77915 Guyana SABER Country Report TEACHERS 2012 Policy Goals Status 1. Setting Clear Expectations for Teachers Expectations for students and teachers are clear, but teachers may not have enough time to focus on improving instruction. 2. Attracting the Best into Teaching Policies allow performance to inform career advancement, but low requirements may make it hard for the profession to attract and select the best candidates. 3. Preparing Teachers with Useful Training And Experience Teachers in Guyana may enter the profession provisionally with minimal preparation, making them less effective early in their career. Teacher training programs are brief compared to those of high-performing systems, but do incorporate classroom experience. 4. Matching Teachers’ Skills with Students’ Needs There are monetary incentives for teachers to work in hard-to-staff schools, but not for teachers in critical shortage subjects. 5. Leading Teachers with Strong Principals Principals must complete specific education requirements and administrative experience, but do not receive support through mentors. Principals do not receive performance pay. 6. Monitoring Teaching and Learning According to policy, teachers undergo annual performance evaluations, and student learning data informs teacher evaluations. Despite strong policies, expert respondents suggest a gap between policy and practice. 7. Supporting Teachers to Improve Instruction Teachers have to complete professional development once they have entered their career. The government officially recommends that teachers take part in professional development but does not focus on proven methods (e.g., teacher/school networks & practice-based methods). 8. Motivating Teachers to Perform Promotion opportunities are linked to teachers’ performance, but performance cannot affect hiring and compensation decisions. THE WORLD BANK GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Overview of SABER-Teachers database where interested stakeholders can access detailed information organized along relevant There is increasing interest across the globe in categories that describe how different education attracting, retaining, developing, and motivating great systems manage their teacher force, as well as copies of teachers. Student achievement has been found to supporting documents. The full database is available at correlate with economic and social progress (Hanushek the SABER-Teacher website. & Woessmann 2007, 2009; Pritchett & Viarengo 2009; Campante & Glaeser 2009), and teachers are key: Box 1. Teacher policy areas for data collection recent studies have shown that teacher quality is the 1. Requirements to enter and remain in teaching main school-based predictor of student achievement and that several consecutive years of outstanding 2. Initial teacher education teaching can offset the learning deficits of 3. Recruitment and employment disadvantaged students (Hanushek & Rivkin 2010; Rivkin, et al. 2005; Nye et al. 2004; Rockoff 2004; Park & 4. Teachers’ workload and autonomy Hannum 2001; Sanders & Rivers 1996). However, 5. Professional development achieving the right teacher policies to ensure that every classroom has a motivated, supported, and competent 6. Compensation (salary and non-salary benefits) teacher remains a challenge, because evidence on the 7. Retirement rules and benefits impacts of many teacher policies remains insufficient and scattered, the impact of many reforms depends on 8. Monitoring and evaluation of teacher quality specific design features, and teacher policies can have 9. Teacher representation and voice very different impacts depending on the context and other education policies in place. 10. School leadership A new tool, SABER-Teachers, aims to help fill this gap To offer informed policy guidance, SABER-Teachers by collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, and analyzes the information collected to assess the extent disseminating comprehensive information on teacher to which the teacher policies of an education system policies in primary and secondary education systems are aligned with those policies that the research around the world. SABER-Teachers is a core component evidence to date has shown to have a positive effect of SABER (Systems Approach for Better Education on student achievement. SABER-Teachers analyzes the Results), an initiative launched by the Human teacher policy data collected to assess each education Development Network of the World Bank. SABER system’s progress in achieving 8 Teacher Policy Goals: 1. collects information about different education systems’ Setting clear expectations for teachers; 2. Attracting the policy domains, analyzes it to identify common best into teaching; 3. Preparing teachers with useful challenges and promising solutions, and makes it widely training and experience; 4. Matching teachers’ skills available to inform countries’ decisions on where and with students’ needs; 5. Leading teachers with strong how to invest in order to improve education quality. principals; 6. Monitoring teaching and learning; 7. Supporting teachers to improve instruction; and 8. SABER-Teachers collects data on ten core teacher Motivating teachers to perform (see Figure 1). policy areas to offer a comprehensive descriptive overview of the teacher policies that are in place in each participating education system (see Box 1). Data are collected in each participating education system by a specialized consultant using a questionnaire that ensures comparability of information across different education systems. Data collection focuses on the rules and regulations governing teacher management systems. This information is compiled in a comparative SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 2 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Figure 1: 8 Teacher Policy Goals established, and advanced), which describes the extent to which a given education system has in place teacher policies that are known to be related to improved student outcomes. The main objective of this assessment is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher policies of an education system and pinpoint possible areas for improvement. For a more detailed report on the eight teacher policy goals, policy levers and indicators, as well as the evidence base supporting them, see Vegas et al. (2012). The main focus of SABER-Teachers is on policy design, rather than on policy implementation. SABER-Teachers analyzes the teacher policies formally adopted by education systems. However, policies “on the ground”, that is, policies as they are actually implemented, may differ quite substantially from policies as originally designed, and in fact they often do so, due to the The 8 Teacher Policy Goals are functions that all high- political economy of the reform process, lack of capacity performing education systems fulfill to a certain extent of the organizations in charge of implementing them, or in order to ensure that every classroom has a the interaction between these policies and specific motivated, supported, and competent teacher. These contextual factors. Since SABER-Teachers collects goals were identified through a review of evidence of limited data on policy implementation, the assessment research studies on teacher policies, and the analysis of of teacher policies presented in this report needs to be policies of top-performing and rapidly-improving complemented with detailed information that describes education systems. Three criteria were used to identify the actual configuration of teacher policies on the them: teacher policy goals had to be (i) linked to ground. student performance through empirical evidence, (ii) a priority for resource allocation, and (iii) actionable, that This report presents results of the application of is, actions governments can take to improve education SABER-Teachers in Guyana. It describes Guyana’s policy. The eight teacher policy goals exclude other performance in each of the 8 Teacher Policy Goals, objectives that countries might want to pursue to alongside comparative information from education increase the effectiveness of their teachers, but on systems that have consistently scored high results in which there is to date insufficient empirical evidence to international student achievement tests and have make specific policy recommendations. participated in SABER-Teachers. Additional detailed descriptive information on Guyana’s and other By classifying countries according to their performance education systems’ teacher policies can be found on the on each of the 8 Teacher Policy Goals, SABER-Teachers SABER-Teachers website. can help diagnose the key challenges that countries face in ensuring they have effective teachers. For each policy goal, the SABER-Teachers team identified policy levers (actions that governments can take to reach these goals) and indicators (which measure the extent to which governments are making effective use of these policy levers). Using these policy levers and indicators, SABER-Teachers classifies education systems’ performance on each of the eight teacher policy goals using a four-category scale (latent, emerging, SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 3 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Guyana’s Teacher Policy System Results Guyana’s policies, by contrast, provide limited time outside of teaching. Seventy-seven percent of their Goal 1: Setting clear expectations for teachers working time is officially committed to teaching, 15 percent to preparing lessons, and the remainder to Established zzz| administrative and extracurricular duties. Setting clear expectations for student and teacher Figure 2. Official Teacher Tasks performance is important to guide teachers’ daily work Singapore Shanghai and align necessary resources to make sure that Guyana Japan teachers can constantly improve instructional practice. In addition, clear expectations can help ensure there is coherence among different key aspects of the teaching profession, such as teacher initial education, Support peers 9 9 9 professional development, and teacher appraisal. Collaborate on school plan 9 9 9 9 SABER-Teachers considers two policy levers school systems can use to reach this goal: (1) clear Design curriculum 9 9 expectations for what students should know and be Evaluate school 9 9 9 able to do, and how teachers can help students reach these goals; (2) useful guidance on teachers’ use of time to be able to improve instruction at the school level. Figure 3. Official Time Spent Teaching In Guyana, there are clear expectations for what students and teachers are supposed to do. Guyana has 100% 77% defined a set of national standards that inform teachers 80% 54% of required subject content and measurable indicators 60% 44% 44% of learning that should be achieved by students at 40% different grades. In addition, the tasks that teachers are 20% expected to carry out are officially stipulated and 0% recognize the diversity of teacher tasks outside of basic Guyana Japan South Korea Singapore instruction. Source: SABER-Teacher Data; OECD (2010) Guyana’s policies recognize the diversity of teacher tasks. Laws and regulations in Guyana recognize the diverse responsibilities of teachers, including teaching, supervising students, supporting other teachers, collaborating on school plans, taking part in internal evaluations, and conducting administrative tasks. To ensure time spent teaching is used most effectively, teachers need working time allotted for their other duties. In high-performing systems, up to 50 percent of teachers’ work time is committed to preparing effective lessons and conducting administrative duties. High- performers such as Singapore focus most of the non- teaching time on professional development and curriculum planning. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 4 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Goal 2: Attracting the best into teaching enter professions that provide greater rewards for their strongest professionals. Emerging zz|| Working conditions may be unattractive. Working The structure and characteristics of the teaching career conditions, such as student-teacher ratios and the can make it more or less attractive for talented physical condition of schools, play a role in job individuals to decide to become teachers. Talented satisfaction. In Guyana, potential teachers may choose people may be more inclined to become teachers if to work in professions in more attractive environments. they see that entry requirements are on par with those While there are school facility standards, results of of well-regarded professions, if compensation and systematic monitoring are not available. Guyana’s working conditions are adequate, and if there are primary and secondary school teacher ratios are 26 and attractive career opportunities for them to develop as 22, respectively, which approach our expectation of professionals. minimum adequacy. SABER-Teachers considers four policy levers school Effective teachers have some opportunities to grow systems can use to reach this goal: (1) requirements to and advance in their careers. Opportunities for growth enter the teaching profession; (2) competitive pay; (3) over a lifetime attract talented people to the career and appealing working conditions; and (4) attractive career raise the prestige of the profession. In Shanghai, opportunities. talented members of the profession may later become administrative leaders or curriculum specialists. In In Guyana, new teachers are required to complete a Guyana, teachers may apply to become principals but two-year postsecondary program. Teachers in Guyana not academic specialists. Policies in Guyana do allow must complete a two-year associate’s degree, which past performance to inform career advancement. may count as two years towards a bachelor’s degree. In addition, they are required to satisfactorily complete a Figure 4. Models of Teacher Preparation written test, practicum, and practice-based assessment. South Korea These requirements may communicate that the career Singapore has higher prestige than no postsecondary education, Shanghai Guyana but less than those that require a bachelor’s degree. There are multiple paths to enter the teaching Japan profession, which broadens the pool of potential Concurrent model 9 9 9 9 teachers. In Guyana, there are several ways teachers may acquire the necessary skills to enter the profession: they may acquire the two-year associate’s degree or Consecutive model 9 9 9 9 acquire a teaching certificate after attaining a bachelor’s degree. This allows professionals who did not Alternative model 9 9 decide to enter the profession at the beginning of their Source: SABER-Teacher Data (2012) career or have a nontraditional career path to become teachers. Similarly, successful education systems offer multiple paths to ensure a competitive pool of teacher candidates (Figure 4). Teacher compensation includes benefits but does not vary with performance. Teacher pay is subject to a specific scale that does not account for teacher effort or results. As a result, people who could become tomorrow’s high-performing teachers may instead SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 5 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Goal 3: Preparing Teachers with Useful teachers more effective in the classroom and reduce Training and Experience teacher turnover. Established zzz| Figure 5. Requirements to enter the profession Singapore Equipping teachers with the skills they need to succeed Shanghai Guyana in the classroom is crucial. Teachers need subject Japan matter and pedagogic knowledge, as well as classroom management skills and lots of teaching practice in order to be successful in the classroom. In addition, preparation puts all teachers on an equal footing, giving Pass written test 9 9 9 them a common framework to improve their practice. Interview-stage assessment 9 9 9 9 SABER-Teachers considers two policy levers school Minimum practical systems can use to reach this goal: (1) minimum experience 9 9 9 standards for pre-service training programs; (2) Assessment based on required classroom experience for all teachers. practical experience 9 9 9 Source: SABER-Teacher Data (2012) Pre-service training is required in Guyana before the first year of teaching. In most countries, one must Figure 6. Minimum education requirements complete coursework and other requirements before becoming a teacher. In Guyana, teachers are recruited into the profession, and then must complete their training within a set number of years. Teachers working provisionally therefore may have had no coursework and may not even have seen the material they are teaching, since they studied in the same course. Within their first years of teaching, all teachers are Source: SABER-Teacher Data (2012) required to complete a program at a technical training college below the bachelor’s level (ISCED 4A). By contrast, high-performing systems require a bachelor’s degree (ISCED 5A) or higher before entry into the profession. Teacher entrants are required to have substantial practical experience through a mentoring program. The more practical experience teacher entrants have, the better prepared they will be for their job. In Guyana, policies require that teacher training programs incorporate classroom experience. In addition, student teachers can develop classroom experience through mentoring programs once they have started their first job. Teachers in Guyana are required to attend mentoring programs for a period between one to two years. These programs have the potential to make SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 6 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Goal 4: Matching teachers’ skills with attract teachers of shortage subjects. For example, students’ needs when the United Kingdom faced shortages of mathematics and science teachers, they offered Emerging zz|| payments to people studying to become teachers in those subjects to defray education costs (OECD, 2011). Ensuring that teachers work in schools where their skills are most needed is important for equity and efficiency. Figure 7. Incentives to teach shortage subjects 1 First, it is a way of ensuring teachers are distributed as Shanghai efficiently as possible, making sure that there are no Guyana South Korea Japan shortages of qualified teachers at any given grade, education level, or subject. Second, it is a means of ensuring all students in a school system have an equal Formal identification of opportunity to learn. Without purposeful allocation shortage subjects 9 9 9 systems, it is likely that teachers will gravitate towards schools serving better-off students or located in more Higher basic salary 9 desirable areas, deepening inequalities in the system. Monetary bonus 9 SABER-Teachers considers two policy levers school Subsidized education 9 systems can use to reach this goal: (1) incentives for Source: SABER-Teachers Data. teachers to work in hard-to-staff schools; and (2) incentives for teachers to teach critical shortage areas. Figure 8. Incentives to teach in hard-to-staff schools1 Shanghai Guyana Incentives to work in hard-to-staff schools exist, but South Korea Japan transfer policies may hinder equitable teacher distribution. Attracting effective teachers to work in hard-to-staff schools, which may serve students from Promotion opportunities 9 9 disadvantaged populations, is a challenge for many countries and often requires a complex set of Higher basic salary 9 incentives. The government of Guyana provides Monetary Bonus 9 9 9 bonuses and housing allowances for teachers in remote areas, which may attract more teachers to them. Using Subsidized education 9 seniority as a basis for approving transfer requests may Source: SABER-Teacher Data. permit the most seasoned teachers to leave hard-to- Box 2: Addressing shortage subjects staff schools, leaving less experienced and potentially Subject-specific shortages may result in teachers less capable teachers at underserved schools. In serving that are not trained in the subject and cannot Guyana, transfers are determined exclusively by job title effectively teach it, classroom crowding in those and years of experience, which may contribute to subjects, or important subjects not being offered. In inequitable teacher sorting. Singapore, where entry to the profession is competitive, authorities manage the number of Guyana has formally identified subjects with teacher candidates allowed to enter each year based insufficient teachers but has no policies to meet the on the system’s needs. In Chile and England, teacher shortage. In almost all countries, teachers of certain candidates of shortage subjects receive remuneration subjects are of particularly high demand. Respondents for education costs. In other systems, math and in Guyana identified a shortage of teachers in certain science teachers receive higher pay to decrease the subjects such as French. While policies recognize likelihood of them leaving the teaching profession for shortage subjects, they do not provide incentives to more lucrative work. increase the supply of teachers of those subjects. High 1 performers identify, monitor, and use incentives to Note: Singapore has no specific deployment school and subject incentives but instead centrally manages teacher deployment SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 7 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Goal 5: Leading Teachers with Strong Principals are expected to support teachers in Principals improving their instruction. Once education systems get talented candidates to become principals, they need Established zzz| to structure their time to focus on improving instruction (OECD 2012, Barber & Mourshed 2007). High- The quality of school leaders is second only to performing education systems such as Finland, Ontario, classroom teaching as a predictor of student learning and Singapore think of their principals as instructional (Eberts & Stone 1988; Leithwood, et al. 2006). Quality leaders. Principals are expected to be knowledgeable in principals attract and retain quality teachers (Boyd, et teaching and curriculum matters, as well as to provide al. 2009; Ingersoll 2001a, 2001b; Papa Jr., Lankford & guidance and support to teachers. They evaluate Wyckoff 2002). In addition, capable principals can teachers, provide feedback, assess the school’s needs spearhead much-needed change at the school level, so for professional development, and direct instructional having strong leaders is important not only to ensure resources where they are most needed (Darling- acceptable levels of performance but also to drive Hammond & Rothman 2011). Principals in Guyana are improvements. Finally, good principals can facilitate officially expected to support teachers to improve teachers’ work and continuous improvement. The more instruction and their classroom practice. Principals are capable a principal is, the more he or she can support expected to serve as leaders in their schools, and take teachers, create a sense of community, make teachers part in teacher and school evaluations, enumerating feel valued and ease their anxiety about external teacher responsibilities. pressures (Mulford 2003). Figure 9. Requirements to become a Principal SABER-Teachers considers two policy levers school South Korea systems can use to reach this goal: (1) education Singapore Shanghai system’s investment in developing qualified school Guyana Japan leaders; (2) decision-making authority for school principals to support and improve instructional practice. Principals in Guyana must complete specific Specific coursework 9 9 9 9 coursework but may lack practical training. Virtually all high-performing countries require that teachers have an Internship 9 9 9 9 educational level equivalent to ISCED 5A (a Bachelor’s Mentoring program 9 9 9 9 degree), and some systems, such as Finland, require in Source: SABER-Teachers Data. addition a research-based master’s degree (OECD 2011). Guyana requires principals to have a least 4 years of professional teaching experience, possess a four-year non-research-based degree (ISCED 5B), and complete a written test. Principals are also required to have 3 years of administrative experience. They are not required to take part in internship or mentoring programs. Most high-performing systems require participation in an internship or mentoring program to help new principals learn from the experience of others. Additionally, some high-performing systems provide incentives for principals to improve school quality. Guyana does not provide any such incentives. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 8 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Goal 6: Monitoring Teaching and Learning incorporate input from principals and colleagues as well as include classroom observations. The most effective Established zzz| evaluation methods make use of student achievement data and external evaluators. Assessing how well teachers are teaching and whether students are learning is essential to devise strategies for Simliar to policies of high-performing countries, improving teaching and learning. First, identifying low- Guyana’s policies specify a variety of criteria for performing teachers and students is critical for assessing performance. These include: subject matter education systems to be able to provide struggling knowledge, teaching methods, student assessment classrooms with adequate support to improve. Second, methods, and student academic achievement. teacher and student evaluation also helps identify good practices which can be shared across the system to Figure 10. Methods Used to Monitor Teachers improve school performance. South Korea Singapore Shanghai SABER-Teachers considers three policy levers school Guyana Japan systems can use to reach this goal: (1) availability of data on student achievement in order to inform teaching and policy; (2) adequate systems to monitor Required performance teacher performance; (3) multiple mechanisms to evaluations 9 9 9 9 9 evaluate teacher performance. Performance Some methods exist to monitor student performance monitored by 9 9 9 9 authorities throughout the system. National student assessments Teachers can be can help authorities identify student groups, schools, tracked over time 9 9 9 9 and classes that are in need of attention. Guyana Source: SABER-Teachers Data conducts national assessments at grades 2, 4, 6, and 9 and the student learning data can be linked to individual teachers. According to policy, these data are designed to inform policy makers to improve pedagogical design and teachers to improve their classroom practice. Teachers evaluations may be used to inform the work of teachers and policy makers. In Guyana policies require teachers to participate in four performance evaluations per year by principals. The results are reported to authorities but cannot be tracked over time (Figure 10). While centralizing information permits authorities to see overall teacher performance, an inability to track over time may limits the data’s usefulness. Policies make use of multiple mechanisms to evaluate teacher performance. Research suggests that no single method of evaluating teacher performance is foolproof and so most high-performing systems conduct teacher evaluations using a variety of mechanisms of data collection and varied criteria for assessment. In Guyana, policy stipulates performance evaluations must SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 9 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Goal 7: Supporting teachers to improve Policies do permit assigning professional development instruction based on individual needs. To ensure support is customized to each teacher’s needs, high performing Emerging zz|| systems use performance evaluations to develop customized professional development plans or assign Support systems are necessary to help improve mentors. In Guyana, teachers can be assigned instruction at the school level. In order to constantly professional development based on their performance improve instructional practice, teachers and schools evaluation. Additionally, teachers who receive an need to be able to analyze specific challenges they face unsatisfactory evaluation can be assigned a supervisor in classroom teaching, have access to information on or mentor. best practices to address these challenges, and receive specific external support tailored to their needs. Figure 11. Required days per year of professional development SABER-Teachers considers three policy levers school systems can use to reach this goal: (1) availability of opportunities for teacher professional development; (2) teacher professional development activities that are collaborative and focused on instructional improvement; (3) making sure teacher professional development is assigned based on perceived needs. Teachers are required to take part in 36 hours of Source: SABER-Teachers Data. professional development annually. Teachers in Guyana are required to take part 180 hours in continuous professional development over the course Figure 12. Use of Highly Effective Professional of five years. Many high-performing countries require Development Methods 72 hours of professional development for teachers: Singapore Shanghai systems with low education requirements to enter the profession often require more professional Guyana Japan development to remain in the profession. Policies do not encourage the most effective Observation visits 9 9 9 professional development activities. Professional development that is collaborative and provides Teacher networks 9 9 9 opportunities for the analysis in-situ of instructional School networks 9 9 9 practice have a more profound effect on teacher practice (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005). While Research 9 9 Guyana makes use of practice classrooms and mentor Mentoring or coaching 9 9 9 teachers in the initial preparation of teachers, Source: SABER-Teachers Data. continuous professional development methods are limited to courses. High-performing systems use professional development activities that are practice oriented, including teacher networks, visits to observe highly effective teachers, and mentoring or coaching opportunities (Figure 12). SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 10 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Goal 8: Motivating teachers to perform Teacher compensation is not linked to performance. Emerging zz|| To align teacher incentives, systems that are most effective at motivating teachers provide incentives to Adequate incentives for teachers can contribute to perform well by providing incentives (e.g. performance effective teaching and learning. First, incentives are a bonuses). In Guyana high-performing teachers do not way for school systems to signal their seriousness in receive bonuses as rewards for exemplary performance, achieving certain goals. The more aligned incentives are nor do performance evaluations have any effect on with the behaviors and outcomes they want to produce teacher compensation. in teaching, the more likely they will obtain them. Second, incentives are also a way to recognize teachers’ Figure 13. Employment decisions influenced by work. Teaching is a challenging job and incentives can performance let teachers know that the results they have achieved South Korea are valued so that they continue working hard to Singapore Shanghai sustain them. Finally, some types of incentives can also Guyana Japan influence the profile of the teaching profession and make it more competitive, dynamic, and performance- driven. Open-ended contracts 9 9 SABER - Teachers considers three policy levers school Teacher compensation 9 9 9 systems can use to reach this goal: (1) linking career opportunities to teachers’ performance; (2) having Promotions 9 9 9 9 9 mechanisms to hold teachers accountable; (3) linking Source: SABER-Teachers Data teacher compensation to performance. Promotions, but not hiring decisions, are informed by performance. To ensure teachers are capable before granting them long-term contracts, authorities need both a probation period upon initial hires and the right to not offer long-term contracts to teachers who do not perform during the probation period. In Guyana there is a mandatory probation period, but performance on the job does not factor into whether teachers receive appointments. Promotions decisions, however, are informed by past performance. Misconduct can result in dismissal of teachers, and some positive standards exist to remain a teacher. Requiring teachers to meet some standards in order to remain in the teaching profession can facilitate the removal of ineffective teachers. Employed teachers are not required to participate in performance evaluations, but professional development is required to remain a certified teacher. Additionally, it is vital to be able to remove unsafe teachers from the profession, and Guyana does have policies allowing dismissal for misconduct, child abuse, absenteeism, and poor performance. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 11 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Policy Options is offered through traditional coursework and distance learning. Building on the above snapshot of key teacher policies, x By shifting professional development that this section offers some options to strengthen Guyana’s focuses on teacher practice, professional teacher policy framework. development may be more likely to improve teacher’s work in the classroom. Goal 2: Attracting the best into teaching x If required professional development included directly with visiting curriculum specialists, they Teachers may enter the profession with no formal could receive tailored and practical assistance. training and only two years of training are necessary to remain, which may suggest that it is not a prestigious Goal 8: Motivating teachers to perform profession. x Guyana has recently streamlined the process Guyana requires probation periods of new teachers, but for teachers to acquire a bachelor’s degree. does not decide hiring or compensation based on Raising the level of education may increase the performance. prestige of the profession in the long term. x Guyana could allow required performance x Authorities may want to investigate whether or evaluations to inform a portion of teacher not teacher compensation on average, and over compensation. a teacher’s career, is competitive with other x Guyana could use performance during skilled professions. probation periods to inform long-term hiring decisions. Goal 4: Matching teacher’ skills with students’ needs Although incentives exist for hard-to-staff schools, incentives do not exist for shortage subjects. x Providing greater career opportunities, compensation, or other incentives for teachers of critical shortage subjects (such as science) may increase their supply. Goal 5: Leading teachers with strong principals Principals do not receive training beyond coursework, which could teach them how to me more effective leaders. x Requiring principals to undergo induction or mentoring programs under the guidance of seasoned school leaders could help them be more effective. Goal 7: Supporting teachers to improve instruction While primary and secondary school teachers are required to participate in professional development, it SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 12 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Acknowledgements Pritchett, L. & Viarengo, M. (2009). “Producing Superstars for the Economic Mundial: The This report was prepared by Andrew Trembley Mexican Predicament with Quality of Education. (Consultant, HDNED), with inputs from Mary E. PEPG Working Paper 09-01. Cambridge, MA: Breeding, (Consultant, HDNED), Analia Jaimovich Program on Education Policy and Governance (Consultant, HDNED), Emiliana Vegas (former Lead (PEPG). Economist, HDNED), and under the direction of Halsey Rogers (Lead Economist, HDNED). The team would also Rivkin, S. G., Hanushek, E. A., & Kain, J. F. (2005). like to thank Walter Alexander for assistance with data "Teachers, Schools and Student Achievement." collection. Finally, the report also benefited from the Econometrica, 73(2), 417-458. collaboration of Hongyu Yang (Operations Officer, Rockoff, J. E. (2004). "The Impact of Individual Teachers LCSHE). on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data." American Economic Review, 94(2), 247- References 252. Campante, F. & Glaeser, E. L. (2009). “Yet Another Tale Sanders, W. L., & Rivers, J. C. (1996). "Cumulative and of Two Cities: Buenos Aires and Chicago.” NBER Residual Effects of Teachers on Future Student Working Paper 15104. Cambridge, MA: National Academic Achievement." Research Progress Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Report. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Value-Added Research and Assessment Center. Darling-Hammond, Linda. (2000). “How Teacher Education Matters.” Journal of Teacher Vegas, E., et al. (2012) What matters most in teacher Education, 51(3), 166-173. policies? A framework for building a more effective teaching profession. Washington, DC: Hanushek, E. A., & S. G. Rivkin. (2010). “Generalizations The World Bank. about Using Value-Added Measures of Teacher Quality.” American Economic Review. 100 (2): 267–71. Hanushek, E. & Woessmann (2007). “Education Quality and Economic Growth.” Washington, DC: The World Bank. Hanushek, E. & Woessmann (2009). “Schooling, Cognitive Skills, and the Latin American Growth Puzzle.” NBER Working Paper 15066. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Nye, B., Konstantopoulos, S., & Hedges, L. V. (2004). "How Large Are Teacher Effects?". Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 26(3), 237-257. Park, A., & Hannum, E. (2001). "Do Teachers Affect Learning in Developing Countries?: Evidence from Matched Student-Teacher Data from China." Paper presented at the Conference Rethinking Social Science Research on the Developing World in the 21st Century. Park City, Utah: Social Science Research Council. SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 13 GUYANA ۣ TEACHERS SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 www.worldbank.org/education/saber The Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) initiative produces comparative data and knowledge on education policies and institutions, with the aim of helping countries systematically strengthen their education systems. SABER evaluates the quality of education policies against evidence-based global standards, using new diagnostic tools and detailed policy data. The SABER country reports give all parties with a stake in educational results—from administrators, teachers, and parents to policymakers and business people—an accessible, objective snapshot showing how well the policies of their country's education system are oriented toward ensuring that all children and youth learn. This report focuses specifically on Teacher Policy. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. THE WORLD BANK SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 14