Supporting teachers through policy development: Lessons from sub-Saharan Africa.

Effective teacher policies are key for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Teachers are the most important school-level factor contributing to quality education. However, an estimated 69 million additional teachers are needed globally to meet the Sustainable Development Goal’s target 4.c to increase the supply of qualified teachers, especially in low-income contexts, and to fulfil the Education 2030 Agenda. The development of holistic and comprehensive teacher policies supporting a coordinated management of the teacher workforce is an important step to ensure countries can deliver on the promise of quality education. Based on this understanding and to assist national decision-makers and education officials, the Teacher Task Force and UNESCO developed the Teacher Policy Development Guide. This publication shares the experience of nine sub-Saharan African countries which used the Guide. It contains new insights and lessons on key processes, content, structure and support that are needed to develop teacher policies that respond to national goals and are aligned with wider policy frameworks. The publication provides recommendations for national decision-makers and development partners on how they can better support teacher policy development, including on how the Teacher Policy Development Guide itself can be further developed to meet evolving need.

Sub-Saharan Africa requires an additional 16.5 million primary and secondary teachers to meet global targets in 2030.  Read the full publication!