Person:
Linden, Toby
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Secondary education,
Tertiary education,
Skills and workforce development,
Roma,
India,
Southeast Europe,
Central Europe
Degrees
ORCID
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
September 20, 2023
Biography
Toby Linden has had a long and diverse career working in countries across the globe with
the World Bank, including in South Asia, Southeast and Central Europe, and Southern
and Eastern Africa. His publications include Lifelong Learning in the Global Knowledge
Economy: Challenges for Developing Countries, with Harry Patrinos, and Getting the
Right Teachers into the Right Schools: Managing India’s Teacher Workforce, with Vimala
Ramachandran and others. He also served as director of the Roma Education Fund, an
international nongovernmental organization working to improve the educational outcomes of
Roma (Gypsies), the poorest minority in Europe. Previously, he worked for the British Council
and England’s national Department for Education.
Publication Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
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Publication
How Much and What Kind of Teaching Is There in Elementary Education in India? Evidence from Three States
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02)This study focuses on the link between teachers' 'time-on-task' (TOT) and the nature of tasks in classrooms. This study, carried out with concurrence from Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), is built upon the independent study commissioned by MHRD to explore teacher attendance rates in schools. This study ventures beyond the quantitative dimensions of teacher attendance (physical presence) to look at the 'time-on-task' (TOT) and nature of tasks, that is, the quantity and quality of teacher presence and interaction. Most specifically, it will provide insight into the work environment of teachers who are the key to service delivery and suggest implications for both policy and program interventions to empower teachers and introduce more accountability into the system. The McKinsey and Company study (Barber & Mourshed, 2007) identified three things that matter most: (1) getting the right people to become teachers; (2) developing them into effective instructors; and (3) ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child. In the present study, the attempt is to see whether the teachers are 'effective instructors' and the system is delivering the best to its children. The study aims to find out the factors that facilitate improved quality of instructional time on the one hand, and what it means to the whole process of improving learning levels on the other. In addition, there is an effort to understand the characteristics of various enabling inputs -
Publication
Fixing the Foundation: Teachers and Basic Education in East Asia and Pacific
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-20)Countries in middle-income East Asia and the Pacific were already experiencing serious learning deficits prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-related school disruptions have only made things worse. Learning poverty -- defined as the percentage of 10-year-olds who cannot read and understand an age-appropriate text -- is as high as 90 percent in several countries. Several large Southeast Asian countries consistently perform well below expectations on adolescent learning assessments. This report examines key factors affecting student learning in the region, with emphasis on the central role of teachers and teaching quality. It also analyzes the role education technologies, which came into widespread use during the pandemic, and examines the political economy of education reform. The report presents recommendations on how countries can strengthen teaching to improve learning and, in doing so, can enhance productivity, growth, and future development in the region.