Where have all the (qualified) teachers gone? Implications for measuring sustainable development goal target 4.c from a study of teacher supply, demand and deployment in Liberia (original) (raw)
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Managing the Business of Education: Liberia Cleans Up Its Teacher Payroll, 2015–2017
In late 2015, Liberia’s newly appointed education minister, George Werner, recognized that the government school system was wasting money and failing its students. Shortly before Werner assumed office, a pilot project had identified significant numbers of ghost workers (teachers who never showed up for their jobs or were fraudulently included on the payroll) as well as teachers who lacked even basic qualifications. Although the project covered just three of Liberia’s 15 counties (the most populous counties of Montserrado, Nimba, and Bong), the findings illuminated a long-standing national problem. Resolving to put an end to the abuses, Werner and senior ministry officials created a program implementation unit dedicated to the nationwide project, refined vetting procedures for assessing qualifications, and introduced mandatory competency testing that laid the foundation for additional reforms. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf provided crucial political support when the project ran into resistance from the national teachers’ association. By February 2018, the education ministry had removed 83% of the 2,046 ghost teachers, and planned to remove the remaining 17% that it identified during the last six months of the project. Overall, the project generated 2.3millioninannualsavingsthatopenedspacesfornewteachersintheschoolsystemandbudget,withtheministryexpectingthatthisnumberwouldincreaseto2.3 million in annual savings that opened spaces for new teachers in the school system and budget, with the ministry expecting that this number would increase to 2.3millioninannualsavingsthatopenedspacesfornewteachersintheschoolsystemandbudget,withtheministryexpectingthatthisnumberwouldincreaseto3.1 million once all ghost teachers were gone. As a result of the project, the ministry hired 1,371 trained new graduate teachers. Still, challenges remained: 49% of public school teachers had failed the competency tests. Armed with this important baseline data, the ministry had to decide what to do to improve teacher quality.
IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME), 2023
Government spending on education is an indication of society commitment to equip its citizen with sound knowledge, skills, and values for them to effective function in society. For this reason, after World War II, International cooperation in education had compelled governments to invest in education to increase universal access to quality education. Despite adopting these international treaties, declarations and recommendations, many countries seem to still be lagging in meeting the recommended threshold of least 4-6 percent of GDP or 15-20 percent of total public spending on education. Even though there seems to be little improvement in education funding across the world, but there is still a wide gap between the anticipated and the actual investment. The purpose of this paper was to examine the trend in government of Liberia spending on education and how it correlates with educational outcome of school enrollment at every level. Data were obtained from the World Bank GDP estimates and UNESCO statistics on education expenditure. The results in this paper show that the government of Liberia expenditure on education is far below other sub-Saharan African countries as well as other low-income countries. Public expenditure on education is significantly skewed towards recurrent cost with almost no funds for educational development. Generally, government expenditure on education does not seem to influence school enrollment at almost all levels except for the lower basic level conclusion and recommendations are provided to help policy makers and actors to take urgent action.
This research investigates the changes in the status of the teaching profession during the EFA years (2000-present). Using a modified version of Quinn (1997) as the framework, the study has used the following components to assess changes in the status of the teaching profession: credentials, induction, professional development, authority/self governance, and compensation. Teacher commitment is used as a proxy for educational quality. This study finds that the overall trend in the status of the teaching profession has improved at best and unchanged at worst. While induction and professional development displayed negative trends, credentials and authority both showed positive increases. Compensation (by contract type) and commitment were unchanged. These results are influenced by the positive trends in job satisfaction. Three case studies-Indonesia, Kenya, and Morocco-provide deeper context into the complicated nature of adjusting the status of the teaching profession and introduce a framework to help mitigate potential challenges for measuring the status of the teaching profession for future researchers.
2010
This Country Status Report (CSR) for Liberia is part of an ongoing series of country specific reports being prepared by the World Bank in collaboration with governments and development partners. The series aims to enhance the knowledge base for policy development. This report is intended to help engage a diverse audience on issues and policies in the education sector and to develop a shared vision for the future of Liberia. It is the first sector-wide report produced on the education system in Liberia since the end of the war. A policy options matrix follows the executive summary, which will provide government and partners with guidance on the key priorities to tackle. Besides consolidating information in a policy-relevant manner, this CSR makes a unique contribution to the education knowledge base by documenting not only traditional and basic indicators, such as gross enrollment rates and retention, but also examining the performance of the education system in terms of access, qual...
Education in Liberia: Basic Diagnostic Using the 2007 CWIQ Survey
2012
This chapter was written in 2007 in order to inform the diagnostic of Liberia's Poverty Reduction Strategy. Little has been written on the education system in Liberia since the start of the conflict in large part because of lack of good data. The chapter provides a diagnostic of Liberia's education system as seen from the point of view of households using the new nationally representative Core Welfare Questionnaire Indicator (CWIQ) survey implemented in 2007. The analysis covers school enrollment rates as well as the reasons for not going to school, and the degree of satisfaction of households with the services received, in each case looking at various age groups and boys and girls separately, as well as at different types of facilities providing education services. Data are also presented on household private spending for education, as well as on distances to facilities. A benefit incidence analysis of public spending for education is conducted, and regression analysis is used to assess the determinants of school enrollment.
Education Policies and Teacher Education Programs: Meeting the Millennium Development Goals
Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 2008
Declaration. The MDGs declaration helped awaken nations to the need for structural features that empower education policy makers and planners in creating effective educational systems. A survey was used to gather data from teachers and school administrators in Nigeria. The data suggested that both teachers and school administrators are discontented with the lethargic policies and implementation of programs in meeting global standards. In particular, the empiric data could be useful for education policymakers, planners, administrators, and researchers who need information that might help them to improve their activities and deal with the controversial issues.
Examining the Access, Quality, and Relevance Gaps in Liberia’s Educational Policy Environment
International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research, 2024
In 2015, governments across the globe agreed upon development standards that should be realized by 2030 dubbed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Particularly, SDG-4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. Liberia, like other countries domesticated the SDGs and on the educational front, it aims to provide an educational system that promotes equitable access to quality and relevant education to all. The country's educational policy environment focuses on promoting the realisation of the SDG-4 goal. This includes Liberia's Education Reform Act 2011 that was aligned to educational objectives of equitable access to quality and relevant education. In spite of the presence of this policy environment, results seem detached from the expected reality. A number of policy gaps have been noted including limited funds to priority areas, high school dropouts, limited facilities, inappropriate curriculum, limited technological facilities and tools, inadequate trained teaching staff, and limited apprenticeship opportunities, among others. These have consequently affected equitable access to quality and relevant education in the country. In order to mitigate these policy gaps, it is recommended that 20 percent of the national expenditure be allocated and released to the education sector, the education curriculum should be reviewed to emphasise relevant skills, adequate support facilities and tools should be provided to all schools, teachers must be trained, and partnerships with stakeholders harnessed. These interventions are intended to promote an effective educational policy environment that will meet the policy intentions of the country.
Characteristics of Teachers; A Survey Tool for Policy Making. A Descriptive Study in Liberia
1975
This study examines the usefulness of survey instruments policy making in Liberia, a developing country. The chapter, "Liberia,oan Overview," summarizes available background information about:Liberian education and introduces the complex issues facing educational planners. "Procedures," discussSs the general procedures followed in implementing the study, sample procedures, data collection and analysis, and the limitations of the study. "Demographic TeachsrCharacteristics," documents personal-'characteristics and parental backgrounds of Liberian teachers. "Teacher Educational and Experiental Backgrounds," examines the educational and experiential backgrounds of senior high school teachers. "Teacher Opinions and Perceptions" discusses teacher career choice, job satisfaction, career aspirations, general school climate, role behavior, teacher evaluation, and the changes desired in the schools. It is stated that the findings provide some insight into aspects of schocl practice and operation that should be examined closely as efforts are made to attract, select, and retain the caliber of teachers necessary to meet individual acid national educational goals. Many tables illustrating the collected data are given. A copy of the questionnaire, list of schools in the final sample, list of occupations in Liberia, and tables of data on teacher time allocation, are covered in the _appendixes. (OK)
Liberia and the Underrepresentation of Women Teachers
This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues.