UNESCO Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA) Ramya Vivekanandan

1. UNESCO Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA) RamyaVivekanandan Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) Seminar, 1 October 2008

2. UNESCO – Its Mandate in Education • A laboratory of ideas • anticipates and responds to emerging trends and needs in education and develops education policy recommendations based on research evidence • A clearing house • promotes development and implementation of successful education practice, and documents and disseminates successful practices • A standard-setter • develops standards, norms and guidelines for key education areas and actions • A capacity-builder in Member States • provides a platform for intellectual thought leadership for education innovation and reform • A catalyst for international cooperation • initiates and promotes dialogue and exchange of information among education leaders and stakeholders, e.g. Global Action Plan for EFA

3. Teachers as catalysts for change “Teachers are essential players in promoting quality education, whether in schools or in more flexible community-based programmes; they are advocates for, and catalysts of, change. No education reform is likely to succeed without the active participation and ownership of teachers.” - Dakar Framework for Action, 2000 -

4. Section for Teacher Education • Promotes the ILO/UNESCO Recommendations concerning the Status of Teachers and other international norms/standards regarding teachers • Raises public awareness of the fundamental contribution teachers make to development and civil society, including through the annual international observance of World Teachers’ Day (5 October) • Assists Member States to establish and/or strengthen national policies regarding the education, recruitment, retention, status and working conditions of teachers • Facilitates the exchange of knowledge, good practices and lessons learned regarding teacher issues • Promotes awareness among decision-making groups to provide for the status of teachers as a fundamental policy issue nationally and internationally (G-8; donor organizations, national ministries).

5. The Recommendations concerning the Status of Teaching Personnel 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teaching Personnel 1997 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel

6. The scope of the Recommendations • Initial and continuing training • Recruitment • Advancement and promotion • Security of tenure • Disciplinary procedures • Part time service • Professional freedom • Supervision and assessment • Responsibilities and rights • Participation in educational decision making • Negotiation • Conditions for effective teaching and learning • Social security

7. Monitoring of the Recommendations The Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning Teachers (CEART) • Triennial Meetings • Report • Working Group on Allegations • Follow up of CEART Recommendations

8. The challenge… The challenge: The acute shortage of qualified teachers has been identified as one of the biggest challenges to the realisation of the EFA goals by 2015. Up to 4 million additional teachers needed for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) if UPE is to be achieved.

9. And the complexities of the challenge… • Concerns about the attractiveness of teaching as a career make recruitment a major issue, with the relative social value of the profession in long-term decli • Benchmark indicators (e.g. 3.5% advocated by FTI) for teachers salaries, do not reflect PPP and context of country and impact on attractiveness of teaching as a career • Even in countries with an adequate supply of teachers, there are often shortages in remote areas and in certain subject areas (e.g. science, maths) • Globalization has led to an unprecedented level of migration of teachers (at all levels) to other professions and countries (a “brain drain” effect) • Some countries experience high rates of teacher attrition, especially among new teachers (teachers use qualification to gain other employment). • High human resource costs related to sick teachers and HIV-related absences • Inability of current teacher education models to cope with the demand for increased numbers • Disjuncture between teacher training and the realities of school and insufficient evaluation of teacher training and its impact on classroom practice. • Teacher educators inadequately trained and supported • Certain cadres (higher education teachers, technical and vocational teachers) may have no pedagogical training • Absence of coherent policies and coordination of in-service training • The recruitment of unqualified or under-qualified teachers, initially adopted as a temporary/emergency measure, is now a more persistent and widespread practice

10. TTISSA TTISSA: Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa One of UNESCO’s 3 high-level initiatives in education (others are EDUCAIDS and LIFE) 2006-2015 17 “first phase” countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia… but will eventually be “rolled out” to all 46 SSA countries Implemented by UNESCO HQ (Section for Teacher Education) in close cooperation with UNESCO’s Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (Dakar) and the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (Addis Ababa) along with UNESCO Field Offices

11. TTISSA Log Frame GOAL To improve access, quality and equity of education towards the achievement of EFA PURPOSE To increase the quantity and improve the quality of the teacher workforce in SSA OUTPUTS 1. Status and working conditions of teachers improved 2. Coherent teacher management and administrative structures established 3. Appropriate teacher policies developed 4. Quality and coherence of teacher professional development enhanced

12. Types of Activities • Regional/national frameworks • Policy briefs/guidelines • Research/Evaluations/Studies • Tool kits • South-South sharing • Capacity development • Material review/development • Advocacy

13. Priority Activities • Raising the debate – internal and external advocacy, promotion of the Recommendations • Researching the issues – PASEC, SACMEQ, GMR • Improving teacher data - UIS • Teacher Education Policies – gathering data, Policy Forums, Policy Briefs, IIEP distance education course • ICTs – Competency Standards, Open Resources in Ghana, Kenya and DRC, DETA conference • Quality Assurance – Global Forum & and International Conference • Provision and facilitation of specific technical support as required • Sourcing of extra-budgetary resources

14. Focus on TTISSA Support to Teacher Policy • Gathering of teacher policies from various SSA countries (e.g Angola, Cape Verde, Congo, DRC, Guinea, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Zambia) and review/ analysis of those policies • Teacher Education Policy Forum for Sub-Saharan Africa held at UNESCO HQ on 6-9 November 2007 with Directors of Teacher Education from first-phase TTISSA countries • Policy briefs being developed on various areas (e.g costing, data, emerging issues, quality assurance) • Second Policy Forum to be held, hosted by Ministry of Education of first-phase TTISSA county • Provision of technical assistance to countries on policy development (e.g. Angola, Niger, DRC)

15. TTISSA in Angola Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2004 • Large, resource-rich country marked by a brutal 27-year civil war, which ended in 2002. Economy now one of the fastest growing in the world. • Large-scale reconstruction of the education system, including school construction and recruitment of teachers. As a result, the number of children enrolling in primary school doubled between 2002 and 2003 • Government recruited 29,150 teachers for the 2003 school year, of which 70% had no academic or pedagogical teaching qualification. Many different categories of teachers in the system, most with no or little training. • MoE identified need for a National Qualifications Framework for Teachers for an accurate picture of the various types of teachers in the system and develop a plan for upgrading those who never received training. This is a priority in other SADC countries as well. • Huge challenge in terms of information. Very little data available on the education system and on teachers in particular

16. TTISSA’s Support to Angola Through the EFA Capacity Building Programme…. • Development of a National Qualifications Framework for Teachers (NQFT) • Production of ODL modules for teacher education curriculum in Portuguese, math and computer literacy • Mainstreaming of cross-cutting themes (e.g HIV and AIDS, peace and human rights, culture, world heritage) into the teacher education curriculum • Strengthening of two Community Learning Resource Centres (CLRCs) and establishment of a third one

17. Thank you!!!

18. For more information… TTISSA Website:http://www.unesco.org/education/TTISSA (English) http://www.unesco.org/education/fr/TTISSA (French) E-mail address: ttissa@unesco.org r.vivekanandan@unesco.org