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Journal of Education Policy

ISSN: 0268-0939 (Print) 1464-5106 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tedp20

Increasing the supply of secondary teachers in sub‐Saharan Africa: a stakeholder assessment of policy options in six countries Joan G. DeJaeghere , David W. Chapman & Aidan Mulkeen To cite this article: Joan G. DeJaeghere , David W. Chapman & Aidan Mulkeen (2006) Increasing the supply of secondary teachers in sub‐Saharan Africa: a stakeholder assessment of policy options in six countries, Journal of Education Policy, 21:5, 515-533, DOI: 10.1080/02680930600866116 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680930600866116

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Journal of Education Policy Vol. 21, No. 5, September 2006, pp. 515–533

Increasing the supply of secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa: a stakeholder assessment of policy options in six countries Joan G. DeJaegherea*, David W. Chapmana and Aidan Mulkeenb aUniversity

of Minnesota, USA;

bThe

World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

Journal 10.1080/02680930600866116 TEDP_A_186539.sgm 0268-0939 Original Taylor 502006 21 [email protected] JoanDeJaeghere 00000September and & ofArticle Francis Education (print)/1469-5106 FrancisLtd 2006 Ltd Policy (online)

Over the next decade many countries of sub-Saharan Africa will face a demand for qualified secondary school teachers that current systems for teacher recruitment, training, deployment and retention will be unable to meet. While strategies for increasing teacher supply to meet this shortage have been suggested, less attention has been given to investigating the acceptability of these potential solutions by those educators closest to the school and classroom level and who often serve as gatekeepers to policy implementation. Kingdon’s multiple streams model is the framework used in this study to assess the feasibility of key strategies widely offered as possible solutions to resolve the projected teacher shortage. This study investigated the responses of 114 secondary school teachers, headteachers and education officials across six countries to policy options for increasing teacher supply. While none of the groups supported options to increase the supply through changed teacher training, there was support among all three groups for options that affected retention, including increased in-service training and distance education, more mentorship for new teachers and more opportunities for teachers to network with each other. These findings suggest that policy-makers in sub-Saharan African countries need to build political support among education stakeholders to find the most feasible and viable solutions to address the large teacher shortages through both increasing supply and retention.

Projected secondary teacher shortages in sub-Saharan Africa Across many countries of sub-Saharan Africa secondary enrollments are growing faster than teachers can be recruited or trained. Over the next decade many countries *Corresponding author. Department of Educational Policy and Administration, 330 Wulling Hall, University of Minnesota, 86 Pleasant Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Email: [email protected] ISSN 0268–0939 (print)/ISSN 1464–5106 (online)/06/050515–19 © 2006 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/02680930600866116


516 J. G. DeJaeghere et al. in the region will face a shortage of qualified secondary school teachers, a shortage that current systems for teacher recruitment, training, retention and deployment, in their present form, will be unable to meet (Mulkeen et al., 2004a). This shortage is fueled by rapid population growth, governments’ success in raising primary school participation rates, improved grade retention at the primary level, increasing primary to secondary cycle continuation rates and, in some countries, high rates of teacher mortality due to HIV/AIDS. While the adequacy of teacher supply varies widely by country, an estimate of the overall shortfall can be developed using average student participation flow rates for the sub-Saharan region. Assuming an annual average growth rate in the school-age population of 2% (Association for the Development of Education in Africa, 1999) and a median gross enrollment rate (GER) of 22%, more than 20,000,000 students will be expected to enroll in secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa in 2005 (UNESCO, 2002). Assuming an average pupil:teacher ratio of 20:1, more than 1,000,000 teachers will be needed to teach these students. This number far exceeds the 576,770 secondary teaching staff estimated to have been available in 1998, based on data from 40 countries (UNESCO, 1998). While more current estimates of teacher supply are not available, the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the increase in sub-regional conflicts suggest that there has not been a sharp increase in regional teacher supply over the intervening years. The reasons for this projected teacher shortage have been widely researched and are generally well understood (Lewin, 2002, 2003; Chapman et al., 2004b). There is also a growing literature suggesting a variety of possible strategies for increasing teacher supply to meet this looming shortage (Monk, 1999; Lewin, 2003; Mulkeen et al., 2004b). However, less attention has been given to investigating the acceptability and likely impact of these potential solutions on those educators closest to the school and classroom level. It is not yet clear that any consensus exists as to the most politically acceptable, technically feasible and cost-effective solution. At the same time, there is ample research and international experience highlighting the gatekeeper role that teachers, headteachers, and other education officials play in the adoption of innovative practices (Lynch et al., 1997; Fullan, 2001). Strategies for addressing such problems, to be effective, have to be acceptable to those who would be key players in implementing these strategies. Assessing policy options: Kingdon’s multiple streams model This study was grounded in Kingdon’s (1995) multiple streams model of the policy formulation process. Kingdon argued that public policy emerges from the intersection of three streams: (a) the problem stream, e.g. the recognition that a problem exists; (b) the solution stream, e.g., the formation and refining of policy proposals as potential solutions to the problem; (c) the political stream, e.g. the emergence of a consensus among various political forces that it is feasible to address the perceived problem with a particular solution. From the perspective of Kingdon’s framework, effective policy to address the emerging shortage of secondary level teachers depends


Secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa 517 on policy-makers recognizing that the problem needs attention at a policy level, recognizing that there are alternative potential solutions that might solve the problem and believing that it is in the best interest of themselves and their country to act to do so. Differences in a country’s level of resources for addressing a problem and the particular dynamics of teacher supply and demand are not addressed explicitly in Kingdon’s framework, but are understood as factors that would shape key actors’ assessments of what constitutes a problem, the acceptability of alternative solutions and the political consequences of taking action.1 An important influence in decision-making within the political stream is the calculation of decision-makers about whether the solutions they might select will effectively address the problem and whether their key constituents will support those solutions. The present study was undertaken as a way to inform deliberations within the political stream by clarifying how key constituents in the educational process assess alternative strategies proposed within the solution stream. It was conducted as a multi-country investigation of how educators at three levels, school teachers, headteachers (in some countries referred to as ‘principals’) and district or national education officials, assess their support for selected alternative strategies for increasing the teacher supply at the secondary level in sub-Saharan Africa. The multi-country design was selected to increase the validity of the findings by ensuring a sampling of constituent judgment across multiple contexts. The study was not undertaken as a cross-country comparison, as the essential issue was not to profile differences among countries but to assess the extent of consensus around key issues.2 Strategies for increasing secondary school teacher supply A recent review of research suggests that there are essentially two paths in responding to the projected shortage of secondary teachers (Mulkeen et al., 2004a). One path is to increase the number of trained teachers by expanding existing teacher preparation programs, moving trainees through existing programs faster or giving more emphasis to in-service training options. A second path is to improve the conditions of service in a way that will better retain (and attract back into teaching) teachers who have already been trained. Path 1—Increasing the supply of teachers through training options The literature on teacher supply suggests that governments have six main options for increasing the number of newly trained teachers (Table 1). First, government can expand the size of the present teacher training system by building new teacher training facilities, hiring additional teacher educators and increasing recruitment of trainees. Expanding the current system, however, is generally expensive, an unpopular option at a time that many governments are unable or unwilling to allocate large increases to the national education budget, given competing demands from other important sectors. Moreover, even if the training capacity

518 J. G. DeJaeghere et al.


Table 1.

Six training options to increase the supply of teachers

Training option to increase teacher supply

Anticipated issues

Expand present teacher training system Admit less qualified applicants into teacher training Recruit untrained teachers directly into teaching, provide in-service training Shorten pre-service training

Expensive Requires remedial training. Less well prepared teachers may lower education quality Less well prepared teachers may lower educational quality May speed up flow through pre-service training, but may lower education quality Unknown impact on education quality

Shorten pre-service training but support teachers with more in-service training Train teachers to teach multiple subjects

Improves efficiency in deployment but may encounter teacher resistance. May require more pre-service training time

were to be increased, many countries would have difficulty recruiting large numbers of additional qualified trainees, given current levels of teacher remuneration (Mulkeen et al., 2004b). A second option is to admit less qualified applicants into teacher preparation programs. This expands the pool of potential teachers and may help ameliorate the teacher shortage, but could slow the process of pre-service training, as these trainees would need more preparation to be ready to teach secondary school subjects. Lowering entrance requirements has been used most often to address targeted teacher shortages, for example, to increase the number of trainees from rural areas and minority groups in the belief that once these teachers graduate they will be more willing to be posted to rural areas or more able to teach minority populations (e.g. Eritrea; see Chapman et al., 2004a). Third, untrained or under-qualified teachers can be recruited directly into the teaching force, often with the hope that they can be trained through in-service methods later (Taal, 1996). However, where this has been tried it has generally led to serious drops in instructional quality that have, in the long run, been expensive to reverse (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2002). Governments have generally done this only when they faced sudden, unanticipated increases in student enrollment and had to resolve an immediate, but widespread, shortage of teachers. For example, when Malawi eliminated primary school fees in the early 1990s in an effort to increase participation rates, the resulting surge in primary school enrolment was so staggering that the Ministry of Education had to expand the teaching force by hiring unqualified teachers. Fourth, intake to teacher preparation programs can continue to be limited to qualified applicants but the time required for the pre-service training can be shortened (Lewin, 2003). This option would allow existing training facilities to increase the flow of new teachers without significantly expanding (or raising the cost of) the teacher training system (Lewin, 2003). Most governments recognize that accelerating the


Secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa 519 preparation of new teachers by shortening their pre-service preparation poses the risk of lowering the quality of new graduates that, over time, could lower the quality of secondary education. Nonetheless, those governments may believe they have little choice. Fifth, governments can introduce new forms of teacher preparation that provide a shorter program of pre-service preparation supplemented by continuing in-service training or ongoing supervision (Lewin, 2003). This option allows more rapid production of teachers, but involves a more substantial ongoing commitment to their continued preparation. With the wider availability of technology many countries (and international assistance organizations) see in-service training through distance education methods as increasingly feasible (Murphy & Zhiri, 1992; Jóhannesson & Baldursdóttir, 2004). A sixth option is to change teacher training programs to produce teachers who can teach more than one subject area. This option reduces teacher demand as smaller schools would need fewer teachers. This option also addresses two related issues in teacher supply. First, there is often a shortage of teachers for rural schools (Mulkeen et al., 2004a) and, by requiring teachers to be trained and teach in several subject areas, these schools may continue to exist with fewer teachers. Second, while there is an overall shortage of teachers in many sub-Saharan countries, there are particular shortages in certain subject areas (math, science and technology) (Wanjala Kerre, 1997). By requiring teachers to be trained in additional subject areas, a shortage in teacher supply in these areas may be addressed. Advocates of this option argue that this approach creates greater efficiency in schools, especially where teachers are underutilized (Lewin, 2002). Opponents suggest that training teachers to teach more than two subject areas is impractical given the quality of the entrants to teacher training programs (Verspoor et al., 1998), the need to specialize at the secondary level and the demands placed on teachers to learn in already short training periods. Path 2—Increasing the supply of teachers through improving conditions of service Mulkeen et al. (2004a), in a comprehensive review of secondary teacher recruitment, training and retention in sub-Saharan Africa, concluded that many of the difficulties in attracting new teachers and retaining current teachers could be addressed through effective teacher deployment practices and improved conditions of service. Adequate pay, humane treatment and consistent, caring policies would go a long way toward keeping those teachers already trained in teaching. Four strategies seem particularly prominent in the literature for retaining teachers through improving conditions of service: (a) create mentorship programs to support the induction of new teachers to the field; (b) create opportunities for professional support and bonding among peers; (c) introduce salary bonuses for excellent teachers; (d) give headteachers more responsibility for supporting teachers within their schools (Macdonald, 1999). These training and retention strategies used to increase the supply of teachers are largely the product of national and international education planners seeking to address national problems. Each of these strategies offers a partial solution to the shortage of


520 J. G. DeJaeghere et al. qualified teachers, but each also presents a set of consequences and problems. For the most part, practicing teachers and school administrators at the community and school level, and even heads of teacher training institutions, have not been heavily involved in assessing the feasibility of the alternatives being considered by decision-makers at higher levels of their own education systems. Yet, many of the consequences of these alternative strategies for training new teachers would fall most directly on them, as new teachers are assigned to their schools, work as their peers or come under their supervision. Furthermore, implementing strategies to retain teachers requires the acceptance and involvement of teachers and headteachers in new processes. The success in actually implementing any of these strategies depends, in large part, on the support of these very educators. Research on the adoption of innovation clearly documents the importance of the beliefs and behaviors of those at the operational level in the eventual success of new policies and practices (Rogers, 1995; Fullan, 2001, p. 91). The present study concentrated on assessing teachers’, headteachers’ and education officials’ support for eight of the more prominent policy options suggested as ways to help balance future teacher supply and demand. These included: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

shortening teacher training; shortening teacher training and increasing supervision; utilizing distance education in-service courses; having teachers teach more subject areas; having experienced teachers mentor new teachers; implementing teacher meetings to discuss teaching and learning; awarding bonus pay for ‘best teachers’; making headteachers more responsible for supporting teachers’ practice.

Methodology The procedure During the fall of 2003 local research teams were commissioned in each of six countries, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Guinea, Madagascar and Uganda, to conduct structured and semi-structured interviews with a sample of teachers, headteachers and education officials above the level of the school. The use of local researcher teams for in-country data collection allowed interviews to be conducted in local languages. Across all six countries they employed a standard interview protocol tailored for each of the three groups. The sample The six countries involved in this study were selected by the international research team based on geographical diversity and access to local research teams for in-country data collection.3 The criteria for selecting schools included diversity in location (rural or urban), type of school (co-educational, girls, boys, day or boarding) and number of students (large or small). Within each country criterion sampling was used to select

Secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa 521 Table 2.

The sample of teachers, headteachers and education officials in the six sub-Saharan African countries

Country


Ghana Ethiopia Tanzania Guinea Madagascar Uganda Total

Teachers

Headteachers/schools

Education officials

Total sample

9 9 9 9 12 9 57

3 3 3 3 4 3 19

6 6 6 6 8 6 38

18 18 18 18 24 18 114

nine teachers, three headteachers from the same schools as those teachers and six education officials.4 The criteria for selecting the teacher sample were at least one more experienced and one less experienced teacher, one math or science teacher and one female. The selection of decision-makers above the level of the school included those working in various capacities within the Ministries of Education (e.g. director of the teacher training division or directors of teacher training institutions) and at least one teachers’ union official. Their common element was that each held a decision-making role in some educational context above the level of the school. Across the six countries interviews were conducted with a total of 114 educators: 57 teachers, 19 headteachers and 38 education officials (Table 2).5 Overall, 33% of the schools in the study were rural, while 66% were urban. All schools were co-educational, and 82% were day schools while 18% were boarding schools. The smallest schools were in Tanzania, where enrollments ranged from 80 to 208 pupils. Enrollment in the other five countries ranged from several hundred to several thousand pupils. Headteachers reported that most of the teachers in these schools were trained, with the exceptions of two schools in Guinea that reported that 50% or less of their teachers had received formal teacher training The teacher sample was 52% male and 48% female. In Guinea only male teachers were interviewed for the study. All but two of the headteachers interviewed were male. Teachers in the study averaged 13 years of teaching experience. Twenty-eight teachers (49%) had taught for 10 or fewer years, 13 (23%) had taught between 10 and 20 years and 16 (28%) had taught between 20 and 35 years (Table 3). The instrument The teachers’ questionnaire consisted of 35 closed and open-ended questions on teacher recruitment and training, supervision and remuneration and retention. The headteachers’ questionnaire consisted of 37 closed and open-ended questions about similar topics to the teachers and demographic information about the school staff and students. An additional eight questions gathered data about the respondents’ perceptions of policy options regarding teacher training and conditions of employment. The questionnaire protocol used with education officials included only the eight questions

522 J. G. DeJaeghere et al. Table 3.

Characteristics of the respondents

Gender Role in school


Teacher Headteacher Total

Experience (years)

Male

Female

1–10

30 (53%) 17 (89%) 47

27 (47%) 2 (11%) 29

28 (49%) 15 (79%) 44

11–20

Level of training >20

13 (23%) 16 (28%) 4 (21%) 17 16

BA

TTC

46 (81%) 11 (19%) NA NA 46 11

about alternative strategies for teacher training and conditions of employment. Responses to closed-ended items were collected using a 5-point Likert scale after which each respondent was asked to elaborate on each of their answers. Analysis Mean scores and percentages were calculated for each of the three groups on the closed-ended questions. Content analysis was used for the semi-structured interview data and percentages are used to represent the magnitude of the response themes. The limited sample size precluded multivariate comparisons. For clarity of interpretation, the 5-point Likert scale for the eight policy options was transformed into two dichotomous responses, those supporting and not supporting each option. If respondents considered a policy option to be a ‘good’ or ‘very good’ idea, they were considered to be in support of the option. If they judged it to be a ‘very bad’ or ‘bad’ idea or were ‘unsure’, they were considered not to be in support of the option. Responses on Likert scales to other closed-ended questions were transformed in a similar manner. Findings Policy options for increasing supply through training Shortening pre-service preparation programs. All six countries in this study require a diploma from a teacher training college or a bachelor’s degree from a university to teach at the secondary level, although the length of study varies across the six countries.6 Shortening the length of pre-service teacher preparation programs was generally unpopular across all three groups, but drew the least support from headteachers (Table 4). Across all respondents, only 26% supported this policy option. Furthermore, of the respondents who did not support shortening teacher training, 75% stated that shortening teacher training would make it difficult for teachers to sufficiently learn the subject matter and, in turn, this would affect the quality of teaching and learning. Research on factors associated with student achievement has found that knowledge of the subject matter is a key predictor of student learning (Fuller, 1987). The

Secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa 523 Table 4.

Mean, percentage (number) of respondent groups supporting different policy options


Policy option

Shortened teacher training Shortened teacher training with increased supervision Distance education in-service courses Teach more subject areas Experienced teachers mentor new teachers Teacher meetings to discuss teaching and learning Bonus pay for ‘best teachers’ Headteacher having more responsibility for supporting teachers’ practise

Teachers

Headteachers

Mean

% (n)

Mean

2.5 2.8

22 (13) 38 (22)

2.4 2.9

4.4

93 (53)

2.2 4.5

% (n)

Education officials Mean

% (n)

16 (3) 37 (7)

2.7 3.1

37 (14) 47 (18)

4.2

90 (17)

4.2

87(33)

25 (14) 93 (53)

2.3 4.3

16 (3) 88 (16)

2.2 4.3

13 (5) 87 (33)

4.8

100 (57)

4.6

97 (18)

4.6

97 (37)

4.2 3.7

82 (47) 70 (40)

4.2 4.1

74 (14) 79 (15)

3.9 3.8

76 (29) 76 (29)

practical challenge in many sub-Saharan countries has been to shift teacher training curricula to focus more on strengthening content preparation of trainees if that comes at the expense of an emphasis on theory and pedagogy. In this study, about half (47%) of the education officials and headteachers who supported shortening the length of teacher training saw that policy change as viable only if pre-service teacher preparation programs strengthened the teaching of content courses, recruited better qualified trainees and accepted only those applicants clearly motivated to become teachers. A possible reason that teachers may not have supported shortening teacher training is that teachers regarded their pre-service training as being effective in preparing them for the classroom. Teachers’ and headteachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of pre-service training differed however, with teachers more positive about the efficacy of pre-service training than were headteachers (Table 5).

Shortening pre-service preparation and increasing supervision. There was more support for shortening pre-service preparation if it was combined with increased supervision of those graduates when they entered the teaching force. Still, less than 40% of the school-level respondents supported this option. On the other hand, both options that shortened teacher pre-service preparation seemed more appealing to decision-makers above the level of the school. Support for less teacher training time but more supervision may have increased in part because supervision is regarded as an important component in improving teacher instruction (Craig et al., 1998). Of the respondents who supported this option, 79%

524 J. G. DeJaeghere et al. Table 5.

Teachers’ and headteachers’ responses to training and retention questions Teachers Mean

Efficacy of pre-service training Efficacy of in-service training

4.4 4.5

Not a fair salaryb

98 (56) 95 (40/42)a

% (n)

3.9 4.4

58 (11) 100 (17/17)

4.0

58 (11)

2.9

21 (4)

4.8

100 (19)f

23 (13)

Ask for help

2.8

32 (18)c

Observed by or advice from headteacher

2.7

23 (13)d

Staff meetings

2.7

Headteacher responsible for improving teaching

Mean

96 (55)

Leave teachingb


% (n)

Headteachers

32 (18)e

a Because

not all teachers attended in-service courses, the number of respondents answering this question was less than the total sample for both the teacher and headteacher sample groups.

b Response

options for this question were ‘yes’ or ‘no’, therefore no mean is reported and the percentage reflects those who responded yes. c This

percentage reflects those who ‘hardly ever’ (Likert scale score 2) or ‘never’ (Likert scale score 1) asked for help. Conversely, only 14% stated they frequently asked for help, ‘about every week’, or ‘every day’ (Likert scale scores 4 and 5, respectively). The majority, 54%, stated they asked for help about ‘once a month’. d This percentage represents those who reported getting advice or being observed frequently, ‘about every week’ or ‘every day’. Conversely, 49% of teachers stated they were observed ‘infrequently’, ‘hardly ever’ or ‘never’. e This percentage represents those teachers and headteachers who stated they infrequently attend/hold staff meetings (less than once a month). 65% of teachers and 74% of headteachers stated they attend staff meetings about every month. f ‘Responsible’ is measured by combining responses for 4 (partly responsible) and 5 (very much responsible) on the Likert scale. Response options 1–3 indicated not having any or not particularly having responsibility or unsure.

stated that supervision was important to gain practical experience. Yet, while advocating more supervision, respondents also expressed concerns about the current system of supervision. In follow-up questions supporters of this option (across all three groups) thought that supervisors needed to be better trained, that the system of supervision should be better coordinated and that, currently, an inadequate amount of supervision is provided. In most cases supervision is provided by pedagogic advisors,7 tutors or headteachers. Yet in response to questions about how teachers get help and about the headteachers’ role in supervision, a third of the teachers indicated that when confronted with a problem in their teaching they frequently did not seek help. Nearly half of the teachers reported that headteachers frequently did not observe their teaching or offer advice. This was in stark contrast to the perceptions of headteachers. All

Secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa 525


headteachers believed they were responsible for improving the quality of teaching and more than half of the headteachers stated that they frequently observed or provided advice to teachers about teaching (Table 5). Teacher training through distance education. While resisting shortening pre-service preparation, most respondents across all groups liked the idea of delivering training courses through distance learning methods (Table 4). It should be noted, however, that this was posed as a supplement, not an alternative, to pre-service preparation. Support for this policy option may be, in part, because teachers and headteachers value in-service training. Nearly three out of every four teachers (74%) indicated that they had participated in an in-service training activity. Of these respondents, virtually all (95%) said they thought the in-service training effectively prepared them for the job. Headteachers also felt that in-service training prepared teachers well (Table 5). Furthermore, the most frequent reason given for supporting distance education was that it allowed teachers to gain further knowledge that could potentially improve teaching and learning. Other reasons were a decrease in the costs of salaries or travel because distance methods allowed teachers to stay in their classroom and, in the case of Uganda, the possibility of retaining jobs that may otherwise be lost when undertaking study leave (Table 6). Decreasing travel costs and reduced disruption to instruction (as teachers can remain in their classrooms) are cited as important factors in the wider international research on implementing distance education training programs (Jóhannesson & Baldursdóttir, 2004). Nonetheless, the use of distance methods in teacher training has had a mixed history of success. Curran and Murphy (1992) pointed out that it has been used effectively to train teachers in many sub-Saharan African countries. While agreeing with that assessment, Chapman and Mählck (2004) offered a more mixed assessment of the effectiveness and sustainability of distance methods of in-service teacher training. In-service distance education, when used to upgrade knowledge and skills, may also increase teacher retention. The second most common reason cited for staying in the profession was to take advantage of continuing opportunities for professional development and learning. Reflecting on how in-service training prepared them to continue in the job, about half of the teachers who regarded in-service training as efficacious also thought they gained knowledge and skills which they believed made them better teachers and gave them confidence in their ability to solve classroom problems. Additionally, about a third of the principals thought that in-service training helped retain teachers in the profession. Table 6. Reason Upgrade skills or knowledge Reduce salary and travel costs Retain job

Reasons for supporting distance education Supporters (%) [n] 35 [36] 19 [20] 5 [5]


526 J. G. DeJaeghere et al. Within the current study respondents varied in their perspectives as to the best means of providing these distance education courses. In-service courses administered via mail were the most widely supported option because: (a) teachers were accustomed to this method; (b) they preferred having paper copies of materials to which they referred; (c) mail is a more reliable service than higher technology methods; (d) mail is more widely accessible. While the Internet was regarded as a useful method, it was viewed as unreliable due to lack of electricity in certain places and lack of Internet providers and computers. Furthermore, use of the Internet requires additional training for teachers and headteachers to be able to effectively use it (Mählck & Chapman, 2004). Teachers also preferred in-service training to be delivered through a medium that they could easily utilize in their classrooms. Since many schools are without computers, teachers felt that their time spent learning on computers would be inefficient, as those skills would be of little use to them in their schools. Radio was not usually regarded as a viable option because many teachers might not listen to it and the program time might not allow sufficient flexibility to participate in the course. Respondents thought that if radio were used, it would be necessary to supplement the radio instruction with printed materials and, therefore, printed materials via mail seemed a better option. Having teachers teach multiple subjects. Support for this policy option was very low and, interestingly, lowest among education officials (Table 4). Follow-up responses to this policy option indicated that, similar to the first policy option of shortening teacher preparation programs, this policy would also have an adverse effect on teachers’ ability to learn their subject areas and to teach them well. In addition, eight of the 24 respondents from Madagascar stated they did not support the option because it would be difficult to change the system of pre-service training and the law requiring secondary educators to specialize in only one subject area (Table 7). While the teacher group was most supportive (25%), a third of the teachers (36%) who supported this option were from Ethiopia. They thought it would be valuable because they were only trained in and taught one subject area, whereas most teachers from the other countries reported already teaching two subject areas. Options for reducing attrition Teacher mentoring program. Nearly all respondents supported the implementation of a mentoring system, where a more experienced teacher would help and guide new Table 7.

Reasons for not teaching more subject areas

Reason Affects quality of teaching and learning Difficult to change the system of training

Non-supporters (%) [n] 60 [55] 9 [8]


Secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa 527 teachers (Table 4). Mentoring is one method for helping new teachers understand and adapt to the realities of teaching so that they can be more successful. There is also the hope that if teachers are more successful they will remain in the profession longer. This concern about retention is important, given that about a quarter of the teachers (23%) said they would leave teaching if they found a similarly payed job8 (Table 5). More than half (54%) of those who said they would leave the profession had taught for less than 10 years. Therefore, mechanisms that support new teachers may serve to reduce this outflow of new teachers from the trained teacher corps. Most teachers and headteachers believed that mentoring allowed sharing of ideas and knowledge about pedagogy and content. Even given the considerable support for this option, about a quarter of all respondents (23%) expressed concerns about creating an effective mentoring system. They were concerned that mentors be selected on the basis of good teaching practices rather than years of experience, that mentors be provided with training and that the outcomes of mentoring be assessed to help ensure effectiveness.

Increased teacher–teacher interaction. Nearly universal support was expressed for teacher meetings that discuss teaching and learning issues (Table 4). Nearly all respondents believed teacher–teacher interactions would serve as a way to gain knowledge about pedagogy and also help in solving school problems. This perception is consistent with wider international research. Lortie (1975) described the teaching profession as cellular and isolated. Closed in their own classroom each day, teachers often have little contact with their peers, little idea of how their peers actually teach and limited opportunity to seek their peers’ advice on improving their own pedagogical practices. The simple act of creating opportunities for teachers to interact with other teachers around issues of classroom practice has been advocated as an effective way to both raise teacher morale and improve teachers’ pedagogical skills (see Craig et al., 1998). Indicative of the need for more interaction among teachers, about a third (32%) of teachers in this study reported that they attended staff meetings less than once a month (usually once or twice a term) (Table 5). Teachers and headteachers alike reported that staff meetings were most often used to address student academic or discipline issues, with teacher development a much less frequently occurring theme. Likewise, only 32% of teachers mentioned that they participated in regular meetings, usually at the department level, to address teaching content, plans and testing. Very few teachers indicated they participated in professional teacher meetings in their discipline. These opportunities for professional interaction have sometimes been described as the creation of learning communities and are gaining wide popularity in developed, as well as developing, countries. While teacher learning communities are advocated as a way of providing personal support and disseminating knowledge about new learning practices, they are not generally viewed as an alternative for formal pre- or in-service training programs.


528 J. G. DeJaeghere et al. Bonus pay. Strong support was given to the option of bonus pay by all three sample groups, with teachers supporting this policy option more than the other two groups (Table 4). Given that all but two teachers believed they did not receive a fair salary for their work, this extent of support is not surprising (Table 5). Furthermore, the most frequently cited reason (67%) teachers offered for why they might leave teaching was low salary. Teachers’ comments regarding this policy option indicated that they saw bonus pay as a motivator for good teaching and an incentive to stay in the job. In contrast, headteachers and education officials, while still supportive, were less so than teachers. They were more concerned with how such a practice would be effectively implemented and how ‘best teachers’ could be determined. Some teachers were also concerned with how such bonuses would be awarded and whether the selection process would be transparent (Table 8). Make headteachers more responsible for teacher supervision. There was overall support (more than 70% of all respondents) for giving headteachers greater responsibility for supporting teachers’ practice (Table 4). The literature on the role of the headteacher in schools suggests that they can play an important role in improving the quality of education and in providing leadership for effective teaching and learning (Chapman, 2000). Headteachers were most supportive of this policy option, stating that more responsibility would allow them to have greater control in the teaching and learning process. In general many teachers were supportive of headteachers’ involvement in their overall professional development and in resolving school and teacher issues. However, some teachers who did not support this policy option were concerned that headteachers are not necessarily trained in specific subject areas and, therefore, may not effectively support teachers’ practice. Discussion The findings indicate a lack of support across all groups for shortening teacher training (with or without increased supervision) and for teacher trainees to be prepared to teach an additional subject area. On the other hand, substantial support by all three groups was indicated for options that decreased attrition through increased in-service training and distance education, more mentorship for new teachers and greater opportunities for teachers to network with each other. Weaker, but still substantial, support was given to the options of having headteachers take more responsibility for instructional supervision of teachers and for merit pay schemes. Table 8.

Responses of the three sample groups to the bonus pay policy option

Incentive to work hard/motivation Concerns regarding fairness

Teachers (%) [n]

Headteachers (%) [n]

Education officials (%) [n]

72 [41] 35 [20]

32 [6] 63 [12]

21 [8] 47 [18]


Secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa 529 This pattern of results suggests that educators were more enthusiastic about strategies that would potentially decrease attrition by improving the conditions of service for those already in the teaching force than about strategies that would more directly increase the flow of new teachers into teaching. Ministry officials and other educators above the school level were not much more (or less) enthusiastic about those strategies than were teachers. Differences among the three groups were most pronounced around the issue of shortening pre-service teacher preparation programs. While supported by only a minority of each group, educators working at levels above the school were more likely to support shortening pre-service training than were teachers or headteachers. Headteachers were more favorably disposed towards the idea of having more responsibility for instructional supervision of teachers, but were less enthusiastic than teachers about the prospect of introducing a merit pay system to reward effective teaching. These results presumably reflect the difficulty headteachers foresee in their own role in making those merit decisions within their schools. The lack of strong support for shortening teacher preparation programs and the somewhat greater differences across groups on these items can be understood, at least in part, through two dynamics suggested by Kingdon (1995) that prohibit possible solutions to rising to the policy agenda: fragmentation and a lack of value acceptability (pp. 119, 132). When decision-makers and other stakeholders are not directed towards similar goals (e.g. fragmented) the development of acceptable policy solutions is difficult. In the education policy arena education ministries tend to be oriented toward issues of cost, efficiency and effectiveness. Educators at the school level tend to be more concerned with individual students’ learning. Both perspectives capture legitimate concerns, but the differences among groups can slow down, or even thwart, effective action. Furthermore, teachers who have little power in the steep hierarchy of the political system of sub-Saharan Africa cannot influence and therefore become isolated from policy-making. This fragmentation can be seen in the varied responses to this policy option by education officials both above and at the school level. Education officials who supported shortening teacher training stated that it was a good idea but that it would require more highly qualified and motivated teacher trainees. Teachers who opposed this idea felt that it demanded too much of teachers to learn the required knowledge in shorter periods, which would result in lower quality teaching and learning. The lack of support, particularly by teachers, for decreasing the period of teacher training, and yet the enthusiasm for additional training through distance education, mentoring and supervision, can be further understood by the idea of value acceptability. Kingdon (1995) posited that value acceptability within the policy community is one of the criteria for whether a policy solution can be considered a serious and viable proposal. Reducing the amount of teacher training for secondary teachers is not compatible with teachers’ value of education and their belief that pre-service teacher education affects the quality of teaching and learning. Teachers’ comments reflected support for more education, not less, when they stated they had not had sufficient


530 J. G. DeJaeghere et al. time to study content areas and when they supported initiatives for further training through in-service education and supervision. This lack of congruence between teachers’ beliefs about what is necessary for good teaching and learning and a proposed policy that aims to reduce the amount of training and, in turn, negatively affect good teaching and learning, promotes resistance from teachers. From the vantage of Kingdon’s model, one possible way to narrow the discrepancy between school level educators’ beliefs and government policies is to change the problem stakeholders are attempting to solve in a way that draws on a more complex set of criteria in evaluating potential solutions. For example, sharing more or different information about teacher supply (e.g. well-grounded data on enrollment growth, teacher demand and fiscal implications of alternatives) may create more space for productive discussion. It may not be possible to overcome the fragmentation among groups or the lack of value acceptability about shortening pre-service teacher training within the timeframe in which a response to the projected teacher shortages in sub-Saharan Africa needs to be implemented. Nonetheless, governments that find such interventions attractive (e.g. shortening pre-service preparation) might be well advised to combine those interventions with strategies more palatable to educators at the school level as a way of partially offsetting the potentially negative reaction of those who will most directly feel the consequences of the change in policy. The results of this study are consistent with Kingdon’s model. Policy solutions which are low cost and technically easy to implement (e.g. mentoring and teacher networks) are often popular options. Policy solutions that do not have strong value acceptability encounter greater difficulty in rising to the policy agenda. If shortening pre-service teacher preparation is a policy option attractive to international planners or government leaders, they have a substantial task ahead of them in persuading those closer to the schools of the merit of the idea. Acknowledgements This paper draws on field data originally collected as part of a World Bank project undertaken by the Academy of Educational Development (AED) in Washington, DC. The authors express their appreciation to AED for its support of the original project and to the local researchers in the six countries who collected the field data. The authors acknowledge their important contribution to this paper. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Bank, AED or the field data collectors.

Notes 1.

While Kingdon’s model has not been widely applied to developing country contexts, it offers a promising framework for assessing government responses to the education issues they now face. Traditionally education systems in many sub-Saharan countries have tended to operate as ‘steep hierarchies’, with decision-making power heavily concentrated at the top and those at

Secondary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa 531

2.


3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

the bottom relegated largely to implementing decisions passed down the system (Savage, 1990; Chapman et al., 1997; Chapman & Miric, 2005). While some sub-Saharan countries are engaged in efforts at substantial decentralization, the governance of education in many other countries is still characterized by these steep hierarchies in which teachers, headteachers and communities seemingly have little power. Nonetheless, ample evidence documents the gatekeeper role of school-level personnel in the adoption of new ideas. Even in steep hierarchies actors at each level have to choose the problems they wish to engage, assess the feasibility of potential solutions and calculate the political consequences of taking (or not taking) action. A secondary reason for not conducting cross-country comparisons was that it would have necessitated a larger sample size than was feasible within the parameters of this study. The countries were selected as part of a larger World Bank study and availability of qualified local research teams was considered an important element in the sampling frame. In Madagascar 12 teachers, four headteachers and eight policy-makers were selected. The sample group education officials included teacher trainers in universities, Ministry of Education officials, district education officials and teacher association or union officials. For example, a degree from a teacher training college may be completed in two years, while a Bachelor’s degree from a university may be three or four years. Supervisors trained in specific content areas. An additional 40% (23) of teachers said they would leave and teach in a private school.

Notes on contributors Joan G. DeJaeghere is Lecturer of Comparative and International Development Education in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include international development education, intercultural education and, in particular, civic education, girls’ education and education for ethnic and linguistic minorities. She has conducted evaluations, report writing and materials design for USAID, UNICEF, UNESCO and World Bank projects. Her most recent publications include ‘Who will teach? The emerging shortage of secondary school teachers in sub-Saharan Africa’ (with D. W. Chapman and A. Mulkeen, under review) and ‘Citizenship as privilege and power: variations in local, national and international contexts’ [Pacific Asian Education, 2004, 15(2), 44–55]. David W. Chapman is Professor of Education in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota. His specialization is international development assistance. He has worked in over 40 countries for the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development, UNICEF, the Asian Development Bank, UNESCO and similar organizations. He has authored or edited seven books and over 100 journal articles, many of them on issues related to the development of education systems in international settings. His books include Higher education in the developing world: changing contexts and institutional responses [2002, with A. E. Austin (Eds), Westport, CT, Greenwood] and Adapting technology for school improvement: a global perspective [2004, with L. Mählck (Eds), Paris, UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning]. Aidan Mulkeen is a Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank. He is currently working on analytic studies on education in sub-Saharan Africa, including work

532 J. G. DeJaeghere et al. on teacher deployment and utilization. He has previously worked on education projects in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.


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