The Teaching Profession
Francophone Section
The primary aim of the Working Group on the Teaching Profession (WGTP) is to assist African ministries of education in developing quality basic education by contributing to the improvement of teacher management and support systems (TMS). To achieve this goal, the Working Group has focused on developing a cadre of experts who can analyze TMS issues and spur action within their ministries. The francophone section of the Working Group is involved in a number of activities aimed at promoting better management of teaching staff and mobilizing teachers to make them more effective. It operates through Country Working Groups established in 14 countries.
Since 1993 the francophone section of the Working Group (WGTP/fs) has been running a program on the management and mobilization of teaching personnel. Under this program, the national teams of the WGTP/fs, in 14 French-speaking countries, draw up action plans to improve the management of teachers and their conditions of employment and to raise their motivation and performance levels.
Research topics
In September 1998, the Working Group decided to refocus the work of the national teams. Each team was given the task, with the backing of its ministry, of defining two research topics that address issues in their country. The national teams subsequently undertook more specifically targeted studies and initiatives bearing on their action plans. The research topics that they defined are as follows:
- Teacher discontent;
- Alternative solutions to traditional methods of recruiting teachers, such as volunteers and teachers under short-term contract;
- Women teachers in disadvantaged areas, and low enrolments of girls;
- Redeployment of personnel (an issue related to school mapping and the relations between the ministry of education and the ministries of finance and civil service;
- The role of trade unions in participatory school management;
- Three-pronged personnel management systems equating jobs, positions and personnel;
- Training, supervision, and leadership of teaching staff;
- Employment conditions of teachers in remote or underprivileged areas;
- Wage policies and structural adjustment.
The mid-term review, conducted by the WGTP/fs Steering Committee in Paris in February 2000, divided the national teams into two groups according to the extent of progress made on the studies: those still in the start-up phase and those at a relatively advanced stage.
The teams of the first group of countries (Benin, Niger, Togo, and Madagascar) attended a workshop in Niamey in May. The teams' requirements (in terms of equipment, and financial and technical support) for continuation of these studies were identified, and in some cases the studies were reoriented. Niger's team, for example, which is examining the role of volunteers in education, decided at the workshop to focus its study on analyzing current practice in volunteer teaching in Niger in terms of recruitment, school-to-work transition, teacher training, and supervision. The team realized that studying the impact on the education system of employing volunteer teachers was not a realistic objective, because Niger's experience in this field is too recent.
A second workshop, held in Bamako in December, brought together the second group of countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Togo, and Senegal), which are further along in their work. The participants drew up an initial assessment of progress, describing the difficulties encountered and proposing solutions to allow completion of the studies. The topics addressed by the countries are:
- The problem of repetition in the first cycle of basic education, and the management and mobilization of teaching personnel (Mali). The study explores and analyzes the causes of repetition, particularly the resistance and negative attitudes of parents and teachers. It recommends initiatives to sensitize, mobilize, and train field personnel in order to promote successful school outcomes.
- Teacher discontent (Senegal). The study measures teacher discontent and its root causes, in particular by comparing society's perception of teachers (how they are viewed by public opinion) to teachers' perception of themselves.
- Alternative solutions to traditional hiring: the employment of non-career staff and its impact on Guinea's educational system (Guinea).
- The position of women teachers in rural areas (Burkina Faso). The interim report indicates that women teachers in rural areas face economic, family, and cultural problems as well as difficulties in communicating with their immediate superiors. The team conducting the study made a series of recommendations, which will be implemented gradually.
- Participation of trade unions in the functioning of the educational system (Benin). The study analyzes the institutional and regulatory framework governing union activity, as well as the participation of union organizations. The study is to be supplemented by a survey questionnaire.
- Matching jobs and staff positions through registration (Côte d'Ivoire). The study identifies the obstacles to the registration of teaching positions, proposes an approach for introducing this management method, and presents the achievements made in this area.
- The introduction of a "jobs-positions-personnel" management system in the education sector (Togo).
Three studies are near completion (Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal). Completing those of Benin and Guinea will require additional financial support.
The AIDS question
Considering the scale of the AIDS problem in African countries and its impact on education, WGTP/fs has added research on the HIV/AIDS pandemic to its agenda. To this end, a sub-regional workshop was held in Lomé last May on the topic "Schools and HIV/AIDS: Information and awareness-raising concerning the problems posed by the AIDS pandemic in the school environment." The national teams of the member countries of the WGTP/fs drew up national action plans for a three-year period (2001-2003). For example, Madagascar's plan of action provides for the development of a training curriculum for prevention programs at the primary level, while the Central African Republic is planning to produce audio-visual materials on AIDS, to create school infirmaries and pharmacies in schools, and to supply school health-care centers with drugs to combat sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS.
Furthermore, at the meeting of the Steering Committee in Paris last September, the members of WGTP/fs' AIDS Committee summarized the various national action plans and set up a program of research, studies, and initiatives to contribute to the fight against this pandemic. WGTP/fs will identify the initiatives that are already under way in some countries and inform the other countries about them. It will also support initiatives to train teachers in simple preventive measures; to promote instruction on the HIV/AIDS problem, both in initial teacher training and in refresher courses; to facilitate early screening tests; and to provide information on the pandemic's effects on teaching personnel.
Support missions
Support and advisory missions were undertaken in 2000 to help set up a national team in the Central African Republic and to provide assistance for further work on national studies in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal. These missions foster the development of high-level African expertise on the various issues addressed by WGTP/fs.
In 2001, WGTP/fs will continue the work begun in the national studies and will support the implementation of national action plans, particularly those set up to fight against AIDS.
Paul Dogoh-Bibi
Regional Coordinator
of the Working Group on the Teaching Profession, francophone section
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