Bank investments in teacher training are significant. According to the results of a recent evaluation of the current portfolio, almost one in five of all teachers in the region have been or will be trained within the context of an IDB loan. The purpose of this initiative is to compile innovations in teacher education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Innovations examined by the case studies have developed new ways of educating teachers as a response to perceived failures of mainstream teacher training arrangements in each country or region. The results of these cases, presented in the form of best practices, will be published by the end of the year.
Teachers are key partners in efforts to reform education.
Yet relatively little is known about the factors determining who ends up teaching and what incentives are required to make current teachers behave in a manner consistent with the goals of major education reform efforts taking place across the region. The Unit, in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Economist and the IDB Research Network, is continuing its research along the lines. The data thus obtained will be used to analyze existing systems of institutional incentives affecting teacher behavior and the quality of what is being taught in the region's schools. A parallel study is examining policies that can improve the quality and size of the future teaching force in the region. In both instances, the research focuses on what can be done to improve teacher performance of the current pool of active teachers.