Since its creation in 2009, the Teacher Task Force has been developing and implementing various activities to mitigate three “problem areas” for teachers: the policy gap, the capacity gap, and the financing gap. In 2013, the Task Force published an analytical report on effective policies and practices to address the teacher gap in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. Most recently, the Task Force has looked to support education policymakers, practitioners and researchers in monitoring the teacher-related targets of the post-2015 international education agenda.
Within the Asia-Pacific region, the Teacher Task Force Secretariat recently co-sponsored the UNESCO-KEDI Regional Policy Seminar 2014 “Teacher Effectiveness in Support of Quality Learning in the Asia-Pacific”. It invited key resource persons for the Seminar, including from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) of the OECD, the Vice-Chair of the EFA Steering Committee, and the Teacher Task Force network to help contribute international perspectives to the discussion.
Under the second phase of the Strategic Plan 2014-2016, the Teacher Task Force has developed and implemented programmes to ensure teacher effectiveness around three main lines of actions: (i) advocacy and coordination with global and regional initiatives; (ii) knowledge creation and dissemination; and (iii) facilitation of countries’ access to technical support. Some of the main activities of the Teacher Task Force scheduled in 2014 include: coordination amongst major international organizations at the Technical Reference Group on teacher effectiveness of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE); preparation for the publication of the global analysis on the requirements for teaching profession in collaboration with internationally-recognized research institutions and with UNESCO entities; and publication of the teacher policy development guide for education policymakers.
At the UNESCO-KEDI Seminar, Professor Mohamed Ragheb of the Arab Republic of Egypt, a focal point for the Teacher Task Force, shared a draft teacher effectiveness assessment framework based on discussion amongst the participants. This assessment is designed to contribute to the post-2015 international education debate related to teachers in the Asia-Pacific region. The draft framework articulates the factors that need to be taken into account by education policymakers across five categories: (i) governance; (ii) attracting and recruiting good candidates; (iii) professional development; (iv) retaining good teachers (motivation); and (v) effective deployment; and three categories of actors: (i) the education ministry; (ii) other ministries and governmental organizations; and (iii) independent bodies. The Teacher Task Force expects that this draft framework will be further refined and enriched, not only by the participants of the Seminar, but also by other organizations and professionals with a view to monitoring the teacher-related targets of the post-2015 international education agenda.
In December 2014, the Teacher Task Force is planning to organize an annual International Policy Dialogue Forum, focusing on the post-2015 international education agenda vis-à-vis national teacher policymaking. The draft framework produced by the UNESCO-KEDI Regional Policy Seminar 2014 will be discussed with policymakers, practitioners and researchers to inform the international debate around post-2015 teacher targets.
For more information, please contact: Edem Adubra [e.adubra(at)unesco.org]
Written by: Hiromichi Katayama [h.katayama(at)unesco.org]
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