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Teacher training, qualifications and education quality
C H A P T E R 1 . T E A C H E R S U P P L Y A N D D E M A N D : A G L O B A L S T A T U S R E P O R T
Introduction
This chapter seeks to assess the current
status of the quality of teachers across
the world. While the sufficient number of
teachers provides the opportunity to reach
international goals on education, it is the
effectiveness of teachers in the classroom
which will deliver the Education for All
promise. Quality education produces good
learning outcomes and the initial training
and preparation of teachers contribute
to this aim. It is also important to assess
the distribution of quality from an equity
perspective to ensure that well-trained
teachers are found across diverse schools
and regions.
As previously shown, some countries will
face a serious challenge in extending
teaching forces to meet the goal of universal
primary education (UPE). This chapter
examines whether those countries also
face a gap in terms of teacher knowledge
and skills. It also reviews data from more
diverse countries for which the upgrading of
teaching forces may be a priority in order to
improve education outputs.
Teacher quality encompasses a range of
skills, competencies and motivation. As
common sense suggests, specific training
is required in order to expect quality
services from a teacher or any other skilled
professional. Data on training levels are
one of the few indicators systematically
collected about teachers. This highlights the
need for better measures of teacher quality
that can be used to compare countries.
This chapter is based upon a range of data
sources, including the UIS database, the
UIS Special Survey on Teachers and several
surveys on teachers at various grade levels in
different countries. Despite gaps in the data,
the indicators reveal the trade-offs involved in
national efforts to achieve education goals. In
short, many countries face choices in order to
expand educational opportunity and improve
the quality of educational provision.
Section 1 sets out the currently available
international measures of teacher quality
related to training, which are also linked to
an internationally comparable benchmark of
teachers educational attainment. It examines
how regions and countries compare, focusing
specifically on those facing the greatest
challenges.
The second section looks beyond minimum
qualification standards to examine the
educational qualifications that teachers actually
hold. This opens the discussion in Section 3
concerning direct measures of teachers
knowledge of particular subjects (namely
science and mathematics) and academic skills.
Section 4 then examines measures of in-
service training or the continuing professional
development of teachers based on the results
of regional and international assessment
studies. After highlighting the limits of
existing international data on teacher-related
issues, this chapter suggests a way to meet
the demand for policy-relevant information
through the wider use of existing statutory data
and newly developed assessment and survey-
based instruments.
Teacher training, qualifications
and education quality
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 C H A P T E R 2 . T E A C H E R T R A i n i n g , q u A l i f i C A T i o n s A n d E d u C A T i o n q u A l i T y
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T E A C H E R s A n d E d u C A T i o n A l q u A l i T y : M o n i T o R i n g g l o B A l n E E d s f o R 2 0 1 5

sECTion 1. Teachers and minimum

qualification standards
There are two issues that make the
development of cross-nationally comparable
indicators of teacher quality difficult:
availability of data and uncertainty about
the measurable characteristics of effective
teachers. The types of data on teachers that
are most widely collected by Ministries of
Education, including teachers academic
credentials and whether or not they are
certified to teach, are only weakly linked
to student achievement in countries where
this relationship has been studied.
The teacher quality indicator most often
collected is the proportion of trained
teachers, or those who have received
the minimum organized teacher-training
(pre-service or in-service) required by a
given country. figure 2.1 provides data
on the proportion of trained teachers for
countries able to provide the measure at
figuRE 2.1
Proportion of trained teachers by education
level and region, 2004
notes:
+1
Data refer to 2005;
-1
Data refer to 2003;
-2
Data refer to 2002;
-3
Data refer to 2001.
Source:
UNESCO Institute for Statistics database, 2006. C H A P T E R 2 . T E A C H E R T R A I N I N G , Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S A N D E D U C A T I O N Q U A L I T Y
T E A C H E R S A N D E D U C A T I O N A L Q U A L I T Y : M O N I T O R I N G G L O B A L N E E D S F O R 2 0 1 5

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primary, lower and upper secondary levels.
While useful at the national level, it is limited
in terms of cross-national comparisons. The
entry standards for teaching vary widely across
countries. So this measure points to education
systems that fail to meet their own goals or
mandates for minimum quality. There are, in
fact, a few countries where less than one-half
of teachers reach the standard.
It is difficult to use this indicator to measure
change over time because countries appearing
to have increased their proportion of trained
teachers may have simply lowered their
standard. Conversely, countries which raise
their standard perhaps to promote the
professional profile of teachers appear as
though they have slipped.
Figure 2.2
provides the range of teacher
qualification standards from a selection
of countries in various regions, as well as
the proportion of teachers who meet the
minimum standard. It allows one to compare
the proportion of teachers that meet a
particular standard. For example, in Chad
and Namibia 40% of teachers do not meet
the national standard. However, the data
presented enable readers to distinguish
between the high tertiary-level qualification
required in Namibia compared to Chad (12
years of basic education). One might expect
that countries with lower requirements would
have greater proportions of teachers fulfilling
them, yet this is not always the case.
Box 2.1 The importance of teacher-preparation programmes
The purpose of a teacher-preparation
programme should be to develop students
general education and personal culture; their
ability to educate others; an awareness of the
principles which underlie good human relations,
within and across national boundaries; and a
sense of responsibility to contribute, both by
teaching and by example, to social, cultural and
economic progress.
Source:
UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning

the Status of Teachers (1966).
Fundamentally, a teacher-preparation programme
should include: general studies; study of the main
elements of philosophy, psychology and sociology
as applied to education; the theory and history of
education, comparative education, experimental
pedagogy, school administration and teaching
methods of various subjects; studies related to the
intended field of teaching; and practice in teaching
and conducting extra-curricular activities under the
guidance of a fully qualified teacher. C H A P T E R 2 . T E A C H E R T R A I N I N G , Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S A N D E D U C A T I O N Q U A L I T Y
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T E A C H E R S A N D E D U C A T I O N A L Q U A L I T Y : M O N I T O R I N G G L O B A L N E E D S F O R 2 0 1 5

FIGURE 2.2
Minimum standards for teaching at the primary level
and proportions of teachers meeting these standards
Note:
Countries which require additional stocks to meet universal primary education goals by 2015, as identified in Chapter 1, are

highlighted within regions. Reference year for data ranges from 2000 to 2004.
Source:
UNESCO Institute for Statistics database, 2006. C H A P T E R 2 . T E A C H E R T R A I N I N G , Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S A N D E D U C A T I O N Q U A L I T Y
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Box 2.2 Comparing teaching qualifications across countries
The minimum training required to become a teacher
in different countries is reported in this chapter
according to the International Standard Classification
of Education (ISCED). The use of ISCED allows for
cross-national comparison of education systems
across a number of dimensions, including programme
duration, entry requirements and theoretical vs.
practical/technical orientation. ISCED was not
specifically designed to compare the educational
qualifications of teachers. Yet by grouping national
qualifications along these lines, it affords greater
comparability than relying on nationally-specific
measures of trained teachers or the cumulativ