Investing in teachers analysed Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) experience and identified lessons for improving teacher development policies and programs. The evaluation provides a typology of intervention options, in-depth case studies and contrasting cases to highlight achievements and challenges in different development contexts.

The evaluation found: There is no single best approach to preparing and supporting teachers; the choice of pre-service and/or in-service approaches depends on context-specific needs, and readiness to sustain the approach. DFAT’s experience provides valuable lessons compared to what the literature suggests is ‘good practice’ e.g. the importance of educational leadership, centrality of good teaching...

Over the last 10 years, around 15 per cent of the Australian aid budget was spent through two multilateral development banks (MDBs): the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank. Close to two-thirds of this was given as non-core funding (funding earmarked for a specific purpose or region). Through these contributions the aid program...

The Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) is an annual grants program that provides matched funding to accredited Australian NGOs to support their work in developing countries. Funding supports projects across a range of sectors including education, health, water and sanitation, governance and economic development. Established in 1974, the ANCP is DFAT’s (and formerly AusAID’s) longest...

The review describes examples from different countries of practices in educational policy and teacher development focused on enhancing teacher quality. It identifies policies that support teacher development as well as the characteristics of effective pre-service teacher education programs and of high-quality professional learning programs for teachers. It acknowledges the need to modify and adapt intervention...