Policy Paper 01 | Teaching under Construction: Challenges in the Professional Development of Teachers in Central America and the Caribbean

The objective of this document is to address the challenges and strengths of teacher professional development (TDP) in Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and to propose policy recommendations for improvement. A first section of the policy characterizes and analyzes the region’s main DPD challenges, including low teacher qualifications, the need for ongoing training and teacher shortages in certain areas, the uneven distribution of trained teachers, and limited in-service development opportunities.

To address these challenges, the report recommends raising teacher qualifications and providing incentives to attract the best candidates, developing education monitoring and information systems (EMIS) to collect and systematize better data on teacher training, improving the quality and duration of initial training, improve equity in the assignment of trained teachers, implement well-structured induction programs accompanied by periodic evaluations, strengthen professional development opportunities and connect them to various benefits and alternative career paths, and implement attractive career path options to reduce attrition and retain teachers.