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UNESCO Asia-Pacific
Education Thematic Brief
OCTOBER 2016
The above statement on effective teacher policies is teacher performance but the frequency, focus, purpose
ambitious and challenging, but the goal of achieving and process of administration of these systems differ.
the Education 2030 vision will remain just a goal unless Most countries face issues regarding how best to assess
urgent action is taken to substantially address the many teachers’ performance. Of particular concern is that
issues pertaining to the teaching force especially in the assessment need not only be fair but must also be
terms of quality. Looking back at the 1966 ILO/UNESCO perceived as being fair.
Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers,
adopted half a century ago, the set of standards for 4. Teachers’ pay and working condition
a wide range of issues that relate to teachers remain Overall, countries face challenges in trying to ensure
highly relevant today, such as, initial and continuing more reasonable workloads for their teachers amidst
training, recruitment, advancement and promotion, considerations of the necessary administrative and
supervision and assessment, responsibilities and rights, other non-teaching duties. Although teachers’ pay has
and participation in educational decision-making. These increased in all the countries that participated in the
are the same issues that were looked at by UNESCO studies, in some cases dramatically over the past decade,
Bangkok’s recent studies on teachers. some of the country case studies reported that teachers’
Below are some of the general findings: 4 salaries remain low in comparison with those of other
professions of similar qualifications. While it appears that
1. Pre-service education there is a need to increase teachers’ salaries, there is no
Countries have made steady progress in the development consensus concerning what level that salary should be.
of their pre-service programmes. However, they also
5. Involving teachers in decision-making processes
share concerns about the effectiveness, relevance and
flexibility of many of the pre-service programmes and Upholding the rights of teachers to participate in policy-
the quality of teacher trainers, particularly how well they making through their representative organizations,
prepare student teachers for real classroom situations. whether in the form of unions or teachers’ professional
associations, is far from standard. While most countries
2. Professional development (PD) recognize the importance of giving space to teachers and
Sending teachers for short courses is a fairly standard their representatives, the form and degree of autonomy
practice following changes in the curriculum. However, differ considerably among countries.
other PD opportunities provided differ considerably
6. Career pathways
among countries and they have concerns regarding the
relevance and effectiveness of the PD courses. In some Findings suggest that there is a lack of alternative
cases, compulsory PD is provided regularly, but the professional pathways for teachers’ career progression.
programmes are often centrally planned and prescribed, Promotion opportunities tend to be hierarchical and
which do not necessarily cater to the teachers’ interest linear, often leading to effective teachers being moved
and preference for developing relevant skills. from the classroom to become a vice-principal or to take
on administrative roles. The lack of career opportunities
3. Assessment of teacher performance
affects teacher morale and impact on their retention in
Each country has some form of system in place to assess some of the countries.
2
Table 1: Total Number of Teachers (in millions) needed to Achieve Universal Primary Education, 2015-2030
7. Career guidance
female, particularly at the primary level. Most countries
Some of the countries provide career progression have more male than female in in leadership positions,
guidance with the support of their supervisors but or equal in numbers.
its effectiveness is questionable. In other countries,
however, guidance concerning a teacher’s career is often
sporadic or non-existent.
Notes
8. Promotion
1 Participated in by Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea,
Promotion opportunities are made available to teachers, Samoa, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan.
2 Participated in by Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Sri
and in most cases the process is perceived to be Lanka, Uzbekistan, Fiji and the Philippines.
transparent. However, in some countries, they are a little 3 Training standards and qualifications vary across countries.
more than grade increments in tandem with the length 4 The results herein are based on limited sample size from country case studies,
therefore, it cannot claim to reflect regional trends or be fully representative of the
of service in education or are limited by a fixed number population of the countries or of the entire region.
10. Gender this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the
UNESCO Open Access Repository (www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbyncsa-en).
THA/DOC/IQE/16/25/-500
In many countries, schools are predominantly staffed by
3
Establish viable, multiple career
paths that enable excellent
teachers to remain in touch
with classroom practices, yet
What can stakeholders and policy also allow them to assume
makers do to address the challenges? leadership roles directly related
to their areas of expertise. They
should be provided with career
The following are suggestions that countries can adapt to suit their particular
opportunities that promote
situations, in advancing the status of the teaching profession and retaining the diversification of roles to reflect
best educators in the classrooms. the increasing complexity of
education in the 21st century.
Provide salaries that are commensurate Enforce clear and transparent guidelines concerning qualification
to what the job scope requires and are accreditation, selection and promotion criteria which are linked to
comparable with other professions that specific roles and responsibilities.
require similar qualifications. Provide
incentives to teachers by ensuring that
good teachers are rewarded for their
effective practice, and according to their
locally relevant contribution and impact
Ensure fair and open Provide regular career
on students’ quality learning.
systems of teacher guidance to teachers and
recruitment and principals, and ensure that
deployment, which better those tasked with career
matches teacher skills and guidance are also accorded
aptitudes to school needs. the appropriate training
Provide teachers with a channel, Any endeavour to improve and development support
such as national professional the systems and processes they need.
association, that is able to that support teachers’
raise educational concerns and working conditions should
contribute to the policy making benefit all teachers
process. regardless of their teaching
status.
Develop policies that encourage Download the publication Teachers in Asia Pacific: Status
women to take management and Rights here »
positions in schools and remove
obstacles to women’s participation
in senior management. Download the publication Teachers in the Asia-Pacific:
Career Progression and Professional Development here »