Page 26 - Education for Development:George Psacharopoulos University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

24 ᐿ࿲ၾආӉj઺ԃٙɢඎ

Teacher evaluation may sound a good policy, but again hated by unions and

rarely enacted. It is difficult to find an example of firing a public school teacher
because of bad performance. Private schools seem to be able to offer incentives
to attract and retain better teachers. But labor market regulations may prevent

pay differentiation and hamper the easiness of hiring or firing a teacher.

Evaluate

Does the country have a system of external assessment of schools? The
external element of assessment is essential, since so-called self-evaluations are a

self-fulfilled prophesy.
Assuming there is an effective evaluation system in place, what are the
implications of a good or a bad evaluation? Have good teachers been rewarded

or bad ones fired? Has there ever been a closure of a school because of sub-
standard performance?
Do school teachers and principals have the authority to innovate? Do

parents’ associations have a say in the running of a school? Can school vouchers
be used as an incentive for students in low-performing public schools to move
to a better private school?

Should privatization and vouchers be politically unpalatable, try private-
public partnerships. Not only in the main school system but also between public
universities and industry (as done in South Korea).

Having a centralized system, means that there is no need to evaluate how
well it is performing. If schools follow the Ministry’s dicta, all is supposed to
run well. Even when an evaluation system is in place, more than often it is not

enforced, typically because teachers’ unions are allergic to it.