Authors: Adelle Pushparatnam, Ezequiel Molina, & Ana Teresa del Toro Mijares from the World Bank’s Teachers Thematic Group.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused drastic disruption to education systems around the world: more than 1.6 billion children have lost months of instructional time, more than 150 million have not had any kind of in-person learning in over a year, and many children are still not back in school today. The pandemic has challenged education systems to ensure learning continuity, and reopening efforts must focus on getting students back to school as quickly as possible, and urgently reversing significant learning losses.

There will be no education recovery without teachers. Even in ordinary times, the quality of teaching that students receive is the most important driver of learning within an educational system, and the importance of teachers goes far beyond students’ cognitive achievement: research also shows that successful teachers contribute to students’ non-cognitive learning and outcomes well beyond their schooling years. The current pandemic has only reinforced the importance of teachers. In the post-pandemic period, teachers will play the most critical role in the front lines in delivering the appropriate support so that students and schools can recover as quickly and effectively as possible.

The challenges brought on by COVID-19, in addition to the global learning crisis already underway before the disruptions, necessitate strengthening teachers’ capacities to teach well and meet the new and evolving challenges our classrooms, schools and systems face today. Teachers’ jobs, already complex pre-pandemic, will only grow more challenging. As students return to school, teachers will need to employ rapid-action learning assessments and tools to track learning losses. Teachers will need to develop targeted and sequenced remedial learning plans, and strategize how to deliver these alongside the current year’s curriculum and learning. Teachers will also need to provide important social and emotional support to students. And many teachers will need to deliver this support in innovative ways, blending in-person, remote, and hybrid approaches, as the health situation continues to evolve on the ground.

Providing teachers with high-quality professional development (PD) opportunities cannot be an afterthought or an add-on: it needs to be considered as an essential funding priority for the recovery period and beyond.

Even before the pandemic, many education systems were not providing teachers with PD opportunities to strengthen their teaching practice, and what was offered was often not aligned with best practice, ultimately not effectively supporting teachers in improving their classroom teaching, and not leading to improvements in student learning. 

It is more important than ever in the recovery context that teachers not only receive PD opportunities, but that these be aligned with evidence-based principles of effective teacher PD so that they can strengthen their teaching skills, and build new skills to meet the evolving challenges on the ground. Effective in-service PD must be tailored to teachers’ needs, providing targeted support in the areas in which teachers need the most support. PD must also be practical, with active learning strategies that provide teachers with opportunities to practice new skills and receive feedback on them. It must be focused, selective and strategic in scope, with sufficient time and resources to adequately cover the content. Finally, PD must be ongoing, providing continuous support over a sustained period to ensure that new skills and knowledge are consolidated and internalized. The complexity of the new tasks that teachers will take on, the multiple demands placed on them, and the rapidly evolving context on the ground, only reinforce the importance of these principles as guidance posts in the design and development of high-quality PD to support teachers.

Ultimately, as countries around the world shift to re-opening and prepare for the difficult task of education recovery, it is teachers who will be in the front lines of this challenging effort. Ensuring adequate funding for high-quality and effective PD experiences for all teachers that support their development and success, must be a priority that goes hand-in-hand as we work on getting students and teachers back in classrooms. Ultimately, supporting teachers’ learning and capacity-building means supporting students and schools.

At the World Bank, this is the context that has motivated the development of our new program Coach. Coach aims to help countries improve and develop highly effective teacher PD systems and programs that leverage insights from the fields of adult learning and behavioral science. The Coach tools & resources have been designed to support countries along every stage of their journey in designing, implementing and evaluating high-quality and effective teacher professional development programs and systems, aligned with what we know works from research and the experience of the most successful programs in the field. Programs such as Coach that seek to build and strengthen teachers’ skills are more essential than ever to helping education systems meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.

To learn more about the World Bank’s work supporting teachers, please sign up for our monthly newsletter, check out our webpage, or write to us at teach@worldbank.org. 

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this article do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization.

Photo credit: Dominic Chavez/World Bank

By Animesh Priya and Sameer Sampat

The Teacher Task Force created thematic groups to build on members’ expertise and support efforts to improve teachers’ status and the quality of teaching and learning. In March 2021, the TTF formed a new thematic group on school leadership. The group, co-led by the Varkey Foundation and Global School Leaders, is based on a growing recognition of the key role played by school leaders in supporting teachers to provide quality education. This blog was contributed by Global School Leaders.

The role of school leaders in fostering quality teaching

Teachers are the most important in-school factor when it comes to learning. Yet improving teacher quality has been a vexing problem for education systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Our organization, Global School Leaders, works to strengthen leadership at school level as a means to improve the quality of teaching that students receive.  

To understand school leaders’ current approaches to improving quality teaching, we surveyed principals of 34 schools from India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Malaysia as well as 116 of their teachers and 145 of their students.

We found three important insights for governments, multilateral organizations, civil society organizations, private sector organizations and foundations looking to identify potential solutions to enhance teacher quality.

1. School leaders believing in the universal capacity for all students to learn is key to ensuring an inclusive and equitable learning environment. Our survey showed that 74% of school leaders but only 48% of teachers believe that “all students can learn regardless of the familial background or educational experience”. In schools where the school leader believes all students can learn, the percentage of teachers also holding this belief is nearly 50% higher than in peer schools where the leader does not believe that all students can learn. This indicates that the beliefs of school leaders can greatly influence the attitudes of teachers and foster a more inclusive and equitable learning environment. Ensuring each teacher is supported by an empowering, mission-driven leader is therefore important to foster both teacher and student success.
2. School leaders can provide more opportunities for teachers to grow professionally. Fewer than 40% of teachers surveyed reported receiving monthly observations of their classroom practice by their school leader that lasts at least 5 minutes per visit. Fewer than 50% of teachers reported that their school leaders had carried out monthly in-service capacity-building activities related to improving teacher skills and only 16% stated that they had opportunities to learn from their colleagues. Only 19% of the teachers reported that their school leaders helped solve their classroom problems and 17% of the teachers reported that their school leader provided staff with opportunities to take part in school decision-making and problem-solving. School leaders can function as leaders of professional learning in their schools while also empowering teachers to learn from each other through structures such as teacher professional learning communities.  Improving the quantity and quality of the in-school, practice-based professional development that teachers receive will be critical to motivating and retaining teachers.
3. Teachers recognize that they play an important role in educating learners. School leaders can nurture and grow this recognition to empower their teams. Our survey showed that 75% of teachers believed that they were “ultimately responsible” for their student’s learning at school. Over 60% of teachers believed in their ability to reach the most unmotivated students when they tried. They also believed in their responsibility for both student well-being and academic performance. Similarly, 60% of teachers reported that their students received better grades when they found better ways to teach those students. This supports the notion that teachers recognize the key role they play in ensuring the quality of the education that learners receive. School leaders can utilize this recognition as one tool they can draw on to motivate teachers when they face difficulties. Where this recognition does not exist in the teaching force, school leaders can be instrumental in providing training, practical examples, and guidance to teachers on how to develop this belief. 

Reinforcing the capacity and role of school leaders

We strongly believe in the role that effective school leadership plays in empowering teachers. As part of the next phase in this project, we will track school leaders’ and teachers’ evolving responses to these questions to see how they change mindsets and practice as school leaders undertake training programmes designed to allow them to better support their teachers. It is imperative that pre- and in-service school leaders are prepared and trained and given continuous professional development opportunities to reinforce their knowledge and skills. We believe that understanding the detailed actions educators take can help enhance the quality of education.

Join the event

The World Bank in partnership with Global School Leaders is launching a 3 part webinar series on the evolving role of school leaders in the face of crisis management. The gatherings will facilitate south-to-south knowledge sharing across large-scale programs in response to the growing learning crisis, exacerbated by COVID-19. It will bring together academic, government, NGO, and foundation representatives from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The first session is scheduled for July 21st 8 AM EST. You can register here. Follow GSL here for twitter updates and upcoming information on panelists and future webinars

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this article do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization.

Photo credit: Global School Leaders

To learn, students need teachers who are trained, qualified, motivated and well-resourced. To achieve this, countries need comprehensive, holistic teacher policies that are developed with the close involvement of teachers and their representative organizations. That’s why the Teacher Task Force (TTF) has worked with its partners to create the Teacher Policy Development Guide, which aims to strengthen teachers and the teaching profession by fostering such national policies.

On 7 July 2021, the TTF and UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity-building in Africa (IICBA) held a joint workshop for the African region on building national capacity in teacher policy development. The workshop was attended by more than 120 participants who shared their experiences of teacher policy development. Participating in the workshop, Ms Koumbou Boly Barry, Special Rapporteur on the right to education at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Egypt’s Deputy Minister for Teacher Affairs, Dr Reda Hegazy, and other national stakeholders from Mali and Uganda highlighted important lessons including:

• Teachers are a central component to ensuring quality education; therefore, it is crucial to listen to teachers at all levels and include them and their representatives throughout the teacher policy development process;
• There are key tensions regarding education access and quality in Africa, which requires effective benchmarking to budget expansion of the workforce against the quest to ensure that teachers are qualified and trained;
• The goal of teacher policies should be to professionalize teachers and build their autonomy. Given the lack of qualified teachers across the region, fully integrating teacher training in policy-making is critical; it should include initial and continuing professional development and foster self-directed learning, mentoring and the creation of communities of practice;
• Teacher policies need to include past, present and future perspectives. They should build on past successes and lessons learned and also be flexible and forward looking to ensure they support teachers’ present and future needs to ensure quality education.
• Reliable and valid data and indicators on teachers collected at country level are key to inform effective teacher policy development.

According to Dr Egau Okou from the Ministry of Education and Sports in Uganda, crafting the best possible teacher policy also requires high-level support within government as well as careful planning and coordination among all stakeholders involved, to take into account the complex, interrelated dimensions that affect teaching and education. As the Teacher Policy Development Guide states,

A holistic national teacher policy that is adequately resourced and implemented with the necessary political will and administrative skill can be a vital first step on the road to achieving a highly motivated, professional teaching corps”.

What is included in the Teacher Policy Development Guide to support effective policy-making?

The Teacher Policy Development Guide advocates a holistic approach based on guiding principles:

• vision or mission statement;
• targets, benchmarks and timelines;
• comprehensive coverage of key dimensions;
• assessing the environment for challenges, gaps and difficulties;
• relevant data and management;
• coordination mechanisms;
• funding needs and sources;
• participation and stakeholder commitment; and
• evaluation and revision.

The guide also emphasizes nine interrelated, context-sensitive dimensions that are essential for an integrated, comprehensive national teacher policy:

• Teacher recruitment and retention needs to take into account human resource needs, how to attract and retain teachers, teachers’ employment status, licensing and certification, equity in teacher recruitment, recruitment of school leaders and recruitment in fragile states and emergency situations.
• Teacher education comprises three stages:  initial teacher education, an induction period and continuing professional development. The guide covers selection criteria, curricula, qualifications and professional development of teacher educators, and mentoring of newly qualified teachers.
• Deployment strategy needs to address equitable deployment, initial postings, the right of teachers to balance family life, managing transfers, and balancing the needs of teachers and the school.
• Career structure needs to reflect the requirements of the education system, and be diversified, equitable and closely tied to other policy dimensions.
• Teachers’ employment and working conditions need to create a conducive teaching environment by considering hours of work and work-life balance, class size, school infrastructure, ensuring quality teaching and learning materials, student behaviour and discipline, school violence, and teachers’ autonomy.
• Teacher rewards and remuneration includes establishing salary scales, and financial and non-financial incentives, taking into account teacher recruitment, retention, development, motivation and effectiveness.
• Teacher standards need to clearly describe what constitutes good teaching and which skills and knowledge teachers need to deliver this. The guide elaborates on structure and content of standards, use of standards, standards for head teachers and key conditions for their successful implementation.
• Teacher accountability elaborates issues of performance evaluation, appraisal, incentives and quality assurance.
• School governance includes aspects of school leadership, and the roles of everyone involved in ensuring the development of a material and cultural environment conducive to effective teaching and learning.

The Guide is a tool to help countries develop teacher policies that are specific to their national context, drawing on good practices from a wide range of countries and organizations. It provides examples of how different dimensions of teacher policy are covered in various countries along with a reference list of existing international and global guidelines and frameworks to guide the policy development process. Building on its practical orientation, it includes various features including checklists and tips.

Key phases in the national teacher policy process

The guide describes the key stages of policy formulation, the roles of everyone involved and considers costing and policy implementation. In particular it highlights the following phases of a “policy life-cycle approach” as a framework to assist ministries in formulating policies including:

1. issue identification and agenda-setting
2. policy formulation – analysis, principles and options
3. adoption/ decision
4. implementation – communication and dissemination
5. monitoring and evaluation.

During the workshop, the representative from Uganda stressed a number of key lessons learned during the development of their new teacher policy. In particular this included the developing of an exhaustive diagnostic study to assist for identifying issues and setting the agenda prior to policy development work. She also stressed the role of strong leadership and inclusive and accountable processes throughout.

Examining the use of the Teacher Policy Development Guide across Africa

The Guide has been used in a number of countries globally and across Africa. A study commissioned by the TTF, to be released later this year, will examine its application in teacher policy development across nine African countries, including the processes it stimulated and the outputs of the policy development process itself. The study will illustrate how the Guide has be an effective tool in support of national policy-making, as confirmed by other countries attending the joint workshop.

For more information about the guide, see: https://teachertaskforce.org/what-we-do/country-support/teacher-policy-development-guide

For more information about the workshop including a recording of the workshop, see: https://teachertaskforce.org/events/regional-virtual-capacity-building-workshop-teacher-policy-development-africa

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Photo credit: Connor Ashleigh for AusAID