Scholars of comparative education have given a lot of attention to the demand side of teacher labor markets. We have asked how do policies attract teachers into the profession and then retain and motivate them once there. Given the importance of teachers in learning, attracting and retaining the best teachers is of critical importance. The effects of these policies, however, are influenced by a prior question: who becomes a teacher?

There is still a limited understanding of supply side factors that lead teachers to enter, stay in, or leave the profession. This broadly includes factors that explain why someone becomes and remains a teacher such as their personal background, demographics, education, attitudes, values, and professional motivations. Understanding the supply side factors is important not just in their own right but also because of the implications they may have for other teacher related practices and outcomes of interest to policy. For example, will a teacher education and training program yield expected results? If we wish to increase incentive for teachers, what would be the best way to do so given who enters the teaching profession?

This panel brings together a series of papers that engage in these questions across a number of country contexts including Burkina Faso, Colombia, India, South Africa, and Vietnam. We begin to provide tentative answers to questions about teacher selection through the analysis of large scale quantitative data. We hope that conversations sparked by these papers can begin to establish a research agenda that asks not only how can we attract the best teachers, but who becomes a teacher and why?

Together, the three papers bring evidence to bear from a wide geographic scope around the central question of who becomes a teacher. The panel looks to generate discussion around how we can further understand teacher selection and retention, and draw cross-national comparative lessons for this emerging research agenda.

More information here.

CIES 2023 - Improving Education for a More Equitable World

Comparative and international perspectives are essential to fulfilling the dream of educational equity. The CIES 2023 Annual Meeting will explore the following crucial questions: how should we critically look at and meet desired outcomes across time and space? What changes can bring about responsible and sustainable advancement in learning, teaching, and schooling? What implications may these changes have on individual systems, contexts, and the already vulnerable planet? And how may our endeavors help redefine comparative and international education in a way that reconnects it with contextualized educational policy and practice?

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INEE’s Teachers in Crisis Contexts (TiCC) Collaborative, in partnership with the LEGO Foundation, Education International, Oxfam, UNESCO, and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, have come together to support a Call to Action to transform sector-wide support to teachers in crisis contexts.

Part of this work is to share examples of promising approaches and persistent challenges across policy, practice, and research related to four thematic areas: teacher well-being, teacher management, teacher professional development, and school leadership and governance. 

This webinar is the fourth and final in a series to contribute to a growing evidence base on how to improve the ways that we support teachers through prioritizing school leadership policies and practices (i.e., school leader professional development and support, community governance models, preparedness and recovery planning, etc.). School leaders are a vital part of the school ecology. They are key to providing quality, equitable education and improving the school climate for all teachers and students so children and youth are better able to learn. . As our colleague Yel Luka, a deputy head teacher in Kakuma refugee camp, explained, “I find immense meaning in my work... however I find my role to be demanding with little financial incentive which can leave me exhausted and unmotivated.”

Through a moderated discussion, school leaders and Education in Emergencies actors working across contexts such as Colombia, Kenya, and Tanzania will share share good practice, lessons learned, and opportunities for change to improve leadership and governance of teachers doing extraordinary work amidst extraordinarily challenging settings. 

Panelists: 

• Christina Raphael - Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership, Management and Policy studies, Deputy Principal - Academic Research and Consultancy: Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE), Tanzania 
• Sandra Barreto and Nicole Bruskewitz  - COO and CPO, CoSchool, Colombia
• Stuart McAlpine - Team Lead, LEGO Playful Schools initiative

Moderators and Presenters: 

• Andrew Armstrong - INEE
• Charlotte Berquin - UNHCR
• Chris Henderson - Teachers College, Columbia University
• Mary Mendenhall -  Teachers College, Columbia University 

N.B. This web event will be conducted in English with closed captioning in English.

If you have any questions about the web event, contact: eventseries@inee.org