94456 MENA Regional Synthesis on the Teacher Policies Survey: Key Findings from Phase I Table of Contents I. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 2 II. The SABER-Teachers Benchmarking for MENA Countries ............................................................... 3 III. Preliminary Findings ......................................................................................................................... 7 IV. Recommendations – Implications to Education Reform Agenda ................................................... 20 V. Next steps ............................................................................................................................................ 22 Annex A. Teacher Policy Goal, Levers and Indicators........................................................................... 24 Annex B. Requirements to become a Teacher ........................................................................................ 31 Annex C. Country Background Information........................................................................................... 33  I. Introduction 1. Improving the quality of education is one of the most important and urgent challenges for the future of the Arab world. A regional consensus on the state of the region’s education quality and a political mandate to address the issue were the outcomes of the Doha Ministerial Colloquium on Quality of Education of September 20-21, 2010, organized in partnership by ALECSO, Qatar Foundation and the World Bank. As a follow up to the Doha colloquium, an Arab Regional Agenda for Improving Education Quality (ARAIEQ) has been prepared by the three partners and endorsed, in December 2010, by the Region’s Ministers of Education to be the action plan for improving regional education quality. The Regional Agenda main goal is to enhance learning outcomes for all by improving the quality and relevance of education services. More specifically, it promotes a shift in education policy making in the Region from a focus on inputs to a focus on results, whereas improving the quality of educational services calls for institutional strengthening in relation to each and every school factor that has a determinant impact on education service delivery and, as a result, on learning outcomes. 2. The World Bank launched, in 2010, the System Assessment and Benchmarking for Education Results (SABER) program to help countries systematically examine and strengthen the performance of their education systems. Recognizing the gap in the availability of policy data, information, and knowledge on what matters most to improve the quality of education, the SABER program is building a comprehensive toolkit of system diagnostics to examine education systems and their component policy domains against global standards, best practices, and in comparison with policies and practices of countries around the world. The program covers a wide range of policy domains related to education inputs such as Teachers and Education Technology, as well as to governance and institutions. 3. The MENA regional study on teacher policies is part of the ARAIEQ initiative and builds on the methodology and tools developed by the SABER-Teachers work. Its objective is to produce a cross-regional review of relevant educational policies in Arab countries with a specific focus on incentives for improving quality of teaching and learning. The study aims at: (i) collecting essential data on various aspects of education systems, teacher policies, incentives and governance mechanisms in MENA countries; (ii) evaluating relevant policies and reforms through selected case studies in the region; and (iii) facilitating knowledge sharing and strengthening regional partnerships by holding regional dissemination and learning events. 4. This report summarizes the main findings of the first phase of the regional study on teacher policies which draws heavily from the SABER-Teachers methodological papers and country reports. It presents the methodology of the SABER-Teachers benchmarking exercise; provides a preliminary analysis of the regional trends in teacher policies based on data collection and analytical tools developed by HDNED as well as the country reports produced by the SABER-Teachers team; and discusses the next steps for the regional work on teacher policies. Page | 2  II. The SABER-Teachers Benchmarking for MENA Countries1 5. While there is an increasing amount of evidence showing the key role of teachers in the quality of education, little is known about what policies are most effective to attract, retain, and motivate qualified teachers. A growing body of evidence indicates that teachers play a key role in delivering what, how, and how much students learn, including among disadvantaged students. Now that students are faced with challenges of globalization and the increasing emphasis on the knowledge economy, quality education offered by well-trained, educated teachers plays an even greater role in shaping the future of the fast-growing younger generation in MENA countries. While research has documented the important effects of teachers in students’ learning outcomes, there is less evidence on the specific characteristics of teachers that lead to better student learning outcomes. Moreover, although countries throughout the world, including in the MENA region, are continuously experimenting with a variety of policies to improve teacher performance, little is known about how the policies vary across countries and their actual effects on teacher quality or student outcomes. 6. The main purpose of the SABER-Teachers work is to help inform decisions about teacher policies. In order to offer guidance to policy makers in client countries on how to raise teaching quality, the Education Unit at the World Bank’s Human Development Department has launched SABER - Teachers an initiative that seeks to collect information about teacher policies in developed and developing countries, analyze it to identify common challenges and promising solutions, and make it widely available to inform countries’ decisions on where and how to invest in order to improve teaching quality. 2.1 The SABER-Teachers Methodology 7. The SABER-Teachers program evaluates teacher policies with respect to eight core policy goals. These policy goals were selected based on three main criteria: (i) Relevance/Effectiveness (must be related to teacher effectiveness and/or student achievement—either through theory or empirical evidence); (ii) Priority for resource allocation (only goals that promise to produce considerable improvements in teaching and learning are considered); and (iii) actionable (can be directly influenced by policy decisions). Then, policy levers by which education systems can reach a specific goal and, for each lever, indicators to measure how well those systems are using the levers, have been defined (see Annex A for the full list of policy goals, levers and indicators). The eight core teacher policy goals identified by SABER are: • Setting clear expectations for teachers: Expectations for student and teacher performance influence how potential entrants perceive the profession, the way teachers organize their work and how goals of different key aspects of the profession such as pre-service training, professional development and teacher appraisals are aligned. The clearer and more institutionalized these expectations are, the more likely an education system is to achieve its performance objectives. Three policy levers are considered to reach this goal: Are there clear   ϭ SABER stands for System Assessment and Benchmarking for Education Results. Members of the SABER-Teachers team who authored the background papers and country reports include: Emiliana Vegas (Sr. Education Economist, HDNED, TTL), Alejandro Ganimian (Consultant, HDNED), Nicole Goldstein (Consultant, HDNED), and Agustina Paglayan (Junior Professional Associate, HDNED) Page | 3  expectations for what students should know and be able to do? Are there clear expectations for what teachers are supposed to do? Do teachers have enough time to fulfill their duties? • Attracting the best into teaching: The better the quality of the teaching force, the more likely an education system is to have effective teachers. Four policy levers have been identified: Are entry requirements set up to attract talented candidates? Are pay and benefits appealing for talented candidates? Are working conditions appealing for talented candidates? Are there attractive career opportunities? • Preparing teachers with useful training and experience: Equipping teachers with the skills they need to succeed in a classroom is crucial. Teachers need subject matter knowledge, classroom management skills and lots of practice in order to be successful in a classroom. The policy levers considered are: Are there minimum standards for pre-service teaching training programs? Are individuals required to have classroom experience to be allowed to teach? Do teachers have a smooth transition from pre-service training into their first job? • Matching teachers’ skills with students’ needs: Ensuring that teachers work in schools where their skills are most needed is important for promoting equity and efficiency. Without purposeful incentives, teachers tend to gravitate towards schools with better working conditions, which often serve better off students. Policy levers considered are related to incentives offered to teachers to work at hard-to-staff schools and/or to teach critical shortage subjects. • Leading teachers with strong principals: Having strong leaders is important not only to ensure acceptable levels of performance, particularly through facilitating teachers’ work and professional development, but also to drive improvements at the school level. Policy levers education systems can use to reach this goal are related to the requirements to become a principal, the incentives to perform well, and the room for principals to make key decisions to improve teaching. • Monitoring teaching and learning: Teacher and student evaluations help identify good practices, which can then be shared among the teaching staff to improve school performance. Also, identifying low-performing teachers and students is necessary to support them in a timely manner. Policy levers critical to reach this goal are related to the availability and use of data on student achievement and teacher performance to inform teaching. • Supporting teachers to improve instruction: Support mechanisms are necessary to help teachers reach their full potential and perform at their best. Changes in classroom assignments and/or student populations can pose new challenges to teachers who will need additional help to sustain their performance. Finally, support mechanisms can go a long way in preventing burnout and reducing turnover. Even motivated teachers may choose to leave if they are consistently ineffective, do not know how to improve and receive little support. Two policy levers are considered for this goal: Is teacher performance data used to improve teaching? Is there professional development to improve practice? • Motivating teachers to perform: Teaching is a challenging job and incentives can let teachers know the results they have achieved are valued so that they continue working hard to sustain them. In addition, some types of incentives can influence the profile of the teaching profession and make it more competitive, dynamic and performance-driven. Three policy levers can be used to reach this goal: Are there minimum mechanisms to hold teachers Page | 4  accountable? Are there rewards for high-performing teachers? Are there sanctions for low- performing teachers? 8. The SABER teacher policy benchmarking compares how policy levers are enacted in a specific country with the trends observed in top-performing education systems. The main idea is that, looking at what top-performing education systems are doing can add more specific guidance on policy priorities already identified through empirical evidence. This helps to understand whether these performing systems are reaching policy priorities in the same ways or if there are policies “good enough” to achieve strong learning results, even if they might not necessarily be “ideal” in every dimension. Results of international student achievement tests (TIMSS, PISA and PIRLS) for the last twelve years were used to identify two main groups of countries: (i) countries with the strongest record of high performance; and (ii) countries with the strongest record of improvement. Then, recent cross-national reports with data on teacher policies were used to review teacher policies in the top- performing countries, and to decide what indicators to use to assess education systems in each teacher policy goal and how to classify countries according to each indicator. 2.2 Data Collection and classification criteria 9. A specific survey was used to collect data on teacher policies. The SABER-Teachers team developed a set of twelve country-specific questionnaires requesting information on the general characteristics of the country’s education system as well as on laws, regulations and practices related to ten policy dimensions: (i) Requirements to enter and remain in teaching; (ii) Initial teacher preparation; (iii) Recruitment and employment; (iv)Teachers’ workload and autonomy; (v) Professional development; (vi) Compensation: Salary and non-salary benefits; (vii) Retirement rules and benefits; (viii) Monitoring and evaluation of teacher quality; (ix)Teacher representation and voice; and (x) School leadership. 10. This survey was initially implemented in 7 MENA countries (Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen). In each country, a single researcher, recognized and endorsed by country officials, collected data by interviewing key informants in the Ministry of Education and by compiling the relevant, supporting legal documents. In a subsequent step, the SABER-Teacher’s team, reviewed and verified all data and, if necessary, contacted and re-contacted the in-country researchers in order to rectify any omission, elucidate any unclear answer, and straighten out any inconsistency. 11. A scoring system was used to classify all possible answers to each policy lever’s indicator. The four-point scale, adopted after mapping out the ways in which an indicator could be answered, classifies each indicator into four levels of development: • Latent: Latent systems are those that do not have any of the elements in place referred to in an indicator • Emerging: emerging systems have insufficient elements in place • Established: established systems have all the necessary elements in place (i.e., the policies they have are “good enough”) Page | 5  • Mature: mature systems go beyond what is necessary and have even more than what is needed to succeed. 12. This classification was used to assess policy levers indicators. The rating was then aggregated at the policy goal level for each country. Page | 6  III. Preliminary Findings 3.1 General Overview 13. Based on the SABER-Teacher rating, the seven MENA countries surveyed can be categorized into two groups. First, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan which seem to have the necessary elements in place to help achieving most of the eight policy goals. The second group of countries (Lebanon, WBG, Yemen and Djibouti) is at the “emerging” stage, meaning that although they have some elements in place to achieve the policy goals for effective teaching and learning, these elements are seen as insufficient for most of the eight policy goals considered in the survey. 14. The policy goal 1 (setting clear expectations for teachers) is the one where the sample countries are better off, while policy goal 4 (matching teacher’s skills with students need) is the weakest. Six out of the seven countries have systems in place that set clear expectations for teachers through establishing national curricula, defining teacher duties and setting performance goals. On the other hand, five out of the seven countries have not established sufficient incentives to encourage teachers to serve the most disadvantaged students. Table 1. Rating of policy goals for seven MENA countries West Bank Table X. Teacher Teacher Policy Policy Goals and Scores Goals for Seven Djibouti Egypt Countries Jordan Lebanon Tunisia and Gaza Yemen ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ Setting clear expectations for teachers ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ Attracting the best into teaching Preparing teachers with useful training and ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ DĂƚƵƌĞ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ experience >ĂƚĞŶƚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ >ĂƚĞŶƚ >ĂƚĞŶƚ >ĂƚĞŶƚ >ĂƚĞŶƚ Matching teachers’ skills with students’ needs >ĂƚĞŶƚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ Leading teachers with strong principals ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ Monitoring teaching and learning ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ Supporting teachers Source: Created to improve by the instruction Team based on country reports. ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ >ĂƚĞŶƚ ƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞĚ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ ŵĞƌŐŝŶŐ Motivating teachers to perform Page | 7  3.2 Analysis by Policy Goals ¾ Policy Goal 1: Setting Clear Expectations for teachers 15. Expectations for what students should know and be able to do are clear. Most countries have a national curriculum, which sets out the content in detail. With the exception of WBG, standards, set by the Ministry of Education (MoE) at the national level, prescribe what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. However, schooling hours at both the primary level and at the secondary level fall generally short of schooling hours in high-performing systems (1200 hours). This means that students may not have sufficient interaction time with the teachers to achieve the learning objectives set out by the curricula. Table 2: Schooling Hours by Country and School Level School Year Length, School Year Length, Country Primary Secondary 1,120 hours 1,120 hours Djibouti (5 hours/day x 224 days) (5 hours/day x 224 days) 1,015 hours 1,421 hours Egypt (5 hours/day x 203 days) (7 hours/day x 203 days) 1,170 hours 1,170 hours Jordan (6 hours/day x 195 days) (6 hours/day x 195 days) 960 hours 800 hours Lebanon (6 hours/day x 160 days) (5 hours/day x 160 days) 990 hours 1,080 hours Tunisia (5 hours/day x 198 days) (6 hours/day x 180 days) 1,006.5 hours 1,098 hours West Bank and Gaza (5.5 hours/day x 183 days) (6 hours/day x 183 days) 729.6 hours 864 hours Yemen (3.8 hours/day x 192 days) (4.5 hours/day x 192 days) 16. Teachers are guided by clear expectations and performance goals. The MoE or a national authority under the umbrella of the MoE is responsible for defining teacher duties which commonly include: teaching, lesson-planning and assignment grading. Other tasks explicitly mentioned in some countries include: integrating difficult students, mentoring fellow staff members, standing in for absent teachers, providing extra-curricular activities, carrying out administrative functions and collaborating on the school plan. To confirm whether such expectations and performance goals are satisfactorily met, is not the primary scope of this survey as the tool is designed to only examine availability of certain policies and regulations. 17. While the number of teaching hours required from teachers (either per week or per year) is well defined, in most countries time requirements for the amount of hours that teachers are expected to devote to non-teaching tasks such as lesson-planning and grading are either not appropriately defined or ignored. In Tunisia, total working time refers to general civil service requirements which do not reflect the reality of teachers practice. In Egypt, the total number of hours Page | 8  required (46h/week for primary school teachers) looks unrealistic. In Yemen and Djibouti, only teaching time is specified. ϭϴ͘ As for teachers’ required working hours, only half of the surveyed countries are comparable to what is observed in top-performing countries (1245 to 1960 hours/year). Only Egypt and Tunisia are up to the international standards, and annual working time requirements in Lebanon, Yemen and West Bank and Gaza are remarkably low. For instance, in Lebanon, the data for primary school (864 hours) and secondary school (640 hours) teachers is significantly lower than their counterparts in high performing countries. Based on the available data, the share of total working time devoted to teaching falls within the range of top-performing countries (less than 60%) for Tunisia, Egypt and WBG and slightly above for Jordan (67%) and Lebanon (66%). Also, West Bank and Gaza claims that all working hours are supposed to be 100% dedicated to teaching therefore teachers do not assume any other tasks but teaching. It should be noted however, that actual net working hours of teachers cannot be captured by the survey as this is the statutory working hours of teachers.   Chart 1.Teaching and working time required in 7 MENA countries and selected top-performers  ,ŽƵƌƐ й ϮϱϬϬ ϭϮϬ ϭϬϬ ϭϵϲϬŚƌƐ ϵϯ ϭϬϬ ϮϬϬϬ ϴϯ ϲϳ ϲϳ ϴϬ ϭϱϬϬ ϱϳ ϱϰ ϱϯ ϱϮ ϲϬ ϭϬϬϬ ϯϵ ϴϬϬŚƌƐ ϰϬ ϱϬϬ ϮϬ Ϭ Ϭ :ĂƉĂŶ :ŽƌĚĂŶ zĞŵĞŶ t' >ĞďĂŶŽŶ ŐLJƉƚ EĞǁĞĂůĂŶĚ ^ŽƵƚŚ<ŽƌĞĂ dƵŶŝƐŝĂ ũŝďŽƵƚŝ KƚŚĞƌǁŽƌŬŝŶŐŚŽƵƌƐ dĞĂĐŚŝŶŐƚŝŵĞ ^ŚĂƌĞŽĨƚĞĂĐŚŝŶŐ;йŽĨƚŽƚĂůͿ  ¾ Policy Goal 2: Attracting the best into teaching 19. Most countries have adequate requirements for recruiting teachers but large numbers of teachers do not meet those requirements. With the exception of Djibouti, all systems require an ISCED 5A degree level to be recruited as a teacher, and five out of the seven surveyed countries request passing a written test. The percentage of teachers not meeting the requirements varies from 2.2% in Egypt to 52.6 % in WBG. In Yemen, while a Bachelor’s degree in Education is required for both primary and secondary school teachers, around 13% of teachers hold neither a university degree Page | 9  nor a diploma from the Teachers Institutes, and are considered under-qualified by the MoE. Yet, in reality, it is presumed that these countries would not be able to accommodate and serve all students if the requirements are rigorously enforced. With the fast-growing demand for Universal Primary Education, facing the “youth bulge” in the region, having all teachers fully qualified would take time and ceaseless efforts to achieve. (See Annex B.) 20. In general, screening processes to enter pre-service teacher training, which are based on test scores in the secondary school leaving examination and, in most cases, compulsory entrance examination, are not very selective. This is the case in Jordan, WBG, Egypt and Yemen. However, in Tunisia and Djibouti, entry into teacher education programs is highly competitive: for entry into education programs the ratio seats/applicants is 1-2.5% in Tunisia and 4.3% in Djibouti. It is also commonly observed in these countries that in addition to the non-competitive selection to enter pre- service training, any graduate from the teacher education can join the civil service roster (waiting list) and wait long enough until a position opens up in the teaching profession. Teacher selection thus depends largely on the roster process, which means the system is not selective enough to attract the “best’ into teaching. 21. In all seven countries, teachers are offered competitive starting packages, but the evolution of their salaries overtime is relatively moderate. When considered in relation to GDP per capita, entry salaries vary between 150% (Lebanon) to 758% (Djibouti) while top-performing and rapidly- improving education systems pay their teachers 82-135% of their GDP per capita. After 15 years, teachers can expect to earn between 1.19 (Tunisia) and 1.5 times their salaries compared with the range of 1.26-1.77 observed in top performing countries. In WB&G, currently it takes a new teacher with Bachelors’ degree 25 years to reach the top of the salary schedule. This slow raise may deteriorate teachers’ motivation for quality service delivery. Chart 2 Teacher entry salary and Salary multiplier after 15 years dĞĂĐŚĞƌŶƚƌLJ^ĂůĂƌLJĂŶĚ^ĂůĂƌLJDƵůƚŝƉůŝĞƌ ϴϬϬй Ϯ͘Ϭ ϲϬϬй ϭ͘ϱ ϰϬϬй ϭ͘Ϭ ϮϬϬй Ϭ͘ϱ Ϭй Ϭ͘Ϭ ũŝďŽƵƚŝ t' dƵŶŝƐŝĂ :ŽƌĚĂŶ zĞŵĞŶ ŐLJƉƚ >ĞďĂŶŽŶ ^ŽƵƚŚ :ĂƉĂŶ <ŽƌĞĂ ŶƚƌLJƐĂůĂƌLJŝŶйŽĨ'WƉĞƌĐĂƉŝƚĂ ^ĂůĂƌLJŵƵůƚŝƉůŝĞƌĂĨƚĞƌϭϱLJĞĂƌƐŽĨƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ Page | 10  22. Most countries offer attractive career opportunities, typically based on performance evaluation and seniority, however, these promotions do not necessarily come with additional salary benefits. Teachers can apply to become principals and assume other leadership posts, such as lead teachers, based on performance evaluation and other measures. Regarding teachers working conditions, data is relatively limited. Standards for school infrastructure are generally in place but not systematically monitored. With the exception of Djibouti, average Students/Teacher ratios are reasonable by international standards. However these averages could mask serious disparities by region, such as overcrowding in many urban schools and severe shortage in rural areas. ¾ Policy Goal 3: Preparing teachers with useful training and experience 23. Most countries (five out of seven) do not have sufficient teacher policy elements to ensure a quality of pre-service teacher training programs comparable to what is observed in top- performing countries. These elements include: Accreditation mechanisms for academic teacher training programs, minimum standards for pre-service teacher trainings, in-class professional teaching experiences for all teachers and a smooth transition process from training to practice. 24. Egypt and, to a lesser extent, Tunisia, have well established policies for pre-service teacher training. The recently reformed Egyptian pre-service teacher training system could be seen as a “good practice” for the region. In Egypt, the Professional Academy of Teachers (PAT), established in 2008 to enhance professionalism of the teaching profession, is responsible for: (i) setting the national curriculum for teacher training, including pre-service induction training programs; (ii) ensuring sustainable professional development of teachers; and (iii) licensing teachers according to national standards while linking promotions to the license requirements. Although Tunisia has a relatively well established pre-service teacher training system, there is room for improvement: The balance between subject matter and pedagogy during training for secondary school teachers needs to be reviewed; and required time allocations for classroom experience during training are below those of high-performing systems. 25. With exception of Djibouti and Yemen, all countries have accreditation systems in place. Tunisia requires accreditation under the same accreditation rules that apply to all academic programs, and other countries have accreditation rules specific to teacher education programs. 26. Standards for pre-service training vary widely from one country to the other, but are generally poorer than international standards. Egypt and Tunisia have established clear requirements and corresponding specified time allocations for pedagogic theory, teaching methods and subject matter knowledge. Lebanon and WBG do not have statutory course requirements or official recommendations for the amount of time that primary and secondary teacher education programs devote to specific subjects (pedagogy, theory, methods, language, mathematics, and science). Jordan lacks a pre-service teacher training system; there are no mandatory training programs at universities that a candidate must undertake. In Djibouti and Yemen, pre-service teacher training programs have a strong focus on subject matter. Overall, the structure, length and contents of the mandatory pre- service are much weaker than most high performing systems, which offer at least one to two years of structured programs. Page | 11  27. While all countries set certain periods of classroom experience as part of teacher training programs, for most of them (five out of seven) the required periods are below what is observed in best performing countries (12 to 24 months). In most cases, a period of 3 to 6 month classroom experience is required. Egypt and Lebanon are in line with best practices with more than two years requirements. Table 2. Required period of classroom experiences as pre-service teacher trainings (primary and secondary) Requried Period, Requried Period, Primary (month) Secondary (month) > 0 & ᱩ 3 & ᱩ 6 & ᱩ 12 & > 0 & ᱩ 3 & ᱩ 6 & ᱩ 12 & ᱩ 24 ᱩ 24 <3 <6 < 12 < 24 <3 <6 < 12 < 24 Djibouti ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Egypt ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Jordan ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Lebanon ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Tunisia ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ West Bank and Gaza ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Yemen ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ 28. Most countries offer induction and/or mentoring programs to ensure a smooth transition from pre-service training to their first job for periods varying from 3 to 24 months. Yemen does not require for teachers to participate in any induction programs neither in primary education nor in secondary education. Induction programs of up to a maximum of 6 months are only to secondary school teachers only in Djibouti and to primary school teachers in Lebanon. This is far below international standards, as most of high performing countries require official structured induction program for at least one year. Only a few countries follow this standard in MENA; Tunisia sets the longest length both for primary and secondary educations (more than 24 months), followed by Egypt (12 to 24 months both in primary and secondary levels). Tableϯ. Required period of induction program (primary and secondary) Requried Period, Requried Period, Primary (month) Secondary (month) > 6 & > 12 & > 6 & > 12 & 0 ᱨ6 > 24 0 ᱨ6 > 24 ᱨ 12 ᱨ 24 ᱨ 12 ᱨ 24 Djibouti ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Egypt ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Jordan ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Lebanon ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Tunisia ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ West Bank and Gaza ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Yemen ‫ݲ‬ ‫ݲ‬ Page | 12  ¾ Policy Goal 4: Matching teacher’s skills with students need 29. There are limited incentives in place for teachers to work in hard-to staff schools areas. In many countries a lack of incentives for teachers to work in hard-to staff schools results in having the least qualified teachers serving the most disadvantaged students further contributing to inequality in teaching and learning outcomes. Currently Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Yemen provide monetary incentives for teachers to teach in hard-to-staff schools. This is in line with high-performing education systems, which offer monetary incentives for teachers to take up posts in hard-to-staff areas. Egypt is leading in the region in that it provides monetary and compensatory packages to teachers to work in hard-to staff schools. In addition to monetary incentives, better chances of promotion, travel benefits, and scholarships and loan assumption are provided to teachers who take up posts in these areas. Jordan also provides similar incentives as well as food stipends whilst Tunisia and Yemen do not offer any incentives besides the basic monetary incentive. 30. The main selection criterion used in deciding transfer requests is teaching experience. With the exception of Egypt which also uses teacher experience, teacher evaluation and inputs from community, all other countries use teacher experience as the sole criteria for approving transfers. Using the criterion of teacher’s years of experience in the profession as a basis for approving transfer requests can lead to inequitable effects, exacerbating hard-to-staff schools recruitment problems. 31. To address this issue, most of the MENA countries have not established fully functional system monitoring connected with policy interventions. In contrast to high performing system where they monitor and detect early on potential skilled teacher shortages/oversupply in specific areas and put in place coping strategies, most of MENA countries lag behind in this area. Table 4. Are there incentives for teachers to work at hard to-staff schools and critical subjects West Djibouti Egypt Jordan Lebanon Tunisia Bank and Yemen Gaza Are teachers entitled to monetary incentives or higher compensation No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes package for working in hard to staff schools Is teaching experience used in deciding Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes yes transfer priorities Are critical shortage No No Yes No No Yes Yes subjects identified Are teacher entitled to monetary incentives No No No No No No No for teaching critical shortage subjects 32. While ensuring that there are skilled teachers in every subject area is a challenge faced by most education systems, only three countries have identified critical shortages for some regions and Page | 13  specific subject areas. Jordan has taken steps to identify a set of critical shortage subjects (Mathematics, Science and Technology), which facilitates planning for increased recruitment in these disciplines. Yemen has also identified its critical shortage subjects (Mathematics, English language and Physics) and WBG identifying its set of critical shortage subjects (Physics, Biology, English, and Mathematics in all-boys’ schools) Whilst Lebanon, Egypt and Djibouti are yet to identify its critical shortage subjects. However more importantly even for those countries that have identified critical subjects there are no monetary or compensatory incentives set up for teachers to teach these subjects. ¾ Policy Goal 5: Leading teachers with strong principals 33. With the exception of Djibouti, all countries have established clear requirements to become a principal. These requirements are mostly based on previous teaching experience and academic background. In Egypt and Lebanon, candidates are required to pass a written test and to perform satisfactorily in a mandatory internship. (see table 5) However, in WBG, the written test was phased out because there was no solid correlation found between the teachers’ performance in the exam and his/her actual performance as a school principal. Therefore, it is important to ensure all requirements are relevant to measure the capacity and leadership of the teacher to become effective school principal. Table 5. Requirements to become a principal Djibouti Egypt Jordan Lebanon Tunisia West Bank and Gaza Yemen 8 years (Master and A minimum number of years of professional 7 years + Yes, but not NO 15 years 5 years 5 years Education Diplomas) teaching experiences 30 years old defined specifically 10 years (Bachelor) 2 years A minimum number of years of professional Yes, but not NO 5 years NO NO (secondary NO administrateive experiences defined specifically education) Above A specific educational qualification NO ISCED 5A NO ISCED 5A ISCED 5A ISCED 5A ISCED 5A Completion of specific courses or other training requirements designed for aspiring school NO YES NO NO YES YES NO principals Passing a written test NO YES NO YES NO NO NO Satisfactory performance in a supervised NO YES NO YES YES YES NO internship Participation in an induction or mentoring NO YES NO YES NO YES NO program for newly recruited school principals 34. Principals are offered competitive pay but, in most cases, not provided with strong incentives to perform well. All seven countries provide competitive pay to principals, above that in top- performing systems (about 100% of GDP per capita). Djibouti offers highly competitive packages to principals at about 1,579% of GDP per capita. Similarly, principals’ pay is relatively high in Tunisia (633%) and in Yemen (234%). With the exception of Egypt, there are no performance-based incentives in place for principals. Monetary incentive mechanisms, based on principals’ performance, have not been well developed in most countries. The Queen Rania Award for Excellent Principals, introduced in 2005, offers financial awards to small number of winning, successful principals Jordan. Page | 14  35. Although principals play generally a role in teacher’s evaluation, they have little room to make decisions to improve teaching at the school level. In all seven countries, principals do not have any say in determining the selection of the teachers in their schools and their role in removing ineffective teachers is usually consultative. Similarly, principals do not have any significant decision-making authority in determining the salaries of their teachers and rewarding strong performance, overtime distribution and payment. Among several OECD countries, such as Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Solvenia, Switzerland, UK, and US, grant principal a fully responsibility on hiring and firing decision of teachers. A growing body of evidence shows that principals, when allowed to carry out these functions, apply sound judgment and may help improve the quality of service delivery at school level. However it should be cautioned that such stronger autonomy must be exercised based on a solid foundation of good governance and accountability. Table 6. Principal’s responsibilities related to teachers West Bank Djibouti Egypt Jordan Lebanon Tunisia Yemen and Gaza Hiring teachers Firing teachers Evaluate teacher performance : yes responsible : not responsible but with power to participate in the decision : not responsible at all ¾ Policy Goal 6: Monitoring teaching and learning 36. All the countries have student achievement data at the national level, though the quality varies somewhat and, in most cases, assessment data do not allow to match student scores with individual teachers. Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan have developed relatively good national assessment systems that evaluate many different grade levels, both primary and secondary. Yemen has no assessment at the primary level and Lebanon undertakes student assessment on a bi-annual basis. All the countries are participants of the TIMSS assessment, with Djibouti and Yemen participation only limited to the G4 of TIMSS 2007. However all the countries, with the exception of Djibouti, are expected to participate in the TIMSS 2011. 37. Egypt has the most comprehensive student assessment data as they assess at least 5 different grades being assessed with Yemen and Djibouti at the lower end with less than 3 grade levels. In terms of matching student assessment to individual teachers, in principle all countries with the exception of Tunisia and Yemen should be able to match students. However, more importantly, most of countries have not fully utilized those data to strategically inform policy making. It has to do with insufficient capacity in systematic data collection and data analysis that meet international standards.   Page | 15  Table 7. Student Achievement Data Can students Is it possible Are Are scores in Are assessments to track assessments assessments Frequency assessment International students over National Sub-National be matched time to individual teachers Student Achievement Data Djibouti Yes No No Annual Yes Yes Egypt Yes Yes Yes Annual Yes Yes Jordan Yes No Yes Annual Yes Yes Lebanon Yes No Yes Bi-Annual Yes Yes Tunisia Yes No Yes Annual Yes No West Bank Yes Yes Yes 2-3 Years Yes Yes and Gaza Yemen Yes Yes Yes Annual Yes No 38. Although teacher evaluations are done at least on an annual basis, including both internal and external evaluations, there is little evidence on follow up actions. The exception to this is Djibouti which does not have regulation on teacher assessment at the school level; rather its national education office undertakes evaluations every 2-3 years. Yemen is similar in the latency of its teacher evaluations in that evaluations do not require mandatory participation by all teachers. For countries where there is data on how many teachers fail evaluations, very few teachers are reported to fail, for instance in WBG and Egypt only 1.5% are reported to have failed and Jordan reporting no single teacher having failed, suggesting that the evaluations are process-driven. Whilst in Yemen, Djibouti and Tunisia there is no data available to provide an indication on how many teachers fail their evaluations. Table 8. Sources of information for teacher performance evaluation Stude nts ' Te aching Pare nts ' Stude nts ' Colle ague s ' achie ve me nt proce s s e s fe e dback fe e dback fe e dback OECD s ys te ms Aus tralia Be lgium Chile De nmark Ire land Me xico South Kore a Non-OECD s ys te ms Djibouti Egypt Jordan Le banon Tunis ia We s t Bank and Gaza Ye me n Page | 16  ¾ Policy Goal 7: Supporting teachers to improve instruction 39. Although teacher performance evaluations are generally used to inform classroom practice, there is disconnect with follow up actions. Teacher performance data are mostly used to inform areas of improvement, or to only provide feedback, but recommendations are not systematically put into practice. Likewise, there is no direct linkage between the evaluation results and decisions for “recognition, rewards and sanctions” such as promotions, salary raise or dismissal of teachers. Egypt, WBG and Tunisia adopt policies that state linkage between the evaluation and teacher dismissal, however, it is unclear if this is thoroughly enforced nationwide. 40. There is a lack of incentives, with significant opportunity cost, for teachers to participate in professional development. In most of the countries, teachers do not need to fund professional development from their own finances. In that sense, there is no direct financial burden on teachers by receiving professional development. However, since the participation to such courses is not mandatory or no clear guidelines for professional requirements are provided, teachers may become reluctant to spare their time on “voluntary” participation to professional development activities. 41. In general, there is no clear linkage between the inputs (professional development) and outcomes (impact on performance, or performance appraisal). Although several countries have established mechanisms to provide regular professional development opportunities, with reasonable degree of varieties, there is no systematic evaluation on how such interventions are affecting teacher performance. Without establishing a clear investment-return formula, it would be difficult to motivate teachers to attend professional development courses. 42. Number of required days of professional development is far below international standards. Many MENA countries either do not specify such required number of days, and for those countries which do have such requirement, the number of required days is very low compared to international standards. Most of high-performing system requires up to the maximum of 28 days per year as opposed to the highest requirement in the region (Egypt, 6.25 days). Page | 17  Table 9. Country-specific results on selected key indicators Indicators Djibouti Egypt Jordan Lebanon Tunisia WBG Yemen Are teacher Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes performance evaluations But not Also Also But Not Also Also But not used to linked to linked to linked to linked to linked to linked to linked to inform promotion promotion promotion promotion promotion promotion promotion classroom , salary , salary , but not , salary , , dismissal , salary practice? raise or raise and to salary raise or dismissal, but not for raise or dismissal dismissal raise or dismissal but not for salary dismissal of the of the dismissal of the salary raise of the teacher teacher of the teacher raise teacher teacher Are teachers Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No required to participate in professional development ? How many 64 50 hours 20 hours Not 10 hours Not Not days of hours/year specified maximum specified specified professional for development primary are teachers education required to teachers complete? 50 hours 20 hours 10 hours 32 hours maximum for secondary education teachers ¾ Policy Goal 8: Motivating teachers to perform 43. There is a relative absence of a performance standards framework to guide teachers to constantly improve their skills. Except for Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, many countries in MENA do not have a clear framework for quality assurance of teachers. Djibouti, Lebanon, WBG and Yemen do not have requirements for teachers to regularly fulfill, to remain in profession. High performing countries mandate teachers to participate in such assessment on a regular basis with a clear and transparent guideline. 44. Insufficient mechanism and weak implementation of performance-based incentives. Only Egypt and Tunisia offer monetary bonuses to high-performing teachers whereas it is largely absent in other countries. Although most of the countries do have some sanction mechanism for teacher absenteeism, in practice dismissals are extremely rare. Page | 18  45. Ineffective teachers are rarely sanctioned or dismissed. Tunisia and Egypt have clear set of criteria for performance among new teachers before awarding tenure, however, the data on actual under performers and dismissals are non-existent. Such data is generally not available, thus it is extremely difficult to confirm if ineffective teachers are actually removed in practice. Similarly in Jordan, it is mandatory to have probationary period prior to awarding tenure, however, after probation, it becomes extremely challenging to terminate employment. Once tenure is offered, performance evaluation results are not used to sanction low performing teachers. As public school teachers are civil servant position, generally it is nearly impossible to dismiss teachers in reality. High performing systems are also divided in this area: Singapore and New Zealand have regulations to dismiss under-performing teachers whereas it is absent in Japan and South Korea. 46. The case of Egypt may serve as a good practice among MENA countries. It has relatively clear and coherent professional standard applied in internal and external performance evaluation. The results are recorded in a personalized portfolio to track the progress and provide follow up support. Also results are linked with rewards and sanctions, such as monetary bonus and promotion for high performers, and dismissal for low performers. Although actual cases of dismissal are rare, the country appears to have a clear set of criteria for overall personnel performance management, such as the procedures and requirement for new teachers in their path to become tenure, coupled with various mentoring programs for the new teachers. Table 10. Country-specific results on selected key indicators Indicators Djibouti Egypt Jordan Lebanon Tunisia WBG Yemen Do Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No requirements 64 hours per to remain in year for Annual No detailed 6 days per teaching primary participation data year to exist? education in courses, available attend teachers; Meeting from survey training 32 hours per standards; year for Passing Passing secondary exam every exam every education 5 years 2 years teachers Are there Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes penalties for teacher Also Also Also Also Also Also Also absenteeism? penalties for penalties for penalties for Penalties for penalties for penalties for penalties for child abuse child abuse, child abuse, child abuse, child abuse, poor child abuse, but Not for misconduct, misconduct, misconduct misconduct, performance, misconduct, misconduct and poor and poor and poor and poor but not for but Not for or poor performance performance performance performance child abuse poor performance or performance misconduct Do high- No Yes Yes but No Yes No Yes performing optional teachers get Performance Also Salary But not more public evaluation monetary No increase and linked to Page | 19  recognitions? does not bonus is systematic promotion bonus or results in available bonus or are optional promotion any rewards but optional promotion or sanctions Is job No Yes No No Yes but Yes No performance optional used to Performance But rarely No clear Mandatory dismiss evaluation practiced implication Removal only if ineffective does not to salary or from external teachers? results in dismissal classroom is evaluation any rewards mandatory proves poor or sanctions performance IV. Recommendations – Implications to Education Reform Agenda  47. The survey revealed weak policy areas that need prioritized and concerted reform efforts. Based on the preliminary findings, this section provides several key recommendations to be considered in the current and future reforms. It focuses on weaker policy areas, such as policy goal 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8. Chart 3: Levels of development in eight policy goals (MENA average) ϭ͘^ĞƚƚŝŶŐĐůĞĂƌ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĂƚĂƚŝŽŶƐ ϰ ϴ͘DŽƚŝǀĂƚŝŶŐ Ϯ͘ƚƚƌĂĐƚŝŶŐƚŚĞ ϯ ƚĞĂĐŚĞƌƐ ďĞƐƚ Ϯ ϭ ϳ͘/ŵƉƌŽǀŝŶŐ ϯ͘WƌĞƉĂƌŝŶŐ Ϭ ŝŶƐƚƌƵĐƚŝŽŶ ƚĞĂĐŚĞƌƐ ϲ͘DŽŶŝƚŽƌŝŶŐ ϰ͘DĂƚŚĐŝŶŐƐŬŝůůƐ ϱ͘>ĞĂĚŝŶŐƚĞĂĐŚĞƌƐ Note: scores are calculated based on the simple average of 7 countries scores in each policy goal (4: mature, 3: established, 2: emerging, 1: latent). 48. MENA countries need to give top priorities to achieve equitable distribution of teachers. Overall achievement level of eight policy goals stands at moderately unsatisfactory level, with notably low performance in policy goal 4 that addresses “equitable distribution of teachers”. While high performing countries have regulations and system put in place to identify and monitor shortage of teachers in certain subjects and geographical areas, and provide tangible incentives (e.g. monetary Page | 20  bonus) to work in these under-served areas, MENA countries do not have adequate policies or coping strategies in place to effectively improve the situation. This has contributed to widen the gap between urban-rural education service delivery in many countries. 49. Most MENA countries do not attract the best into teaching. Although the scoring in Policy Goal 2 states MENA countries are mostly “established” in attracting the best talent into teaching, it is in practice by far from a competitive selection mechanism. The entry to teaching is not designed to rigorously screen candidates based on relevant criteria. In contrast, top performing countries (Singapore, South Korea and Finland) recruit 100% of their new teachers from the top third of academic cohort, and then screen for other important qualities as well, such as perseverance, ability to motivate others, passion for children, and organizational and communications skills, which are believed to be predictors of teaching success. Further, top performing countries bestow enormous prestige and respect on the teaching profession whereas common perception and social status of teachers are not so high. In Finland, teaching is the most popular career choice and the most admired profession among top students, outpolling law and medicine (McKinsey & Company, 2010). 50. MENA countries lag behind in both pre-service and in-service training by not having clear standards and regulations for effective and efficient professional development. Far below international standards, teachers in most of MENA countries are not obliged to fulfill certain requirements on a regular basis. Also entry to pre-service teacher education is generally not competitive. Top performing countries (Singapore and Finland) in contrast, makes it extremely competitive and prestigious, by selecting top 10-20% of high school graduates by having numerous exams, interviews and screening processes. Also at such prestigious teacher education colleges, tuition and fees are fully covered and students also earn a salary while on training. Quality assurance throughout the process (pre-entry, entry, and on-the-job), is paramount to provide quality education for all. 51. Autonomy of principals is limited and provision of support to strengthen their leadership is not sufficient to improve service delivery at school. Empowerment of school principals would be necessary to improve quality of learning at school level as principal is the person, who understands specific needs of students and parents in a particular locality of the school. Capacity and required skills of desired teachers could be clearly defined by principals in order to deliver “relevant” education to students. Currently most of MENA countries do not grant school principal authorities although several high performing countries and OECD countries do have higher autonomy for principals. For instance, Finland grants a wide range of decision making authority to principals and teachers. Teachers have a say in school policy management, textbooks, course content, student assessment policies, course offerings, and budget allocations within the school (Mckensie & Company, 2010). Teachers can work autonomously and are deeply entrusted. This greater autonomy at school level is proven to impact teacher motivation and performance. Coupled with systematic provision of capacity building training for school principals, both basic accountability and autonomy at school level need to be strengthened. Having a strong leadership at school level with good school management skills are proven to be highly effective in improving quality of teaching and learning. Page | 21  52. Incentive mechanism for teachers to perform better is weak and performance evaluations are not used effectively to reward/sanction teacher performance. In general, there is no clear rewards and sanctions for high/low performing teachers. Even countries that have such policies rarely dismiss ineffective teachers. The public status of teachers as civil servant makes it extremely difficult to remove poor performing teachers and it is not widely practiced to use performance evaluation results or other measures to take such action. In contrast, top performing country (Singapore) has all means of recognizing high performing teachers and such teachers even receive highly publicized awards directly from the President. Singapore also uses bonuses and retention incentives strategically to retain the top talent in teaching profession. 53. Continued support system, clear career path and strong recognition that “teaching as career” are not established. Top performing countries (Singapore, South Korea and Finland) put in place a long-term, life-long professional development for teachers to support them constantly improve their skills and motivation for teaching. 54. Overall, lack of a clear and coherent policy framework and its enforcement is the challenge for MENA. Even if certain policies and regulations are in place on the paper, it is still challenging to validate if such policy is actually implemented thoroughly in the nation. This is due to lack of data and general reluctance to reveal certain gaps between policy and practice, such as tutoring that are mostly officially prohibited but widely practiced on a daily basis. Enforcement of policies and constant monitoring and evaluation is also indispensable to enhance the quality of teachers and strengthening of overall education system in MENA. V. Next steps 55. More countries participation to the survey is planned to have a holistic picture on MENA region. Based on the successful implementation of TPAW survey in seven countries, other countries including Gulf States are expected to participate in the second round. This may allow creating a holistic picture of MENA teacher policy status with different geographical and economical country samples. The entire MENA survey results would be also incorporated into a global TPAW online database that enables users to select and compare countries of interest. 56. Closer look at “implementation” status would be needed, to better inform education reform directions. As clearly stated from the onset, this survey tool is designed to check the existence of certain policies and regulations affecting teachers. However, experiences show some of critical policies are not thoroughly implemented or severely obscured in practice. Closer look at implementation of policies are needed to accurately grasp the actual status of teacher policy development and to generate tangible policy recommendations for each country. Several tools such as PETS and QSDS would be useful to conduct practice-oriented data collection 57. Dissemination and knowledge sharing to provide global perspectives To provide adequate and relevant benchmark that serves as “role model” for MENA countries, in-depth discussion on the results from global comparison would be highly useful. Such first dissemination conference is being planned for early July in partnership with Queen Rania Teacher Academy in Jordan. Page | 22  58. Wider audience and stakeholders to be included in discussing and determining the direction for the future education reforms. Recent political and social movements strongly suggest that transparency, information sharing need to be further promoted to achieve good governance and accountability in the region. Education policy making should not be an exception from such, and a diverse audience and stakeholders need to be involved in the discussion. The QRTA attempts to first embark on such inclusive and dynamic conference to discuss teacher policies that may have implications to other aspects of education reform. 59. In summary, the next phase will include (1) data collection in the rest of MENA countries, (2) dissemination of findings in collaboration with regional partners, (3) in-depth analysis focusing on improving quality of education in MENA Page | 23  ‡šǤ‡ƒ…Š‡”‘Ž‹…› ‘ƒŽǡ‡˜‡”•ƒ† †‹…ƒ–‘”• Policy Goals Policy Levers Indicators 1. Setting clear A. Are there clear expectations 1. Is there one or more curricula? for what students should know expectations for and be able to do? 2. Do standards (set by an authority) for what students must know and be able to teachers do exist? B. Are there clear expectations 1. Are the tasks that teachers are expected to carry out officially stipulated? for what teachers are supposed to do? 2. Do performance goals for teachers exist? C. Do teachers have enough time 1. How long is the school year at the primary level? to fulfill their duties? 2. How long is the school year at the secondary level? 3. Is there a statutory definition of working time for primary school teachers? 4. Is there a statutory definition of working time for secondary school teachers? 5. How long is primary school teachers' working time per year (hours)? 6. How long is secondary school teachers' working time per year (hours)? 7. What is the share of working time allocated to teaching for primary school teachers? 8. What is the share of working time allocated to teaching for secondary school teachers? 2. Attracting the best A. Are entry requirements set up 1. Is there an established process to screen applicants to pre-service teacher to attract talented candidates? training programs? into teaching Page | 24  2. How many applicants enter pre-service teacher training programs? 3. Do requirements to enter teaching exist for primary school teachers ? 4. Do requirements to enter teaching exist for secondary school teachers? 5. How many teachers meet requirements to enter teaching? 6. How many models of pre-service teacher training programs are there for primary school teachers? 7. How many models of pre-service teacher training programs are there for secondary school teachers? B. Are pay and benefits 1. Is starting teacher pay competitive? appealing for talented candidates? 2. How often is teacher pay disbursed on time? 3. Does pay change over a teacher's career? 4. Is teacher pay (salary or bonus) differentiated by subject, geographic area, grade or student population? 5. Does pay vary according to teacher performance? 6. Are all teachers entitled to retirement and health benefits? C. Are working conditions 1. How many schools comply with standards for the infrastructure, hygiene and appealing for talented applicants sanitation of schools? 2. How many students are there per each teacher, (primary)? 3. How many students are there per teacher, (secondary)? Page | 25  D. Are there attractive career 1. Are there opportunities for horizontal promotions for teachers? opportunities? 2. Are promotion opportunities linked to performance? 3. Preparing teachers A. Are there minimum standards 1. Is there an accreditation process for pre-service teacher training programs? for pre-service teaching training with useful training programs? and experience 2. Are there specifications for how much these programs should devote to the teaching of different subjects for primary school teachers? 3. Are there specifications for how much these programs should devote to the teaching of different subjects for secondary school teachers? 4. In the specifications for primary school teachers, how much time is devoted to pedagogical theory and methods and how much to subject matter knowledge? 5. In the specifications for secondary school teachers, how much time is devoted to pedagogical theory and methods and how much to subject matter knowledge? B. Are trainee teachers required 1. Is teaching experience required for primary school teachers to enter the to have classroom experience to profession or is it part of teacher training programs? be allowed to teach? 2. Is teaching experience required for secondary school teachers to enter the profession or is it part of teacher training programs? 3. How much experience are primary school teachers required to have? 4. How much experience are secondary school teachers required to have? Page | 26  C. Do teachers have a smooth 1. Are new primary school teachers required to participate in induction and/or transition from pre-service mentoring programs? training into their first job? 2. Are new secondary school teachers required to participate in an induction and/or mentoring programs? 3. What is the required length of induction and/or mentoring programs for primary school teachers? 4. What is the required length of induction and/or mentoring programs for secondary school teachers? 4. Matching teachers' A. Are there incentives for 1. Are teachers entitled to monetary incentives and/or a higher compensation teachers to work at hard-to-staff package for working in hard-to-staff schools? skills with students' schools? needs 2. Is teaching experience used in deciding transfer priorities? B. Are there incentives for 1. Are there critical shortage subjects? teachers to teach critical shortage subjects? 2. Are teachers entitled to monetary incentives and/or a higher compensation package for teaching critical shortage subjects? 5. Leading teachers A. Are requirements to become a 1. Are there requirements to become a principal? principal set up to attract talented with strong principals candidates? 2. What processes are in place to select principals? B. Do principals have incentives 1. Are principals explicitly required to provide guidance to teachers? to perform well? 2. Are principals evaluated regularly? 3. Is average principal pay competitive? 4. Can principals receive monetary incentives for performance? Page | 27  C. Can principals make key 1. Do principals have a say or decide on teacher hiring? decisions to improve teaching? 2. Do principals have a say or decide on teacher dismissals? 3. Do principals have a say or decide on the distribution of time during school hours? 4. Do principals have a say or decide on teachers’ pay? 5. Do principals decide on teachers’ promotions? 6. Monitoring teaching A. Are there enough student 1. Are there assessments of student learning at any level (international, national, achievement data to inform sub-national)? and learning teaching? 2. How frequent are assessments of student learning? 3. How many grades do assessments of student learning include? 4. Do assessments of student learning cover a sample or all students? 5. Is it possible to track students over time? 6. Can students’ scores in assessments be matched to individual teachers? B. Are there enough teacher 1. Are there teacher evaluations (internal or external)? performance data to inform teaching? 2. How frequent are teacher evaluations? 3. How many sources do teacher evaluations rely on? 4. What criteria do evaluations use to assess teaching? 5. Are teachers required to participate in evaluations? 6. How many teachers fail their evaluations? 7. Is it possible to track teachers over time? Page | 28  7. Supporting teachers A. Are teacher performance data 1. Are teacher performance evaluations used to inform classroom practice? used to improve teaching? to improve instruction 2. If a teacher obtains an unsatisfactory result in an evaluation, is he or she assigned to a supervisor? 3. Are teacher performance evaluations used to assign professional development? B. Are there professional 1. Are primary school teachers required to participate in professional development to improve development? practice? 2. Are secondary school teachers required to participate in professional development? 3. How many days of professional development are primary school teachers required to complete? 4. How many days of professional development are secondary school teachers required to complete? 5. Does professional development include activities other than courses and workshops or education conferences and seminars? 6. How many aspects related to teaching does professional development include other than school management and administration for primary school teachers? 7. How many aspects related to teaching does professional development include other than school management and administration for secondary school teachers? 8. Are individual teachers responsible for paying for their professional development? Page | 29  8. Motivating teachers A. Are there minimum 1. Do requirements to remain in teaching exist for primary school teachers? mechanisms to hold teachers to perform accountable? 2. Do requirements to remain in teaching exist for secondary school teachers? 3. Can teachers be dismissed for misconduct and child abuse? 4. Is teacher absenteeism taken into account in teacher performance evaluations? 5. Are there penalties (salary or dismissal) for teacher absenteeism? B. Are there rewards for high- 1. Do high-performing teachers get higher salaries (monetary bonuses)? performing teachers? 2. Do high-performing teachers get better chances of promotion? 3. Do high-performing teachers get more public recognition? C. Are there sanctions for low- 1. Is there a mandatory probation period for teachers before they are granted performing teachers? open-ended appointments? 2. Is information from job performance evaluations used to grant open-ended appointments? 3. Are job evaluations used to dismiss ineffective teachers? Page | 30  ‡šǤ‡“—‹”‡‡–•–‘„‡…‘‡ƒ‡ƒ…Š‡” % of % of % of unqualified Requirement, unqualified Requirement, unqualified teachers, country Primary education teachers, Secondary education teachers, primary + primary secondary secondary 1) required coursework 2) ISCED 5A 1) required coursework 3) tertiary education degree 2) ISCED 5A program 3) tertiary education degree 4) tertiary education Tunisia program 13.2 10.8 11.9 program specifically 4) written test designed to prepare teachers 5) interview-stage 5) written test assessment 6) interview-stage assessment 1) ISCED 5A 1) ISCED 5A 2) tertiary education degree 2) tertiary education degree program program 3) tertiary education 3) tertiary education program specifically program specifically designed to prepare designed to prepare teachers WBG teachers 50.1 65.8 52.6 4) written test 4) written test 5) interview-stage 5) interview-stage assessment assessment 6) A Bachelor's of Science 6) A Bachelor's of Science (ISCED 5A) to teach (ISCED 5A) to teach Mathematics and Science Mathematics and Science 1) ISCED 5A 1) ISCED 5A 2) tertiary education 2) tertiary education Yemen program specifically - - 13.1 program specifically designed to prepare designed to prepare teachers teachers 1) required coursework 1) required coursework 2) ISCED 5A 2) ISCED 5A 3) tertiary education 3) tertiary education program specifically program specifically designed to prepare designed to prepare teachers teachers 4) written test 4) written test 5) interview-stage 5) interview-stage assessment assessment 6) minimum amount of Egypt - - 2.2 6) minimum amount of practical professional practical professional experience experience 7) assessment conducted by 7) assessment conducted a supervisor based on the by a supervisor based on practical professional the practical professional experiences experiences 8) five modules of the 8) five modules of the International Computer International Computer Driving License Certificate Page | 31  Driving License Certificate (1. Basic concepts, 2. Using (1. Basic concepts, 2. a computer and file Using a computer and file management, 3. Word management, 3. Word processing, 4. Excel and processing, 4. Excel and databases, 5. Presentations) databases, 5. Presentations) 1) ISCED 5A 2) tertiary education Jordan program specifically 14.6 1) above ISCED 5A 10.7 13.7 designed to prepare teachers 1) required coursework 2) below ISCED 4A 3) written test 4) interview-stage 1) tertiary education degree assessment program 5) minimum amount of 2) minimum amount of practical professional practical professional Djibouti experience 13.3 experience 6.0 10.2 6) assessment conducted 3) an assessment conducted by a supervisor based no by a supervisor based on the the practical professional practical professional experiences experience 7) secondary school 8) 9 years of basic education 1) required coursework 2) ISCED 5A 1) required coursework 3) tertiary education Lebanon 2) ISCED 5A - - - program specifically 3) written test designed to prepare teachers 4) written test Page | 32  ‡šǤ‘—–”›ƒ…‰”‘—† ˆ‘”ƒ–‹‘ West Bank and Djibouti Egypt Jordan Lebanon Tunisia Yemen Gaza 1 $1,280 $2,070 $3,980 $8,060 $3,720 $1,250 $1,060 GNI per Capita (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2005) (2009) 1 Lower Middle Lower Middle Lower Middle Upper Middle Lower Middle Lower Middle Lower Middle Income Level Income Income Income Income Income Income Income 1 864,202 82,999,393 5,951,000 4,223,553 10,432,500 4,043,218 23,580,220 Population (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) 1.7% 1.8% 2.4% 0.7% 1.0% 2.7% 2.9% Population Growth (Annual %)1 (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) Human Development Index 147 101 82 81 133 - - Ranking2 (2010) (2010) (2010) (2010) (2010) Public Spending on Education as % 8.4% 3.8% 1.8% 7.1% 5.2% 3 - - of GDP (2007) (2008) (2009) (2007) (2008) Public Spending on Education as % 22.8% 11.9% 7.2% 22.4% 16.0% 3 - - of Total Government Spending (2007) (2008) (2009) (2007) (2008) Gross Enrollment Rate in Pre- 2.9% 16.1% 36.4% 76.7% 22.3% 33.8% 0.9% primary (%)3 (2009) (2007) (2008) (2009) (2003) (2009) (2005) Gross Enrollment Rate in Primary 54.5% 99.7% 96.8% 103.2% 107.1% 78.9% 85.4% (%)3 (2009) (2007) (2008) (2009) (2008) (2009) (2008) Gross Enrollment Rate in Lower 39.5% 90.2% 94.9% 88.6% 117.9% 89.0% 50.6% 3 Secondary (%) (2009) (2004) (2008) (2009) (2008) (2009) (2008) Gross Enrollment Rate in Upper 18.2% 68.9% 74.2% 75.4% 74.2% 80.3% 39.8% 3 Secondary (%) (2009) (2004) (2008) (2009) (2008) (2009) (2005) Gross Enrollment Rate in Tertiary 3.5% 28.5% 40.7% 52.5% 33.7% 45.7% 10.2% (%)3 (2009) (2008) (2008) (2009) (2008) (2009) (2007) 3 35.4% 95.2% 99.6% 84.9% 92.8% 81.7% 60.9% Primary Completion Rate (%) (2009) (2007) (2008) (2009) (2008) (2009) (2008) 3 0.95 0.94 0.93 0.98 0.99 0.98 0.85 GPI for GER in Pre-primary (2009) (2007) (2008) (2009) (2003) (2009) (2005) 3 0.89 0.95 1.01 0.98 0.98 1.00 0.80 GPI for GER in Primary (2009) (2007) (2008) (2009) (2008) (2009) (2008) 0.76 0.93 1.02 1.09 0.98 1.04 0.59 GPI for GER in Lower Secondary3 (2009) (2004) (2008) (2009) (2008) (2009) (2008) 0.67 0.96 1.09 1.14 1.21 1.19 0.46 GPI for GER in Upper Secondary3 (2009) (2004) (2008) (2009) (2008) (2009) (2005) Math: 327 Math: 224 TIMSS Scores (Grade 4)4 - - - - Science: 318 - Science: 197 (2007) (2007) Math: 391 Math: 427 Math: 449 Math: 420 Math: 367 TIMSS Scores (Grade 8)4 - Science: 408 Science: 482 Science: 414 Science: 445 Science: 404 - (2007) (2007) (2007) (2007) (2007) Page | 33