Martial Dembele Presentation to 9th International Policy Dialogue Forum 5-7 December 2016 Siem Reap, Cambodia

1. THE USE OF CONTRACTTEACHERSTHE USE OF CONTRACTTEACHERS
IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:
A review of the situation in 24
countries
By
Martial Dembélé
Amita Chudgar
Isatou Ndow
9th
International Policy Dialogue Forum December 3-7, 2016,
Siem Reap

2. OutlineOutline
 Context + methodology
 Brief history and main reasons
 Types of contract teachers + size overs the years
 Main differences between fixed-term contract
teachers and open-ended appointment/
permanent teachers
 Pathways out of fixed-term contract status
 Overarching observations
 Notheworthy trends and innovations/measures
 Concluding notes

3. ContextContext
 International commitments to EFA ===> increased
teacher demand + shortages in LICs, SSA in particular
 Economic context marked by reduction of public
finances ===> challenge: ensure adequate teacher supply to
respond to system needs, at reasonable costs, while
ensuring teacher quality (UIS, 2006)
 Available policy options: modify structural elements
of the teaching profession (World Bank, 2010; Santiago,
2002), including:
• ITE entry or exit requirements;
• length of ITE;
• remuneration + social benefits
• statuses + career structure
• workload

4. ContextContext (2)(2)
 Trends in policy over the past two decades: modification of
most elements above, in particular lowering of ITE entry
requirements and length + massive recruitment of non
permanent teachers under various contractual arrangements
 Recruitment of contract teachers = a worldwide practice,
even in HICs, but unusually high proportions in SSA since the
mid-1990s, with likelihood of continuation in context of
Education 2030 F4A and SDGs
 Characteristics of contract teachers compared to civil
service colleagues: lower academic credentials, little or no
professional preparation, uncertain career prospects and lower
salaries ===> concerns among various actors re: motivation,
occupational commitment, retention, performance, and
especially quality of education
 Stocktaking review by ITTF = a contribution to
responding to question

5. ContextContext (3)(3)
 Stocktaking review of the situation by ITFT = a
contribution to responding to the question:
How can SSA countries and their partners address
persisting teacher challenges and create opportunities for
achieving the global goal of ensuring that all learners are
“taught by qualified, professionally-trained, motivated and
well-supported teachers”?
 More specifically:
1) What is the current state of the practice of hiring
teachers on contract basis in various Sub-Saharan
countries?
2) What are the issues raised by the use of contract teachers
in different countries?
3) What solutions have countries put forward or envisaged?
4) What does this review suggest to improve the situation?

6. MethodologyMethodology
 24 participating countries: 9 English-speaking; 12 French-
speaking; 3 Portugese-speaking
 24 national experts tasked with:
1) producing a synthesis of relevant publications and reports
on teacher issues in the country;
2) completing a questionnaire on various teacher issues + a
set of statistical data gathering tables on teachers;
3) conducting semi-structured interviews with various
stakeholders, including teachers themselves; and
4) analyzing the data thus gathered and producing a national
report.
 3-member team of international experts tasked with
providing input at design phase and feedback on the national
reports, in addition to preparing a comparative regional
synthesis.

7. SELECTED FINDINGS

8. When did the participating countries beginWhen did the participating countries begin
hiring teachers on contract basis and why?hiring teachers on contract basis and why?
 A practice that is not new (e.g. case of Ethiopia) e, especially
in private schools
 Landmarks and critical factors in recent history:
• Attainment of independence
• Major post-independence political changes (e.g. revolutions [case
of Ethiopia in 1974])
• Armed conflicts (e.g. Mozambique)
• Major changes in the education sector (e.g. system restructuring
[case of Kenya in 1985], decentralization, etc.)
• Rapid growth of eligible population and high PTRs
• Teacher wage bill, economic hardships and subsequent SAPs
and their consequences (employment freezes, closure of pre-service
teacher education institutions in some countries, etc.)
• Low output of pre-serviceTE institutions
• Teacher attrition and internal teacher migration
• Commitment to EFA goals
Result: chronic teacher shortages

9. When did the participating countries beginWhen did the participating countries begin
hiring teachers on contract basis and why?hiring teachers on contract basis and why? (2)(2)
 Private schools: long history of hiring
teachers on contract basis
 What is new:
• Massive recruitment of teachers on contract basis
in the public sector (especially at primary level) since
the 1990s
• Emergence of community-funded public schools in
several countries (also recruting teachers on contract
basis)
• Increasing share of private sector in education
provision in several countries (a sector where hiring
contract teachers has been the norm and where there may
be no sense of loyalty on either side)

10. Types of contract teachersTypes of contract teachers
 A term used to convey a greal deal of variation
in hiring, retention, training and salary conditions
 Generally two main contract types:
 fixed-term
 open-ended
 Range: from experienced retired teachers (e.g. in
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda,The Gambia,) all the
way to untrained local youth (e.g. in community
schools)

11. Types of contract teachersTypes of contract teachers (2)(2)
Tableau 1
Vue d’ensemble des appellations dans des pays francophones
Pays
Vacataire Volontaire
Agent contrac-
tuel de l'État
Enseignant
communau-
taire
Service
national
Contractuel
du privé
Bénin    ?
B. Faso      ?
Cameroun  
Gabon    ?
Mali   
Niger    ?
Sénégal   ?   ?
Togo    

12. Numbers and proportions of teachersNumbers and proportions of teachers
by status over the yearsby status over the years
 Data available for few countries, especially
trends over the years = evidence that many
countries do not maintain or make available
systematic data on their contract teachers = a
result of deregulation? variation in what the term
‘contract teacher’ refers to?
 Data provided suggest rising numbers of
fixed-term contract teachers

13. Numbers and proportions of teachersNumbers and proportions of teachers
by status over the yearsby status over the years (2)(2)
Figure 1. Évolution du nombre d'enseignants au primaire selon le statut au
Burkina Faso (2005-2015)

14. Numbers and proportions of teachersNumbers and proportions of teachers
by status over the yearsby status over the years (3)(3)
Figure 2. Évolution du nombre d'enseignants au primaire selon le statut au Mali
(2009-2014)

15. Numbers and proportions of teachersNumbers and proportions of teachers
by status over the yearsby status over the years (4)(4)
Figure 3. Evolution of numbers of public primary schools by status in Uganda
(2002-2013)

16. Main differencesMain differences
 Qualifications: principled expectation in majority of
countries that same basic requirements apply to all
regardless of status, but differences in practice,
especially with respect to professional qualifications
 Salaries and social benefits: fixed-term contract
teachers at a disadvantage in majority of countries
 Area of posting: deployment of contract teachers
to hard-to-staff areas in several countries (Burkina Faso,
Eritrea, Kenya,The Gambia, Senegal), meaning rural areas in
most cases
 Age and experience: CTs generally younger ===>
bias towards less experience on average

17. Diversity of pathways out of fixed-termDiversity of pathways out of fixed-term
contract statuscontract status
 Competitive recruitment exams (Bénin, BF,
Kenya, Mali,Togo)
 Degree granting courses (Eritrea, Niger, The
Gambia, Togo)
 Legally set period of service (Eritrea [90
consecutive days], Ethiopia [6 months], Mozambique
[3 years?], Sénégal)

18. Overarching obervationsOverarching obervations
 Consensus regarding the positive contribution
of contract teachers to widening access to
education, especially at primary level
 But several concerns and issues raised by
contractualization:
 Declining social image and status of the teaching
profession + differential treatment in terms of
remuneration + unattractive working conditions (including
lack of career prospects, high PTRs, etc.) ===>
 Weak attraction capacity of the profession + low
morale & motivation ===>
 High turnover and worrisome levels of attrition ===>
 Potential negative impact on quality of teaching and, by
extension, of student learning (see Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda,
The Gambia, etc., for discussion of this concern/issue)

19. Noteworthy trends andNoteworthy trends and
innovations/policy measuresinnovations/policy measures
 Reversement d’une grande partie des enseignants
contractuels dans la fonction publique (Burkina Faso,
Gabon, Mali): refonctionnarisation?
 Career development scheme (Ethiopia)
 Financial incentives to retain serving teachers and
attract capable candidates (Ethiopia, Kenya,The Gambia)
 Systematizing and supporting continuing professional
development for teachers (Eritrea,The Gambia, etc.)

20. Noteworthy trends andNoteworthy trends and
innovations/policy measuresinnovations/policy measures (2)(2)
“One of the innovations is the autonomy given to
teachers to have their own Credit Union, where
they can save their money and have access to credit
without being looked low upon.Traditionally
teachers were always seen in banks taking bank
drafts in the form of advance salary payments and
these incurred high interest leaving such teachers
with almost nothing at the end of the month. Now
with the GTU Credit Union, they can save and take
from their savings or take a loan without feeling
embarrassment.” (The Gambia report)

21. Concluding notesConcluding notes
“If the authorities are willing to accept the miserable
standards of the lower levels of stage II, they may get
quick results of a kind by putting primary school
graduates back into the schools as teachers without
any training. […] If teaching at the upper levels of stage
II is aimed at, it may perhaps be achieved by giving
these same recruits a couple of years of teacher
training.” (C. E. Beeby, 1966, The Quality of Education in
Developing Countries, p. 123-124)
“It is hardly necessary to add—though it is sometimes
forgotten—that the reformer’s effort will be largely
wasted if the salaries and conditions of service of the
primary teachers are not such as to retain good people
in the profession.” (Beeby, 1966, p. 129-130)

22. Concluding notesConcluding notes (2)(2)
 Need to keep a careful eye on retention and attrition,
given apparent association between age and status, and
between status and number of years of teaching experience
 High attrition may lead to a situation where youth and
relative inexperience are constant characteristics of the
teaching force, with a lack of cumulative experience which, in
turn, limits the development of collective expertise
 Relevance of the work of Huberman on teachers’
career cycle

23. Concluding notesConcluding notes (3)(3)
Source: Huberman (1989)
Years of
experience
Career phases/themes
1-3 (career
entry)
Survival &
discovery (feeling
one’s way)
4-6 Stabilization
(consolidation of a
pedagogical repertoire)
7-25 (mid-
career)
Diversification/
experimentation/
activism
Taking
stock/reassess-
ment (self-doubts)
26-33 Serenity/
affective distance
Conservatism
34-40 Disengagement
(serene or bitter)

24. Concluding notesConcluding notes (4)(4)
“As the figure shows, there is a single stream at career
entry, through the stabilization phase.There are then
multiple streams at mid-career, converging again into a
single path at the end. Depending on the previous
trajectory, this final phase can be either serene or
acrimonious.The most harmonious trajectory would
be this one:
Experimentation Serenity (serene) Disengagement
The most problematic trajectories would be these two:
Reassessment (bitter) Disengagement
Reassessment Conservatism (bitter) Disengagement.”
(Huberman, 1989, p. 37-38)

25. ContactsContacts
martial.dembele@umontreal.ca
amitac@msu.edu
isatoundw@yahoo.co.uk
9th
International Policy Dialogue Forum December 3-7, 2016,
Siem Reap