Teachers/educators are the major pillars in the teaching and learning process. Without an appropriate focus on teachers, access, quality and equity of education for all is not feasible. The quality of teachers/ educators has been found to explain significant differences in learning outcomes. Equitable deployment of qualified teachers/educators also has a significant bearing on the distribution of learning outcomes and thus equity. There are clear indications that provision of quality education tends to have a greater impact on the most vulnerable or deprived students and thus providing quality teachers/educators to all schools and educational institutions is one important way to address the problem of inequity. As new and more complex roles are ascribed to teachers/educators, coherent and adequate selection, preparation and continuous professional development strategies must be in place to endow those entrusted with teaching with the required knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, and retain them in the profession.
This Analytical Tool focuses on teachers/educators as a critical subsystem that can support or impede MS from achieving the goal of quality education for all. The Analytical Tool is one of 14 tools in the UNESCO General Education Quality Diagnostic/Analysis and Framework (GEQAF) designed to help MS to assess all aspects of their education system to improve quality and equity. It is is particularly linked to the analytical tools on the teaching and learning processes will serve as a guide for reflection and not as a prescription of a particular choice, or of a particular method to analyze the issue of teachers/ educators and education quality. The paramount question to be addressed by this toolkit is to what extent the teachers/educators sub-system has been a major factor in explaining the quality problems we face in our education system. This question can be addressed by a thorough analysis and reflection on the systems and mechanisms we have in place for attracting suitable and motivated individuals to the teaching profession, for selection and preparation of teacher/educator candidates, their recruitment, deployment, retention and their effective management for the delivery of quality education. (See: Teacher policies on Preparation, Recruitment and Retention of teachers). At each of these critical stages, from initial entry into the profession to the delivery of quality education, we need to pose some fundamental questions to identify the factors affecting the ability of our teachers/ educators to deliver quality education to our learners.
The diagnostics of the teachers/educators sub-system will facilitate the identification of areas of strength to build on and also areas of weaknesses and gaps to address. The diagnostic and analysis of both strengths and remaining challenges should lead to the formulation of action plans focusing on the most critical challenges, if addressed, can unlock great potential for improving the education system to deliver equity and quality.
