Teachers for Rural Schools A challenge for Africa Aidan Mulkeen Africa Region World Bank

What makes a child go to school? Weaker demand (PUSH) Less educated parents Lower parent interest in education More competing duties Homes less conducive to study Weaker schools (PULL) Fewer teachers, Less qualified teachers Weaker support Weaker supervision Lower quality. Rural areas PUSH from parents PULL attraction of a good school

What makes a child go to school? Weaker demand (PUSH) Less educated parents Lower parent interest in education More competing duties Homes less conducive to study Weaker schools (PULL) Fewer teachers, Less qualified teachers Weaker support Weaker supervision Lower quality. PUSH from parents PULL attraction of a good school Rural areas The children who are “hard to reach” get a WORSE education service than their urban cousins

Teacher deployment Facilities, –Electricity, water, housing –Social activities Health –Greater risks, –Poorer care Opportunities: –Further study –Promotion Gender –Security –Splitting families –“finding a husband” HIV –access to care Local language

The hidden problem Average Pupil Teacher Ratio Maputo 54 Manica 67 Mozambique Urban 44 Rural 77 Malawi Dar Es Salaam 53 Kigoma 74 Tanzania Averages figures for districts mask much greater differences, and hide the real problem in the most remote schools. In Lesotho some isolated schools have no qualified teacher at all Maputo 8% untrained Manica 58% untrained Mozambique Ching’ombe, Near Lilongwe 43 St Paul’s Zomba 141 Malawi

The hidden problem Average Pupil Teacher Ratio Maputo 54 Manica 67 Mozambique Urban 44 Rural 77 Malawi Dar Es Salaam 53 Kigoma 74 Tanzania Averages figures for districts mask much greater differences, and hide the real problem in the most remote schools. In Lesotho some isolated schools have no qualified teacher at all Maputo 8% untrained Manica 58% untrained Mozambique Ching’ombe, Near Lilongwe 43 St Paul’s Zomba 141 Malawi The rural-urban disparity in teacher provision is bigger than the statistics suggest

Planned deployment Each teacher is assigned to a post, based on a plan Advantages: –Rational plan –Transparent process Disadvantages –Hard to enforce –Increased attrition/ wastage Mozambique Each province allocates teachers. Teachers often refuse postings in remote schools. These often later get posts in urban schools. Malawi Teachers assigned to schools and trained in situ. Trickle-back, teachers manage to get transfers back to more desirable schools.

Free market deployment Each school recruits its own teachers Advantages –Greater take-up, teachers only apply if interested –More local recruitment, greater retention Disadvantages –Local influence –Market effects – more unqualified teachers in less desirable areas. –Difficult to transfer? Lesotho Each school is allocated a number of POSTS, based on school numbers. School management committees can advertise, and select the teacher Most places are filled. Little variation in PTR. Best qualified teachers can get the most attractive jobs. More unqualified teachers in remote schools.

Solutions: Incentives Financial incentives –Need to be substantial –Undermined by other opportunities in urban areas (double shift, extra coaching, private schools) –Classification difficult, border effects Housing –Attractive incentive (especially for female) –High cost, maintenance, difficulty of recovery Forced deployment –risk attrition, loss of experience, hard to implement Targeted recruitment –“once they go to college they do not want to go back” Alternatives: –Family-friendly deployment –Requirement to teach in a rural area

Solutions: Incentives Financial incentives –Need to be substantial –Undermined by other opportunities in urban areas (double shift, extra coaching, private schools) –Classification difficult, border effects Housing –Attractive incentive (especially for female) –High cost, maintenance, difficulty of recovery Forced deployment –risk attrition, loss of experience, hard to implement Targeted recruitment –“once they go to college they do not want to go back” Alternatives: –Family-friendly deployment –Requirement to teach in a rural area Teacher deployment is a crisis. Simply having more teachers is not sufficient. Many countries already have unemployed teachers and a shortage in rural areas.

Reaching rural children Geographical mapping in West Africa shows that attendance falls off very rapidly with distance to school

Implications of changing walking distance

5km walking distance (70% coverage)

2km walking distance (25% coverage)

Utilisation Usual model – full size school, 1 teacher per grade. –May need a population of nearly 1,000 people –With dropout, may have large numbers in lower classes, and very small senior classes. Options Incomplete schools / satellite schools –High dropout at point of transition Double shift teaching –Often shorter contact hours, lower quality Multigrade teaching –Widely used in OECD countries, effective. –Needs training, curricular flexibility and teaching materials. –Works best with older (literate) students

Utilisation Usual model – full size school, 1 teacher per grade. –May need a population of nearly 1,000 people –With dropout, may have large numbers in lower classes, and very small senior classes. Options Incomplete schools / satellite schools –High dropout at point of transition Double shift teaching –Often shorter contact hours, lower quality Multigrade teaching –Widely used in OECD countries, effective. –Needs training, curricular flexibility and teaching materials. –Works best with older (literate) students Many teachers in rural schools are underused, teaching small classes. Serious work on small multigrade schools is needed.

Teacher management Harder in rural areas: Increased absenteeism –Specific policies to transfer misbehaving teachers! –Pay collection and dealing with ministry. Less inspection Less access to support services – poorer quality Less monitoring by community Solutions: Streamline administration Increased support from within schools –Head teachers, –Senior teachers Increased monitoring by community.

Teacher management Harder in rural areas: Increased absenteeism –Specific policies to transfer misbehaving teachers! –Pay collection and dealing with ministry. Less inspection Less access to support services – poorer quality Less monitoring by community Solutions: Streamline administration Increased support from within schools –Head teachers, –Senior teachers Increased monitoring by community. Supporting and monitoring remote teachers is very costly. In-school support and monitoring need to be developed.

Key messages Rural education is not getting sufficient attention from policy makers. Without reaching rural areas, achieving the MDGs will not be possible. Teachers for rural areas are a key problem Need action on: –Deployment (getting teachers to schools) –Utilisation (multigrade?) –Management (ensuring attendance, and quality)