Teacher deployment, Teacher retention

The surge in primary school enrolment and the push for improved quality has resulted in a shortage of teachers; it is estimated that 24.4 million teachers will be needed to achieve universal primary education by 2030 (UIS-UNESCO, 2016). The situation is exacerbated by high teacher attrition rates, which in some countries are surpassing recruitment rates (UIS-UNESCO, 2016). Education policies need to ensure that there is an environment created for teachers that motivates them to continue in the teaching profession, so an adequate supply of teachers can be maintained. 

Teacher deployment systems determine where and how teachers are placed, and the conditions for changing teaching posts. Improving deployment practices can have important implications for teacher retention as teachers unhappy with their placements, or whose changing circumstances are not taken into account, are more likely to quit the profession. Inefficient deployment systems can also inequitably distribute teachers across schools leading to overcrowded classes, likewise increasing teacher attrition.

Teacher retention and deployment practices have significant effects on issues of equity and quality. Communities serving concentrations of low-income and disadvantaged students are disproportionately affected by teacher attrition, and also often have less qualified teacher candidates deployed to their schools to begin with.

In order to mitigate teacher attrition and improve teacher retention it is important to understand the causes for the difficulties to deploy and retain teachers. Some of the causes include:

• other professions with better pay and work environment;
• inadequate deployment systems and policies;
• involuntary transfers to other schools;
• inadequate teaching materials and excessive paperwork; and,
• issues related to job satisfaction, such as lack of leadership support or low prospects for growth.

The primary goal is to motivate teachers to perform and commit to the teaching profession which can be achieved by: improving teacher salaries and incentives, improving working conditions, providing opportunities for career development, improving deployment practices, rewarding teachers, and providing a responsive evaluation system.

Promising policy options

Competitive salary and benefits

The main factor that causes qualified candidates to leave the teaching profession is the lack of adequate salary and remuneration. Teaching salaries are often well below those of other available jobs requiring a comparable level of skills and training, which means increasing teacher salaries is key to improving the status of the teaching profession, and retaining qualified candidates.

*For more information, consult Policy page Teacher benefits.

Beyond salary increase other benefits and compensations, both monetary and non-monetary, can be offered, including:

• provision of housing/ housing allowance;
• providing transport assistance;
• scholarships for teacher training;
• promotion opportunities;
• family benefits;
• continuous professional development; and
• leave provisions.

Improving deployment systems

Carefully plan and track deployments can foster the equitable distribution of teachers according to schools’ needs. Having up to date information on the school’s requirements and characteristics, with clear, transparent rules, and free from political motivation is also fundamental to make informed decisions that benefit the system. Make sure to take teacher’s preferences into account, include provisions for transfer of teachers when circumstances change.

Take into account specific needs of:

• teacher’s family responsibilities;
• teacher’s disabilities;
• teachers living with HIV/AIDs and their required health needs; and
• teachers from ethnic minorities.

Provide targeted incentives for hard to staff locations. While deployment systems should take teacher’s preferences into account there is a definite need to place teachers in less desirable locations, and these areas are often where teacher shortages occur. In this way deployment policies have a particular effect on equity issues, as the less desirable locations with disadvantaged students often end up with the least qualified teachers who are newest to the profession, or with the fewest teachers. Offering targeted incentives for hard-to-staff locations to the most qualified teacher candidates can help overcome this imbalance, placing more effective teachers where they are most needed and where they are willing to serve. Another strategy is to place teachers in remote locations for limited durations, such as a few years, and then allow them location preference in their next deployment.

Additional policies include:

• increased salary (e.g. 20 per cent salary increase provided to qualified teachers going to work to marginalised areas in Uganda (Akyeampong, 2022));
• teacher housing (free or subsidized);
• hardship allowance (e.g. allowance provided to teachers in rural areas in Mozambique, calculated on a ‘sliding scale based on distance from the nearest tarred road’ (Akyeampong, 2022: 89));
• salary bonus/award scheme;
• choice of next job posting location;
• smaller class size;
• less instructional time;
• scholarships;
• forgivable loans;
• specialized promotion opportunities (e.g. Mexico’s Carrera Magistral offers teachers who work in marignalised areas ‘opportunities to advance more rapidly through the promotion system’ (Luschei and Chudgar, 2015, as cited in Akyeampong, 2022: 89)); and
• priority access to training and career development programmes.

Incentives need to be large enough in scale to attract teachers to the hard-to-staff locations, carefully targeted, and tied to the specific post.

Rather than a centralized deployment system determining teacher placement, some countries have systems in which the schools are in charge of recruiting and hiring teachers, and candidates apply directly to their choice of school. This can help increase teacher’s commitments to particular schools and help ensure a better match between the needs of schools and expectations of teachers, preventing teacher attrition in the future. Such a system can be particularly effective in rural areas that have needs for candidates with specific relevant backgrounds, where schools can focus their hiring efforts on local candidates who have the background, language and cultural understanding required for the positions and are happy to serve in those areas.

However, measures need to be in place to still ensure the equitable distribution of qualified teachers among all schools, nationwide. Systems need to be in place to ensure accountability and equity, and in-service training needs to be available for local teachers when needed.

Central and regional authorities still need to regulate the equitable distribution of teachers, which requires strong school leadership and management. Provide sufficient support to teachers in rural schools, including equitable access to professional development opportunities, and efficient salary payments. 

Improving working conditions

Provide teachers with a sufficient supply of resources and teaching materials, reduce paperwork, add support staff, and involve teachers in decision-making processes.

Improve teacher collaboration, initiate induction and mentoring programmes to ensure that new teachers get a supportive and motivating start; this can be done by setting up supportive supervision structures, and incentives provided to improve teacher motivation for disadvantaged schools or schools in rural areas/isolated areas (see above).

Develop systems for tracking teacher turnover, such as holding exit interviews, to better target programmes to increase teacher retention, policies for empowering teachers with disabilities and special needs and ensuring that there is an inclusive work environment, and assess the quality of the teaching and learning environment, such as through teacher surveys, to help guide school improvement (IIEP-UNESCO, 2018).

Finally, investment in the development of high-quality principals; this can be done by establishing a strong preparation standard for administrators. States and the federal government can also support efforts to recruit promising candidates into leadership positions and pay for their training through competitive service scholarship programmes (IIEP-UNESCO, 2018.

Continuous professional development and support programmes

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) includes sustained opportunities for teachers to grow as professionals and constantly improve the quality of their work.

Increase support at the beginning of teachers’ careers through induction programs, with specific training workshops organized for selecting and training expert mentors, and by providing adequate release time to allow mentors and beginning teachers to engage in a full range of instructional support activities, such as classroom observations, coaching, shared lesson planning, and reflection.

On-going in-service training and support programmes can be provided in the form of workshops, regular meetings, distance learning, mentoring programmes and professional learning communities. These programmes should be participatory in nature and should be aligned with teachers’ needs, which should be identified through teach appraisal systems or through teachers’ self-reflection on the areas for which they need professional development.

Opportunities for career advancement, which can be through:

• Horizontal career paths: by adding new professional roles such as developing curriculum or training other teachers.
• Vertical career paths: by allowing opportunities to positions outside of teaching.

*For more on this subject, consult Policy page Teaching skills.

Teacher evaluation

Teacher evaluations can be used to enhance classroom practice, recognize teachers’ work and help both teachers and schools to identify professional development opportunities, with teacher’s self-evaluation, informal peer evaluation, classroom observation and feedback from the principal all being included in teacher evaluation systems. 

Ensure that teacher appraisal occurs within a framework of profession-wide agreed statements of teachers’ responsibilities and standards of professional performance. Teacher evaluation can be used to reward teachers for exemplary performance, through career progression, opportunities for teacher training, school-based research, etc.

Policy options for improving Equity and Inclusion

Gender-responsive policies

Note: Context-based gender analysis previous to policy implementation is needed to identify if female teachers’ deployment and retention is an issue within the country. Additionally, if difficulties in deployment and retention are due to a lack of male teachers, implement the policy recommendations found in the Policy page Appropriate candidates so as to incentivize men to join the teaching profession, particularly to become primary school teachers.

Promising policy options

Target female teachers’ deployment and retention

Develop ‘family-friendly’ deployment systems (Mulkeen et al., 2007) by including childcare schemes and/or provide free boarding education for teachers’ children (Bista, 2006). Implement affirmative actions to either ensure those female teachers are deployed in places where their partner resides or coordinate with relevant stakeholders to ensure the partners’ transfer (Mulugeta, 2012; UNESCO Bangkok, 2006.).  For example, in Malawi, female teachers’ requests to relocation due to the husband’s relocation cannot be denied (World Bank, 2010a, cited by UNESCO, 2013a).

Ensure local recruitment (general policy option, see above for more details) to address the teacher gender gap in rural areas (Mulkeen, 2010d). In cases where this is not possible, and when deployed far away from their families, teachers should be given travel allowances to visit them (Bista, 2006). For instance, Lesotho’s local hiring system has raised the proportion of female teachers in rural areas (Haugen et al., 2011). BRAC programme in Bangladesh has successfully hired local women. Through intensive training and specialized supervision, they have acquired the necessary knowledge to teach (UNESCO Bangkok, 2006).

Particular attention should be paid to no having practices that imply recruiting local women solely as volunteers, instead of providing them real job opportunities. This should be countered by offering specific allowances to incentivise female teachers to work in difficult and/or rural areas, such as providing safe, adequate, free housing near the school (UNESCO Learning Portal, 2018). For example, EMIS data in Malawi revealed a strong association between housing availability and the presence of female teachers in schools (UNESCO, 2013a), while in Uganda, housing provision is one of the key factors to ensure teacher retention, particularly in rural areas (ILO Centre for International Teacher Education, 2016).

One potential strategy is to deploy female teachers in pairs to rural locations (UNESCO, 2016a) as is the case in Ghana deploys female teachers by pairs who work and live together, which, in turn, allows them to build a sense of companionship and support (UNESCO Bangkok, 2006).

Ensure gender-responsive infrastructure and facilities. Providing gender-responsive WASH facilities is of the utmost importance to ensure the retention of female teachers in schools (ILO Centre for International Teacher Education, 2016). Guarantee also that toilets or latrines are adequate, safe, well-functioning, clean, and that separate facilities exist to manage menstruation. (For more details consult Policy page Buildings are not ready).  

Respect the principle of equal remuneration by tackling down gender pay gaps. Take into account entrenched gender issues in salary progression and promotion (For more details consult Policy page Teacher benefits), and promote the participation of female in administration positions and leadership roles (UNESCO, 2013a).

Providing a safe and welcoming environment should be a major concern when it comes to increasing the number of female teachers (Haugen et al., 2011):

• school climate’s policy must be gender-responsive (for more details consult Policy page School climate);
• ensure the development and implementation of policies to tackle down school-related gender-based violence (for specific strategies consult Policy page School-related violence);
• promote support and welcoming networks for female teachers (Mulkeen et al., 2007; UNESCO Bangkok, 2006); and
• ensure female teachers’ participation in peer networks. Promote specific mentoring programmes for new female teachers with the support of experienced teachers (Mulkeen et al., 2007).

Policies for teachers with disabilities

Promising policy options

Deployment and retention of teachers with disabilities

Note: There is a consistent lack of research on specific policy measures that have successfully enhanced the deployment and retention of teachers with disabilities within education systems. In general, the documents which cite this issue remain very general and solely urge the need of recruiting persons with disabilities as teachers (e.g.  Lesotho’s Education Sector Plan 2016-2026, includes under its main strategies to develop clear deployment policy for teachers with disabilities (Lesotho, 2016).).

Nonetheless, a number of potential recommendations exist, such as developing transparent, non-discriminatory deployment and transfer policies (ILO, 2012) and giving priority in deployment and transfer to teachers with disabilities. For example, in France, requests from teachers with disabilities to be deployed or transferred to other schools are prioritized (ILO, 2012).

Take into consideration the individual needs of teachers with disabilities. Ensure schools are accessible and perform all of the necessary reasonable accommodations and ensure accessible housing for teachers with disabilities near to the school (ILO, 2012).

Provide free, accessible and secure transportation methods to school. Ensure the participation of teachers with disabilities in peer networks and provide specific support systems. For example, in the United Kingdom, support is given by the local Placement Assessment and Counselling Team in order to retain teachers with disabilities (NUT, n.d.).

Provide incentives to ensure teachers with disabilities remain in the profession. For instance, government schemes, additional monetary benefits, and scholarships (for specific details consult Policy page Appropriate candidates), and foster a safe and welcoming environment for teachers with disabilities. (For more information consult Policy page School climate and School-related violence).

Track information related to the deployment and retention of teachers with disabilities:

• In which areas are they deployed the most?
• What is the attrition rate of teachers with disabilities?

Other policy options

Deployment and retention of special educators

In some countries, special educators support mainstream teachers in welcoming diversity within the classrooms and learning how to teach to all children (Bulat et al., 2017). The presence of specialist teachers within mainstream settings highly depends on the country’s understanding of diversity and inclusion (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2015; Cheshire, 2019). Yet, careful attention should be paid in these situations. The presence of special educators should by no means release mainstream teachers of their responsibility to teach all children or result in the segregation of children with disabilities within mainstream schools.

In places where there are not enough special educators, it is possible to employ specialist itinerant teachers (Howgego, Miles and Myers, 2014, IIEP-UNESCO, 2019; UNESCO-Global Education Monitoring Report, 2018). This strategy has been implemented in countries such as Togo, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Tanzania. Specialist itinerant teachers aim to support mainstream teachers in inclusive settings and ensure the learning process of children with disabilities. For instance, they strengthen inclusive classroom learning and practice by providing regular guidance to mainstream teachers on inclusion issues and challenges (e.g. the adaptation of teaching and learning materials; classroom set-up, etc.).

Analyse deployment policies of itinerant specialists to ensure full coverage of schools. In some cases, long distances prevent itinerant teachers from visiting all of the schools they have been assigned to (Howgego, Miles and Myers, 2014). Support itinerant specialists to work full-time by balancing mainstream teaching responsibilities with the high demands of being itinerant teachers can pose serious difficulties (Howgego, Miles and Myers, 2014).

Policies for displaced populations and host communities

Contents under review

Policies for minority populations

Contents under review