CHOGM 2002 placed considerable importance on the need for stronger participation by civil society, and for co-ordination of effort by NGOs in each sector to maximise their effectiveness. The Commonwealth Consortium for Education (CCfE) is an alliance of 12 key Commonwealth NGOs working in the field of education. Its inaugural Conference (24-25th October, 2003), was held on the eve of the 15th CCEM and was attended by 70 participants from 15 Commonwealth Member States.

Given that the shortage of qualified teachers in strategic areas is a major problem facing most nations, the Consortium decided that the Conference should focus on the Recruitment, Retention and Mobility of Teachers within the Commonwealth. In addition to the submission already made to the CCEM (Opportunities for Partnership in Education in the Commonwealth), the Consortium also wishes to make an input to the 15th CCEM in the form of a response (attached) to the initiative for a Protocol for the Recruitment of Commonwealth Teachers and recommendations stemming from the CCfE Conference set out below.

The CCEM should recognise and continue to support the efforts being made by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Foundation the Commonwealth of Learning and Commonwealth education NGOs to:

1. Ensure that Commonwealth governments can meet their responsibilities to provide access to quality education for all by assuring the recruitment and retention of an effective teaching force, and by addressing key issues affecting the quality of teaching and the status and morale of teachers.

2. Provide tangible and cost-effective support in addressing the funding and logistical problems facing the education systems of Commonwealth member states that are unlikely to meet key EFA and MD Goals because of lack of resources, rapid growth in student numbers, shortages of qualified teachers, debt, declining levels of ODA support, and external interventions as well as internal difficulties that have led to increasing reliance on unqualified and untrained teachers and high wastage rates.

3. Strengthen the capacity of Member States to gather information (disaggregrated by gender, age, qualifications, level, subject area) on teacher flows into and out of their countries, to improve planning and management of the teaching service (particularly relating to internal mobility of teachers and conditions in rural areas), and to take collective action to ensure that all countries have the teachers they need to meet their MDGs.

4. Establish a Commonwealth Teachers' Forum to facilitate efforts to reach EFA targets and to support educational programmes provided by teachers' organisations focussing on MDGs relating to citizenship, democracy, human rights, tolerance and other Commonwealth values.

5. Facilitate co-operation in developing and implementing gender sensitive policies and legislation, and studies and co-operative programmes on stereotyping in education and access of women to managerial positions in education.

6. Develop and implement policies that promote the education of indigenous groups.

7. Facilitate short- and longer-term professional exchanges for teachers across the Commonwealth, thereby contributing to improving the professionalism and morale of the teaching service and the strengthening of solidarity within the Commonwealth.

8. Develop indicators for, and monitor, teacher HIV/AIDS mortality rates and extend the provision of professional development programmes for teachers on HIV/AIDS education.

9. Optimise the potential of distance education in conjunction with conventional modes of delivery to strengthen both initial teacher education and the continuous professional development of teachers, and to 'reach the unreached' teachers working in remote and difficult circumstances

10. Develop effective strategies to improve the attractiveness of teaching as a profession and improve recruitment and retention of qualified teachers in areas of strategic importance for development (particularly science, mathematics and technology education), including strategies for helping qualified teachers to reach the peak of their profession without necessarily leaving the classroom to take an administrative position.

11. Acknowledge the important contribution being made by the civil society (including parents' organisations, professional associations and teacher federations) to improving access to, and the quality of, education; and put in place practical mechanisms for ensuring their participation in policy dialogue, educational reforms, curriculum development, assessment policy and practice, and professional support and development.

12. Build on the experience and expertise within the Commonwealth for raising the status of teaching and recognising the rights and responsibilities of teachers as professionals and for promoting co-operation in establishing and adhering to published sets of standards and competence for initial teacher education, probation, professional recognition, standards for recognition as 'master' or 'chartered' teachers and principalship, and quality assurance systems
Edinburgh, October 25 2003