Teacher Policy Development in the pipeline

Mr. Momodou Cham, Principal Education Officer, Directorate of Planning, Ministry of Basic and Secondary School (MoBSE), has outlined the fact that professionalizing teaching in The Gambia requires, amongst others, standards, a criteria for recruitment into training, length and types of training programmes, requirements for graduation and certification.

Speaking at the recently concluded Coordinating Committee Meeting in Janjangbureh, Central River Region, Mr. Cham also alluded to the fact that deployment and benefits, provision for professional development, career structure and criteria for promotion and retirement and/or honourable discharge are crucial to the development of a Teacher Policy.

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On issues of teacher deployment, Mr. Cham underlined the importance of distribution of teachers: rural/urban; male/female; novice/experienced, incentives for deployment to remote and/or hardship areas, special note on the distribution of mathematics and science teachers, option of recruiting and deploying teachers in own areas, regulating and/or facilitating teacher migration.

In Pre-Service Training, Mr. Cham observed that issues of importance include academic vs. non-academic criteria, number vs. quality, use of non-academic profiles - physical and mental maturity, commitment, motivation and recruitment -, recruit from candidates’ locality (Extension programs) and reinforce weak candidates through intensive training and practical experience.

 Mr. Cham also highlighted that there is need to institutionalize In-service Training, build an incentive mechanism into it, give more emphasis on school-based and cluster – based In-service, tie In-service to performance and motivation, evaluate effectiveness of In-service vis-a-vis student learning, accelerate training/re-training of contract teachers–UQT, explore use of ODL and ICT in training and aim at Continuous Professional Development of Teachers.

According to Mr. Cham, there is need to set career structures for teachers, encourage and motivate teachers to actively participate in any efforts aimed at improving them professionally, declare necessity of clear linkages between performance and remuneration, make teaching comparable with professions of similar qualifications outside of teaching as well as to build an evaluation mechanism to get value for money.

With regard to teacher welfare, Mr. Cham underlined advocating for competitive salaries for teachers, institute government and/or self-regulating welfare schemes, involve community and the media to change the image of teaching and teachers and institute ‘Best Teacher Award’ or similar motivating schemes as important factors.

Mr. Cham added that the main stakeholders in the Teacher Policy Development are the MoBSE- HR, Planning, INSET, Curriculum, Gambia Teachers’ Union – GTU, Ministry of Finance, Civil society including Education For All Network, Volunteer Service Overseas,  Peace Corp and UNICEF, UNESCO NATCOM, Nova Scotia Gambia Association, Ministry of Higher Education, Research Science and Technology, training institutions such as University of The Gambia, Gambia College, Gambia Technical Training Institute, Management Development Institute, National Parent Teacher Association chairperson, Madrassa Secretariat amongst others.

After the adoption of a policy document, it will be presented at CCM for review and comments. Efforts will also be made to turn it into a legal document through approval at SMT at the level of MoBSE, as well as endorsement and approval at national level. It will also be made public through panel discussions.

Implementation of the policy will require the development of an implementation plan, advocacy strategies should also be put in place, institute an inter-sectorial monitoring body and monitor implementation through Cluster Monitoring.