Final Meeting of the Regional Policy Research on Quality and Status of Female Teachers and their Impact on EFA in Asia ,18-19 February, 2010,Bangkok, Thailand

In December 2007, UNESCO and Ochanomizu University in Japan jointly organized a regional seminar on the theme of linking research and policy to promote gender equality in education under the framework of the Gender in Education Network in Asia (GENIA). During this seminar, a number of key policy research issues were identified and further collaboration for a joint research project on some of these issues in a number of selected GENIA countries was discussed.

Following further consultation with Ochanomizu University and the Korean Institute of Gender Equality Promotion and Education (KIGEPE), as the two main regional resource partners of GENIA, it was agreed that a small scale policy research project would be launched jointly in the year 2009 with initial funding from Ochanomizu University. The list of research topics was discussed through consultation with the GENIA Gender Focal Points (GFPs) during 2008, and given the critical role that female teachers play in not only promoting girls education but also mainstreaming gender equality in education and in the society as a whole, it was decided that the policy research will focus on the issue of female teachers in Southeast, East and South Asian countries. The decision to focus on female teachers was also strategic in the sense that Ochanomizu University is the leading female teacher education institution in Japan, and would be able to provide the needed technical assistance in conducting policy research on this topic in the GENIA countries. KIGEPE was also requested to join this effort in view of their expertise in policy research and policy formulation in the field of gender mainstreaming in education and to assist the GENIA countries in eventually developing policy guidelines to improve the quality and status of female teachers in the regional countries.

On the occasion of the Annual GENIA Regional Capacity Building workshop in Seoul Korea, hosted by KIGEPE in December 2008, with the agreement of the three parties that the policy research project was formally launched in 2009, with the organization of a regional planning workshop in March 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand, to discuss details of the research together with the countries identified. Following the regional planning workshop an interim technical meeting took place from 9-11 November, 2009 in Bangkok to monitor the progress of the research project, peer review the country reports and discuss further strategies for preparing the draft regional report and a plan for follow-up action. One of the recommendations for the follow-up at this Interim Meeting was to organize a final meeting to share and disseminate the final country reports and the regional synthesis, and to discuss the way forward in the presence of senior level policy makers in charge of teachers in the respective project countries.

The main purpose of the Final Meeting is to share the key findings and recommendations from the research in the six pilot countries and to discuss further steps to move forward this research exercise to concrete policy action both at the country level and the regional level.

Objectives

• To share the key research findings from the project countries Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Mongolia, as well as Republic of Korea, and Japan.
• To learn and exchange knowledge and information on issues related to female teachers and on emerging trends in teacher policy discussions in the region in the context of EFA and beyond.
• To develop a set of recommendations for follow-up policy actions at regional and country levels, to improve the quality and status of female teachers in the context of EFA and the broader discussions on teacher policies in the region.

Expected Outcomes

The following outcomes are expected at the end of the final meeting:

• final country reports shared and disseminated;
• understanding on the issues of female teachers in the region and on emerging policy discussions on teacher policies increased;
• a set of recommendations for concrete policy actions developed and country level action plans prepared.

Dates and Venue

The Final Meeting was organized in Bangkok, Thailand, from Thursday, 18 February to Friday, 19 February, 2010. The venue of the meeting was Landmark Hotel, Bangkok.