Box 6. Raising teaching standards: Successful attempt vs. unsuccessful attempt
UR-0132, Secondary School and Teacher Training, includes a component focused on strengthening and consolidating the teacher training system (Sistema Unico de Formación Docente) to increase the number and quality of secondary school teachers in the country. The consolidation of the training system took into consideration the various existing modalities (from distance education to in-school education) and the need to have permanent teacher training. New training modalities were designed, incorporating information technology. The combination of distance learning and in-school strategies permitted greater access, and a greater number of teachers earned formal qualifications. The project included the improvement of teacher training centers and the provision of libraries and network connectivity. Sixteen resource centers were established, a new regional teacher training center was built, and a national teacher training evaluation system was established, setting standards for all secondary school teachers. An educational management information system was also developed. The project surpassed its target of 7,000 teachers trained in the new curriculum by 80% (12,020 teachers received training). AR-0176, Secondary Improvement Program de Mejoramiento Secundario. This loan included support for the Ministry of Education’s plan to train 30,000 teachers in multimedia resources. The call to hire specialized agencies to conduct the training, which occurred in the last year of the project, was not successful because offers greatly exceeded the budget. Consequently, the training budget was entirely reassigned to the project component that focused on expanding school infrastructure.
The Bank financed the construction of teacher training facilities in six projects (AR-L1038, AR-L1108, BR-0167, HA-0038, PE-0116, UR-0107). In Peru, 22 Institutos Superiores Pedagógicos were strengthened with equipment, teacher training, and rehabilitated infrastructure. Uruguay constructed regional teacher training centers in six regions rather than have training conducted exclusively in Montevideo, thus enabling more individuals from other areas of the country to become teachers. In Ecuador (EC-L1018), more than half a million children between the ages of 12 and 17 were out of school, partly because of the shortage of rural teachers and political difficulties that prevented the reassignment of urban teachers to underserved regions. With Bank support, a retirement incentive was introduced, resulting in the departure of approximately 5,000 teachers of retirement age and the appointment of more than 7000 new teachers, who were selected through a systematic qualification process or “merit contest” and hired at lower cost. Many of the new teachers were placed in rural, indigenous, and border schools. Training for these teachers began at pedagogical institutions and continued for three years (two years of theory and classroom study and one year of rural practicum), culminating in a university degree. Most of the newly appointed teachers were not new to the teaching profession, but had been in the system on a contractual basis. This strategy not only helped to refresh the teaching corps, but also helped to address the demand for education by out-of-school youth.
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Review of IDB Support to Secondary Education: Improving Access, Quality, and Institutions 1995-2012