A protocol to improve teacher recruitment

Jorum Muriuki is a 32-year-old Kenyan working at Eto Muhima High School in Kigali, Rwanda. He is one of a number of teachers who have benefited from the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol.

"When the protocol was introduced, a memorandum of understanding between the two countries [Kenya and Rwanda] was developed so that conditions for teachers like me -- such as accommodation, security and salaries -- were discussed and taken care of."

As well as providing a service as a construction and computing teacher, Mr Muriuki works alongside the Ministry of Education in Rwanda and the National Examination Council, contributes to the setting of the syllabus and offers advice to other teachers. He is also able to use his experience to make the best use of classroom equipment including apparatus for laboratories, which international organisations bring to the country.

"It is worth using my skills as a teacher to make sure that students have the best possible chance of succeeding in life. I want to make sure that I reach out to as many students as possible."

There are currently 50 Kenyan teachers -- of which Mr Muriuki is one -- based in 33 schools in Rwanda, all of whom were visited last month by Saoli ole Mkanae, Deputy Chairman of the Teacher Service Commission in Kenya. Mr Mkanae felt that the reactions he received were extremely positive.

"The communities and the children in Rwanda are all very happy with the teachers. It is also good for Kenya, because teachers working abroad create more opportunities for qualified unemployed teachers at home."

In May 2002 Burchell Whiteman, then Minister of Education in Jamaica, asked the Commonwealth to look at teacher recruitment and potential problems for both teachers and countries.

The result of this request was the Protocol for the Recruitment of Commonwealth Teachers, which was adopted by Commonwealth education ministers in September 2004. It aims to balance the rights of teachers to migrate internationally, on a temporary or permanent basis, against the need to protect the integrity of national education systems, and prevent the exploitation of scarce human resources in developing or low income countries.

Dr Henry Kaluba, Head of Education at the Commonwealth Secretariat, says that the protocol offers "an international standard that has been used by both Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries."

Mr Whiteman, who is currently the Jamaican High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, points out that the protocol promotes dialogue between countries which in turn encourages responsible action.

"The protocol targeted the sense of uncertainty and injustice within the teacher recruitment system when it was purely market based and has brought order out of the chaos. When applied, it certainly makes a difference to all parties -- the teacher, the sending country and the receiving country," he said.

David Stephens, Professor of International Education at the University of Brighton in the UK, believes that it is important for teachers to be exposed to students and teachers from other countries.

"Teaching in other countries is useful in terms of individual career development and it is also very valuable for children to meet teachers from other parts of the world so that they can be introduced to new cultures and ideals. It is necessary for a teacher to know about conditions of service before going to another country. However, if this is taken into consideration and as long as a teacher's language proficiency and general ability is of a high standard then they will be of great benefit in a foreign classroom, especially if they train their colleagues," he said.

One specific area the protocol addresses is the rights and responsibilities of countries from which the teachers are recruited abroad. The protocol states that it is the responsibility of these countries to manage teacher supply and demand within the country.

Barbados has taken on this concern by establishing a policy framework which indicates the categories of teachers who will not be granted leave if recruited and the number to whom leave will be granted in a year. This includes teachers who have received specialist training, or who are teaching in areas where skills are in short supply.

In Seychelles, the Ministry of Education and Youth has set up a teacher retention committee mandated to consider ways to better promote teacher retention issues.

These and other initiatives introduced since the protocol was first adopted, led Richard Bourne, former Head and Research Associate at the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, to state that the protocol has achieved an "international benchmark".

"The protocol has had and is having a serious effect on teacher recruitment and migration. This is not only providing protective regulation within the Commonwealth but is also, as Kenya's negotiations with Rwanda demonstrate, providing ministries with a strategy to deploy with non-Commonwealth states," he said.

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