The objective of this programmatic South-South knowledge exchange, “Skilled Teachers, Skilled Nation”, was to support governments in Central Asia (CA) in improving the effectiveness of their investments in teachers. The program organized five knowledge exchange (KE) events from October 2021 to September 2023, where national researchers from the four CA countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) presented the current landscape of teacher policies and practices across the full career lifecycle – selection into initial teacher education (ITE), quality of initial teacher education, recruitment, career progression and in-service teacher professional development in the region. Representatives of the Ministries of Education of the four Central Asian countries participated in the KE events and benefited from case studies of effective teacher policies and programs in the Philippines, Brazil, China, Russia, and Singapore, carefully selected to help the Ministries address the challenges they face in developing teacher policies and programs. The events also included global experts to share experiences and advice from the work on increasing teaching effectiveness globally. The series of KE events was also complemented with a brief that lays out the landscape of teacher policies in Central Asia and proposes a roadmap of concrete actions CA governments can take to improve teaching and education quality in their countries. Combining research on national systems with KE ensured that the selection of case studies and advice was informed by the challenges in the local context and provided relevant support for the CA countries.

1. CA countries generally invest a greater or similar share of GDP and total public budget in education as compared to countries in their income groups. However, student learning outcomes in CA are low. Results of Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021 revealed that in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, 9.3%  and 30.2%  of grade 4 students, respectively, lack minimum proficiency in reading and comprehension. For Kazakhstan, this represents a more than fourfold increase in students performing below the minimum proficiency since PIRLS 2016. Furthermore, results of the Program in International Student Assessment (PISA) show that in Kazakhstan, 64% of children of age 15 perform below the minimum threshold for reading proficiency (i.e., are not functionally literate) – a much higher share as compared to the OECD average of 22.6% . In the Kyrgyz Republic, 64.5%  of 10-year-old children are in learning poverty, according to national assessments. Similarly, in Tajikistan, while students on average attend 10.9 years of schooling, the low quality of education means that students acquire learning worth of only 6.8 years of schooling, i.e., a gap of 4.1 years of schooling. CA governments therefore need concerted efforts to meet the education quality targets enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #4.
2. COVID-19 is likely to have further impacted student learning outcomes in the region. In Kazakhstan, the large increase in the share of students performing below minimum proficiency in PIRLS 2021 as compared to 2016 is likely the result of COVID-induced disruptions to the learning process. Uzbekistan, however, was able to continue learning despite COVID-19 disruptions by providing strong support to schools and teachers.Recovering these learning losses cannot be achieved without highly skilled teachers – the key players in ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the learning process. Recovering and accelerating learning, therefore, requires that country leaders implement effective policies to support teachers and effective teaching, with a focus on building a prepared, empowered, and motivated teaching force that can deliver high-quality instruction to all students. For this reason, teachers play a central role in the World Bank’s Reach/Assess/Prioritize/Increase/Develop (RAPID) framework – an operational guide to recover learning losses.
3. Teachers are the most important school-based factor for student learning globally and in Central Asia and smart investments in ensuring high teacher quality can be catalytic in improving education quality and reducing inequalities. The literature and evidence-base on teaching have shown what effective teachers do consistently: they create a culture that is conducive to learning, instruct in a way that deepens student understanding and encourages critical thinking and analysis, and support students’ socioemotional development, enabling a safe, healthy, and caring space for them to develop, and advocate for students’ well-being. Research from low-, middle-, and high-income countries has consistently shown that the quality of teaching that students receive is the most important in-school factor influencing their learning. This research shows that difference in learning outcomes between the student of a low-performing teacher and the student of a great teacher is equivalent to multiple years of schooling.
4. Teacher salaries also make up the majority of the education budget, globally and in CA; the quality of teachers, therefore, directly determines the effectiveness and efficiency of education expenditures. Similar to other countries, CA countries spend the majority of the education budget on teacher salaries, however, results of teacher assessments show concerning lack of knowledge and skills. For example, Uzbekistan spends 58.7% of the total public education budget on teacher salaries and 85% of the total education budget on all staff compensation. Similarly, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan spend 75% , 76% and 57.6% of their education budgets on staff compensation. While the shares of staff compensation in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic are comparable to the OECD average of 74%, the share of staff compensation in Uzbekistan is comparatively higher and that in Tajikistan lower than the OECD average. However, data from Uzbekistan shows that subject knowledge of teachers is low. A 2022 assessment by the State Inspection for Supervision of Quality in Education (SISQE) in Uzbekistan revealed that one in four of the active teachers could not meet the minimum national in-service training standard. Teachers, on average, were also familiar with only 65% of the knowledge content they were expected to teach.
5. With increasing population of school-age children, goals for universal coverage for preschool education and shift to 11/12 years of secondary education in CA, demand for teachers and the wage bill is expected to rise further. School-age population in CA is increasing and is expected to be around 17% higher in 2060 as compared to 2021.Additionally, access to preschool education for 3- to 6-year-olds in CA is still well below universal (98.6% in Kazakhstan in 2021, 40% in the Kyrgyz Republic, 15.3% in Tajikistan in 2021 and 67.2% in Uzbekistan in 2021). The countries aim to expand coverage, for example, the 2030 National Development Strategy (NDS) of Tajikistan sets the goal of quadrupling preschool coverage for children aged 3-6 to 50% in 2030.Similarly, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan aim for 100% coverage by 2025 and 2030 respectively. Furthermore, the education system in Uzbekistan is transitioning to 11 years of mandatory education from the earlier 9 years of mandatory education, while Kazakhstan aims for a transition to a 12-year education system. The increasing student population, expansion in preschool access and transition to longer secondary education is adding to increased demands for teachers in the education systems in CA. As a result, despite increasing teaching force, CA countries are facing teacher shortages. Kazakhstan reported a teacher shortage of 4100 teachers in 2022. Similarly, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have also reported teacher shortages of 3539 teachers in 2021/2022 academic year and 5234 teachers in 2021 respectively, while the Kyrgyz Republic has faced teacher shortages of around 800 to 900 teachers. Specifically, rural, and remote areas in CA struggle to attract and retain qualified teachers.
6. Governments in CA realize the importance of teachers in improving education quality. For example, the government of Uzbekistan (GoU), in the New Uzbekistan Development Strategy 2022 – 2026 -  lays out quality teachers as one of the four main levers to improve education quality. Furthermore, the strategy sets the goal of a phased increase in teachers’ monthly salary up to USD 1000 equivalent and requires the Ministry of Preschool and School Education to work together with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to draft a resolution providing for an increase in the salaries of talented teachers based on qualification category and undertaking a fundamental review of the procedure for assigning qualification category to teachers and introduce a fair and transparent system to assess qualifications.

CA governments are also increasing investments in teachers. Kazakhstan has doubled teacher salaries from 2019 to 2023 and aims to train 90% of teachers in competency-based curriculum and instruction under the National Education Project (NEP) 2021 – 2025. Similarly, the 2021 – 2040 Education Strategy in the Kyrgyz Republic outlines a comprehensive roadmap for education development in the country and includes improvement in pre- and in-service teacher training as the main levers of improving education quality in the country. In Tajikistan, the National Strategy of Education Development (NSED) for the period until 2030 identifies the low qualifications of teachers as one of the main challenges for quality education and aims to structure an effective and flexible system for training and retraining teachers and improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession. In Uzbekistan, following the Development Strategy, a National Program for the Development of Public Education for 2022-2026 was also approved on 11 May 2022, identifying six key priority areas as follows including increasing the authority of the teaching profession. Similarly, Uzbekistan’s Partnership Compact for Education Reform emphasizes the need for transparent, and merit and competency-based recruitment, retention, and professional development of preschool and school educators and leaders.

1. The “Skilled Teachers, Skilled Nation” initiative supported five events (online/hybrid) over the two years of implementation from October 2021 to September 2023 and highlighted good practices in teacher policies and practices. To ensure context-specific and maximally useful case studies, the initiative also supported research to lay out the current teacher policies and practices in the region. The World Bank and UNESCO brought together a research team from the four countries – Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – with an international research lead and global advisors (from China - UNESCO Teacher Education Center, Hong Kong - The Education University of Hong Kong, and Russia – Moscow City University) – to research teacher policies in Central Asia. The KE events then laid out the regional landscape and brought together representatives of the Ministries of Education, teachers, principals, rectors of pedagogical universities, and directors of in-service teacher training institutes of the four Central Asian countries, regional and international academics and practitioners, civil society organizations, and other development partners to highlight good practices globally, with a specific focus on practices in China, Russia, and Singapore. The research accompanying the knowledge exchange will be published as a regional brief on “Smart Investments in Teachers – Improving Instruction and Education Quality in Central Asia.”
2. The first Online Central Asian Symposium on Education, organized on October 13, 2021, launched the two-year-long knowledge exchange program, and brought together Deputy Ministers of Education and other stakeholders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The event was opened by World Bank’s previous Global Director for Education, Jaime Saavedra, and in this first event, Deputy Ministers of Central Asian countries presented their visions on teacher policies and practices in the region. In addition to the global panel of advisors, the event included presentations by Ivo Ferreira Gomes (mayor of Sobral – a socioeconomically disadvantaged municipality in Ceara, Brazil, that dramatically improved learning outcomes and improved ranking from 1366 to number one among all municipalities in PISA results), Lin Goodwin (Dean and Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong) and Duishon Alievich Shamatov (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan).
3. The second Online Central Asian Symposium on Education  was organized on May 26, 2022 and obtained government feedback on the Outline for Regional Brief on Teacher Policies and agreed on the analytical questions to be addressed in the report. The workshop also brought forward international experiences. In addition to the global advisors, the event included Mr. John Arnold S. Siena, Director IV, National Educators Academy, Philippines, who presented on the Philippine's recent experiences on competence-based recruitment and promotion of teachers. The event was well attended, with 122 unique participants.
4. The third symposium was organized on October 27, 2022. The symposium presented an analysis of the current systems of selection, education, and recruitment of teachers in the region. The symposium also brought together three leading institutes – The teacher Education Center of UNESCO in Shanghai, Moscow City University, and the Education University of Hong Kong – to consolidate and present global best practices and policy options to address the gaps and challenges in the region. The symposium also showcased the work on modernization and improvement of initial teacher education in Kazakhstan financed by the World Bank’s Education Modernization Project. Based on the presentations on national achievements and challenges and global and regional best practices, government delegation members worked together to think around and present solutions to ensure effective selection, education, and recruitment of teachers in their countries. The event was a success with 100% of the participants rating the event useful or highly useful. Around 91% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that through the event, they gained knowledge that is relevant to the design/implementation of the development projects they are working on, and 86% agreed or strongly agreed that they expect to apply the knowledge gained through the exchange in designing/implementing their development project or policies. Based on the presentations on national achievements and challenges and global and regional best practices, government delegation members worked together to think around and present solutions to ensure effective selection, education, and recruitment of teachers in their countries. The event was a success with 100% of the participants rating the event useful or highly useful. Around 91% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that through the event, they gained knowledge that is relevant to the design/implementation of the development projects they are working on, and 86%  agreed or strongly agreed that they expect to apply the knowledge gained through the exchange in designing/implementing their development project or policies.
5. The fourth symposium was organized on March 29, 2023, and focused on career trajectories for teachers in Central Asia. The symposium followed a similar structure as the third symposium and started with presentations by national researchers on teachers’ career trajectories, the associated responsibilities, competencies, and the attestation processes in the countries in Central Asia. The symposium also brought together three leading institutes – The Teacher Education Center of UNESCO in Shanghai, Moscow City University, and the Education University of Hong Kong – to consolidate and present global best practices and policy options to address the gaps and challenges in the region. Based on the presentations on national achievements and challenges and global and regional best practices, government delegation members worked together to discuss and present solutions to ensure motivating career trajectories of teachers in their countries. The event was joined by 119 participants (43 in person in Bishkek and 76 online- from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, and China). The event was a success, with 100%  of both online and  in-person participants rating the event as useful or highly useful. Around 93%  of in-person participants and 89%  of online participants agreed or strongly agreed that through the event, they gained knowledge that is relevant to the design/implementation of the development projects they are working on, and 96% of allparticipants agreed or strongly agreed that they expect to apply the knowledge gained through the exchange in designing/implementing their development project or policies. 
6. The Fifth and final Central Asian Symposium marked the culmination of the two-year-long UNESCO-World Bank joint initiative and focused on designing and implementing effective teacher policies across the full career lifecycle of a teacher, including selection for initial teacher education (ITE), quality of ITE, recruitment, career progression, and in-service professional development. The event first discussed the findings of the overall regional study on teacher policies in Central Asia, identifying the improvements in teacher policies over time and the areas for further improvement. The event then brought in a panel of international experts to share examples of good policies globally, including comprehensive case studies of teacher policies in Shanghai (China) and Singapore. The last session engaged the country delegations to design recommendations and next steps for their countries in developing an effective teaching force. The event was joined by 100+ (in-person and online) participants. The event was successful, with 94%  of participants rating the event as useful or highly useful. Around 90%  of participants agreed or strongly agreed that through the event, they gained knowledge that is relevant to the design/implementation of the development projects they are working on. Similarly, 90%  of participants agreed or strongly agreed that they expect to apply the knowledge gained through the exchange in designing/implementing their development project or policies. Furthermore, the country delegations discussed that the challenges are quite similar across the four countries, especially due to the Soviet legacy and regional collaboration would be highly useful, for example, collaboration between the pre-service and in-service teacher training institutes in the region.

• Innovative and Collaborative structuring of the knowledge exchange – The effective two-year long collaboration with UNESCO was a very strong feature of the programming and helped elevate the discourse on the need for effective teacher policies and practices further. Structuring of a regional research team with national researchers (often part of or close to the Ministry of Education) also allowed a thorough documentation of the landscape of teacher policies and practices in each of the countries and ensuring that the solutions presented are very context-specific and caters to what the Ministries of Education are struggling with in the different aspects of teacher policies. Soon after the launch of the program, Ministries of Education in Central Asia identified key government counterparts.

• The four knowledge-receiving countries in Central Asia were at different points in their trajectories in improving teacher policies with different countries having advanced in different aspects. The presentation of teacher policies in the countries therefore also provided a great opportunity for the neighboring countries to learn from each other. For example, Kazakhstan had already improved teacher salaries and was strengthening teacher competency framework and developing career levels mapped to different competency levels. Similarly, Uzbekistan had launched a national teacher recruitment portal. The participants were very interested in learning from each other and advocated for a continuation of a platform whereby they can continue to learn from each other as they struggle to respond to very similar questions.

• All workshops included time for country delegations to work together and, based on what they learnt from presentations on teacher policies in their neighboring countries and on good practices globally, present solutions and next steps for their countries. This activity generated very positive interaction. Government, researchers, global experts and other participants worked together in these sessions and presented their vision and proposed actions to improve teacher policies to support teachers in improving education quality.

• All the presentations and materials for each symposium were shared with the participants. Additionally, the knowledge exchange was sequenced to cover the different aspects of teacher policies. This worked quite well allowing the participants to delve deeper into specific areas – for example recruitment of teachers, teachers’ career trajectories etc. Still, the participants did mention that it was a lot of information, though participants showed a lot of interest and requested connections with speakers to allow further follow-up.

Deputy Chair, Orleu National Center for Professional Development, Kazakhstan

Head of Division, Republican Scientific-Methodological Center for the Development of Education, Uzbekistan

Head of educational and methodological department of Tashkent State Pedagogical University named after Nizami, Uzbekistan

Rector of Avloni Institute, Uzbekistan

Head of Department of the International University of Kyrgyz Republic

Director of the Center for Education and Upbringing, Kyrgyz Republic.

Representative of the Academy of Education, Kazakhstan

First Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of the Tajik State Pedagogical University named after S. Aini, Tajikistan

Leading Specialist of School Education Policy and Book Publishing Department, Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic

Chief specialist of Department for Improving the Capacity of Pedagogical Personnel and Coordinating the Activities of Training Institutions, Uzbekistan

Head of School Policy and Textbook Publishing Department, Kyrgyz Republic

Representative of Educational Initiatives Support Foundation, Kyrgyz Republic.

Representative of the Center of Innovative Education “Peremena”, Kyrgyz Republic

Head of Continuing Education Laboratory, Kyrgyz Republic

Chief Specialist, Orleu National Center for Professional Development, Kazakhstan

Head of Department, Republican Scientific-Methodological Center for the Development of Education, Uzbekistan

Head of the Center for Innovative Technologies of Language Teachers’ In service Training , Kyrgyz Republic

Deputy Minister Kyrgyz Republic

Head, Directorate-General of Quality Assurance of the State Inspectorate for Supervision of Quality in Education, Cabinet of Ministries, Uzbekistan

Chair of the Board Orleu National Center for Professional Development, Kazakhstan

Monitoring & Evaluation specialist, Education Modernization Project, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Kazakhstan

Director of the Research Institute for the Study of Problems and Prospects of Public Education named after A. Avloni, Ministry of Public Education, Uzbekistan

Acting Chairman of the Committee of Higher and Postgraduate Education, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Kazakhstan

Rector of the Osh State Pedagogical University of the Kyrgyz Republic

KSU after Arabaev,  Dean of the Faculty, Kyrgyz Republic

Chief Specialist of the Department of formal, non-formal and supplementary education, Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic

Principal of gymnasium school # 70, Kyrgyz Republic

Coordinator, Education Modernization Project, Minsitry of Science and Higher Education, Kazakhstan

Director of the Scientific and Practical Center of Pedagogical Skills and International Assessment under the Agency of Specialized Educational Institutions, Uzbekistan

“Prioritet” School Principal, Kyrgyz Republic

Head of the Department of the Committee for Preschool and Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan

Deputy Director of School #20, Kyrgyz Republic

Director of Public Association “High School of Management”, Kyrgyz Republic

International consultant of the specialized schools agency, Uzbekistan

Head of Quality Assessment and Monitoring Department of Preschool Education Agency, Uzbekistan

Coordinator of the Education Support Program at the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation, Tajikistan

Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Tajikistan

Chairman of the Board – Rector,  The Kazakh National Women's Teacher Training University, Kazakhstan

Specialist of the Isyk Ata Raion ED, Kyrgyz Republic

Rector of Tajik StatePedagogical University, Tajikistan

Deputy Rector of Chirchik Pedagogical University, Uzbekistan

Minister MOES Kyrgyz Republic

Head of the Curriculum division of the Higher and Post-Graduate Schools, Ministry of Higher Education, Kazakhstan

Chief Specialist of the Department of Higher, Secondary Professional and Postgraduate Education, Kyrgyz Republic

Principal of School #21, Kyrgyz Republic

Director of the Republican Institute for Advanced Training and Retraining of Educators, Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic

Director of Kyrgyz Adult Education Association, Kyrgyz Republic

Principal of the National Computer Gymnasium after A. Moldokulov, Kyrgyz Republic

Executive Director of the IPF by R. Otunbaeva, Kyrgyz Republic

Chief specialist of Department for Improving the Capacity of Pedagogical Personnel and Coordinating the Activities of Training Institutions, Uzbekistan

Head of Coordination Office for the Quality of Education and Teacher Training and Development, Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Deputy Head, Human Capitan Development Department in the Ministry of Public Education, Uzbekistan

Deputy Director, School #69, Kyrgyz Republic

President of the State Enterprise "National Academy of Education named after Y. Altynsarin", Kazakhstan

Professional development of pedagogues named after Avloni and new teaching methods scientific secretary of the National Research Institute, Uzbekistan

Teacher Training Coordinator, «Learning for the Future» Project, Kyrgyz Republic

Head of Department, Republican Scientific-Methodological Center for the Development of Education, Uzbekistan

Deputy Director, Re-training and Professional Development of the Research Institute under the Ministry of Public Education, Uzbekistan

Principal of school # 66, Kyrgyz Republic

Director of the Republican Methodological and Training Centre, Tajikistan

Deputy Director School #13, Kyrgyz Republic

Coordinator in the international project “Strengthening Initial Teacher Education” from Hame University of applied sciences, Finland., Kazakstan

Assessment Component Coordinator, “Learning for the Future” Project, Kyrgyz Republic

Head of Cooperative Education, University of Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Vice minister of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic

Head of the Department of Higher, Secondary Professional and Postgraduate Education, Kyrgyz Republic

Rector of the Republican Institute for Teachers’ Professional Development, Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tajikistan

Head of Department for Improving the Capacity of Pedagogical Personnel and Coordinating the Activities of Training Institutions, Uzbekistan

President of Kyrgyz Academy of Education, Kyrgyz Republic

Vice President of Kyrgyz Academy of Education, Kyrgyz Republic

Principal of ecology-economical lyceum #65, Kyrgyz Republic

Representative of EdNet, Kyrgyz Republic

Professional development of pedagogues named after A. Avloni and training in new methods of the National Research Institute - Leading researcher of the scientific-research department for the improvement of digital educational technologies, Uzbekistan

Deputy Minister, Kyrgyz Republic

Deputy Minister of Education, Tajikistan

Leading specialist Department Higher Professional and Postgraduate   Education, Tajikistan

Chief Expert of Pedagogical Staff Working Unit of the Pre-School and Secondary Education Committee, Ministry of Education, Kazakhstan

Head of the Education Quality Assessment, Licensing and Accreditation Department, Uzbekistan

Deputy Chairman of the Board for In-service teacher training, "Orleu National Center for Qualification Improvement", Kazakhstan

Head of the School Coordination Department of the Specialized Educational Institutions Agency, Uzbekistan

Deputy Rector, Tashkent Pedagogical University, Uzbekistan

First Vice Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan.

Head of educational and methodological department of Tashkent State Pedagogical University named after Nizami, Uzbekistan

Expert CEATM, Kyrgyz Republic

“Enhancing the Foundation of Learning”  Project Consultant, Kyrgyz Republic

Director of Republican In-Service Teacher Training Institute, Kyrgyz Republic

Principal of Novo-Pavlovka School#1, Kyrgyz Republic

Principal of School #61 after E. Yakir , Kyrgyz Republic

Specialist of the Alamedin Raion ED, Kyrgyz Republic

Representative of the National Academy of Sciences, Tajikistan

Director of the Center, Republican Scientific-Methodological Center for the Development of Education, Uzbekistan

Head of the department for the training of pedagogic personnel and development of their professional competence of the pre-school education agency, Uzbekistan

Head of the Department of Research, Innovation and Analytics, JSC “National Centre for Professional Development “Orleu, Kazakhstan

Deputy Director of the Center, Republican Scientific-Methodological Center for the Development of Education, Uzbekistan

Representative from Arabaev University, Arabaev University, Kyrgyz Republic

The World Bank brought together national research and provided regional and global expertise to advise the Ministries of Education in Central Asia. Furthermore, the World Bank financed the costs for the knowledge exchange. The combined WB-UNESCO team worked seamlessly for the successful organization and completion of KE activities.

• Moving forward, there is a need to support governments in Central Asia as they are drafting their principal and teacher policies, recruitment programs, career trajectories, and pre-and in-service teacher training programs.
• There is a need to establish a sustainable regional platform to continue the dialogue and cooperate on areas of development common for all countries.

• New Knowledge. The participants of the KE events gained new knowledge on effective teacher policies in Brazil, Philippines, China, Russia, Singapore and Japan.

• Improved Consensus. The KE events elevated the discourse on effective teacher policies in the region, and there was an improved consensus and acknowledgment that, owing to the shared Soviet legacy, CA countries face very similar challenges and can learn from each other in developing effective teacher policies.
• Enhanced Connectivity. The KE events provided the participants a platform to share knowledge and learn from each other. Representatives of the Ministries of Education, Directors of Pre-and In-service Teaching Training Institutes, and national researchers of the four countries developed connections to learn from each other. Through the different symposiums, country delegations discussed that the challenges are quite similar across the four countries and a regional collaborative approach can be very helpful. The establishment of a Regional Educational Advisory or a Regional Thinktank on Education was also proposed by the participants.
• New and Improved Actions. Government representatives developed and shared action areas for improving teacher policies in their countries. These included:
  • Forecasting mechanisms for teaching needs as currently a fifth or more of students in higher education in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan go into initial teacher education which is much higher than the need and yet countries face shortages of teachers by subjects, and in specific locations.
  • Quality assurance and certification mechanisms for teachers. This was also identified as an area where regional collaboration will be very useful and timely as this is an area that all four countries are currently working on, but none of the countries have established mechanisms so far. These quality assurances and certification mechanisms are strongly needed again as a large number of universities offer initial teacher education resulting in a large pool of graduates with teaching degrees. There is a need to ensure that quality assurance mechanisms are based on the professional competency standards for teachers and also based on a broader consensus with pedagogical universities, teacher unions, and the Ministries of school and higher education.
  • Rigorous selection and recruitment mechanisms based on the quality assurance processes above. Currently, recruitment is generally at the school level done by the school director. The quality assurance mechanisms and rigorous recruitment processes will shift the system towards improved initial teacher education.
  • Availability of different career tracks for teachers to choose from. It is important to ensure that the levels in these career tracks motivate teachers to develop themselves, i.e., the levels are associated with specific competencies, responsibilities, and salary increments. Furthermore, it is important to ensure that teachers’ career trajectories are developed in broad consultation with teachers, principals, and pre-service and in-service teacher training institutions so that there is a shared understanding of the importance of these reforms.
  • Support and professional development opportunities for teachers in terms of focused, tailored and relevant in-service and on-job training and guidance to improve instruction and grow to the next levels in their desired career trajectory.
  • Transparent and effective attestation process with rigorous procedures to ensure that teachers have the competencies required for progression to the higher career level.
  • Support to pedagogical universities to improve their quality of education.
• During the two years of the knowledge exchange, the Kyrgyz Republic improved teacher salaries to be close to the national average salary in the country and Uzbekistan developed plans for teacher investments. It is difficult to claim attribution but we hope that the elevated discourse on effective teacher policies through the knowledge exchange contributed to governments taking increased action on supporting teachers. 

Chair Professor of Learning Technologies and Innovation, Associate Dean, The Education University of Hong Kong

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan

Coordinator in the international project “Strengthening Initial Teacher Education” from Hame University of applied sciences, Finland.

Dean, Moscow City University, Russia

Mayor of Sobral, Ceara, Brazil

Director IV, National Educators Academy, Philippines

Dean and Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong

Director of the Research Institute of Urban Studies and Global Education, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the MA Programme "Assessment and Monitoring of Educational Outcomes in General Education" at Moscow City University

Professor & Former President, Shanghai Normal University, Director, UNESCO Teacher Education Center