UNICEF Mongolia - Teachers College Columbia University

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CHAPTER 6: TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS 1 2 3 4 5 6 The central level also reviews and approves courses that are submied for the specialized courses. For the academic year 2010/11, thirty-six (36) organizaons submied a total of 180 training modules; of those 88 were approved. There is no approval required at the central level for the non-credit courses. The credit-bearing courses are self-financed and count towards the promoon criteria of teachers. The Educaon and Culture Department offers mostly non-credit courses. They would be eligible to offer also credit-bearing courses but, with the excepon of the City Educaon Department, they tend to focus on non-credit courses. The idea of life-long learning of teachers, translated into intensive training every five years, existed unl the early 1990s. It had to be suspended because of the high costs associated with this kind of universal in-service training of teachers. The MECS Ministerial Order #72 reintroduced this popular provision even though the budgetary implicaons of this important, yet expensive, in-service teacher training model has not been resolved to date. At the city level (Ulaanbaatar), the City Department of Educaon embarked on the basic training provision for first year and fih year teachers. They are in the midst of implemenng the regulaon. They enrolled, for example, 92 teachers in history and geography for a 14-day workshop that was organized by MECS. These basic courses are offered by MECS directly; the City Educaon Department merely coordinates these centrally administered efforts at the city level. TEACHERS IN MONGOLIA: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON RECRUITMENT INTO TEACHING, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND RETENTION OF TEACHERS 94 The main area of acvity at the central level relates to the specialized courses. As menoned above, MECS has to approve the credit-bearing courses that are typically self-financed by teachers. Each credit translates into the number of contact hours (an academic contact hour is 45 minutes). Thus, a one-credit course requires 24 hours (three days) and a two-credit course, 48 hours or three days of aendance. The credit-bearing courses are typically offered during vacaon or instrucon-free days and cost 9,000 – 15,000 MNT for one credit. At the school level, the research team analyzed actual in-service training of teachers (N=123) and also solicited feedback on the current provision of in-service teacher training. Every school is supposed to have a Teacher Professional Development Plan, administered by the educaon manager. The Plan is supposed to ensure that teachers have an equal chance of aending school-financed professional development opportunies. In our qualitave interviews, we asked to see the Teacher Professional Development Plan, but only few of the schools had such a plan readily available. The research team also garnered feedback on the current provision of in-service teacher educaon. In general, teachers were enthusiasc about the intensive workshops offered to teachers every five years. They also believed that school-based training constuted one of the most effecve ways of quality improvement. 6.4. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Over the past few years, great aenon has been given to teacher effecveness both in Mongolia as well as internaonally. In an aempt to implement a quality assurance mechanism, a teacher licensing scheme was introduced (MECS Ministerial Order #74) in 2008. It targeted not only new teachers in the first two years of their teaching, but also professionals from other fields who switched to the teaching profession. In addion, it was aimed at teachers who were teaching an addional second or third subject for which they did not have a license. As a result of this regulaon, “specializaon conversion training
CHAPTER 6: TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS programs” mushroomed, very much to the financial benefit of teacher training instuons. An evaluaon of these training programs that are largely self-financed is urgently needed. There were also major delays reported at the school level in the review of the licensing applicaons. It is recommended to streamline and simplify the applicaon procedure, especially for the young specialists who are supposed to submit their applicaon package one year aer they graduated from pre-service teacher training. A second major iniave to enhance teacher effecveness was launched with the comprehensive inservice teacher training strategy. MECS Ministerial Order #72 from 2008 prescribes a comprehensive and coherent system of in-service teacher training that includes (a) basic training every five years, (b) specialized training with credit-bearing as well as non-credit courses, and (c) independent studies. The basic training has been resurrected from the past and has remained very popular among teachers. It seems that teachers raise their expectaons of promoon by enrolling in credit-bearing courses that, more oen than not, are self-financed. The proporon of teachers who have been promoted to lead teacher or advisor teacher has diminished and has thus generated unease among teachers who have invested financially in their own professional development. The self-finance regulaons as well as the close associaon between professional development and promoon (see Table 7) need to be revisited. The so-called basic training that, within a five-year period, will have reached out to every teacher in the country is impressive and comprehensive. Unl today, the central level was only able to secure funding for the fih year teachers. The City Department of Educaon succeeded in enrolling not only fih year teachers, but also started to reach out to first year teachers. Addional funding is needed to enroll first year and tenth year teachers across the country. As menoned in the Preface, Mongolia is changing at a rapid pace economically and socially. The situaon of teachers—their recruitment, their professional development, and their retenon—is closely related to changes in the society at large. The reforms of the past few years, in parcular from 2007 onwards, aempted to take into account the need for a greater number of qualified and movated teachers. The expansion of schooling from 10 to 12 years, internal migraon from rural to urban schools, and higher educaon explosion were the main drivers for invesng in teacher educaon and improving the condions of the teacher profession. Over the past five years, economic growth has transformed the fabric of Mongolian society. The challenges keep changing, but the need to connuously improve the quality of educaon by effecvely targeng recruitment into teaching, professional development, and teacher retenon has remained the same. 1 2 3 4 5 6 TEACHERS IN MONGOLIA: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON RECRUITMENT INTO TEACHING, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND RETENTION OF TEACHERS 95
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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, AND SCIENCE
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The current trend
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TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables an
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TABLES, FIGURES, AND APPENDICES Tab
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This study examin
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have a large number of teachers who
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From the perspecve of educaon manag
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1 2 3 4 5 6 © MEA. N.Munkhtsetseg,
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In line wit
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Expenditure
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The PETS Mo
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Table 3 als
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION three types
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Figure 4: M
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION underlying
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CHAPTER 2: THE TEACHING WORKFORCE 1
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UNICEF Mongolia - Teachers College Columbia University

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