India Ranks 6th Most Positive About Teachers in 35-Country Global Survey

According to a recent global survey-based study from 35 nations, India ranks among the top 10 countries in the world when it comes to valuing its teaching workforce.

Released last week by the UK-based Varkey Foundation,’ Reading Between the Lines: What the World Really Thinks of Teachers’ found that India was sixth when it comes to the tacit, unconscious and automatic views of people on the status of teachers in the region. The Implicit Teacher Status study, which considers China, Ghana, Singapore, Canada and Malaysia ahead of India, ranks countries by the automatic experiences of teachers by respondents when asked to indicate as quickly as possible whether, for instance, they believe teachers are trustworthy or untrusted, inspiring or uninspiring, caring or uncaring, intelligent or unintelligent, among other word associations. “This report proves that respecting teachers isn’t only an important moral duty – it’s essential for a country’s educational outcomes,” said Mr. Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Varkey Foundation and the Global Teacher Prize.

He further stated, “Since the coronavirus pandemic first emerged, we have seen 1.5 billion learners across the world impacted by school and university closures. In these unprecedented times, now more than ever it is necessary to do all we can to ensure young people throughout the world have access to a good teacher”.

The research, which builds on the data collected by the 2018 Global Teacher Status Index (GTSI), a 35-country survey conducted in each of the countries by 1,000 representative respondents, confirms the link between teacher status and pupil achievement. For the first time, the new study attempts to understand why “Implicit Teacher Status” varies between countries. It indicates that teachers typically have a higher standing in wealthy countries and in countries that allocate a larger fraction of public funds to education.

For example, as a percentage of government spending, India’s expenditure on education is 14 per cent. By contrast, in Italy, which ranks 24th for Implied Teacher Status, it is just 8.1 percent, while it is 22.1 percent in Ghana, which ranks second.

The study coincides with the announcement of the 2020 Global Teacher Prize finalists, including Mr. Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher from a Maharashtra village who is running for the USD 1 million annual prize, to be announced later this year.

“We created the Global Teacher Prize, which shines a light on the extraordinary work that teachers do around the world, to inspire people to talk about the great work of teachers. We have seen teachers go above and beyond to keep young people learning all over the world amid the Covid pandemic,” added Mr. Varkey.

As part of the review of the new study, Professor Mr. Peter Dolton of the University of Sussex and Doctor Robert De Vries of the University of Kent reassessed the GTSI data to find a surprisingly strong positive correlation between the results of the Implicit Teacher Status and the International Student Assessment Programme (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. In countries where individuals implicitly regard teachers more favourably, PISA scores are substantially higher.

Source: IBEF