INTRODUCING:
MAKING TEACHER POLICY WORK


   In our upcoming report,
   Making Teacher Policy Work,
   we asked ourselves why,
   despite the growing evidence
   on effective teacher policies,
   we still do not observe high-
   quality teaching and learning
   in the classroom? The report argues
   that we need to go beyond what works in
   teacher policy to how to support teachers in
   different contexts to adopt what works, while
   making sure it is implementable at scale and
   can be sustained over time.

   Consider, for example, a new early grade            The report presents two key takeaways on how
   reading policy that requires teachers to adopt      to make the design and implementation of
   new pedagogical techniques in the classroom         teacher policies more effective:


                                                       1.
   but do not support teachers appropriately                For teacher policies to be adopted
   in adopting them. Teachers may not know                  at the individual level, they must
   what the most effective teaching practices               be clear, doable, and rewarding.
   are for early grade reading, as they have not
   experienced this themselves nor shown what          Effective teacher policies facilitate individual-
   these look like. Even if teachers knew what         level change by addressing barriers that
   instructional approaches could be useful, they      teachers face in making the targeted changes.
   may not know how to implement them, as they         To increase the likelihood that a given policy
   have not been well-supported to develop and         will have its intended impact, policymakers
   practice these skills. And even if teachers knew    should first identify the targeted change(s)
   what the most effective teaching practices          needed, then diagnose what barriers stand in
   are and have been provided opportunities to         the way of these change(s) by asking themselves
   practice these techniques, they still may not be    three questions: Is the targeted change clear
   motivated to implement them in the classroom.       for teachers? Is the targeted change doable for
   Therefore, for any teacher policy to succeed,       teachers? Is the targeted change rewarding for
   it is essential to consider how teachers will       teachers? Policymakers should then put in place
   experience it and what barriers they could face     strategies to mitigate the identified barriers.
   in adopting the specific changes targeted by        Moving the focus from only what changes are
   the policy. Further, it is not enough to consider   expected of teachers to (also) how to support
   barriers at the individual level, but also at the   teachers to achieve those outcomes in a given
   system level, as the policies will need to be       context is a critical step toward making teacher
   implemented at scale and sustained over time.       policy work.
2.
       For teacher policies to work at                   implement the policy at scale and over time?
       scale and over time, they must                    Is it politically acceptable? In other words,
       be operationally feasible and                     do we have an enabling political environment to
       politically acceptable.                           implement the policy? Have we built trust and
                                                         coalitions with critical interest groups as to
These requirements must be supported by                  ensure that the critical elements of the policy
a robust data system to steer and manage                 will be preserved over time? And do we have data
change. To identify what elements may impact             and data systems available to help prioritize,
the sustainability and scale of a teacher policy         adapt, and iterate the policy? Moving the focus
in a particular context, policymakers should             from just “what works” to “what works and is
ask themselves these three questions: Is it              also implementable at scale and can be sustained
operationally feasible? In other words, do               over time” is another critical step toward making
we have adequate we have adequate resources,             teacher policy work and unlocking the full
funding, and technical and management capacity to        effectiveness of teacher policies.




 In sum, teacher policy design and implementation must be grounded in a deep understanding of
 how teachers experience these policies, and what is required for systems to effectively scale and
 sustain these policies. Looking at teacher policies through this lens helps us understand why some
 programs enable change to take place and take root, successfully improving the teaching and
 learning experience in the classroom, and why others do not.


 World Bank. 2023. Making Teacher Policy Work. Washington, DC:
 World Bank. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO