The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the hardest places on Earth to go to school. Though rich in natural resources, it struggles with political instability, extreme poverty, limited infrastructure, and armed conflict.

While primary education was officially made free for most of the country in 2010, according to UNICEF, this is not applied in practice with parents still shouldering the majority of schooling costs. UNESCO estimates that 4 million primary-school age children are still out of school.

There is a severe shortage of qualified teachers (particularly of qualified secondary school leaders) in the Congolese education system, resulting in large class sizes which can reach 100 pupils per class in the most marginalised areas. This is in part due to the evaporation of the state budget in the 1980s, with funding for education being cut from 25 per cent to seven per cent of state expenditure, reducing teachers’ salaries to a fraction of what they were before. Even when education is available, many parents fear sending their children to school as armed groups infamously use child soldiers – many of whom are abducted from schools – and frequently target schools for looting and burning.

Schools forced to close

Educators in the DRC have also been facing infectious disease. The country has wrestled with an Ebola epidemic in Kivu since 2018 and is still fighting the world’s largest outbreak of measles. When COVID-19 appeared in the DRC in March, the country was battling what a Red Cross leader described as a “perfect storm” of epidemics.

Upon the arrival of Covid-19, schools were forced to close (along with almost all other public spaces) and teachers were sent home in a months-long lockdown decreed by President Félix Tshisekedi. 

Door to door visits

While most schools in the Global North switched to online education during school closures, this was not possible across the DRC, where internet penetration hovers at around 19 per cent with regular blackouts.

Save the Children UK have shared with us the stories of teachers who did everything possible to help children retain what they had learned throughout the lockdown. 

During the closures, the charity mobilised to support stranded pupils and teachers, such as by helping to establish distance learning programmes on radio and television. The organisation empowered teachers to encourage pupils to read over notes and work on mathematics with their parents. 

For instance, Uwezo Mateso, a teacher at UHAKI primary school in Mushimbakye in Fizi, South Kivu, encouraged children to continue with their learning by listening to lessons broadcast via community radio with their parents, and doing work assigned remotely. On door to door visits to his pupils, Claude Buivuge Kasherangwa, a fifth-grade teacher at Musenyi Primary School in Sangre, South Kivu also assigned additional school exercises to keep children learning.

I myself have assigned a number of numeracy exercises to some children and show parents what they have to do with children, in order to keep them at home and limit their wandering, which is a risk of being contaminated,” he said. “The big challenge is that many parents are illiterate and they do not supervise children’s learning at home.”

Teachers lead the community against the virus

Many teachers also took on new responsibilities, such as communicating public health advice to their communities.

Kasherangwa, found himself locked down in his village and frightened of being infected by the virus. However, he reached out to advise measures for reducing viral transmission, after attending a health training programme organised by Save the Children.

Schools were closed but my community did not know much about this global pandemic, the cause of closing schools,” he told Save the Children UK. “Despite my anguish, and after attending [training] about the impact of COVID-19 on children’s learning, I have taken steps to sensitise my community on barrier measures to protect themselves against the coronavirus." 

Kasherangwa encouraged regular hand washing, social distancing measures such as greeting others without contact, staying home, and wearing face masks. In August, schools were reopened, reuniting teachers and pupils after months of separation.

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Thanks to Save the Children UK for collecting these teacher testimonies from DRC. This blog is part of a series of stories addressing the importance of the work of, and the challenges faced by teachers in the lead up to this year’s World Teachers’ Day celebrations. 

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Cover photo credit: Joan Marie del Mundo / Save the Children. The photos used in the body of the article have been provided by the teachers themselves.

School improvement rarely occurs without effective leadership, and school leadership is only second to classroom teaching in its influence on student achievement. A new evidence review report from Global School Leaders paints a complex and ever-changing picture of school leaders, with their roles, responsibilities, and impact varying around the world.

In the lead up to World Teacher’s Day (5 October), we’ve outlined three ways that school leaders are vital for teacher success and student outcomes:

1. School leaders establish great teaching practices

School leaders can support educators and their pupils by establishing effective teaching practices. They can harness the talents and motivations of teachers, students, and parents; develop inclusive and inspiring learning cultures for the whole school; and provide intensive, individualised, and sustainable teacher training.

The impact of strong school leadership on education is clear; a recent study spanning 65 countries found that students led by the top 25 per cent of school leaders receive the equivalent of three extra months of learning every year compared to those led by the bottom 25 per cent. There is considerable interest in targeting school leaders amid efforts to improve outcomes for students in a cost-effective manner, with one study finding that a one-point increase in scoring on school management practices is associated with a 10 per cent increase in student performance.

In order for leaders to develop the best teaching practices for their schools, it is essential that they are not burdened by unnecessary administrative responsibilities (they commonly spend less than 25 per cent of their time managing student learning activities), and that they receive appropriate training. 

Where training for school leaders is limited, there are a number of free resources available online.  For example, the UNESCO Institute for International Capacity Building in Africa’s training manuals for school leaders – which were deployed in Guinea, Lesotho, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone – can help plug these gaps in training. We have also published this Toolkit to help school leaders support and protect teachers and education support staff in the return to school following COVID-19.

2. A good school leader understands the needs of their school

Since the 1980s, decentralisation efforts have shifted decision-making powers to the lower levels of education systems in many countries. This transition is based on the premise that school leaders are familiar with the specific needs of their school, and are therefore better placed to make and execute decisions about how they are run.

Autonomous school leaders may make their own decisions about budgets, curricula, and personnel, rather than being overly restricted to implement government policies. This freedom can allow schools to adjust quickly to changing educational expectations and the particular needs and interests of their students. A study of schools in South Korea found that school leader autonomy over curricula and assessment had a positive association with achievement in mathematics, particularly for lower-performing pupils.

At present, however, some school leaders are appointed based on seniority or political considerations rather than on skills and experience. In order to ensure that decentralisation benefits teaching and learning, increasingly-autonomous school leaders should also be held accountable and armed with necessary skills and resources. According to the Global School Leaders report, this should include training on interpreting and utilising learning data.

3. School leaders show the way through troubling times

When schools are facing adverse circumstances, strong leadership is critical for resilience, adaptation, and recovery. Natural disasters, conflicts, and health crises like the coronavirus pandemic severely disrupt education and force educators to adapt to challenging circumstances.

The best educators may seize opportunities in the midst of a crisis. Dr Sara Ruto, chair of the Kenyan Ministry of Education’s Covid-19 response, has said that the current COVID-19 crisis “is giving energy to some of the pillars of the curriculum that had not found a voice before - for example, parental engagement, empowerment, and values-based education.” He advised school leaders to use this opportunity to engage parents to help them enrich the student experience.

Evidence points to strong leadership as a critical factor in seeing school communities through crises. For instance, preliminary evidence from Puerto Rico appears to suggest that strong school leaders were better placed to utilise remote learning tools and retain student engagement throughout Covid-19 school closures. And an analysis of school closures during Hurricane Matthew in Haiti in 2016 showed that despite devastating infrastructure damage, schools with strong management still improved the reading grades of early year students.

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This blog is part of a series of stories addressing the importance of the work of, and the challenges faced by teachers in the lead up to this year’s World Teachers’ Day celebrations.

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Cover photo credit: GPE/Ludovica Pellicioli

Mental health professionals give advice for back-to-school anxiety

As those with the responsibility for educating the next generation, teachers have always worked under great pressure.

Teachers in many countries have been increasingly struggling with high-stakes testing, large class sizes, limited resources, excessive workload, and lack of recognition. This year, Covid-19 has uprooted their lives, burdened them with new responsibilities, and dented their morale. Education Support, a UK charity dedicated to teacher wellbeing, warned that teachers are reporting higher levels of stress and anxiety during the pandemic: “Covid-19 has turned the education sector upside down”.

Studies and surveys show that - even pre-pandemic - teachers appeared more stressed than ever before: Education Support’s Teacher Wellbeing Index found 72 per cent of UK education professionals say they are stressed; the American Federation of Teachers found 78 per cent of US teachers are emotionally and physically exhausted at the end of school days; and a UCL Institute of Education study found five per cent of teachers in England are suffering from long-term mental health complications (up from one per cent in the 1990s).

Stress often leads to burn out and mental illness; many teachers conclude that they must leave the classroom for the sake of their health and happiness. Research from the UK’s Department for Education showed that anxiety, sleeping difficulties, and panic attacks are frequently cited as reasons for giving up teaching.

Through the coronavirus pandemic, discussions about well-being at work have been bubbling into the mainstream, with some organisations addressing the subject of employee mental health for the first time. Teachers’ organisations - both national and international - have published guidance on how to protect teaching wellbeing through this unprecedented challenge, from advising school leaders on safe and supportive reopening to suggesting self-care practices for educators.

UNESCO, the Teacher Task Force, and the International Labour Organisation have jointly published a toolkit to help school leaders reopen schools while protecting teachers. Providing practical advice such as on preparing teachers for a changed school environment, it also suggests how to mitigate mental health impacts. This can include regular psychological and socio-emotional assessment, building peer support networks, and providing training in stress management skills. In one school in Pakistan, teachers unable to teach online were trained in counselling to support other teachers, while members of the school community were offered mindfulness and yoga classes.

The UK teachers’ union NASUWT, meanwhile, published guidance on maintaining well-being while teaching remotely. This included how to protect work-life balance (such as by keeping a routine and dedicated workplace), where to seek support (such as Employer Assistance Programmes and mental health first aiders), and how to practice general self-care. The AFT worked with the Anxiety and Depression Association of America to produce a guide of existing resources on well-being during Covid-19. Australia’s ReachOut Schools is also providing free wellbeing resources specific to teachers and teaching website Twinkl has partnered with mental health charity Mind to create activities to help teachers manage their mental health through Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Education Support is providing a dedicated 24-hour helpline for teachers and one-to-one telephone counselling for headteachers through a government partnership.

Regardless of its benefits, self-care cannot always resolve stress. Therefore, teachers are also advocating for changes in schools – and education systems more broadly – to tackle sources of stress and establish a more supportive working environment. The UK government has acknowledged the strain placed on teachers, and has promised to reduce workload and the burden of school inspections, among other measures. Many governments could make comparable changes to reduce engrained sources of stress for teachers, such as tackling large class sizes, de-emphasising exam results, and ensuring all teachers are appropriately paid and supported (e.g.: with access to health insurance and paid sick leave).

While the rights of teachers are already recognised in international standards, governments should consider adopting further policies aimed towards promoting teacher well-being. These could include regular stress risk assessments (advocated by the National Education Union (NEU)), or monitoring teacher mental health (suggested by UCL education experts). Some of these policies could also be proactively adopted by schools.

The NEU advises school leaders: “Acting to reduce levels of stress within your school will lead to less short- and long-term sick leave which will, in turn, reduce pressures on other colleagues as well as benefiting pupils”. In addition to introducing stress risk assessments, the NEU recommends openly addressing the stigma of mental ill health, making reasonable adjustments to support staff when necessary (such as by allowing absences during working hours to attend talking therapies), and appointing a school governor to lead on mental health strategy.

Teachers around the world face a variety of pressures, but every school benefits from them being motivated, engaged, and mentally healthy. When teachers have access to individual psychological support – from self-care guidance to talking therapies – and leaders take measures to tackle sources of stress in the school environment, their schools will be in a better position to thrive.

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This blog is part of a series of stories addressing the importance of the work of, and the challenges faced by teachers in the lead up to this year’s World Teachers’ Day celebrations.

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Cover photo credit: Engin Akyurt/Unsplash