Organizations: International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, UNESCO Institute of Statistics
Type de publication : Advocacy Brief
Date de publication : 2021
Introduction
The fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) aims to ensure better learning opportunities and outcomes and more equitable and inclusive education for all. To achieve this ambitious target, the international community needs to pay renewed attention to teacher support and preparation. An abundant amount of evidence shows that the quality of teachers and teacher policies play an essential role in improving students’ learning and fostering educational equity and inclusion.
Many factors drive teacher shortages :
- Education expansion and financial pressure
In recent decades, successful policy and institutional changes have facilitated the growth and expansion of primary and secondary enrolment, and as a result have driven the expansion of education systems. This massive education expansion has created a need for more teachers, increasing the already existing teacher shortage. In sub-Saharan Africa, resources have not increased at the same pace as educational expansion, and low-income countries struggle to pay teachers adequate wages and to meet the growing financial needs of the larger workforce.
- Teachers’ preparation and qualifications
In many countries, teacher training institutions have insufficient capacity to prepare adequate numbers of qualified teachers. Not only are there too few teacher training institutions and available places, but those that exist are too often of poor quality and do not produce qualified teachers.
The quality of teachers and teacher policies play an essential role in improving students’ learning and fostering educational equity and inclusion
- Working conditions and insufficient support
Working conditions play a crucial role in teacher shortages, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries, with teachers leaving the profession when conditions deteriorate. In Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal, for example, there is evidence that teachers left their jobs when working conditions worsened due to insufficient supply of student textbooks and teaching supplies, inadequate equipment and lack of curriculum reform. In South Africa, poor salaries and working conditions push many to emigrate seeking better conditions abroad. Teachers also leave positions when their own and their students’ physical safety and integrity is at risk. Attacks as a result of terrorism and tribal clashes in conflict areas, victimization and harassment against teachers, poor social support for teachers and lack of respect have all been documented as issues causing teachers to leave the profession.
- Age, health and well-being
In many sub-Saharan African countries, young teachers with little experience in the teaching profession are more likely to leave than older and more experienced teachers. The more seniority teachers achieve, the more likely they are to stay longer. Around the world, teaching has been one of the professions most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In high- and low-income countries alike, teachers’ well-being and working conditions have been negatively affected by school closures and the rapid move to online teaching and other remote education programmes and strategies.
- Teachers need help to engage with distance education
Financing education also means providing teachers with the access they need to computers and the internet, as well as adequate training and support to use technology effectively. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, lack of infrastructure and internet connectivity posed an immense barrier to moving to online teaching and learning. Data show that in 20 of 28 countries, under one-quarter of households have internet connections in the home. ICT at the school level is usually even rarer than in the household. For example, while 10% and 14% of households in Niger and Sierra Leone have an internet connection, just 1% of primary schools are connected.
- Pupil-teacher ratios have improved but remain high
One of the strongest indicators of teacher shortages is the pupil-teacher ratio. High ratios indicate overcrowded classrooms and poorer learning conditions.
- The percentage of qualified teachers has declined
In both primary and secondary education, the percentage of teachers with the minimum required qualifications has decreased dramatically in the last two decades in sub-Saharan Africa, even though regional averages mark stark differences between countries.
- More female teachers are needed
One of the most important arguments for increasing the number of female teachers is that female teachers have an overall positive impact on girls’ enrolment and learning, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa. However, sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the lowest percentage of female teachers in primary education, at just below 50%.
Different factors explain countries’ needs to increase teacher numbers. First, most sub-Saharan African countries are expected to see a significant increase in the school-aged population. This demographic increase will particularly affect secondary education. Secondly, while most sub-Saharan African countries have achieved higher levels of enrolment in primary education, the percentage of out-of-school children and the rate of school drop-out in secondary education are still high. This explains why the projected percentage of increase in the number of teachers needed is much higher in secondary education than in primary education. Thirdly, many sub-Saharan African countries already need to increase teacher numbers to achieve minimum standards in terms of pupil teacher ratios.
Teacher salary levels in sub-Saharan Africa are low. Ensuring satisfactory salaries is a key mechanism for retaining effective teachers and reducing attrition rates and teacher shortages.
However, sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the lowest percentage of female teachers in primary education, at just below 50%
Recommendations
- Develop holistic teacher policies and cost them properly, especially in the countries with the most severe shortages.
- Increase international funding to education with a stronger focus on teachers and teaching, in particular initial teacher education and continuing professional development.
- Improve teacher support and working conditions to reduce attrition, attract new and talented prospective teachers and ensure, in particular, that young teachers remain in the profession.
- Collect more national and internationally comparable data, if better and sounder educational financing and planning is to be carried out.