Teachers for All â GCE policy briefing (566KB) - VSO

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1. attend the funerals of friends or relatives2. to care for sick relatives (where primary teachers are predominantly women, absenteeismnecessitated by caring requirements may be intensified, as research has shown that the burdenof care falls disproportionately on the shoulders of women)3. because teachers themselves become ill.‘[T]he long, debilitating illness that generally precedes death from AIDS implies loss of teachercontact time, quality, continuity and experience’ (UNESCO, 2005a:112). Unlike some other causesof absenteeism, time taken off work for any of the above reasons is completely legitimate and soshould be factored into government planning. Anticipating and compensating for legitimateabsenteeism would ensure that sufficient numbers of substitute teachers are available to cover forteachers whose work is affected by HIV & AIDS. This could also enable teachers to receive full payif forced to work part time because of illness, or while on long-term sick leave or short-termcompassionate leave so that students’ learning outcomes are not negatively affected by teacherabsence. As a minimum, governments should be looking to protect teachers by developing an HIV& AIDS workplace policy in order that these bouts of absenteeism, either for caring or for sickness,are formally recognised and respected.Tanzania‘One teacher observed: “HIV/AIDS has created lots of problems for us. If a teacher is absent for along time, her or his classes are allocated to other teachers and increasing their workload”. Anotherreported: “We have more than 100 pupils in this school who are AIDS orphans. These childrenneed not only financial support but also love and care. I try and do as much as possible, but it is notadequate’’’ (Education International, 2005c).The financial impact on education systems can be dramatic. In this year’s Education For All GlobalMonitoring Report, UNESCO stated that in Mozambique alone, AIDS-related teacher absenteeismfor personal illnesses only (not to mention time off for attending funerals and caring for sickrelatives) was likely to cost around US$3.3 million in 2005. These costs were primarily needed topay for substitute or replacement teachers for teachers who fell ill – with an additional US$0.3million for increased teacher training costs (UNESCO, 2006a:88). Governments in HIV & AIDSaffected countries find it difficult to cover such additional costs, while their economies are alsobeing decimated by AIDS-related deaths and absenteeism in other sectors, without additionalexternal financing.Many efforts are being made by teachers and their unions to address the pandemic. For example,the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) has conducted a broad survey of HIVprevalence in the teaching community and produced a policy response to accompany their survey(Education International, 2006b:13). Education International and its affiliates are already workingin conjunction with the World Health Organization in many countries on HIV & AIDS awarenessand training. SADTU’s work shows that there is also a role to play for teachers’ unions in advocacypolicy dialogue around government’s response to HIV & AIDS.3. Teacher migration and attrition‘African governments should address weak management, lack of incentives forindividuals to get things right and poor motivation which are often more critical. So isthe need to attract, motivate and retain skilled staff. A survey in Malawi showed that25 per cent of teachers who started work in rural areas in January 1999 had left byOctober that same year’ (Commission for Africa, 2005).In addition to population growth, drives for universal access and deaths and absenteeismassociated with HIV & AIDS (and of course other illnesses), a cause of teacher shortages ismigration and attrition. Attrition comprises resignations, retirements, dismissals, and deaths –there will naturally always be a combination of all of these in any profession. We have seen alreadythat HIV & AIDS is having a significant effect on teacher mortality rates, requiring government18
planning that factors in the need to replace teachers lost to AIDS. Other causes of deaths,retirements and dismissals are more constant, and plans will already be built into educationsystems to account for the need to replace teachers as they retire, for example. Resignations aremore variable, and have more to do with what incentives teachers are offered to encourage them tostay in the profession. Teachers can resign for a number of reasons, which can be divided into‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors. Push factors include poor working conditions, low salaries, long hours andheavy workloads. In general, the pull factors are the converse of the push factors: better workingconditions, better pay, better hours and greater stability.Research by both ActionAid International and the UK’s Centre for Comparative EducationResearch and School of Economics has highlighted that large numbers of teachers in a number ofcountries are leaving state provided education for better paid jobs. Teachers leave for jobs that areoutside the education sector entirely, within education but moving to the private sector, or withineducation but in rich countries in the North or in neighbouring countries paying better salaries(Sives et al, 2004:3–4; GCE/ActionAid, 2005a:21).‘The low salaries offered to teachers and health professionals have caused an exodusin Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria. Due to a freeze on salary increments forall civil service employees since June 2002, Ethiopia is faced with a brain drain. InNigeria, the lack of wages or secure employment is resulting in teachers leavingpublic schools to higher paid positions in private institutions’ (GCE/ActionAid,2005a:21).Where teachers are migrating in large numbers to other countries, the flow of trained teachers notonly undermines poor country governments’ efforts to supply their schools with enough teachersand reduce escalating pupil–teacher ratios, but it also allows richer countries to ‘free ride on theinvestments in training made by developing countries’ (Sives et al, 2004: 4).Countries such as the US, Canada, the UK and France are popular destination countries for skilledmigrants, especially where there is a high demand for teachers and nurses, and historical, colonialor language links between countries or possibilities for family reunification where earliergenerations have migrated (VSO, 2005:12). In some cases, rich countries have been found to beactively recruiting teachers from countries such as Guyana, with offers of higher pay, betterworking conditions and quality of life.‘…it is not just the best teachers that are taken, but also the most experienced, who arealso versed in management and administration duties. The loss of teachers is avicious circle for countries drained of their resources. These are countries that haveinvested in teacher training, put public money into raising teaching standards, andat the end of the day, lose them as soon as they have built up the necessary experience’(Educational International, 2005a).Guyana‘“They come back every year, and every time they come, we lose dozens of teachers”, complainsAvril Crawford, President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU). “They” are the British recruiterson their annual visit to Guyana to meet teachers who replied to their advertisements for applicantsto teach in Britain. “Recruitment agencies from the United States and the Bahamas are nowflocking in, too. Even Botswana looks for teachers here”, exclaims Avril Crawford. The Bahamasand Bermuda are the Caribbean countries that headhunt most from their neighbours. Guyana isone of the few Latin American English-speaking country. Its teachers are highly trained, butworking conditions are poor, making them more open to attractive offers from elsewhere. Thehighest monthly salary that a Guyanese teacher could earn is € 400, which even a novice teacher inthe Bahamas would spurn’ (Education International, 2005a).19
Page 2 and 3: CONTENTSAcknowledgements 3Acronyms
Page 4 and 5: ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONSAIDS Acqu
Page 6 and 7: (EFA) goals 7 demand even greater e
Page 8 and 9: service training should be coordina
Page 10 and 11: Recommendations on the costs of qua
Page 12 and 13: 2. THE WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS MORE
Page 14 and 15: Cameroon‘Four teachers for six cl
Page 16 and 17: themselves two majors cause of the
Page 20 and 21: Jamaica‘Jamaica is another stop o
Page 22 and 23: There are also often marked regiona
Page 24 and 25: communities (Seel, 2003). There is
Page 26 and 27: 3. A GOOD TEACHER IS A TRAINED TEAC
Page 28: lessons or control classes. As a re
Page 31 and 32: ISCED 4: Post-secondary, non-tertia
Page 33 and 34: Minimum standards for primary teach
Page 35 and 36: use of learning materials; they mus
Page 37 and 38: and Sperling 2004:65). Such beliefs
Page 39 and 40: were similarly narrated about how H
Page 41 and 42: secondary qualification and one or
Page 43 and 44: environments, and promoting greater
Page 45 and 46: Housing, travel, health and other i
Page 47 and 48: Teachers need effective management,
Page 49 and 50: elsewhere) are conspicuous by their
Page 51 and 52: from organisations that have a duty
Page 53 and 54: ‘…reduces corruption and improv
Page 55 and 56: decentralisation processes - leadin
Page 57 and 58: women have adequate arrangements fo
Page 59 and 60: professional development programmes
Page 61 and 62: even where public spending matches
Page 63 and 64: Investment in education should be s
Page 65 and 66: Vicious circles: the role of condit
Page 67 and 68: The answer to the World Bank’s qu
Page 69 and 70:
REFERENCES1. ActionAid Internationa
Page 71 and 72:
38. GCE/ActionAid (2005b), Deadly I
Page 73 and 74:
76. UNESCO (2006b), The Role of Tra
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Teachers for All â GCE policy briefing (566KB) - VSO