• What is SABER - Teachers?
• Why did The World Bank embark on SABER - Teachers?
• What does SABER - Teachers do?

What is SABER - Teachers?

 
SABER - Teachers documents teacher policies for public schools in developed and developing countries in order to inform policy choices and promote policy dialogue, globally.

Why did The World Bank embark on SABER - Teachers?

 
When client countries ask World Bank front-line staff how top-performing countries tackle different issues related to teacher policies (e.g., teacher training, incentives or accountability), project leaders have to respond to such requests on a case-by-case basis—either by using Bank publications and databases or taking the initiative to find out more about policies in top-performing education systems. This approach has the advantage of being tailored to the specific needs of each country, but it has the drawbacks of being time-consuming, duplicating work, lacking comparability and including few countries.

• SABER - Teachers now fills this gap by producing a systematized set of knowledge products. SABER - Teachers enhances the ability of front line education staff to draw on all of the knowledge that the Education Sector generates.

What does SABER - Teachers do?

1. SABER - Teachers classifies and analyzes education systems around the world according to 8 core teacher policy goals to which all education systems should aim.
2. SABER - Teachers collects information on 10 core teacher policy areas in education systems around the world by administering a set of questionnaires to key informants and gathering both qualitative and quantitative data, validated by legal documents.
3. SABER - Teachers shares knowledge products to provide maximum impact in driving teacher performance through an interactive website, print materials and workshops. Finally, SABER - Teachers hopes to be a knowledge connector, leading policy dialogue on teacher policies and embracing a collaborative approach to improve the quality of teaching.

1. What are SABER - Teacher’s 8 core teacher policy goals?

Setting clear expectations for teachers Attracting the best into teaching Preparing teachers with useful training and experience Matching teachers’ skills with students’ needs Leading teachers with strong principals Monitoring teaching and learning Supporting teachers to improve instruction Motivating teachers to perform

These goals were selected because they are related to:

• either student or teacher performance through theory and/or evidence;
• they are priorities for resource allocation and;
• they are actionable (i.e., governments can have a direct influence on them through policy reforms).
  

Education systems are classified as being more or less advanced in each of these goals. The four levels of classification are from least to most developed.

We use this policy goal framework to produce Country Reports, which consist of tailored analyses for specific countries.

2. What are SABER - Teacher’s 10 core teacher policy areas

• Requirements to enter and remain in teaching
• Initial teacher preparation
• Recruitment and employment
• Teachers’ workload and autonomy
• Professional development
• Compensation (salary and non-salary benefits)
• Retirement rules and benefits
• Monitoring and evaluation of teacher quality
• Teacher representation and voice
• School leadership

 
SABER - Teachers collects information on teacher policy areas by administering questionnaires among key informants in countries. Data are collected by a local consultant in each country. The local consultant uses a set of questionnaires which we designed to interview key informants and collect data on teacher policies. Local consultants are required to validate the data they submit by checking the information provided by key informants against the relevant laws and regulations that back them up.

3. How does SABER - Teachers share?

SABER - Teachers will provide access to our work on a publicly available website where users can apply, collaborate and update our knowledge tools on teacher policies. The following tools will be available.

• The 8 core teacher policy goals to which all education systems should aim and how each teacher policy goal is classified;
• The 10 core teacher policy areas collected through the questionnaires;
• Country Reports that offer an overview of an education system’s performance on each of the 8 teacher policy goals;
• Regional and Global Reports that discuss trends in specific policy goals in specific regions or at the global level;
• The Legal Documents relating to teacher policies collected in each country.
  

Framework for SABER - Teachers