Working Group on the Teaching Profession
The program is conducted in two stages:
a) Diagnosis of the education systems and formulation of country action plans:
The objective of the first phase of TMS is to analyze the different countries' education systems from the angle of teacher management and support. Factors investigated include: career management, levels of female participation, teaching personnel hierarchy, condition of schools and classrooms, etc. The purpose of the analysis is to determine the most important factors affecting teachers' conditions and to formulate national action plans based on these findings.
In order to reach a consensus and make realistic proposals, participant countries work in close cooperation with groups concerned by issues related to teacher management and support. These groups may include the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, researchers, teachers' syndicates, parents' associations, and international organizations.
b) Implementation of national action plans and design of methodological guides
The national action plans are intended to be implemented once they have been finalized and incorporated into the countries' education policies.
The TMS program also includes two other outputs: the production of methodological guides that African countries will be able to use when designing their own national plans; and the constitution of a cadre of African experts whose technical expertise can be called upon by countries who have not participated in the TMS program.
Achievements
A number of countries are in the final stages of formulating national action plans. Others have already incorporated their action plan into their countries' education policies and are carrying out priority actions.
Publications
The following documents give an account of what has been achieved in the countries participating in the TMS program:
- Gestion et mobilisation des personnels enseignants dans les pays francophones d'Afrique subsaharienne. Paris : Ministère de la Coopération, 1996.
- Teacher Management and Professional Support— Accra Review. London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 1995.
The Working Group on the Teaching Profession (WGTP) was created in 1989.
Objectives
In a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, teachers' conditions in terms of management, benefits and professional support are poor, and teacher motivation and performance low. This situation has benn detrimental to the quality of basic education in sub-Saharan Africa.
The WGTP seeks to find ways to address these issues. The working group's global objective is to improve the quality of basic education in sub-Saharan countries by improving the existing teacher management and support systems and the teaching and learning environments.
Activities
Since 1993, the working group is engaged in a program called Teacher Management and Support (TMS). The program aims at producing implementable country action plans which address key issues related to teacher management and support. So far, 25 countries have participated in the program: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chad, C™te-d'Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania/Zanzibar, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar, and Zimbabwe.
The country action plans are based on a thorough diagnosis of the countries' education systems. Hence, the TMS program has a strong analytical component. However it is also geared towards capacity-building as the work is carried out by country working groups that receive methodological support.
Working Group on the Teaching Profession
Lead Agency :
Commonwealth Secretariat
Coordinator:
Henry Kaluba
Commonwealth Secretariat
Tel: (44) (171) 839 3411
Fax : (44) (171) 747 6287
in collaboration with :
Jean-Claude Balmès
Ministère de la Coopération
Tel: (33) (1) 53 69 34 41
Fax : (33) (1) 53 69 37 7
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