Teachers And Educational Quality: Monitoring Global Needs for 2015 (UNESCO Reference Works).

Trends in teacher quantity and quality
This report provides a comparative assessment on the state of teachers and education quality based on a wide range of data sources, including school censuses, assessments of student and teacher knowledge, and statutory teacher data. It uses these data to highlight trends in teacher quantity and quality and explores the policy implications of bridging the gap between the two. It compares the strengths and shortcomings in the recruitment and deployment of teachers in countries around the world.

Main findings include:

- the greatest challenge lies in countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The region will need to raise its current stock of teachers by 68 from 2.4 to 4.0 million in less than a decade. For example, by 2015, Chad will need almost four times as many primary teachers and Ethiopia will need to double its stock of primary teachers
additional primary teachers will also be needed in countries in the Arab States and in South Asia
- countries needing the most new teachers also currently have the least-qualified teachers. In countries that consider about nine years of schooling as the absolute minimum qualification to teach, 43 of teachers in the Congo and 55 of teachers in Lao PDR fall short of this standard
- policies must address both teacher quantity and quality. Countries like Niger or Cambodia cannot achieve universal primary education simply by hiring more teachers but by training them well and by supporting them in the classroom. Quality teaching brings children into school and keeps them there
- some countries will need fewer teachers because of declining school-age populations. China can expect to reduce its stock of teachers by 1.8 million in 2015, while more moderate reductions are projected for Brazil and India.

This may provide an opportunity to improve education quality by investing more resources per teacher and pupil.

Publisher: UNESCO Inst for Statistics (June 30, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9291890332
ISBN-13: 978-9291890330