The world needs 31 million more secondary teachers: new guidance out now to fill the gap

While tools and techniques for managing primary teachers are readily available, there has long been a lack of guidance on improving teacher management at the secondary level. Subject-specialization makes it a lot more complex. These guidelines seek to fill this gap and to start a discussion around this important topic.

The guidelines will be extremely useful for education statisticians, education planners, education officers, and policy-makers both in terms of its structure and content. The guidelines provide coverage of the key matters that have to do with the allocation and utilization of teachers in a single document. Both tools and policy options are presented, which increases the document's usability, Villanueva said.

A double shortage

Focusing on secondary teacher requirements, allocation, and utilization, the guidelinespresent a logical set of steps and indicators to foster a culture of strong teacher management and to help keep pace with demand.

The publication also investigates the many challenges surrounding secondary teacher management, while also putting forward potential mitigation strategies.

For instance, it explores how to more equitably allocate teachers focusing on the most vulnerable regions and schools within a system, or how to best use current teaching staff to reduce the burden - and distraction - of recruiting and training new personnel.

Having wider access to good-quality secondary education, with a robust teaching force, is crucial for consolidating foundational learning and preparing young people for further study and the labour market. It also contributes to political stability, human development, and economic growth.

For example, in low-income countries, universalizing upper secondary completion by 2030 would increase per capita income by 75 per cent by 2050 and bring poverty elimination forward by 10 years.

What users can gain from this guidelines

After reading this guide, users will be able to:

• understand the major challenges of teacher management at the secondary level;
• apply methods to project teacher recruitment requirements;
• diagnose issues relating to the requirements, allocation, and utilization of secondary teachers;
• develop evidence-based policies, strategies, and practices for managing the supply of secondary teachers.

The guidelines are already being put to use by education practitioners enrolled in the KIX EMAP Learning Cycle on secondary teacher management, led by IIEP. The course includes participants from Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Maldives, Moldova, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tunisia, and Ukraine.

Gita Steiner-Khamsi, KIX EMAP Hub Lead Researcher, explains why the course is important to planners and policy-makers.

With the extension of universal compulsory schooling to the secondary school level, supported by SDG 4, ministries of education and their respective policy advisors seek solutions on how to deal with the complex task of attracting qualified teachers to the profession, keeping them in the profession, and supporting them so that they can teach to their fullest potential, she says.

Associated tools

Our experts