan has been launched.
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List of Participants
COUNTRY
Name Function Organization email
BENIN Yves DANGNIVO Secretary General MESTFP [email protected] Kouaro Yves CHABI Director of Human Resources MESTFP [email protected] Charaf-Dine GADO Director of Planning and Forecasting MESTFP [email protected] Dèwanou AVODAGBE Cabinet Director MEMP [email protected] Léocadie MAMADOU Head of Recruitment MEMP [email protected] Adèle DAGBETO Deputy Director of Planning and Forecasting MEMP [email protected] Donhoté D. AGOSSOU-VE Union Representative Union/MEMP [email protected] Paulin GBENOU Member of Parliament Education Commission Nat. Assembly [email protected]
BURKINA FASO
Babou Eric BENON Cabinet Director MENA [email protected] Sibiri Evariste SAWADOGO Director of Human Resources MENA [email protected]
François SAWADOGO Director of Sector Study and Statistics MENA [email protected] Bangba Boukary OUÉDRAOGO Head of Personnel Mobility MENA [email protected] Samuel DEMBELE Secretary General SNESS [email protected]
COTE D'IVOIRE
Kabran ASSOUMOU Cabinet Director MEN [email protected] Mamadou BARRO Director of Human Resources MEN [email protected]
Kouakou Bertin N'GUESSAN HR Project Officer MEN [email protected] Mamadou FOFANA Director of Planning MEN [email protected] Assita BAKAYOKO President of the Women’s Committee CSH [email protected]
GAMBIA, THE Mohammed JALLOW Deputy Permanent Secretary MoBSE [email protected] Lamin FATAJO Director of Human Resources MoBSE [email protected]
GHANA Judith Ofeibea DONKOR Director of Human Resources MOE [email protected] Jane Sabina OBENG Regional Director of Education MOE [email protected]
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GUINEA Mohamed DIANE Director of Human Resources MEPU-A [email protected] Mory DABO Personnel Manager MEPU-A [email protected] Aboubacar SOUMAH Deputy Secretary General SLECG [email protected] Conde Bandian NEIBA Member of Parliament - Education Commission Rapporteur Nat. Assembly [email protected]
GUINEA BISSAU
Mamadu Saliu JASSI Director GEPASE [email protected] Geraldo Raul INDEQUE Director of Basic Education MEN [email protected]
Donaldo Gomes IMBANA Director of Human Resources MEN [email protected] Laureano Pereira da COSTA President SINAPROF [email protected] Domingos de CARVALHO Vice-president SINAPROF [email protected] Carlito BARAI Deputy President of the Social Commission ANP [email protected]
LIBERIA Josephus Memakeh MEATAY Director of Human Resources MOE [email protected] Gorma MINNIE County Education Officer MOE [email protected]
MALI Moumine TRAORE Secretary General MEN [email protected] Adama Paul DAMANGO Vice-president of the Education Commission Nat. Assembly [email protected] Mamadou KONTA Director of Human Resources MEN [email protected] Simbo TOUNKARA Director of Finance and Procurement MEN [email protected] IsmaÏla BERTHE Director of the Planning and Statistics Unit MEN [email protected]
MAURITANIA Khadijetou mint DOUA Secretary General MEN [email protected] Diadié BA Director of Human Resources MEN [email protected] Fatimata BA Advisor MEN [email protected] Diallo HAMADY Secretary General SNEF [email protected]
NIGER Issa KASSOUM Deputy Secretary General MES [email protected] Achana HIMA Director of Human Resources MEN [email protected] Abdou LAWAN Director of Studies and Programming MEP [email protected] Agga ALHATT Director of Human Resources MES [email protected]
NIGERIA Mohammed Bello UMAR Director Human Resource FME [email protected] Abimbola O. OLAMILOKUN Deputy Director/Junior and Secondary Education FME [email protected]
SENEGAL Ousmane SOW Secretary General MEN Ibou NDIATHE Director of Human Resources MEN [email protected] Mamadou SONKO MIRADOR Administrator MEN [email protected] Djibril Ndiaye DIOUF Director of Education Planning and Reform MEN [email protected] Samba Demba NDIAYE President of the Education, Youth and Sports Commission Nat. Assembly [email protected]
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TOGO Kpemissi Amana EYANA Cabinet Director MEPSFP [email protected] Jimongou S. KPANDOU President of the Education Commission Nat. Assembly [email protected] Boèvi Dodzi LAWSON Director of Human Resources MEPSFP [email protected] Missodé EKON Director of Education Planning and Evaluation MEPSFP [email protected] Kofi KANITOM Secretary General FESET [email protected]
DEVELOPMENT PARTNER
Name Function email
AFD Véronique SAUVAT Head of Projects/Education Division [email protected] Stéphanie DOS SANTOS Education Division [email protected]
Canadian Embassy Sandra BERBERI First Secretary [email protected]
CONFEMEN Jacques MALPEL PASEC Coordinator, Head of Evaluation [email protected] Labass Lamine DIALLO Technical Advisor/PASEC [email protected] Abobacar SY Communication Officer [email protected] Fatimata Ba DIALLO Education Policy Advisor [email protected]
Swiss DDC Keita Sokona SISSOKO Education Programme Officer [email protected] Moussa SISSAO Administrator/Donor Lead Secrétariat Burkina Faso [email protected]
GIZ Alpha BARRY Senior Advisor [email protected]
UIS Marc BERNAL Regional Advisor [email protected] Kamon Yaya HEBIE Consultant [email protected]
PME Douglas LEHMAN Country Lead, Secrétariat [email protected]
UNESCO Rokhaya DIAWARA Program Specialist, Abuja [email protected] Ann Therese NDONG-JATTA Director, Dakar [email protected] Lily HAILU Education Specialist, Dakar [email protected] Gwang-Chol CHANG Education Specialist, Dakar [email protected] Valérie DJIOZE-GALLET Education Specialist, Dakar [email protected] Asmah AHMAD Programme Officer II (Evaluation), SEAMEO [email protected]
UNICEF Inge VERVLOESEM Education Specialist, WCARO [email protected] Macaty FALL Education Specialist, Dakar [email protected] Issa MBOUP Education Specialist, Dakar [email protected] Patricia ROSA Education Officer, Bissau [email protected] Diassé TANGARA Education Specialist, Bamako [email protected] Joëlle AYITÉ Chief of Education, Nouakchott [email protected]
IIEP/PÔLE DE DAKAR
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Name Function email
Nebgouha mint MOHAMED VALL Consultant [email protected] Barnaby ROOKE Consultant [email protected] Kokou AMELEWONOU Senior Education Policy Analyst / Country Support Focal Point [email protected] Naceur Chraiti H'SINI Head of PEFOP [email protected] Erik HOUINSOU Institutional Analysis Expert [email protected] Guillaume HUSSON Coordinator [email protected] Jonathan JOURDE Communication Officer [email protected] Beifith Kouak TIYAB Deputy Coordinator [email protected] Léonie MARIN Communication Officer [email protected] Patrick NKENGNE Education Policy Analyst [email protected] Jean Claude NDABANANIYE Education Policy Analyst [email protected] Olivier PIEUME Education Policy Analyst [email protected] Koffi SEGNIAGBETO Education Policy Analyst [email protected]
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Speeches
Opening Speech Guillaume HUSSON, Coordinator - Pôle de Dakar/IIEP
Honorables Députés,
Madame La Directrice et Représentante du Bureau régional multisectoriel de l'UNESCO à Dakar
Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du Ministère de l'éducation nationale de la République du Sénégal
Mesdames et Messieurs les Secrétaires généraux et Directeurs de Cabinet,
Mesdames et Messieurs les Directeurs centraux,
Madame la Représentante de l'Agence Française de Développement,
Mesdames et Messieurs les représentants des agences de coopération,
Mesdames et Messieurs les représentants des syndicats et associations d'enseignants,
Mesdames et Messieurs, distingués invités
La question enseignante est incontournable de la réussite des engagements de la communauté
internationale pour l'éducation. Le récent cadre d'action 2030 y fait référence en s'engageant à
« accroître nettement le nombre d'enseignants qualifiés, notamment au moyen de la coopération
internationale pour la formation dans les pays en développement ».
Si la question enseignante est généralement abordée par les pratiques de recrutement, de formation
et de rémunération, aspects qui sont essentiels en termes de politique enseignante, la manière dont
sont alloués, déployés et utilisés les enseignants a été moins considérée jusqu'à présent. Or,
l'amélioration de l'allocation des enseignants fait partie des grands enjeux en termes d'équité et de
qualité au sein des systèmes éducatifs.
Conformément aux Objectifs de Développement Durable et afin « d'assurer une éducation inclusive,
équitable et de qualité pour tous d'ici 2030 », il est indispensable que le déploiement des enseignants
s'inscrive dans une dynamique d'équité et d'efficacité, de sorte qu'aucun enfant, indépendamment de
sa localisation géographique ou de son établissement scolaire, ne soit privé d'opportunités
d'apprentissages par manque d'enseignants.
Au-delà de ces enjeux, améliorer significativement l'allocation des enseignants pourrait
significativement accroître l'efficience de la dépense publique pour l'éducation. Dans la mesure où la
masse salariale destinée aux enseignants représente entre 60 et 90 % des dépenses courantes
d'éducation à l'enseignement de base en Afrique, allouer les enseignants de façon plus cohérente c'est
permettre de trouver des marges de manœuvres pour améliorer l'ensemble du système.
C'est dans cette perspective que le Pôle de Dakar de l'Institut International de Planification de
l'Éducation de l'UNESCO promeut cette thématique essentielle de la question enseignante en vue de
la porter au cœur des débats globaux pour l'éducation. Comme en témoigne la tenue de cet atelier, le
Pôle de Dakar jouera pleinement son rôle pour promouvoir les bonnes pratiques et aider les pays à se
doter d'outils pour un meilleur pilotage de l'allocation des enseignants en Afrique.
Nous sommes heureux de compter parmi nous des représentants de 14 pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest qui
vont pouvoir échanger et débattre sur leurs pratiques et leurs expériences dans l'allocation des
39
enseignants aux écoles durant ces 3 jours d'atelier. Ces 14 pays sont le Bénin, le Burkina Faso, la Côte
d'Ivoire, la Gambie, le Ghana, la Guinée, la Guinée-Bissau, le Libéria, le Mali, la Mauritanie, le Niger, le
Nigéria, le Sénégal, et le Togo. Je tiens ici à remercier vivement la présence de ces pays et l'implication
de leurs représentants sur la thématique de l'allocation des enseignants.
Je tiens à remercier également la participation de plusieurs partenaires techniques et financiers qui
accompagnent les pays africains dans la gestion et le pilotage de leurs systèmes éducatifs, notamment
les représentants de l'Agence Française de Développement, de la CONFEMEN, de l'UNICEF, de la
Confédération Suisse, du Secrétariat du Partenariat Mondial pour l'Éducation, de la GIZ, de
l'Ambassade du Canada. Je tiens enfin à remercier la participation de plusieurs de nos collègues de
l'UNESCO avec la présence des bureaux de Dakar et d'Abuja, et de la représentation régionale pour
l'Afrique de l'Institut de Statistique de l'UNESCO.
À tous, je souhaite un très bon atelier, de riches échanges, et de fructueux résultats pour améliorer
l'allocation des enseignants en Afrique.
Je vous remercie.
Opening Speech
Véronique SAUVAT – Head of Projects, Education Division, AFD Paris
Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du ministère de l’Éducation nationale de la République du Sénégal,
Madame la Directrice du Bureau de l’UNESCO à Dakar,
Honorables Députés,
Chers collègues et participants
L’Agence française de développement tient tout d’abord à remercier le Pôle de Dakar de l’Institut
international des politiques de l’éducation pour l’organisation de cet atelier sur le pilotage de
l’allocation des enseignants, qui est, comme chacun le sait, l’un des rares postes sur lesquels les
systèmes éducatifs africains peuvent espérer retrouver des marges de manœuvre pour améliorer
l’efficacité, la qualité et l’équité de la formation des futures générations.
Cela fait maintenant 15 ans que le Pôle de Dakar – auquel l’AFD est heureuse d’apporter un soutien
structurel constant – effectue un travail remarquable au service des politiques sectorielles d’éducation
en Afrique subsaharienne. C’est en particulier grâce aux diagnostics et aux RESEN élaborés avec l’appui
du Pôle que les pays disposent désormais d’informations précises pour connaître et apprécier la réalité
de leur dispositif d’allocation des enseignants et de ses résultats : par niveaux (primaire, secondaire),
au niveau national, régional et des établissements, en matière d’utilisation des enseignants
(affectation, volumes horaires…). Et ces travaux font apparaître de manière très claire les disparités
dans l’affectation des enseignants, disparités qui font obstacle à la délivrance d’une éducation
équitable et de qualité.
Or, une fois le diagnostic posé et les difficultés identifiées, encore faut-il trouver des remèdes. Les
diagnostics ont ainsi été complétés au fil du temps par l’élaboration d’outils de remédiation. Les
gouvernements et les acteurs des politiques éducatives disposent aujourd’hui des guides
40
méthodologiques qui permettent d’identifier les leviers de réforme en fonction des contextes : au
niveau central, au niveau régional, au niveau des textes réglementaires, des outils de gestion, etc.
Aussi, c’est un message qui pourrait paraître alarmiste – mais qui est tout simplement réaliste – que
l’AFD souhaite porter à l’ouverture de cet Atelier. Il faut admettre que les progrès sont lents, d’autant
plus lents que les contraintes se font plus fortes.
Les ministères de l’Éducation sont des ministères d’hommes et de femmes. Les ressources humaines
en sont la ressource principale et essentielle. Elles représentent donc une part très importante des
dépenses publiques d’éducation : 80% à 85%. Le problème n’est pas ce taux en soi, si élevé soit-il. Le
problème est que :
- Les MEN (et les MEF) n’ont plus de marges de manœuvre pour financer les
investissements nécessaires pour faire face à l’expansion des cohortes liée à la croissance
démographique, à la hausse de la demande d’éducation aux niveaux secondaires du
système (collège, lycée, ETFP) liée à la généralisation de l’enseignement primaire, dans
un contexte où la difficulté à lever de nouvelles ressources fiscales est générale ;
- L’utilisation de la ressource humaine disponible est inefficace. La bonne gestion des
enseignants est ainsi devenue une question de crédibilité pour les ministères de
l’éducation vis-à-vis des financeurs de l’éducation.
Il est clair que le continent connait des contraintes extrêmement fortes. Il faut donc s’interroger sur
les choix stratégiques qui s’offrent aux États et sur les arbitrages à effectuer. Cet Atelier devrait y
contribuer. Depuis plus de dix ans il existe des feuilles de route pour favoriser une meilleure allocation
des ressources enseignantes. Le défi est dans la mise en œuvre des recommandations, dans la
généralisation des bonnes pratiques, dans la levée des résistances rencontrées.
Que le Pôle de Dakar déploie son champ d’action de l’élaboration des diagnostics vers le renforcement
de capacités et l’accompagnement à la mise en œuvre doit être salué. Cet Atelier de travail entre
praticiens, d’échanges d’expériences est une opportunité de confronter les outils théoriques du
pilotage sectoriel avec les avancées possibles sur le terrain.
C’est avec beaucoup d’attention que nous allons suivre les travaux de ces trois jours, que nous
souhaitons fructueux.
Opening Speech
Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta - Director and Representative, Regional Bureau of UNESCO in Dakar
Honorables députés,
Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du Ministère de l'éducation nationale de la République du Sénégal,
Mesdames et messieurs les Directeurs de Cabinet et Secrétaires généraux des ministères en charge
de l'éducation,
Mesdames et Messieurs les Directeurs et directrices des ministères centraux,
Madame et Messieurs les Représentants des partenaires et techniques et financiers,
Mesdames et Messieurs les représentants des associations et syndicats d'enseignants,
Mesdames et Messieurs des medias,
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Distingués invités,
Chers participants
C'est avec un grand plaisir que je m'adresse à vous aujourd'hui au nom de l'UNESCO. Avant toute
chose, permettez-moi d'exprimer toute mon appréciation à l'Institut international de l'UNESCO (I'IIPE)
pour avoir organisé le présent atelier et d'adresser mes sincères remerciements à l'Agence Française
de Développement pour son appui continu aux actions de l'UNESCO en faveur de l'éducation en
Afrique.
L'atelier régional que nous ouvrons aujourd'hui arrive à un moment très important.
En effet, l'éducation est au centre des efforts pour atteindre les Objectifs de Développement Durable
que l'ensemble des nations du monde ont adoptés en septembre 2015. Comme vous le savez, l'un des
17 Objectifs de Développement Durable est exclusivement consacré à l'éducation : l’ODD4 4, qui vise
à « Assurer l'accès de tous à une éducation de qualité, sur un pied d'égalité, et promouvoir les
possibilités d'apprentissage tout au long de la vie ».
Mais l'Éducation est également clairement citée dans les cibles à atteindre pour 7 autres ODD. Il s'agit
notamment de l’ODD3 sur la Santé et le Bien-être, I'ODD 5 sur l'égalité de genre, l’ODD6 sur l'Eau et
l'Assainissement, l’ODD8 sur le Travail Décent et la Croissance Économique, l’ODD12 sur la
Consommation et la production responsables, I'ODD13 sur le Climat et I'ODD17 sur le partenariat pour
les Objectifs de développement durable.
Il est clair que sans des actions urgentes pour adresser le défi enseignant, une grande partie des pays
de notre région ne sera pas en mesure d'atteindre ces objectifs de développement durable.
Distinguished Guests,
The provision of quality teachers is identified as one of the most critical means of implementation in
SDG4 on Education. However, we are facing multiple challenges including teacher shortage, poor
condition of service, insufficient training, professional development and support for teachers as well
as the issue of management. The population growth, high in many countries of the region, cannot be
turned into demographic dividend if the number and quality of teachers are not urgently addressed.
Indeed, according to the most recent UIS estimates, the Sub Saharan African region as a whole will
need to create 2.2 million new teaching positions by 2030, while filling about 3.9 million vacant
positions due to attrition.
To position Africa's voice on the heels of the Kigali Conference on education post-2015 and in the
context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the African Union and its member states
adopted the AU/CESA 16-25, placing teachers as Strategic Objective no. 1 "Revitalize the teaching
profession to ensure quality and relevance at all levels of education."
A vast body of knowledge, built by a large variety of stakeholders including UNESCO, is available today
to document strategies which are effective in addressing various aspects of the teacher issues, from
low attractiveness of the profession, to relevant training, more equitable deployment and
participation in decision-making. It is high time we use the findings to generate concrete results on
these issues.
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Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In line with its global mandate to coordinate the follow-up of SDG4, UNESCO and its institutes (IBE,
IIEP, UIS, to cite just a few) and their regional programmes and branches (like the Dakar Pole of
Expertise), have initiated or put to scale since last year a series of programmes to facilitate policy
dialogue, knowledge generation and sharing as well as capacity building with a view to support
concrete and measurable change in teaching and learning outcomes by 2030.
Today I would like to highlight five of them relating to Teachers Policies and monitoring indicators,
teachers' conditions of service, Teachers professional norms, training and qualification frameworks.
First of all, UNESCO Institute for statistics leads the development of the global indicators to measure
SDG target 4.C on Teachers. A good monitoring is key to measuring progress, or lack of, and identify
corrective measures and supports but as you know national EMIS are at different stage of
development, therefore UIS have been working to ensure that indicators chosen at global level are
first and foremost realistic, meaningful and relevant to your national contexts and monitoring needs.
My colleagues of the UNESCO Institute for statistics will provide an overview of this work during the
workshop.
Secondly, the March 2016 International policy Dialogue Forum on the implementation of teacher
target in the SDGs. This forum, jointly organized by UNESCO and The International Task Force on
teachers, gathered some 150 stakeholders including national decision-makers, Teachers
representatives and financial institutions. It identified policy directions for addressing teacher
professionalization, motivation and effectiveness in supporting learning that is equitable and inclusive.
Thirdly, the publication of The Teacher Policy Development Guide which is a follow-up to the
publication of the Teachers Diagnostic Guidebook in 2010 and the implementation of several national
teacher diagnostic studies over the past 5 years. This guide is designed to assist national policy and
decision-makers to develop an evidence-informed national teacher policy, as an integrated
component of national education sector plans or policies, aligned to national development plans and
strategies.
The fourth one is the International conference on Contract teachers held in June this year to discuss
the preliminary results of 25 case studies on Contract teachers in Sub Saharan Africa. The conference
highlighted strategies that have shown good results in tackling this issue including in SSA and in other
LDC. The findings will be further enriched by a series of SABER Teachers studies to be published early
next year.
The last activity is undergoing with a key milestone foreseen in October this year. It addresses target
4.1 pertaining to the provision of 12 year quality primary and secondary education for all learners,
leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. This target calls for curriculum review and
definition of standards to ensure quality and relevance of education. Implications for teachers are
many. To address this challenge, UNESCO regional offices in Africa have been coordinating the
development of professional norms and qualifications frameworks for Basic Education Teachers in
close partnership with a set of pilot countries. Many of them are here today. To date two sets of tools
are available: the ECOWAS draft Regional Qualification Standards for Basic Education Teachers and
the West and Central Africa Draft Curriculum framework for initial training of teachers. Professional
norms are a prerequisite in order to recruit the right candidates, offer clear carrier paths and design
meaningful and relevant initial and continued training and professional development. A major
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workshop shall take place in October to share the tools with countries and stakeholders in the West
and Central Africa region and agree on next steps. I hope some of you will participate.
The present workshop is one additional step that UNESCO undertakes together with its key partner
organizations in order to address the teacher issues in SSA. The workshop aims to build on several
years of analytical work and evidence building, technical support, policy dialogue and capacity building
on teacher deployment. It will encourage and facilitate the sharing of positive experience and south-
south cooperation on realistic and effective improvements in Teacher deployment. I hope you will
make the best of it and pursue with the dialogue at national and local levels so as to come out with
concrete measures to bring about improvement in teachers deployment in your respective countries.
I thank you for your kind attention.