Teachers in Anglophone Africa

Teachers are at the heart of good education, and good teacher policies are essential to ensure adequate supply, deployment and management of teachers. Enrollment in primary education has grown rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet teacher policy in the region has oft en evolved without clear planning; in the absence of an overall strategy, countries have experienced serious problems with teacher supply and deployment, as well as with the quality of teaching.

Based on case studies of education systems and practices in eight English-speaking African countries, 'Teachers in Anglophone Africa: Issues in Teacher Supply, Training, and Management' closely examines issues of teacher supply, deployment, management and finance. The book suggests that these issues are closely interrelated. Low numbers of qualified teaching graduates may result in teacher shortages; these shortages may make it difficult to deploy teachers effectively. Problems with teacher deployment may result in inefficient utilization of the teachers available, and those teachers' effectiveness may be further reduced by weak teacher management and support systems. The book identifies policies and practices that are working on the ground, noting their potential pitfalls and pointing out that policies designed to address one problem may make another problem worse.

'Teachers in Anglophone Africa: Issues in Teacher Supply, Training, and Management' offers a useful synthesis of the issues and draws together a series of promising practices, which can serve as positive suggestions for countries seeking to improve their teacher policies. The book should be of great assistance to education ministries and their development partners throughout the region as they address the challenges of the next phases of expansion in education.