1. Teaching and learning Achieving quality for all
Name:
Event:
Location, date 2014
[Introduce yourself.]
[Ask people to turn off their phones.]
Education For All is a global movement led by UNESCO. The six EFA goals were agreed upon by 164 governments in 2000 in Dakar, Senegal, with 2015 as the deadline. Each year, the EFA Global Monitoring Report assesses progress towards the goals. This year’s report also looks forward to key issues that will need to be addressed after 2015.
Each year’s report also focuses on a theme of particular relevance and importance. This year’s theme is the global learning crisis and the vital role that teachers play in ensuring that all children, including the disadvantaged, are learning.

2. Key messages
By 2015, many countries will still not have reached the EFA goals.
There is a global learning crisis that is hitting the disadvantaged hardest.
Good quality education can only be achieved with good quality teachers.
Global education goals after must track progress of the marginalized.
Post-2015 goals must include specific targets to finance education.
The key messages in the eleventh EFA Global Monitoring Report are as follows:
By 2015, many countries will still not have reached the EFA goals.
Despite some progress, too many children are still out of school. The number of illiterate adults has remained largely unchanged over the past decade. This year’s Report shows that the global Education for All goals will not be reached by the 2015 deadline.
There is a global learning crisis that is hitting the disadvantaged hardest.
It is not enough just to go to school: children must also learn while they are there. But around four in ten children of primary school age are not learning the basics, whether in school or not. The disadvantaged – including the poor, girls, those in remote areas, the disabled and those in conflict-affected countries – are affected the most.
Good quality education cannot be achieved without good quality teachers
Policy-makers urgently need to make sure there are sufficient teachers with appropriate training to support the learning of disadvantaged children.
Global education goals after 2015 must track progress of the marginalized.
The failure to reach the disadvantaged must be remedied by putting equity at the heart of global education goals after 2015 – to make sure all children and young people, regardless of their backgrounds, are in school and learning. Post-2015 goals must have clear targets that can be measured using indicators that track the progress of the most disadvantaged, and the gap between the most advantaged and disadvantaged.
Post-2015 goals must also include specific targets to finance education, making sure no one is left behind due to lack of resources.

3. EFA goals will not be reached by 2015
Goal 1: Early childhood care and education
1 in 4 children under 5 suffer from stunting, because of malnutrition.
50% of young children have access to pre-primary education, but only 17% in low income countries.
Goal 2: Universal primary education
57 million children are out of school, half of whom live in conflict-affected countries.
In sub-Saharan Africa, only 23% of poor, rural girls complete primary education.
I will begin by giving a snapshot of progress towards the first 5 Education for All goals – the sixth goal, on education quality, will be covered in more detail in the second part of this presentation.
Goal 1: Early childhood care and education
Despite improvements, far too many children lack early childhood care and education.
1 in 4 children under 5 suffer from stunting – or short for their age because of malnutrition.
Between 1999 and 2011, the pre-primary gross enrolment ratio has increased from 33% to 50%. However, it has only reached 17% in low income countries.
Goal 2: Universal primary education
Universal primary education is likely to be missed by a wide margin.
The number of out-of-school children has fallen by 47% between 1999 and However 57 million children are still out of school, half of whom live in conflict-affected countries.
Many adolescents lack foundation skills gained through lower secondary education.
Participation in lower secondary education has increased from 72% to 82%.

4. EFA goals will not be reached by 2015
Goal 3: Youth and adult skills
69 million adolescents are out of school.
In low income countries, only 37% of adolescents complete lower secondary education, and only 14% of the poorest.
Goal 3: Youth and adult skills
Many adolescents lack foundation skills gained through lower secondary education.
Even though participation in lower secondary education has increased from 72% to 82%, 69 million adolescents are out of school.
In low income countries, only 37% of adolescents complete lower secondary education, and only 14% of the poorest.

5. The number of adolescents out of school declined slowly
Source: UIS database.
107 57 20 40 60 80
100
120
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
Millions
Out-of-school children
Out - of -
101 69 81 73
Out-of-school adolescents - o -
South and West Asia 22 40 31
Sub-Saharan Africa
As this graph shows, the number of children out of school has declined since 1999, however this progress has slowed dramatically since 2008.
Of even greater concern – the number of out-of-school adolescents has declined more slowly.
And in sub-Saharan Africa the number has remained unchanged since 1999 as increased enrolment has not kept up with population growth.

6. EFA goals will not be reached by 2015
Goal 4: Adult literacy
774 million adults are illiterate, a decline of just 1% since
Almost two-thirds of illiterate adults are women.
Goal 5: Gender parity and equality
There are fewer than 9 girls for every 10 boys:
in 17 countries at primary level
in 30 countries at secondary level.
Goal 4: Adult literacy
There is a long distance to go before all adults are literate.
The adult literacy rate increased from 76% in 1990 to 84% in 2011.
However, 774 million adults are still illiterate, a decline of just 1% since 2000.
And almost two-thirds of illiterate adults are women
Goal 5: Gender parity and equality
Gender disparities remain in many countries.
There are fewer than 9 girls for every 10 boys:
in 17 countries at primary level
in 30 countries at secondary level.
And achieving gender equality in education is even more elusive.

7. By 2015, many countries will still not have reached the EFA goals
Percentage of countries projected to reach a benchmark for five EFA goals by 2015
This year’s report identifies how many countries are likely to achieve each EFA goal by This graph shows that many countries will not reach the targets by the 2015 deadline.
Starting with pre-primary education, as you can see in the green part of the bar, by 2015, only around half of countries are expected to enrol 80% of children in pre-primary school.
By 2015, 56% of countries are likely to have reached the target of universal primary education.
And 46% of countries are likely to achieve universal lower secondary education by this date.
Adult literacy is most off track: only 29% of countries are likely to have reached universal adult literacy.
By contrast, greater progress will have been achieved towards gender parity: by 2015, 70% of countries are projected to reach gender parity in primary education and 56% are projected to reach gender parity in lower secondary education.
Source: Bruneforth (2013).

8. Failing to reach the marginalized in sub-Saharan Africa
Insufficient progress towards education goals reveals a failure to reach the marginalized.
New global education goals after 2015 must therefore galvanize special efforts to ensure that all children are in school and learning
In sub-Saharan Africa, at recent rates of progress, all the richest boys will complete primary school by 2021 and lower secondary school by 2041.
However, all poorest girls will only complete primary school by 2086, and will only complete lower secondary school by 2111.
This failure must be remedied by putting equity at the heart of new global education goals. Post-2015 goals must have clear targets that can be measured using indicators that track the progress of the most disadvantaged, and also show the gap between them and the most advantaged – making sure this has narrowed by the target date of 2030.

9. Fall in aid threatens education in the poorest countries
There is a financing gap of $26 billion per year
Yet, aid to basic education fell by 6% between 2010 and 2011
3.0
3.3
3.6
4.2
4.6
5.1
5.2
6.2
5.8 2 4 6 8
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Constant 2011 US$ billions
The success of countries in achieving education goals is affected by whether they have sufficient finance.
However, there is currently an annual finance gap of $26 billion per year for basic education.
Even though domestic resources are the main source of financing, the poorest countries require aid to make sure all children are in school and learning.
But:
Aid to basic education fell by 6% between 2010 and 2011, its first decrease since 2002.
Low income countries have been particularly affected. They receive only $1.9 billion for basic education, and 19 of these countries experienced a reduction in funding between 2010 and 2011.
Only US$1.9 billion of basic education aid was allocated to low income countries in 2011.
Source: OECD-DAC (2013)

10. After 2015, financing targets should be set for countries to allocate:
Targets must be set so no one is left behind due to lack of resources
After 2015, financing targets should be set for countries to allocate:
at least 6% of GNP on education; only 41 had reached this level by 2011
at least 20% of their budget on education; only 25 had reached this level by 2011
Financing targets should also apply to aid donors so that all funders are held to account for their promises.
Post-2015 goals must make sure that no one is left behind due to lack of resources
After 2015, financing targets should be set for countries to allocate:
at least 6% of GNP on education; only 41 had reached this level by 2011
at least 20% of their budget on education; only 25 had reached this level by 2011
Financing targets should also apply to aid donors so that all funders are held to account for their promises.

11. Teaching and Learning: Achieving quality for all
This year’s Report focuses on the sixth Education for All goal – improving the quality of education, and ensuring that measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all.
It shows that there is a global learning crisis – and that policy-makers need to support teachers to overcome this crisis.

12. 250 million children are failing to learn the basics
The global learning crisis is hitting the disadvantaged hardest
250 million children are not learning the basics – equivalent to 38% of all children of primary-school age.
130 million of these children are unable to read, write or do basic mathematics despite having spent at least four years in school.
The majority of these children live in poor countries and come from disadvantaged backgrounds: the poor, girls, those in remote areas, and children with disabilities.
Often unable to understand a simple sentence, these children are ill equipped to make the transition to secondary education.

13. Many children in the poorest countries are not learning the basics
Reached grade 4 and learned the basics
There is a vast divide between regions in learning achievement. In North America and Western Europe, 96% of children stay in school until grade 4 and achieve the minimum reading standards, compared with only one-third of children in South and West Asia and two-fifths in sub-Saharan Africa.
These two regions account for more than three-quarters of those not crossing the minimum learning threshold.
in 21 out of the 85 countries with full data, less than half of children are learning the basics. Of these, 17 are in sub-Saharan Africa.
If children fail to learn the basics while in school, this:
Increases the risk of drop-out
Means that disadvantages that will remain, and even become larger, over time

14. The cost of the learning crisis
Insufficient spending on education is a false economy.
It is creating a learning crisis that has costs not only for the future ambitions of children, but also for the current finances of governments.
The annual cost of children in school who are not learning the basics is equivalent to US$129 billion, or 10% of global spending on primary education

15. Poorer children learn less
Children completing primary school and achieving minimum learning standards in mathematics, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America 20 40 60 80
100
Chad
Senegal
Mauritania
Côte d'Ivoire
Burkina Faso
Madagascar
Benin
Cameroon
Burundi
Congo
Zambia
Mozambique
Malawi
Uganda
Namibia
Lesotho
Zimbabwe
U. R. Tanzania
Kenya
Swaziland
Guatemala
Nicaragua
Dominican Rep.
El Salvador
Panama
Paraguay
Ecuador
Peru
Colombia
Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Uruguay
Costa Rica
Central and West Africa
Southern and Eastern Africa
Latin America
Children of primary school age (%)
Poor
Rich
While average figures on learning achievement provide an overall picture of the scale of the learning crisis, they can conceal large disparities within countries.
This graph shows whether a child is learning is strongly influenced by family wealth – and includes information on all children, whether in school or not.
In many African countries, no more than one in five poor children reach the last grade and learn the basics. As a result, there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor.
In Latin America, where performance is higher in general, children from disadvantaged backgrounds, also lag far behind their wealthier peers.
In El Salvador, half the number of children from the poorest households complete primary education and master the basics, compared with the richest households.
Rich countries are also failing to ensure that the marginalised learn: In Australia, for example, around two-thirds of indigenous students achieve the minimum benchmark in grade 8, compared with almost 90% of their non-indigenous peers.
Even so, some countries have been able to get more children into school while ensuring that they learn once there, showing that it is possible to balance increased access while maintaining quality.
The United Republic of Tanzania, for example, made great strides in the numbers of students reaching the end of primary school, partly because primary school fees were abolished in Between 2000 and 2007, around 1.5 million additional children learning the basics as a result.

16. Poor quality education leaves a legacy of illiteracy
One-quarter of those aged 15 to 24 in poor countries are unable to read a single sentence.
The poor quality of education is leaving a legacy of illiteracy among young people. Around 175 million young people in low and lower middle income countries cannot read all or part of a sentence. This is equivalent to around one quarter of the youth population.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of young people are not able to do so.
Young women are the worst affected of all, making up 61% of youth who are not literate. In South and West Asia, two out of three of young people who cannot read are young women.

17. Four strategies for providing the best teachers
We must galvanize special efforts to ensure that all children are in school and learning
Teachers are a vital part of the solution to the global learning crisis.
This Report identifies four strategies to provide the best teachers to reach all children with a good quality education:
Recruit the best candidates from a wide range of backgrounds
Train all teachers well, both before and during their careers
Allocate teachers effectively by offering incentives to teach in disadvantaged areas
Retain teachers through improved working conditions and career progression pathways

18. Replacement for attrition
Strategy 1: Recruit the best candidates
Source: UIS (2013)
Replacement for attrition
3.7 million
Additional teachers
1.6 million 1 2 3 4 5 6
Total primary teacher recruitment needed (millions)
0.7
Sub- -
Saharan
Africa
All
other
60%
1.6 million additional teachers are needed to achieve universal primary education by 2015
On current trends, 29 countries will not even have filled their primary school teacher gap by 2030
5.1 million additional teachers will be needed to achieve universal lower secondary education by 2030
The first strategy concerns the recruitment of sufficient numbers of teachers, and of the best candidates, to reduce the number of pupils per teacher, and to expand access.
In addition to 3.7 million teachers needed to replace those leaving the profession (due to retirement, ill health, or change in job), 1.6 million additional teachers are needed to achieve universal primary education by 2015
At current rates of recruitment, 29 won’t even be able to fill their teacher gap by 2030.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 60% of additional teachers needed, and for 9 out of 10 countries needing the most additional primary teachers, the exception being Pakistan. Nigeria has by far the largest gap to fill.

19. Policy-makers must attract the best candidates to teaching
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Policy-makers must attract the best candidates to teaching
All trainees need, at a minimum, to have completed secondary education with good grades.
There should be a good balance of male to female teachers.
Teachers from a diverse range of backgrounds need to be attracted to the profession.
The first step to getting good teachers is to attract the most motivated candidates into the profession.
It is not enough just to want to teach. People should enter the profession having received a good education themselves. They need to have at least completed secondary schooling of appropriate quality and relevance, so that they have a sound knowledge of the subjects they will be teaching and the ability to acquire the skills needed to teach.
In countries with wide gender disparities in education, there is often also a lack of female teachers. An imbalance between male and female teachers in the classroom can have adverse consequences for girls’ learning opportunities.
In South Sudan, less than 10% of all teachers are women. The government is addressing the lack of female teachers by offering incentives for girls to complete secondary school, and for young women to enter the teaching profession.
Recruiting teachers from under-represented groups to work in their own communities guarantees that children have teachers familiar with their culture.
Diverse backgrounds include those from ethnic backgrounds, who speak local languages, and those with disabilities.
One positive example of a country actively looking to diversify its recruitment is Cambodia, increasing the pool of teachers from ethnic minorities.
In Mozambique, scholarships, trained teacher educators and appropriate facilities have supported the training of visually impaired primary school teachers.

20. Strategy 2: Train all teachers well
In one out of three countries, less than three-quarters of teachers are trained to national standards
Source: UIS database. 20 40 60 80
100
120
140
160
Barbados
Dominica
Qatar
Kyrgyzstan
Guyana
Nicaragua
Solomon Is.
Belize
Liberia
Comoros
Lesotho
S.Tome/Principe
Nigeria
Equat. Guinea
Togo
Guinea
Ghana
Sudan (pre-secession)
Sierra Leone
Mozambique
Cameroon
Bangladesh
Senegal
Mali
Benin
Chad
Ethiopia
Guinea-Bissau
C. A. R.
Pupils per teacher
Pupil/teacher ratio
Pupil/trained teacher ratio
Teachers need not only to be recruited, but also to be trained. In one out of three countries, less than three-quarters of teachers are trained to national standards. This results in a gap between the number of pupils taught by a teacher versus those taught by a trained teacher.
Bangladesh, for example, meets the standard of 40 pupils per teacher. However, there are more than 60 pupils per trained teacher.
It is not just new teachers, but also teachers who are already in place who need training.
Mali, for example, recruited teachers at fast pace over the past decade, which helped lower the number of pupils per teacher dramatically. However, many of these teachers are untrained. The result is that there are 92 pupils for every trained teacher, is one of the world’s highest. On its past trend of trained teacher recruitment, Mali would not achieve a ratio of 40 pupils per trained teacher until 2030.

21. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Policy-makers must provide good quality pre-service and ongoing teacher education
Teachers must have good subject knowledge.
Teachers must be equipped to meet the needs of those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Teachers need training in the use of assessment tools to detect and address learning difficulties early.
Teacher trainees should have classroom experience and new teachers need support of mentors.
Training must not stop once teachers are in the classroom.
Teacher educators need training too.
Policy-makers must provide good quality pre-service and ongoing teacher education
Teachers must have good subject knowledge.
In low income countries, however, teachers often lack core subject knowledge because their own education has been poor. In Ghana, trainees have to pass an examination on subject knowledge to pass their first year.
Teachers must be equipped to meet the needs of those from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those in remote or under-resourced schools.
In these settings, teachers need to teach multiple grades and ages in one classroom. In Sri Lanka that trained teachers to develop lesson plans and grade-appropriate tasks for such classes had a positive impact on pupils’ achievement in mathematics.
Teachers need training in the use of assessment tools to detect and address learning difficulties early.
Training in the use of classroom assessment tools in crucial, so that teachers can quickly identify children struggling to learn and provide targeted support. Yet this is rarely part of initial teacher education. In Egypt and Liberia, training teachers in early grade reading instruction and the use of classroom assessment tools has had a positive impact on children’s learning.
Teacher trainees should have classroom experience and new teachers need support of mentors.
Teacher education in developing countries often fails to ensure that trainees get adequate experience of learning to teach in classrooms, contributing to the poor quality of teaching. In Malawi, some teacher training institutes provide ample time for school-based experience to help prepare teachers for the realities of living and teaching in rural areas.
Training must not stop once teachers arrive in the classroom.
Ongoing training should provide teachers with new ideas about how to support weak learners. In Jordan, subject-based professional development programmes is being provided for some teachers to help them move away from rote learning.
Teacher educators need training too.
Globally, the training of teacher educators has largely been ignored, with the result that most teacher educators have little knowledge and experience of real classroom teaching challenges and trainees’ needs.

22. Strategy 3: Allocate teachers to reach the disadvantaged
The unequal allocation of teachers is affected by four main factors
Urban bias
Ethnicity and language
Gender
Subjects
Without better allocation of teachers:
fewer teachers will teach in deprived areas resulting in very large class sizes
disadvantaged students will be taught by teachers with weaker subject knowledge, exacerbating inequality in learning outcomes.
Students will leave school without learning the basics.
There are four main factors affecting this allocation:
Urban bias: - Malawi has one of the world’s most severe teacher shortages – resulting in 76 pupils for every teacher. But it also allocates teachers inefficiently. As a result, there are surpluses in urban schools and severe shortages in rural areas, aggravating poor learning outcomes
Ethnicity and language: In Mexico, children who speak indigenous languages are often taught by teachers who have less education and training.
Gender: Uneven allocation leaves parts of some countries without any female teachers. In parts of Rwanda, only 10% of primary school teachers are female, while in other districts the share increases to 67%.
Subjects: In secondary schools, in particular, there are often shortages of teachers in specific subjects, such as mathematics and sciences. Indonesia, for example, has a surplus of teachers at lower secondary level in language, but shortages in computer science

23. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Policy-makers must allocate the best teachers where they are most needed
Teachers should be provided with incentives to work in remote areas
Local recruitment of teachers helps to ensure sufficient teachers are working in difficult areas
Policy-makers must allocate the best teachers where they are most needed
To achieve a balance of teachers across the country, some governments post teachers to disadvantaged areas.
One reason for the Republic of Korea’s strong and more equitable learning outcomes is that disadvantaged groups have better access to more qualified and experienced teachers.
Teachers should be provided with incentives to work in remote areas
Bangladesh has provided safe housing is particularly important in encouraging women to teach in rural areas.
The Gambia provides a financial incentive of up to 40% of base salary to work in remote regions.
In Rwanda, trained teachers are provided with subsidized loans to work in hard-to-reach areas.
In China, high performing university students are given incentives to teach in rural schools in their home provinces, including free tuition.
Local recruitment of teachers helps to ensure sufficient teachers are working in difficult areas - as in the case of Lesotho.
Local recruitment can also support the recruitment of female teachers, but some of the most disadvantaged communities lack competent applicants where access to primary education has been low, an issue that Afghanistan is trying to address.

24. Strategy 4: Provide incentives to retain teachers
Teachers in some poor countries are not paid enough to live on 10 20 30 40 50 60
Morocco
Mexico
Kenya
Nigeria
Estonia
Hungary
Mauritania
U. R. Tanzania
Poland
Slovak Republic
Ethiopia
Eritrea
 Côte d'Ivoire
Cape Verde
Senegal
Angola
Benin
Malawi
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Burundi
S. Tome/Principe
Congo
Mali
Niger
Togo
Gambia
Sierra Leone
Guinea
Chad
Rwanda
Comoros
Mozambique
Uganda
Zambia
Madagascar
D.R. Congo
Guinea Bissau
Liberia
C. A. R.
Daily salary of a primary school teacher, 2011 PPP US$
Source: Pole de Dakar database; OECD (2013b).
In Liberia, where a family needs at least US$10 per day, teachers are paid only US$6 a day.
Salaries are just one of many factors that motivate teachers, but they are a key consideration in attracting the best candidates and retaining the best teachers
This graph shows the daily wage of teachers in dollar terms.
A teacher who is the main breadwinner, and has at least four family members to support, needs to earn at least US$10 per day to keep the family above the poverty line of US$2 per day per person. However, average teacher salaries are below this level in eight countries.
In Liberia, for example, teachers are paid only $6 a day

25. Strategy 4: Provide incentives to retain teachers
Many West African countries have a teaching force made up largely of people on short-term contracts 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
100
Rwanda
Malawi
Comoros
Burundi
Côte d'Ivoire
Gambia
Uganda
Guinea Bissau
Madagascar
Congo
C.A.R
Senegal
Togo
Burkina Faso
Guinea
Chad
Benin
Cameroon
Niger
Mali
Share of total primary teacher workforce (%)
Civil servant
Contract
Source: Pôle de Dakar database. -
Some teachers are paid even less. In sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, policy-makers have responded to the need to expand education systems rapidly by recruiting teachers on low pay with temporary contracts, and with little training.
In some countries in West Africa – such as Senegal – such contract teachers make up at least half the teaching force.
Contract teachers are usually paid considerably less than civil service teachers - In Niger, contract teachers earn half as much as civil service teachers, for example.
Recruiting contract teachers on low pay is only a short term solution to filling teaching gaps, however. Such teachers will often end up demanding equal pay and working conditions if they are to stay in the profession, as in the case of Benin.

26. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Provide incentives to retain the best teachers
Teachers should be paid enough to meet at least their basic needs, and offered the best possible working conditions.
Teachers also need an attractive career path that rewards those who address diversity and support weak students.
Teachers should be paid enough to meet at least their basic needs, and offered the best possible working conditions.
As a starting point, all countries must offer salaries that are both sufficient to meet basic needs, and are competitive with other professions.
In addition to the pay structure, some countries have implemented performance-related pay programmes as a means to provide financial incentives for teachers to improve learning. However, such programmes should be considered with caution. It is difficult to find reliable ways to evaluate which teachers add the most value, even in more advanced systems such as the United States. Such programmes also tend to reward teachers who are already in good schools teaching high-achieving students, encourage teachers to ‘teach to the test’ and may reduce cooperation amongst teachers.
Rewarding schools with collective bonuses may be more effective in improving student learning than individual bonuses, as in parts of Brazil.
Teachers also need an attractive career path that rewards those who address diversity and support weak students.
Beyond appropriate pay and secure contracts, initiatives by teachers to address diversity and support disadvantaged learners should be recognized.
In Ghana, a review of teacher management and development policy resulted in a new policy framework that supports evidence-based teacher promotion to better recognise teachers’ accomplishments.

27. Strengthen teacher governance
Measures are needed to address teacher misconduct:
to tackle gender-based violence
to reduce teacher absenteeism
to prevent teachers offering private tuition to their own students.
For these four strategies to be achieved, there is a need for teachers to be better managed.
Strong leadership is required to ensure that teachers are accountable, that they show up on time, and provide equal support to all.
Governments should work closely with teacher unions to formulate policies and adopt effective codes of conduct to prevent gender-based misconduct, as in Kenya.
Teacher absenteeism by teachers can have major impacts on learning.
Strategies to reduce teacher absenteeism can only be effective if they address the root causes, such as erratic teacher pay and poor working conditions. In Cambodia, for example, teachers who did not have to miss school to collect pay reported fewer absences.
In Malawi and Zambia, to address absence related to HIV/AIDS, strategies have been introduced to improve the living conditions of HIV-positive teachers, including greater access to treatment, nutritional supplements and monthly allowances or loans.
Private tuition results in the widening of inequalities in learning based on the ability to pay.
In Egypt, private tuition averages over 40% of household spending on education, as teachers need to find ways to supplement their low salaries.
Banning private tutoring outright is difficult to enforce, but at a minimum teachers should not be permitted to tutor their own students. This should ensure that the full curriculum is taught to all students, including those unable to afford supplementary tutoring.

28. Provide education in relevant languages
Provide appropriate curriculum & assessment strategies
Policy-makers must ensure teachers are supported by strategies that:
Support learning from the earliest years delivered at an appropriate pace
Provide education in relevant languages
Promote inclusion through the curriculum
Provide accelerated second-chance programmes
Identify and support low achievers with classroom assessment
To be effective, teachers need the support of appropriate curricular and assessment strategies.
Policy-makers should ensure that the early grade curriculum focuses on securing strong foundation skills for all, and is delivered at an appropriate pace.
In Viet Nam, the curriculum is closely matched to what children are able to learn, paying particular attention to disadvantaged learners.
Provide education in relevant languages
A bilingual approach to curriculum delivery that ensures continued teaching in local languages alongside the introduction of a second language – ideally throughout primary grades – can improve learning outcomes for children from ethnic and linguistic minorities. In Cameroon, students taught in their local language in early grades scored higher than those taught in English.
Promote inclusion through the curriculum
The curriculum needs to make sure it empowers students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In Honduras, graduates of a programme to empower girls from minority groups that used an interdisciplinary curriculum challenging gender stereotypes displayed greater problem-solving skills, gender awareness and self-confidence, as well as higher test scores.
Provide accelerated second-chance programmes
In countries with a large population of out-of-school children and youth, governments and donors should invest in second-chance accelerated learning programmes and recruit and equip teachers with the skills to run them. Learners using a accelerated curriculum in Bangladesh, Ghana and Liberia report learning gains equivalent to their expected grade for re-entry in formal schooling.
Identify and support low achievers with classroom assessment
Classroom-based assessment tools are important to help teachers identify, monitor and support learners at risk of low achievement. Assessments need to be aligned with the curriculum so that they do not add significantly to teachers’ workloads. In South Africa, for example, well-designed assessments with clear guidelines on how to interpret results helped teachers with little training who were working in difficult conditions.
Students can also make considerable gains if they are offered more opportunities to monitor their own learning, as with Activity Based Learning Tamil Nadu, India.

29. Make teachers part of the solution
Finally - successful implementation of reform requires governments to engage more closely with teachers.
Teachers are often seen as part of the problem of poor learning, but should be seen as part of the solution. It is crucial that teachers and teacher unions are engaged in the design, development and implementation of policies and reforms to improve educational quality for all.

30. Blog: efareport.wordpress.com #teachlearn / @efareport
Blog: efareport.wordpress.com
#teachlearn
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