ABSTRACT
It is widely recognised that while the number and recruitment of teachers has grown significantly since 1970, recruitment rates have stalled and moreover have not kept pace with expanding enrolments (ILO, 2009, 2011). This has led to a worldwide shortage of teachers that is particularly acute in developing countries. Recent estimates posit that 1.9 million additional teachers are required to realise universal primary education, more than half of them in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (UNESCO, 2011a). As such, many countries in SSA must augment teacher recruitment growth rates by more than 6 per cent annually and the teaching workforce in South and West Asia must increase by more than 11 per cent if EFA is to be met by 2015 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics [UIS], 2011a).
