79954 Egypt SABER Country Report TEACHERS 2010 Policy Goals Status 1. Setting clear expectations for teachers Expectations for students and teachers are well defined; teacher working time legislation should be more clearly defined. 2. Attracting the best into teaching While teacher pay is competitive, results from the secondary school graduation examination could be used to select only top applicants. 3. Preparing teachers with useful training and experience Egypt has recently implemented new preparation requirements; a focused approach to evaluating their impact could provide clear lessons. 4. Matching teachers’ skills with students’ needs There are incentives for teachers to work in hard-to-staff areas, yet untapped potential exists to ensure that qualified individuals in particular subject areas choose to enter and remain in teaching. 5. Leading teachers with strong principals A clearer leadership pathway has been recently implemented, and principals can provide direct instructional support. 6. Monitoring teaching and learning Sufficient student achievement data to inform teaching are available; teacher evaluations are carried out with great frequency, but few teachers are rated as low-performing. 7. Supporting teachers to improve instruction Weak teachers are supported through professional development and the guidance of a supervisor; professional development is wide in content but narrow in sharing good practice throughout the system. 8. Motivating teachers to perform The length of teacher probationary periods has been extended, but the implementation of sanctioning mechanisms to remove low-performing teachers remains questionable. THE WORLD BANK EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 Figure 1. Number and share of public school teachers Education System at a Glance by level In 2008 (the most recent data available), Egypt spent 3.8 percent of GDP on public education; in 2003 this figure was recorded as 4.9 percent. 1 In 2008, Egypt spent 11.9 percent of total public spending on education; in 2003, this figure was recorded as 16.2 percent. 2 However, over recent years, Egypt has achieved important improvements in access to primary education. The primary enrollment rate reached 94 percent (2007) from 86 percent at the beginning of the decade. Egypt’s secondary enrollment rate (71 percent Source: World Bank, SABER – Teachers 2010. in 2002) compares favorably to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region and to other low- Of the total number of teachers employed in the private middle income countries. 3 Despite these improvements, sector, which includes private, government- learning outcomes remain a source of concern. Egyptian independent schools, 88.5 percent are working at the students’ mean scores in the Trends in International primary level. Mathematics and Science Study Mathematics (TIMSS) declined between 2003 and 2007, from 406 to 391 Figure 2. Number of teachers and teacher distribution points. Thus, improving the quality of education is a by sector priority for the country. Egypt’s education system consists of 6 years of primary education (ages 6-12 years), and 6 years of secondary education (ages 12-18 years). Education is compulsory until the age of 15. Around 93 percent of the teaching force is concentrated in the public sector. A significant majority of public school teachers (72.6 percent) work at the primary level. This aligns with the fact that 85.8 percent of the total number of public school students are at the primary level. Source: World Bank, SABER – Teachers 2010. Figure 3. Number of teachers by locality 1 World Bank, World Development Indicators 2010. 2 World Bank, World Development Indicators 2010. 3 World Bank, World Development Indicators 2010. Source: World Bank, SABER – Teachers 2010. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 2 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 Figure 5. Number of out of school primary children, by At the primary level, the teaching force is split almost gender evenly between rural and urban areas. However at the secondary level, there are around 2.7 times as many teachers working in urban areas. This seems to respond to student enrollment patterns: at the secondary level, there are 2.3 times more students attending schools located in urban areas than rural areas. Figure 4. Number of students by locality Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2010. Figure 6. Primary completion rates by gender Source: World Bank, SABER – Teachers 2010. While the poor have benefitted the most from the expansion of the education sector,4 Egypt should pay attention to rural inequality. Despite the fact that the Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2010. rural student population is 1.3 times greater than that of the urban areas, it is served by a similar-sized Figure 7. Progression to secondary school by gender teaching force. Gender equity in access to primary education remains elusive. In 2007 there were around 2.3 times more girls than boys who were not attending primary school. Drop-out rates for girls are double those for boys. 5 4 The World Bank 2008. 5 UNESCO, Global Education Digest, p.35. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2010. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 3 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 The mandatory retirement age for male and female teachers is 60 years. Around 54 percent of principals are Box 1. Reforms underway male, with an average age of 45 years. The majority of teachers work full-time with just under 14 percent of Part A: Scope of reform teachers working part-time. The GoE plans to hire 80, 1. Comprehensive curriculum and instructional 000 new assistant teachers annually during the next 5 technology reform years, which will provide the system with 400,000 new 2. Institution- based accreditation teachers according to quality standards established by the Professional Academy for Teachers. 3. Human resources and professional development The majority (88 percent) of public school teachers hold 4. Institutionalization of decentralization an open-ended employment status, while the rest are 5. Technology development and information employed under contractual arrangement. In the systems private sector, all teachers are contractually employed. 6. Modernization of monitoring and evaluation Systems There is one national teacher organization: the Teacher Syndicate, with 52 branches representing teachers at 7. School construction and maintenance the sub-national level and a total membership of 8. Improving efficiency, supporting education 2,000,000 teachers. The right to strike exists and quality and expanding access mandatory collective bargaining takes place at the 9. Early Childhood Education national level. Strike action has never occurred. 10. Basic education reform 11. Modernization of secondary education The Ministry of Education and the Professional Academy for Teachers are the primary institutions 12. Community-based education for girls and responsible for setting teacher policies. In out-of-school children implementing policies, the MoE and PAT take on a 13. Education for students with special needs strong role alongside the Educational Directorates at the Governorate Level. Finally, in overseeing policy Part B: Measuring the reform process compliance, the MoE works alongside the Educational Directorates at the Governorate Level, the National 1. 36 National Education Indicators to report Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of on progress in the reform areas Education (NAQQE) and the National Center for Examination and Educational Evaluation (NCEEE), created in 1990 as a semi-independent organization. Source: World Bank, SABER – Teachers 2010. Goal 1: Setting clear expectations for teachers Established  Expectations for teachers and students are well defined; teacher working time legislation should be more clearly defined. Expectations for what students should know and be able to do are well defined. Egypt has a national curriculum, which sets out the content in detail, informing teachers of required subject content that SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 4 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 should be taught to students at different grades. Standards set by the MoE prescribe what students Box 2. The 5-year National Strategic Plan for Pre- should know and be able to do at each grade level. By University Education Reform providing measurable goals of student learning, student standards should allow Egyptian teachers to know the The five-year National Strategic Plan for Pre- extent to which their students are achieving the University Education Reform in Egypt (2007/08 - learning outcomes expected at each grade level. The 2011/12), aims to vastly improve the quality of Center for Curriculum and Instructional Materials education. Egypt is undergoing radical changes in Development (CCIMD), a national-level authority, 12 program areas in the education sector under designs and develops the national curriculum and the new National Strategic Plan. These changes textbooks aligned to the standards. include the establishment of NAQAA (2006) as an independent and autonomous regulatory Expectations for what teachers are supposed to do are institution along with the MoE that sets standards well defined. Teacher performance goals are defined by and expectations overall. The new Plan also the PAT and the NAQAA (managed by a Board chaired includes the establishment of the Professional by the Minister of Education, and reports to the Prime Academy for Teachers (PAT) in order to enhance Minister). PAT is also responsible for determining the teaching quality. tasks and responsibilities that teachers are expected to carry out. The CCIMD has been made responsible for Source: World Bank, 2010. modernizing the curriculum framework through integration of instructional technology to enhance Figure 8.Teacher working time in hours per year active learning. (primary), selected systems Teachers have enough time to fulfill their duties, but legislation is unclear on how to distribute working time across various tasks. PAT determines the official working time for teachers at both the primary and secondary level in Egypt. The annual total working time is 1,760 hours, which is equivalent to or longer than that of some top-performing systems. Nonetheless, neither PAT nor the MoE have set specific legal time requirements for the amount of hours that teachers are expected to devote to both teaching and other duties. In practice, teachers in primary education devote around 18 hours to teaching, 18 hours to planning and preparing lessons, 5 hours to administrative duties, and 5 hours to school improvement. As for secondary school Sources: OECD, Education at a Glance 2009 for Japan, New teachers, on average, 12 hours are devoted to teaching, Zealand, Denmark, Netherlands, South Korea and United 15 hours to planning and preparing lessons, and 8 hours Kingdom; World Bank, SABER- Teachers 2010 for Egypt, to administrative tasks. It would provide teachers with Chile, Jordan, Djibouti, Lebanon, Yemen and West Bank and greater clarity to legislate the time allocations for their Gaza. tasks. A statutory definition of working time exists, acting as a common understanding of how teachers’ tasks are determined and remunerated and refers to the overall number of hours spent at school. While this definition is wider than number of teaching hours, it is limited by not recognizing that lesson planning and grading may take place outside of classroom teaching hours. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 5 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 the faculty of education, the average required passing Goal 2: Attracting the best into teaching grades are between 80-88 percent for the science and Established  mathematics major, 75-85 percent for literature majors, and as low as 60-70 percent for the faculty of law. While teacher pay is competitive; results from the secondary school graduation examination could Pay and benefits are appealing to talented candidates, be used to select only top applicants. but they are not differentiated by performance. Around 97 percent of teachers are employed as civil Entry requirements are set up to attract talented servants. A professionalized, merit-based cadre was applicants. PAT (managed by a Board chaired by the introduced in 2007, which saw teachers’ compensation MoE, and reports to the Prime Minister) sets packages rise between 50-150 percent depending on requirements to enter teaching. In 2010, around 39 level. Teachers’ starting salaries are extremely percent of all applicants were admitted to initial teacher competitive by world standards and are equivalent to education programs. All teachers can enter both 152 percent of the country’s GDP per capita – concurrent (where subject matter knowledge and substantially more than what most high-performing pedagogical skills can be acquired simultaneously) and systems pay (around 82-119 percent of their GDP per consecutive training programs (where subject matter capita). Salaries (paid on time) rise moderately over a knowledge must be acquired first and then, at a later career: after 15 years a teacher with the minimum stage, pedagogical skills are learned). Egypt might look education qualifications can expect to earn into creating more flexible entry points for top approximately 1.42 times the starting salary, and after graduates or experienced professionals. All teachers 30 years, 4.2 times the starting salary. Compensation graduate from the faculty of education or university, packages incorporate several benefits, including: completing an intensive education diploma for one full pension entitlements, healthcare, annual leave, sick year. Would-be teachers, and students within faculties leave and maternity/paternity leave. The salary of education, specialize in languages (English, Arabic, schedule does take account of a teacher’s performance and French), science, mathematics, history, geography, based on evaluation results, and bonuses for or chemistry. Students divide their study time between outstanding performance can be awarded by school the subject/area of specialization (75 percent), foreign principals and supervisors. This may encourage languages (5 percent) and pedagogy theory and motivated individuals to enter into the profession. Pay methods (20 percent). All applicants to teacher (through monetary bonuses) is related to staffing needs education programs are selected for admission through in hard-to-staff schools, but there are no pay the following criteria and processes: (i) strong differentiations for particular subjects (where the performance in secondary school; (ii) results of the supply of and demand for teachers qualified in specific Thanawiya Amma (Egypt’s compulsory secondary subjects may differ). school leaving examination); (iii) an interview assessment. There are attractive career opportunities. Leadership positions (lead/master posts) are available, and a strong The Central Bureau for Admission to University allocates result in a performance evaluation may be used in students to the faculties of education where they are determining promotional opportunities. eventually admitted. Once they are allocated to a faculty of education, an internal faculty-based entrance Working conditions are appealing. Most of the schools examination is held to ensure that the candidates comply with hygiene and sanitation standards; eight potentially match the profile of a future teacher. This percent of primary and secondary schools fail to meet exam operates akin to a waiver as all candidates the infrastructure standards. Average student-teacher achieve a passing grade and gain admission. Overall, it is ratios in public schools are reasonable by international far more challenging to be admitted into medical or standards, at 15:1, as combined for primary and engineering school than to a teacher education secondary education (18:1 for primary and 8:1 for program. The required secondary school passing grade secondary). in the national examination for admission into medical school is 96-98 percent; in contrast, to be admitted into SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 6 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 Figure 9. Teachers’ salary increases after 15 statutory requirements for the amount of time that years, selected systems education programs allocate for preparing primary and secondary school teachers are defined clearly, with 20 percent of time devoted to pedagogy theory and methods; 75 percent for the selected discipline, and 5 percent for languages. This balance between subject- content training and pedagogic skills training is encouraging, because teachers’ knowledge of the subject they teach has been found to correlate with teacher effectiveness. Those studying to become teachers are required to have classroom experience. Under the newly implemented Assistant Teachers’ Program (2009/2010), incoming teachers are required to gain practical professional experience. It is positive that teachers should have around 2 years of practical professional Sources: OECD, Education at a Glance 2010 for South Korea, experience as part of their training, in line with high- United Kingdom and Finland; World Bank, SABER-Teachers performing systems’ classroom experience 2010 for Jordan, Lebanon, Djibouti, Yemen, Egypt and West requirements (1 year or longer). Bank & Gaza and Chile. New teachers are offered a smooth transition into Goal 3: Preparing teachers with useful their first teaching job. The Assistant Teachers’ training and experience Program also comprises a strong mentoring component for all teachers. After completing an induction program Established  lasting for 3 to 6 months, beginning teachers take part in a mentoring program lasting 1-2 years (in line with Egypt has recently implemented new preparation the duration of programs in high-performing systems). requirements; a focused approach to evaluating The senior mentor is required to continuously assess their impact could provide clear lessons. and provide feedback to the beginning teacher over this period. This should work to ensure that at the end of There are minimum standards for pre-service training. the period, the beginning teacher is able to meet the In 2008, PAT was established to enhance system-wide standard. As Egypt intends to hire 400,000 professionalism of the teaching profession. PAT is new teachers over the next 5 years under this program, responsible for: (i) setting the national curriculum for it is important to evaluate its quality in order to improve teacher training, including pre-service induction training the training experience for new teachers. Moreover, it programs; (ii) ensuring sustainable professional might be beneficial for Egypt to look into whether other development of teachers; and (iii) licensing teachers systems incorporate components in such induction and according to national standards while linking mentoring programs that could be taken up. Under the promotions to the license requirements. Currently, PAT new reforms for creating a professionalized teaching is working closely with the MoE and the faculties of force, teachers must pass (cadre) examinations. education of universities to ensure that teacher Currently around 19,980 teachers, comprising 1.9 education programs prepare students with the required percent of the teaching force have passed the teacher standards. Further, PAT is responsible for placement test but are still working on fulfilling the rest setting accreditation requirements for teacher of the requirements. Egypt might look into developing education programs, which must all be accredited. This its data management systems to ensure that data on requirement forces institutions seeking to offer teacher teachers who meet preparation requirements can be training to be evaluated and earn certification that their disaggregated by both location and primary/secondary courses reach the system-wide standard and have the level. potential to train students into successful teachers. The SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 7 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 Figure 10. Length of induction programs, (primary areas access to experienced teachers, leaving the least education teacher training requirements), selected knowledgeable and potentially the least effective systems teachers in hard-to-staff schools, thereby increasing turnover rates. Figure 11. Incentives for teachers to take up posts in hard-to-staff schools Sources: OECD 2005 for Japan and the United Kingdom; World Bank, SABER –Teachers 2010 for Chile, Djibouti, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank & Gaza and Egypt. Goal 4: Matching teachers’ skills with students’ needs Latent  There are incentives for teachers to work in hard- to-staff areas, yet untapped potential exists to ensure that qualified individuals in particular subject areas choose to enter and remain in teaching. Sources: OECD, Teachers Matter 2005 for Australia, Finland, Teachers are provided with incentives – both salary Ireland, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Sweden, Belgium, and monetary bonuses – to take up posts in hard-to- Denmark, Netherlands and Switzerland; World Bank, SABER- staff schools. In addition to monetary incentives, better Teachers 2010 for Chile, Djibouti, Egypt, Lebanon, West Bank chances of promotion, travel benefits, and scholarships & Gaza and Yemen. and loan assumption are provided to teachers who take up posts in these areas. This is in line with the practice Egypt has not identified solutions to deal with the in high-performing education systems, which offer potential problem of shortages of qualified teachers in monetary incentives for teachers to take up posts in specific subject areas, such as math and science. hard-to-staff areas. Egypt might consider the extent to According to the MoE’s data, all academic subjects have which high-performing teachers find it financially more teachers than the system requires, as the country attractive to teach in hard-to-staff schools, and whether has 26 faculties of education with redundant number of they are less likely to be concentrated in more affluent graduates in all subject matters. This suggests that the areas, serving more advantaged students. In Egypt, the requirements to enter teacher education programs criteria applied to determine a teacher’s transfer could be more stringent to reduce the over-supply of request include seniority, job title, performance as teachers and raise the overall quality of the teaching assessed by both internal and external evaluators, and force. Further, ensuring that there are skilled teachers inputs from the community. An interview assessment in every subject area is a challenge faced by most may also form part of the transfer process. It would be education systems. Although it is positive that Egypt is useful for Egypt to consider whether the most working on implementing the Cadre reforms, raising the experienced teachers who may understand more quality of teaching in all subjects, there is no explicit deeply the diverse needs of students, are granted most policy identifying subjects for which the quality of good frequently the opportunity to transfer to better teachers may be in short supply. Thus there are few performing schools (which usually offer better working targeted incentives built into the system to attract conditions and serve more socio-economically teachers to particular subject disciplines. Most high- advantaged students). This could deny disadvantaged performing education systems monitor and identify SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 8 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 early on potential skilled teacher shortages/oversupply qualifying training program for the post as approved by in specific subject areas (e.g. math and science; foreign PAT). Under the National Strategic Plan, Egypt has set languages). This early identification allows them to set the goal of training 40,000 principals and assistant up incentives to attract skilled and qualified individuals principals. who may instead choose to enter other well- remunerated professions or conversely offer incentives Principals are provided with strong incentives to for early retirement to teachers in subject areas where perform well. Principals have an explicit responsibility there is an oversupply. Egypt may consider monitoring to guide teachers in improving instructional practices the implementation of the Cadre reform process in and applying the curriculum while monitoring teachers’ ensuring that strong teachers are offered appealing performance of their duties and how school time is incentives to instruct in subject areas where there is allocated. It is also commendable that principals must most need. be evaluated on their performance by the Education Directorate at the Governorate level. However, specific criteria for principal teacher evaluations are not Goal 5: Leading teachers with strong standardized. Principal pay is competitive. The average principals salary of a principal is almost double that of the average teacher’s salary and the total compensation package is Established  around 1.12 percent greater than that of a regular teacher. A clearer leadership pathway has been recently implemented, and principals can provide direct Principals can make few decisions to improve teaching. instructional support. Principals have some degree of autonomy to influence Requirements are set up to attract talented teacher pay, particularly with regard to payment for candidates. PAT and the Education Directorates at the both overtime and for extra responsibilities, since they governorate level regulate the process of recruiting determine which teachers in their schools work these school principals. In each governorate, there is an extra hours and perform these additional tasks. Further, education directorate that manages all the education principals can nominate their high-performing teachers affairs and functions as the arm of the MoE at the sub- to receive extra pay. However, hiring decisions are not national level. It is also at this sub-national level where made by principals, but by the sub-national authorities the ultimate authority lies in selecting and hiring school for open-ended teachers and local authorities for principals. Screening processes for school principals contract teachers. Principals can have a limited say in exist and employ multiple criteria. All principals must teacher dismissals, although the final say lies with sub- have a minimum of 15 years of teaching experience and national and local authorities. A growing body of a minimum of 5 years administrative experience, which evidence shows that principals, when allowed to carry generally means that principals have an average of 45 out these functions, apply sound judgment. Egypt may years. Candidates must hold a tertiary education degree like to consider learning what may be applicable from and are required to complete specific courses and the experiences of other systems that give their training designed for aspiring school principals as well principals more decision-making power in these areas. as the following: pass a written test, complete successfully a supervised internship and participate in an induction/mentoring program. The program newly implemented by PAT in 2009 under the Leadership Programs for Capacity Building of School Principals provides an explicit pathway to becoming a principal. PAT aims to identify and encourage leadership skills in talented teachers from the beginning of their careers, setting them on a clear trajectory to becoming principals. Under this program, a teacher is required to spend a minimum of 4 years in the Senior Teacher A category (in addition to successful completion of the SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 9 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 Figure 12. Principals’ decision-making role in hiring and primary and secondary education. In particular, NCEEE firing, selected systems provides technical inputs (designing, administration, and scoring) for the Thanawiya Amma exam. 6 In Egypt, there are 5 student assessments that are administered annually at the national level, 1 for the primary level and 4 for the secondary level. These assessments enable the MoE to understand how well students are learning. At grade 4 (age 10), grade 8 (age 14), and grade 10 (age 16), a sample of students are evaluated in Arabic, mathematics and science for the National Standardized Tests. All students are required to take the Secondary Education End of Stage Examinations with the first stage at grade 11 (age 17) and second stage at grade 12 (age 18). In addition, there are 2 sub- national level tests that are provided on an annual-basis to all students: The End of Primary Stage Standardized Tests in all subjects at grade 6 (age 12), and the End of Preparatory Stage Standardized Tests in all subjects at grade 9 (age 15). Egypt may consider requiring participation of all grade 4 students on the nationally applied standardized assessments to provide a clearer sense of where student learning weaknesses lie. In terms of international student assessments, Egypt participated in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for grade 8 students in 2003 and 2007, and is scheduled to participate in 2011. Egypt is also scheduled to take part in the Progress in Source: OECD, 2008 – PISA 2006; World Bank, SABER – International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) over the Teachers 2010. same time period. Continuous participation in TIMSS and PIRLS can provide Egypt with the opportunity to see how its students’ achievement levels measure up Goal 6: Monitoring teaching and learning against those of high-performing systems across the Advanced  world. Sufficient student achievement data to inform teaching are available; teacher evaluations are carried out with great frequency, but few teachers are rated as low-performing. There are enough student performance data to improve instruction. Since its establishment in 1990, the National Center for Examination and Educational Evaluation (NCEEE), a semi-independent organization that reports to MoE has been developing, testing, and applying student assessments of student learning in 6 World Bank, Policy Options to Strengthen Egypt’s Education Governance to Raise Quality, Based on a Comparison with High Performing Systems Across the World, 2010. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 10 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 Figure 13. Mandatory sources used in teacher Goal 7: Supporting teachers to improve performance evaluations, selected systems instruction Established  Weak teachers are supported through professional development and the guidance of a supervisor; professional development is wide in content but narrow in sharing good practices throughout the system. Teacher performance data from evaluations are used to improve instruction. All professionals can constantly improve, and teachers are no exception. Professional development opportunities enable teachers to develop their skills throughout their careers. In Egypt, teacher performance evaluation results are used to inform teachers on how they can develop their instructional Source: OECD, TALIS 2010 for Australia, Belgium, Denmark, practices and to allocate professional development Ireland and South Korea; World Bank, SABER- Teachers 2010 for Chile, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan Lebanon, Mexico, West Bank opportunities. It is positive that weak teachers are & Gaza and Yemen. supported by a supervisor. High-performing teachers are given opportunities to participate in professional Teacher performance evaluations are conducted development activities, education programs and other regularly. Each teacher is evaluated by his or her school forms of training to further their knowledge and skills. at least twice and at most four times per year. Teachers The increasing professionalization of teaching under the are also required to participate in national external Cadre (2009-2010) places a strong emphasis on evaluations twice a year under the responsibility of PAT. continuous use of performance data to provide Both internal and external evaluations are informed by guidance on professional development, motivated in the principal’s individual assessment and classroom part by the Government’s desire to reduce educational observation. Teachers themselves are able to take part quality disparities between Governorates. in a self-appraisal process, which may serve to empower the teacher to improve by understanding how Professional development is required but could be his/her personal assessment tallies with those of the broadened to include more innovative approaches. reviewers. Peers and parents are not usually considered PAT delivers professional development opportunities in as sources of information for teacher appraisals, and coordination with sub-national and local authorities, inputs from students are not taken into account. Both schools, teacher organizations and private institutions, internal and external evaluations consider the same set while the MoE finances its provision. It is mandatory for of criteria to assess teacher performance, namely: both primary school and secondary school teachers to knowledge of subject matter, curriculum compliance, devote a minimum of 50 hours (6.25 days) to teaching processes (including methods used to assess professional development. Such a requirement falls in students as well as their classroom participation), line with the measures applied in rapidly-improving lesson-planning, the use of homework and systems such as Brazil and Slovenia. In high-performing technological tools in the classroom, and students’ systems, the required days of professional development academic achievement. However, few teachers fail their range from a minimum of 4 to a maximum of 28 days evaluations, suggesting that the process is not as per year. Professional development content is varied, discerning as it appears in its design. In 2009, only covering aspects related to improving instructional around 1.5 percent of public school teachers failed to practice (in line with the Assistant Teachers’ Program achieve a satisfactory performance in the national reforms). Content covers not only support in carrying external evaluation. out administrative tasks, but also aspects related to teaching, such as subject matter knowledge, teaching the curriculum, classroom management, instructional SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 11 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 practices and teacher competencies. Most recently, sanctioning mechanisms to remove low- Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), performing teachers remains questionable. skills for effective educational assessment, active learning, inclusion and handling of students' unique Minimum mechanisms are in place to hold teachers characteristics have been incorporated. Completion of a accountable. In high-performing systems, requirements new certification program in ICTs is now a requirement for remaining in teaching are used to signal to all for the promotion of open-ended teachers who were teachers that continuous learning and skills upgrading is hired prior to the implementation of the Assistant important for teacher effectiveness and to provide Teacher’ Program. However, professional development education leaders with opportunities to dismiss the activities are constrained to the traditional varieties: least effective teachers. In Egypt, these requirements workshops, conferences, seminars, and qualification include annual participation in professional programs. A greater number of innovative courses to development, a satisfactory rating in the annual teacher improve instructional practices and share experiences performance evaluations, and successful performance throughout the system might be considered. Of these on an examination offered every 5 years in subject innovative practices, only mentoring and peer matter, pedagogy, and language. The reasons for observation are currently offered. Egypt might look into dismissal defined by legislation include child abuse, offering observation visits to other schools and misconduct, incompetence, and absenteeism. For the participation in school/teacher networks, which are latter, if the number of unauthorized absence exceeds proving effective in high-performing systems. 15 days uninterrupted or 30 days in total, a teacher could potentially face dismissal after being officially Figure 14. Number of required days of professional alerted on more than one occasion. development, selected systems Teachers may be offered monetary bonuses for a strong performance in an evaluation, and promotions are linked to performance. Effective teachers can receive monetary bonuses and are also provided with access to professional development opportunities and public recognition. Under the mandate of PAT since 2009-2010, teachers are tracked through a personalized portfolio, containing both their performance evaluation reports (from principals and supervisors) and professional development. The portfolio sheds light on where the teacher stands in the Cadre ranking and how he/she is performing in relation to his/her colleagues, at each rank of the Cadre. Sources: OECD, Creating Effective Teaching and Learning While top performers are rewarded, a majority of Environments: First Results from TALIS 2009 for Netherlands, teachers enjoy open-ended contracts and low- Mexico, Sweden, South Korea, Brazil, Slovenia, United States performing teachers are rarely sanctioned. The and Australia; World Bank, SABER – Teachers 2010 for Chile, following are taken into account in determining open- Egypt Notes: (1) The number of required days was calculated ended status: educational qualifications, performance by dividing the number of annual working hours by number on the job, employment status and potentially years of of daily working hours. (2)These figures refer to secondary experience. Under the Assistant Teachers’ Program, all and lower secondary school. new entrants to the teaching profession are initially hired as assistant teachers, after passing an Goal 8: Motivating teachers to perform examination, assessing subject matter, pedagogy theory and language requirements, completing an induction Established  program (3-6 months) and participating in a mentoring program, paired with a senior teacher (1-3 years). The length of teacher probationary periods has Under this mentoring program, after a minimum of 1 been extended, but the implementation of SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 12 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 year and within a maximum of 3 years, an assistant teacher may apply to become a teacher (based on his/her performance as assessed by the mentoring team) and successfully pass a higher level test in subject matter, pedagogy and language. Given that the first years of teaching are among the best available predictors of a teacher’s performance later on in the career, a rigorous training and mentoring period to determine the award of open-ended status is positive. However, Egypt might look into whether a strong focus on passing examinations impacts teacher effectiveness. In Egypt, open-ended teachers (who constitute 88 percent of the teaching force) automatically gain civil servant status. Egypt may look into policies that facilitate dismissal of chronically low-performing teachers. There are some sanctioning mechanisms that can be applied to low- performing teachers based on the results obtained in the performance evaluation, including removal from the classroom and potentially salary cuts or dismissal. However, it is worth noting that only 1.5 percent of the teaching force was deemed as performing at an unsatisfactory standard in the cadre performance examinations (2009), and not a single teacher was removed from the profession. Figure 15. Regulations for teacher dismissal and probationary periods, selected systems Sources: OECD, TALIS 2010 for Australia; Belgium, Japan and South Korea; World Bank, SABER – Teachers 2010 for Chile, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank & Gaza and Yemen. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 13 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 Acknowledgements This report was prepared in 2011 by the SABER- Teachers Team, which included Lisa Kaufman, Nicole Goldstein, and Alejandro Ganimian and was led by Emiliana Vegas (Lead Economist, HDNED). The team would also like to thank Ahmed Dewidar for his assistance with data collection. Finally, the report also benefited from the collaboration of Kamel Braham and Tomomi Miyajima. Information and analysis is based on the data and SABER-Teachers conceptual model from 2010. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 14 EGYPT | TEACHER POLICY SABER COUNTRY REPORT | 2010 www.worldbank.org/education/saber The Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) initiative produces comparative data and knowledge on education policies and institutions, with the aim of helping countries systematically strengthen their education systems. SABER evaluates the quality of education policies against evidence-based global standards, using new diagnostic tools and detailed policy data. The SABER country reports give all parties with a stake in educational results—from administrators, teachers, and parents to policymakers and business people—an accessible, objective snapshot showing how well the policies of their country's education system are oriented toward ensuring that all children and youth learn. This report focuses specifically on teacher policy. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. THE WORLD BANK SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 15