Abstract
This article provides an overview of how teacher quality and learning outcomes are included in national education policies. It responds to a set of specific questions focused on strategies to improve learning, links between teacher quality and learning outcomes, and how policy seeks to overcome learning obstacles for the most disadvantaged. The article uses data collated from the national education plans of forty developing countries. It includes a summary of key lessons and observations related to the inclusion of teaching and learning in education policy and a range of strategies that can support teaching and learning, both directly and indirectly.
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Notes
While there is a clear relationship between quality and learning outcomes, the article differentiates between the two. UNESCO (2004, p. 36) provides a framework for quality, where learner characteristics, enabling inputs (including teaching and learning) and contexts influence learning outcomes. The concept of quality in this paper focuses on those enabling inputs and in particular the role of teachers and teaching—and learning outcomes acts as evidence of this quality.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan (pre-secession), Swaziland, the United Republic of Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The references for all plans can be found in Hunt (2013).
I determined the emphasis an education plan places on “quality” over “learning outcomes” by looking at whether, and how, they include these terms.
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This article draws on research by Hunt (2013). The terms of reference for the original study provide the conceptual focus for this article, including the focus on teacher quality and learning outcomes. Thanks to Alasdair McWilliam and the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) team for their support and comments.
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Hunt, F. Review of national education policies: Teacher quality and learning outcomes. Prospects 45, 379–390 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-015-9356-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-015-9356-z