Commonwealth meeting calls for recognition of teacher qualifications

Education officials attending a Commonwealth Working Group meeting on Teacher Qualifications and Professional Registration at Stoke Rochford, UK, heard that balancing the rights of teachers to migrate internationally and preventing exploitation of the scarce human resource of poor countries is essential.

The Group met from 26 to 28 September 2007, to carry forward recommendations accepted by ministers of education at the 16th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Cape Town, South Africa, last year. This meeting promoted "valuing, recognition and acceptance of teacher qualifications", according to Dr Roli Degazon-Johnson, Education Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Duncan Hindle, Director-General of Education in South Africa and Chair of the Working Group, emphasised that "migration of teachers in search of professional advancement is a good thing and we encourage it, but we also want to ensure their rights are protected. Registering teachers and adopting a Commonwealth-wide professional standard will mean fairer working conditions for all and more effective human resource management."

It was agreed that the development of an international quality standard for professional registration would be awarded to teachers who meet the criteria.

Dr James Keevy, Deputy Director, Research, at the South African Qualifications Authority, said this benchmarking and valuing teacher's qualifications and experience will "bring about tangible benefits to the teacher and raise standards of education across the Commonwealth."

Participants also agreed that informal networks of teachers, professional registration bodies and national and regional qualification agencies would be convened periodically to share best practices.

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