Policy on Teacher Education
1. Pre- and in-service teacher education policies must be long-term, enshrined in a vision, set of criteria, methods, and operational processes that are inclusive, offer opportunities to elevate teachers’ standing and grant local decision-making authority.
2. Experts and professional associations must have a regular, official social discussion forum at the provincial and national levels and a systematic institutional mechanism to engage the “voices of teachers” in the policy-making processes. It was suggested in the MoE position paper on teacher education (2004) that the Curriculum and Training Wings of the Ministry of Education should oversee the establishment of a National Teacher Education Forum (NTEF) for policy inputs. This proposal needs immediate implementation with proper representation of stakeholders. This demand has been reiterated by teachers in a recent initiative to capture teachers’ voices of courage and concern at World Teachers Day 2004 (ITA, 2004).
3. A robust and credible database on teachers needs to be established within EMIS at national and sub-national levels for information on pre-service and in-service profiles, disaggregated by level, subject, gender, and location. This database must reflect both government and non-state providers. Such a database will help in evidence-based policy-making, planning, and financing. It would also help to monitor PRSP indicators.
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4. To consistently give objective data for iterative policy modification, reflection, and upgrading, research on classroom practice, student accomplishments, and teacher education programs (pre- and in-service) must feed back into theory. The Ministry and Departments of Education may contract with universities and their Institutes of Education Research (IER) for this effort.
5. Together with funding arrangements, a policy proposal for connections between elementary/school education and higher education must be prepared. In particular, for secondary education, this will provide a consistent supply of specialized instructors in language, science, math, social studies, and information technology. Thus, tertiary institutions may mobilize teachers with a little help from educational approaches. School education can use the current indigenous scholarship programs financed by USAID and GoP at universities, in keeping with the sector-wide principles of ESR. To achieve this, the Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), and the provincial education agencies can work together.
6. The policy must create space for addressing the status of teachers through their professional standing, certification protocols, as well as through benefits and salary packages which illustrate the critical importance of an active frontline change agent to implement education reforms and transform education practices.
7. The dilemma of teacher placement in remote and rural locations requires the implementation of both monetary and nonmonetary incentive schemes for educators. Particularly in remote places, this might be addressed with alluring assistance packages that include housing and transportation choices.
8. Resource allocations for teacher education need to be revisited through a systematic trend exercise to capture evidence on allocation patterns and inform policy. The work should focus on designing new resource templates for teacher education (pre- and in-service) and revising the financing requirements for this critical area of human resource development.
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Improving Teacher Education
There is a consensus amongst all stakeholders that the quality of teachers in the public sector is unsatisfactory. The poor quality of teachers in the system in large numbers is owed to the mutations in governance, an obsolete pre-service training structure, and a less-than-adequate in-service training regime. The presence of incompetence in such a huge quantity and the permeation of malpractices in the profession have eroded the once exalted position enjoyed by teachers under the Eastern cultural milieu. Teaching has become the employment of last resort for most educated young people, especially males. Reform is required in all areas: pre-service training and standardization of qualifications; professional development; teacher remuneration, career progression, and status; and governance and management of the teaching workforce. The growth of the private sector is adding new complexities to the teaching profession and needs to be taken into account in any reform of the system.
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