Teacher Motivation in Economic Crises

Abstract

This helpdesk review presents evidence of strategies and approaches that have worked to motivate teachers, with a focus on applications to contexts facing the sudden shock of economic crisis. It begins by presenting an overview of the ways in which economic crisis can impact education systems, drawing on recent relevant examples and presenting a detailed case study of Greece. It then moves on to review frameworks to understand teacher motivation, identifying the different factors that may be important in improving teacher motivation. Finally it presents evidence of strategies and approaches to improve teacher motivation. Evidence of strategies and approaches taken to explicitly improve teacher motivation in the context of the sudden shock of economic crisis is minimal. The examples of Greece, Indonesia, Venezuela, Argentina, Russia and beyond were consulted, and whilst there was some documentation of the impact of economic crisis in these contexts, there was very limited documentation of strategies and approaches taken to mitigate the effects of crisis on teachers. Evidence of strategies and approaches beyond financial incentives was also limited, even when considering a broader set of contexts. The focus of this review is therefore on strategies and approaches that have worked in resource-constrained LMIC contexts, whilst situating the discussion in the context of the ways in which economic crisis can (and has) impacted on education systems.