By Hon. Margaret Rwabushaija
Workers Member of Parliament.
Ugandan Cabinet approved the National Teacher Policy (NTP) on 1 April, 2019 and was launched by the Speaker of Uganda Parliament Hon. Rebecca Kadaga on 5th October 2019 during events to mark International Teachers’ day in Kamuli district.
The policy is aimed at streamlining teachers’ management for better productivity, discipline, retention, motivation and improving the quality of learning in the country.
The National Teachers Policy has been designed to professionalize teachers, develop standards and improve the development, management, and utilization of teachers in Uganda.
The policy’s vision is, “A transformed teaching profession and learning environment for a skilled and globally competitive human resource.”
It’s mission is to produce quality, motivated, accountable and adaptable teachers that are responsive to education development needs.”
Government firmly believes that learning is not confined to the achievement of academic goals alone and should be promoted in a range of contexts.
The Ministry of Education and sports (MoES) prepared a road map for the implementation of the policy at four levels: policy reform, legal reform, administrative and institutional reform, and communication strategy.
First of all, as policy reform actions, four documents were to be developed before the publication of the final NTP: Standards, Guidelines, Procedures and Baselines.
The next step was to be the legal reform actions required by the NTP in order to support the teaching profession, in the form of a Teachers Bill. As administrative and institutional reform actions, cross-cutting issues were to be main streamed into teacher training, management and utilization, as well as teacher practices by particularly taking advantage of the policies in other ministries.
In addition, the National Teachers’ Council and the Uganda National Institute of Teacher Education was to be established, and standards for teaching institutional leadership, a communication strategy and a Teacher Qualification Framework developed and implemented.
The National Teacher Policy was to put in place the Minimum standards and qualifications for teacher training. The policy action focuses on the caliber of students enrolled in teacher training Institutions and their subsequent deployment in both private and public schools. This was to be achieved through the following strategies:
• Pre-entry assessment of prospective teachers were to bee undertaken by Teacher Training Institutions in liaison with the education service commission, education, and the Directorate of education standards.
• Harmonization of the curricular and the minimum training duration and pedagogical requirements for teacher training.
• Every Teacher Training institution will have a Demonstration school for practical teaching.
• Designing, implementing programs for the up-skilling of teachers and tutors to a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree qualifications.
• Establishing the National Institute of Teacher Education (UNITE) to strengthen the quality of Teacher education.
• Development and implementation of an Induction and Probation Framework for teachers and school or institutional leaders.
• Development and implementation of a continuous professional development Framework for teachers’ in-service.
• Development and implementation of a Framework for Adult Learning teachers.
• Re-establishing the Institute of Special Needs focusing on research and demonstration of best practices to teachers.
• This will lead to harmonized and improved teacher training that is both responsive to the labour market demands but also highly professional to deliver quality education.
Government seeks to impart in learners the qualities of curiosity, concentration, creativity, confidence, collaboration; and competence.
Government directly employs over 266,290 teachers. Of these, over 184,275 are in primary schools; 67,168 in secondary schools and 13,870 in tertiary institutions. There are more than 750 tutors in Primary Teachers Colleges and more than 227 in National Teachers Colleges.
The private sector directly employs over 80,929 teachers. A total of 16,741 privately hired teachers are in Early Childhood Development Centres, 62,779 in primary schools, 31,841 in secondary schools, 1,120 in post-secondary schools and over 289 teachers in the non-formal sub-sector.
The delivery of quality education to all by the government generally depends on many factors. These factors include but are not limited to;
• The curriculum (educational content).
• Teaching and assessment (educational processes).
• Better learning environments (educational infrastructure).
• Continuous professional development (to take care of the dynamic realities).
• Effective teacher management
The policy is also meant to solve issues like teacher absenteeism, ineffective teaching, qualifications and standards, bad institutional leadership, and unethical behavior. It will also pay attention to teacher regulation and professional development.
The National Teacher Policy will put in place the Minimum standards and qualifications for teacher managers. Effective teacher management will be achieved through the following strategies:
• Harmonization and standardization of the nomenclature used in teacher training and education.
• Strengthening Teacher Management and Development information at local and national levels of the education system.
• Strengthening teacher recruitment in both private and government institutions by developing and implementing harmonized teacher recruitment guidelines.
• Strengthening of school leadership and governance in order to increase teacher productivity and enhance school improvements.
• Reviewing and implementing the Teachers’ Scheme of Service.
Who is the policy targeting?
• Teachers of Early Childhood Development programs
• Teachers in primary Education level
• Teachers in Secondary Education Level
• Teachers in business, technical and vocational institutions;
• Teachers in other tertiary institutions.
It also targets other stakeholders such as parents, education providers, education managers and agencies, the private sector, CSOs, development partners, teacher unions and associations.
Policy Actions, strategies
The National Teacher Policy focuses on four key policy actions namely; Standards and Qualification, training, management, and cross-cutting issues.
The National Teacher Policy will put in place the Minimum professional standards and qualifications for the teaching profession. The standards to be developed and implemented will define the minimum level of practice expected of trainees, teachers and school leaders. This will be achieved through the following strategies:
• Development and implementation of a Teacher Qualifications Framework
• Implementation of the developed competency profiles of teachers, teacher educators, and school/institutions leaders.
• Subjecting all teachers in tertiary institutions to basic pedagogical training before being certified to teach in these institutions.
• Development and implementation of standards for teaching and leadership in educational institutions.
• Establishment of a National Teachers’ Council by an Act of Parliament to regulate the teaching profession within the country. This applies to teachers in government and private schools and institutions.
• Strengthening the monitoring, support supervision and inspection functions in the different institutions with a mandate over teacher management.
• Development and implementation of a clear framework for assessing teachers and other players in the education sector ■
