Teacher management

Teachers are at the heart of the learning process. They strongly influence both the quality of education that children receive at school and eventually their learning outcomes. Effective teacher management is therefore essential to the success of any education system. Cost-efficient teacher management is even more important given the fact that teachers account for a significant share of civil service staff and that their wage bill represents over two thirds of public education spending in most countries.

However, governments have faced increasing challenges in recent years while managing their teaching staff. In order to quickly expand access to education, countries put their personnel management systems under considerable strain. Ministries have had to respond to an increasing demand for teachers while at the same time trying to ensure the same level of quality. In addition to challenges related to teacher supply and training, countries have to tackle issues related to equitable teacher allocation and utilization across different regions. Teacher absenteeism, high attrition and low motivation are among the issues that education planners are exposed to in one way or another in almost all countries around the world.

Many education systems are seeking to improve the efficiency of their teacher management and are looking for the analysis, strategies and tools that they could apply. One of the IIEP’s missions consists of assisting countries in this process while generating knowledge and informing policy makers about the most important challenges, options and techniques available.