ICEQC-R-2008-04
Teacher Attrition and Vacancy Risk: Early-Warning Indicators for Education Authorities
A comparative indicator framework for anticipating teacher losses, persistent vacancies and interruption of educational service
- Publication date
- Evidence cut-off date
- Publication type
- Thematic Research Report
- Authoritative language
- EN
Publication record
This is the controlled English edition. Evidence and institutional status are stated as at the evidence cut-off date.
Executive summary
A funded post may be vacant. A person on the payroll may be assigned outside a school, absent on the observation day, working part time or teaching a subject for which no preparation has been completed. A teacher present at school may have fewer instructional hours because the timetable, school calendar, shift arrangement or non-teaching duties reduce contact with pupils. Conversely, one teacher may serve more than one class, grade or school. Any account of teacher supply that does not preserve these distinctions can report apparent sufficiency while children receive no dependable instruction. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
This report establishes a system-planning framework for measuring four connected but separate conditions: **supply**, the stock and expected flow of people able to enter and remain in teaching; **deployment**, the distribution of those people among schools, levels, subjects and populations; **availability**, their presence and assignment for the periods in which instruction is scheduled; and **instructional capacity**, the volume and composition of teaching that the workforce can deliver under the applicable curriculum and timetable. The framework is intended for national and subnational planning as at 8 June 2008. It does not prescribe a single staffing model, universal class-size rule or common employment regime. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The Dakar Framework calls for expanded access to primary education of good quality and for improvement in the status, morale and professionalism of teachers. The 1966 Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers treats teaching as a profession and links educational planning to early provision for the preparation and further preparation of sufficient numbers of competent teachers. The 2005 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, published in 2004, likewise identifies teacher numbers, knowledge, pedagogical practice, working conditions and effective instructional time as material elements of educational quality. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The pupil–teacher ratio divides pupils by teachers at a specified level. Where both are expressed as full-time equivalents it is a resource ratio; where headcounts are used it is a different measure. Neither version is the average class size. Class size is affected by the number of classes, teaching groups, shifts and periods, while the resource ratio is also affected by teachers' instructional load and time assigned to other duties. The 2004 edition of *Education at a Glance* demonstrates that these organisational features can produce materially different relationships between class size and the student–teacher ratio. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement depends on the national definition of the minimum organised teacher-training requirement and therefore does not establish a common content, duration or level of preparation across countries. It records a recognised status, not current subject knowledge, classroom practice, recent professional development or the quality of the preparation received. The measure must be published with the national qualification rule, the level and sector covered, the treatment of teachers in training and the reference year. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A ministry requires, at minimum, a count of authorised posts, funded posts, filled posts, unique persons employed, full-time-equivalent service, persons assigned to schools, persons present and persons actually teaching. These quantities are not alternatives. Their differences locate distinct problems: establishment policy, budget execution, recruitment, payroll integrity, deployment, leave administration, attendance or timetable use. A single figure labelled “teachers” conceals these transitions and prevents accountability for the institution responsible for each loss. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The workforce at the end of a period equals the opening workforce plus entrants and returns, less retirement, resignation, death, dismissal, transfer out and other exits, subject to corrections for duplicate or invalid records. Training completions cannot be treated as entrants without evidence that graduates accept appointment, satisfy the employment requirements and report to duty. Recruitment announcements cannot be treated as filled posts. Gross recruitment requirements must replace expected departures and meet growth in demand; net workforce growth records only the difference. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement depends on enrolment by grade and programme, curriculum periods, class-formation rules, school size, shift patterns, teachers' contact hours, subject specialisation, language of instruction, provision for small and remote schools, leave and reasonable reserves for temporary replacement. In primary systems where one teacher ordinarily serves one class, class and school formation may govern demand more directly than a national ratio. In secondary education, subject timetables and teacher specialisation are decisive. A planning model that ignores these constraints may produce an arithmetically balanced total with unusable subject and location shortages. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The national average can improve while high-poverty, rural, remote, conflict-affected or linguistically distinct communities retain vacant posts, high turnover or instructors without the required preparation. Equity therefore requires distributional measures: pupils per teacher and per trained teacher by district and school; vacancy and turnover rates; shares of schools below a minimum staffing floor; subject and grade gaps; and differences between the most and least served population groups. These results require cautious interpretation because sparsely populated schools may properly operate with low ratios while large schools may combine acceptable ratios with overcrowded classes. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A World Bank study published in 2003 used a pupil–teacher ratio of 40:1 as an indicative parameter in country costing scenarios for universal primary completion. That value reflected an observed average among a group of higher-completion low-income countries and was explicitly embedded in a model containing salaries, repetition, non-salary inputs, finance and country-specific adjustment. The same study recorded a range from 13:1 to 79:1 and recognised that geography and low population density can make a common average difficult to attain. The parameter is useful for testing fiscal and workforce implications; it is not evidence that every class, school or country ought to operate at 40 pupils per teacher. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The 2004 *World Development Report* presents preliminary evidence from unannounced visits showing teacher absence rates between 13 and 26 per cent in the countries reported, with substantial variation among states within India. The measure included both authorised and unauthorised absence; it did not by itself establish misconduct. Its importance lies in showing that payroll and establishment data cannot demonstrate service delivery. Repeated observation, reasons for absence, leave records, training assignments and replacement arrangements are needed before diagnosis or response. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement is estimated from available teachers, their teachable subjects or grades, scheduled contact time and the proportion of scheduled time delivered. It remains a capacity measure, not a measure of teaching quality or learning. A full complement of contact hours may be poorly taught; a capable teacher may work within an inadequate curriculum or without essential materials. Workforce planning must therefore connect capacity with, but not substitute for, classroom procedure and learning evidence. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The report proposes a tiered information system. The **personnel register** establishes unique identity, employment status, qualifications and assignment. The **establishment and payroll records** establish authorised posts, funding and payment. The **school census** establishes pupils, classes, programmes, facilities and staff reported at the school. The **timetable and attendance records** establish scheduled and delivered service. Training-provider records establish the potential entrant sequence. Population and enrolment projections establish future demand. Reconciliation keys are required across these sources, with protected personal records separated from public aggregates. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A national profile is to disclose the workforce headcount and full-time equivalent, pupil–teacher and pupil–trained-teacher ratios, vacancy and attrition measures, distribution by sex and location, data coverage, reference dates and known breaks. Subnational tables are to reveal distribution without exposing individuals. Methodological notes are to identify whether teachers are counted by post, person or assignment, whether non-government schools and temporary staff are included, and how leave and multiple assignments are treated. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Governments may finance people, but children receive instruction only when appropriate teachers are recruited, deployed, retained, present and assigned sufficient time. Each link requires a separate indicator and a named administrative responsibility. A credible planning system does not convert gaps between those indicators into statistical inconvenience. It uses them to determine where public resources cease to become educational service. For vacancy risk, the executive summary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Key findings
Scope and method
Pre-primary, secondary and specialised provision are addressed where their organisational requirements show why the same indicator cannot be transferred without adjustment. The report does not determine individual employment rights, prescribe national salary scales or assess named schools or teachers. For vacancy risk, the scope and method evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The analysis draws on international instruments, statistical publications and global development reports available by that date. It gives priority to original official definitions and documented tables. Figures reproduced from comparative publications retain their stated status, including preliminary data, national-definition limitations and model assumptions. Later terminology and later revisions are excluded. For vacancy risk, the scope and method evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
**Accounting analysis** maps authorised resources to delivered instruction. **Demographic analysis** projects pupils and workforce exits. **organisational analysis** translates curriculum and school structure into staffing demand. **distributional analysis** tests whether national supply reaches different places and populations. **measurement analysis** specifies the source, unit, denominator, reference period and uncertainty of each indicator. No composite index is produced because the dimensions are not interchangeable and would require contestable weights. For vacancy risk, the scope and method evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Values labelled as illustrations do not describe an actual country. Published comparative figures are reproduced only where they illuminate a measurement issue. The report does not rank countries and does not infer individual performance from aggregate workforce conditions. For vacancy risk, the scope and method evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part I
From employment records to educational service
The planning object
That formulation is incomplete. The object is the sustained provision of instruction by people with the knowledge, preparation and assignment required for the pupils and curriculum concerned. The relevant unit changes as the question changes: persons for recruitment and professional development; full-time equivalents for labour input; posts for establishment control; classes and periods for timetabling; and pupil-hours for service received. For vacancy risk, the the planning object evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement cannot establish whether the growth occurred at the level experiencing enrolment pressure, whether new teachers reached schools, whether they remained, or whether their qualifications matched the assignment. A complete account therefore follows resources through a sequence: post authorised; funds provided; person appointed; person assigned; person reports; person is present; class is scheduled; instruction is delivered. Loss at any transition has a different cause and remedy. For vacancy risk, the the planning object evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The chain does not imply that teaching is reducible to an administrative transaction. It ensures that administrative claims about service can be tested. Professional judgement and classroom relationships operate within the time and conditions made available; they cannot compensate indefinitely for a post that does not exist, a vacancy that remains unfilled or a timetable that provides no teacher for a required subject. For vacancy risk, the the planning object evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Eight workforce quantities that must not be merged
A **funded post** is an authorised position for which expenditure is provided for the period. A **filled post** has an appointment recorded. A **person employed** is a unique individual with an active employment relationship. A **full-time equivalent** expresses contracted workload relative to a defined full-time workload. A **school-assigned teacher** has a current duty location in a school. A **teacher present** is observed or validly recorded at the assigned place and time. A **teacher teaching** is delivering a scheduled instructional activity. For vacancy risk, the eight workforce quantities that must not be merged evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
One person can fill more than one part-time post; one post can be temporarily covered by several people; a teacher can be seconded to administration while retaining a school code; a payroll record can remain active after departure; and a teacher can be present while engaged in official non-teaching work. For vacancy risk, the eight workforce quantities that must not be merged evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The service-conversion account
The funded-post gap is authorised posts minus funded posts. The vacancy gap is funded posts minus filled full-time equivalents. The assignment gap is employed teacher full-time equivalents minus school-assigned teaching full-time equivalents, after legitimate central, leave and support functions are separately classified. The availability gap is scheduled teacher time minus teacher time available after recorded absence. The delivery gap is available time minus instruction delivered. For vacancy risk, the the service-conversion account evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A gap can be legitimate: authorised positions may be phased in; leave is a lawful employment condition; professional development may temporarily remove a teacher from class; emergencies may close a school. The account requires reasons and replacement arrangements. Its purpose is to distinguish explained service variation from unresolved loss and to show which authority can act. For vacancy risk, the the service-conversion account evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Posts cannot be subtracted directly from headcount where part-time work is material. Presence observed on one day cannot be subtracted from an annual full-time-equivalent stock. The comparison must first align unit and reference period. Where alignment is impossible, the quantities are reported side by side with the incompatibility stated. For vacancy risk, the the service-conversion account evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Public-interest basis
Workforce administration is therefore not only an internal management function. Allocation decisions determine whether curriculum, language provision, reasonable school access and continuity of instruction exist in practice. For vacancy risk, the public-interest basis evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-01] [REF-12]
Equal ratios can be inequitable where need and cost differ. A small remote school may require a minimum complement even when its ratio is low; a school serving multiple languages or children requiring specialised support may require additional capability. The public-interest obligation is to apply explicit, relevant criteria and to make the resulting distribution visible. For vacancy risk, the public-interest basis evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Those findings matters are linked. Deployment cannot be sustained by transfer orders alone when housing, safety, professional support, family circumstances and career progression make a post materially more difficult to hold. A measurement system that reports the vacancy but not the repeated turnover or the conditions of service identifies only the final symptom. For vacancy risk, the public-interest basis evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-02]
Part II
Defining the teacher stock
Person, post and assignment
The post is the appropriate unit for establishment authority and vacancy. The assignment is the appropriate unit for school, level, subject, grade and function. A controlled register preserves all three and links them with dated identifiers. For vacancy risk, the person, post and assignment evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Counting persons without assignments can include teachers working in administrative offices, teacher-training institutions or non-school functions. Counting filled posts can double count an individual holding fractions of more than one post. The statistical publication is to state which unit is used and how concurrent assignments are consolidated. For vacancy risk, the person, post and assignment evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
An annual snapshot without transaction dates cannot distinguish a genuine movement from late data entry. Retrospective corrections must remain auditable: the corrected value may replace an erroneous public series, but the reason, scale and release date of the revision are to be retained. For vacancy risk, the person, post and assignment evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Headcount and full-time equivalent
The requirement is essential for recruitment, retirement, professional development and occupational conditions. Full-time equivalent measures purchased or assigned labour relative to the national full-time rule. It is more suitable for resource ratios where part-time employment is material. Neither is inherently superior; they answer different questions. For vacancy risk, the headcount and full-time equivalent evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
- If the hours include duties beyond teaching, this is not 1. 9 instructional full-time equivalents. A further conversion using scheduled contact time is required. Definitions of full-time work, contact time and paid non-contact duty must be recorded. For vacancy risk, the headcount and full-time equivalent evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Some systems may classify a person by status; others may divide actual or contractual hours. A ratio calculated from full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers is not comparable with one using headcounts unless part-time participation is negligible or an adjustment is made. *Education at a Glance 2004* expressly bases the student–teacher ratio on full-time-equivalent students and teachers and distinguishes it from class size. For vacancy risk, the headcount and full-time equivalent evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-08]
Teaching and non-teaching functions
Systems differ in whether school leaders retain teaching loads and whether specialist support staff are classified as teachers. The function performed in the reference period is therefore required in addition to occupational title. For vacancy risk, the teaching and non-teaching functions evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Personnel wholly assigned to administration or another level are not to be included merely because their payroll grade is “teacher”. Where a principal teaches part of the timetable, only the corresponding instructional workload enters an instructional-capacity measure, while the person remains in the headcount for workforce analysis. For vacancy risk, the teaching and non-teaching functions evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The OECD evidence shows wide differences in the proportion and composition of non-teaching staff, reflecting organisation and management. Administrative and support functions can protect teachers' instructional time. The analytical requirement is accurate classification, not automatic transfer of every paid hour into classroom teaching. For vacancy risk, the teaching and non-teaching functions evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-08]
Employment status and contingent capacity
Employment status affects cost, security, turnover, eligibility for training and the reliability of future supply. The categories are to be reported separately where they carry materially different rights, qualification rules or workloads. For vacancy risk, the employment status and contingent capacity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Volunteers may extend access in an emergency or remote setting, yet their service cannot be assumed to persist in a multi-year projection without an explicit retention and remuneration basis. Contract status is not a proxy for quality; the relevant evidence concerns preparation, selection, support, workload, conditions and observed teaching. For vacancy risk, the employment status and contingent capacity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A planning model may test such arrangements but cannot treat lower salary as an efficiency gain without accounting for selection, training, turnover, supervision and the continuity of service. For vacancy risk, the employment status and contingent capacity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
Qualification and training status
**Academic qualification** concerns general or subject education. **Professional qualification** concerns completion of the recognised preparation for teaching. **Trained status** in international reporting commonly means that the teacher has received the minimum organised teacher training required in the country. The third category is nationally defined and cannot establish an internationally uniform preparation threshold. For vacancy risk, the qualification and training status evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-04] [REF-05]
A simple yes/no field discards information needed when rules change. Teachers in training, provisionally licensed or admitted through an alternative route are to have distinct statuses rather than being forced into “trained” or “untrained”. For vacancy risk, the qualification and training status evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement must not be added to the trained numerator, nor automatically treated as untrained. A published proportion is to show the denominator and the share unknown. If trained status is 80 per cent among the 75 per cent of teachers with known records, the result does not establish that 80 per cent of the full workforce is trained. For vacancy risk, the qualification and training status evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part III
Workforce flows and replacement demand
The stock-and-flow identity
The identity is to be applied separately to headcount and full-time equivalents. It also requires a boundary: movement from primary to secondary teaching is an exit from the primary stock even if the person remains employed by the same ministry. For vacancy risk, the the stock-and-flow identity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
If the recorded closing stock cannot be derived from opening stock and transactions, either events are missing, records are duplicated, or definitions changed. The difference is a reconciliation residual, not net recruitment. It is to be reported and investigated before the series is used for projection. For vacancy risk, the the stock-and-flow identity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A stock of 100,000 can remain constant after 10,000 entries and 10,000 exits, or after 1,000 entries and 1,000 exits. These systems have different training requirements, induction loads, experience profiles and continuity risks. A net-growth figure conceals them. For vacancy risk, the the stock-and-flow identity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Entry sequence
Attrition occurs at every transition. Training capacity is therefore not the same as employable supply.
Field of study, language, level and intended location matter. A surplus of general primary candidates does not resolve a shortage of mathematics teachers, bilingual teachers or staff willing and able to serve isolated communities. For vacancy risk, the entry sequence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Expansion planned for the following school year cannot be met through a preparation programme lasting several years unless candidates are already in the sequence or a lawful interim route exists. A projection is to show the earliest date at which additional prepared entrants can reach schools and the capacity required in training institutions, practicum placements and induction support. For vacancy risk, the entry sequence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Exit, attrition and mobility
The denominator is ordinarily the relevant workforce at the beginning of the period, but average-stock denominators may be used if stated. Retirement, death, resignation, dismissal and expiry without renewal are different causes. Transfers between schools are turnover for the school but not attrition from the national workforce. Transfers between levels or occupations depend on the defined boundary. For vacancy risk, the exit, attrition and mobility evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Retirement projections require age and, where relevant, service eligibility. Mortality and long illness may be material in countries affected by HIV/AIDS; the 2003 costing study treated teacher sickness, absence, death, replacement and additional training as connected planning costs rather than as a single attrition rate. For vacancy risk, the exit, attrition and mobility evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
“Resignation” may conceal non-renewal, migration to another education employer or movement to a central post. “Unknown” must remain visible. Exit interviews can add explanation but are subject to non-response and may not represent those leaving under the most difficult conditions. For vacancy risk, the exit, attrition and mobility evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Replacement demand and growth demand
Replacement demand is the recruitment required to offset exits and reductions in workload. Gross recruitment need is their sum, adjusted for expected re-entry and transfers in. A system with stable enrolment may still face a large requirement where the workforce is ageing or attrition is high. For vacancy risk, the replacement demand and growth demand evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
New entrants themselves can leave before the horizon; recruitment in one year changes the age and experience distribution in later years. Training institutions also require teachers and may draw from the same qualified population. The model must state whether this institutional demand is included. For vacancy risk, the replacement demand and growth demand evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Age and experience structure
Experience distribution provides information about induction and career structure but must distinguish total teaching experience from tenure in the present school.
A very young workforce may indicate successful expansion and a heavy requirement for induction, mentoring and leadership development. The planning interpretation therefore depends on the shape of the distribution, not an average age alone. For vacancy risk, the age and experience structure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Public tables use grouped ages and suppress small cells where identification is possible. Missing dates of birth are not to be assigned to the modal age; they are reported as unknown and investigated through personnel controls. For vacancy risk, the age and experience structure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Scenario uncertainty
Enrolment, repetition, progression, retirement, attrition, training yield, workload and salary assumptions all affect the result. The reportable output is not only a central estimate but a range under plausible variants and an account of which assumptions drive the range. For vacancy risk, the scenario uncertainty evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A lower case may reflect slower demographic growth, improved deployment and reduced repetition. These are not optimistic and pessimistic labels unless the educational consequences are established. A lower teacher count produced by exclusion or curtailed curriculum is not a favourable outcome. For vacancy risk, the scenario uncertainty evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part IV
Translating educational demand into staffing demand
Pupil projections are the starting point, not the staffing result
Each component carries uncertainty. A national-age population does not reveal where pupils will attend; district and school demand also depends on migration, settlement and school choice. For vacancy risk, the pupil projections are the starting point, not the staffing result evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Collapsing all primary enrolment into one total assumes that teachers and classroom places are perfectly divisible and transferable. A school with 83 pupils across six grades does not create the same staffing requirement as 83 pupils in one grade at a large urban school. For vacancy risk, the pupil projections are the starting point, not the staffing result evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The model must permit policy shocks and show their implementation date. A straight-line trend is insufficient where the underlying rules change.
Class formation
Rounding matters: 41 pupils under a planning maximum of 40 require two classes, not 1. 025 teachers. Applying a ratio at national level loses this indivisibility. For vacancy risk, the class formation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Its staffing requirement depends on the grades combined, curriculum design, teacher preparation, materials and timetable. A model that assumes one teacher per grade can overstate demand in sparse areas; a model that assumes unrestricted combination can understate the professional and instructional requirement. For vacancy risk, the class formation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
If teachers work both shifts, workload and contact-time rules govern feasibility and cost. If separate teachers are employed, classroom capacity and teacher demand move differently. Shift status must therefore be explicit in school records. For vacancy risk, the class formation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Curriculum periods and subject specialisation
The aggregate number of periods can balance while individual schools have fractional shortages that cannot be pooled across distance.
Additional science, language, arts or vocational periods may require staff with different preparation. The implementation plan must therefore connect curriculum effective dates to recruitment, retraining and deployment lead times. For vacancy risk, the curriculum periods and subject specialisation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
“Science” may denote integrated science at one level and separate disciplines at another. A teacher academically prepared in one field cannot be counted as fully deployable to every subject in a broad family without a stated equivalence rule. For vacancy risk, the curriculum periods and subject specialisation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Teacher contact time
Net teaching or contact time is the scheduled time of direct instruction. The number of teachers required for a given curriculum depends materially on contact-time obligations. For vacancy risk, the teacher contact time evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Those findings differences help explain why similar enrolment and class size can require different numbers of teachers. They also limit direct comparison of student–teacher ratios without the timetable context. For vacancy risk, the teacher contact time evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-08]
School closure, absence, examinations, training and timetable interruption can reduce actual time. Nor is maximising contact hours necessarily sound: preparation, assessment and professional collaboration are part of teaching quality. Planning requires a lawful and educationally credible allocation of total working time. For vacancy risk, the teacher contact time evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Minimum viable staffing
A minimum complement may be required for leadership, safeguarding, subject coverage or continuity during absence. The requirement is context-specific and may create low pupil–teacher ratios in small schools. Such ratios must not be automatically labelled inefficient. For vacancy risk, the minimum viable staffing evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Transport time and reliability enter the calculation where staff serve more than one site.
The requirement is to be distinguished from avoidable fragmentation caused by poorly located schools or uncoordinated provision. The distinction requires geographic and community evidence, not the ratio alone. For vacancy risk, the minimum viable staffing evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part V
Deployment and distribution
National balance is not local sufficiency
The arithmetic balance is therefore a necessary reconciliation result, not a finding of equitable supply. Deployment measures compare actual assignment with a transparent school or district entitlement. For vacancy risk, the national balance is not local sufficiency evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A rule based only on pupils may fail small schools or subject-specialist programmes. A historical post schedule may preserve allocations after enrolment shifts. The measure is strongest when both the allocation rule and actual circumstances are published. For vacancy risk, the national balance is not local sufficiency evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Distributional statistics
The unweighted mean of school ratios answers a different question and can give small schools disproportionate influence. The median school ratio describes the middle school, while percentiles show dispersion. All may be useful if labelled. For vacancy risk, the distributional statistics evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Interquartile ranges, tenth and ninetieth percentiles, and shares of pupils in schools beyond defined planning bands provide a more informative distribution. Planning bands are administrative thresholds, not universal quality standards, and the publication is to explain their basis. For vacancy risk, the distributional statistics evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Rural and remote deployment
A single hardship label is too coarse. The register is to identify the actual characteristics of the post and the duration for which it remains vacant or repeatedly turns over. For vacancy risk, the rural and remote deployment evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Measurement of incentives therefore includes eligibility, receipt, timeliness and retention after receipt. An allowance announced but not paid cannot be classified as an implemented deployment measure. For vacancy risk, the rural and remote deployment evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-02]
The evidence is to distinguish admission, completion, appointment and sustained service. A quota at the first stage does not establish a change at the school. For vacancy risk, the rural and remote deployment evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Gender and workforce distribution
The requirement is not a universal measure of quality. Interpretation requires level, location, leadership distribution, subject assignment and employment status.
Publication therefore needs cross-tabulation by location and level, subject to confidentiality. Policy responses are to address the documented constraint—such as housing, safety, recruitment opportunity or discriminatory practice—rather than infer one from the aggregate. For vacancy risk, the gender and workforce distribution evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Subject, language and grade mismatch
The mismatch rate counts assigned instructional workload outside a defined acceptable field. A person-based rate is less precise when teachers divide time among matched and unmatched subjects. For vacancy risk, the subject, language and grade mismatch evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The data system is to record demonstrable language capacity using a lawful and relevant classification. Ethnicity must not be used as a proxy for language competence. Personal data require protection and voluntary, appropriate collection where relevant. For vacancy risk, the subject, language and grade mismatch evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A system may place less experienced or less prepared teachers in the earliest grades although foundational instruction carries distinct demands. Experience alone does not determine fitness; the required evidence concerns preparation, support and assignment. For vacancy risk, the subject, language and grade mismatch evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Turnover and continuity
Turnover reveals repeated disruption. School-level turnover is the number of arrivals and departures during a period relative to the average workforce, with expansion appointments identified separately. High turnover can coexist with a low vacancy rate if posts are repeatedly refilled. For vacancy risk, the turnover and continuity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement does not justify preventing lawful mobility or preserving unsuitable assignments. The policy question is whether avoidable conditions cause disproportionate instability and whether replacements arrive before service is interrupted. For vacancy risk, the turnover and continuity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Deployment decision rules
A rule based on seniority alone may not resolve subject gaps; a discretionary rule without reasons creates risk of unequal treatment. Teacher participation and appeal mechanisms are consistent with professional status and can improve the evidence available for durable assignment. For vacancy risk, the deployment decision rules evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-02]
An order is not a completed transfer. The personnel register, payroll cost centre and school record are to be reconciled after movement so that the same teacher is not retained in two locations. For vacancy risk, the deployment decision rules evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part VI
Comparative evidence available at the 2008 cut-off
What the international table can and cannot show
The table generally refers to the 2001/02 school year and identifies values as preliminary. It draws on data compiled by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics from official national responses. For vacancy risk, the what the international table can and cannot show evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-05]
The requirement defines trained teachers by national minimum requirements and cautions that preparation varies greatly. It defines the primary pupil–teacher ratio as enrolled primary pupils divided by primary teachers, regardless of teaching assignment. It also notes that definitions, grade-specific class size and hours taught affect comparability. Those qualifications are part of the result, not peripheral notes. For vacancy risk, the what the international table can and cannot show evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Reading the regional pattern
The reported ratio is 40 pupils per teacher for low-income economies and 22 for middle-income economies; regional values are 45 in sub-Saharan Africa and 42 in South Asia, compared with 17 in Europe and Central Asia and in high-income economies. These figures signal materially different aggregate staffing conditions. They do not indicate the number of pupils in a class or the amount of contact time each receives. For vacancy risk, the reading the regional pattern evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Sub-Saharan Africa is reported at 80. 4 per cent trained and 45 pupils per teacher, South Asia at 66. 9 per cent and 42, and Latin America and the Caribbean at 76. 7 per cent and 26. Because trained status follows national requirements, the percentage cannot be read as a common proficiency scale. It nevertheless reveals the scale of the nationally recognised preparation gap within each reporting boundary. For vacancy risk, the reading the regional pattern evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Combining a trained share and a ratio would require assumptions about equivalence, substitution and weighting. Ten additional pupils per teacher cannot be offset arithmetically by a specified number of percentage points in trained status. They describe different conditions and may call for different interventions. For vacancy risk, the reading the regional pattern evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Country variation and data completeness
Examples reported for 2001/02 include primary pupil–teacher ratios of 10 in Denmark and the Netherlands, 14 in Cuba and Estonia, 20 in China and Malaysia, 40 in India and Nepal, 56 in Cambodia, Mali and the Republic of Congo, 61 in Cameroon, 66 in Mozambique and 71 in Chad. These selected values are not a ranking; they demonstrate the range that a national average can occupy and the need for contextual diagnosis. For vacancy risk, the country variation and data completeness evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-05]
Missingness limits any analysis restricted to complete pairs and may produce a non-representative sample. The proper publication reports the number of countries and population coverage contributing to an aggregate when the source makes that information available; it does not interpret an absent value as zero or full compliance. For vacancy risk, the country variation and data completeness evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A comparative extract is therefore to carry the country-specific note. The convenience of a single table does not remove this obligation.
Resource ratio versus class size
The requirement defines class size through the number of students in a class or teaching group. The report demonstrates that two countries can have similar student–teacher ratios and different class sizes because teacher working time, pupil instruction time and the organisation of groups differ. For vacancy risk, the resource ratio versus class size evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-08]
Average class size rises with the number of pupils and pupil instructional periods and falls with the number of teachers and teacher contact periods, subject to scheduling and school constraints. Consequently, a system can reduce a resource ratio by employing more teachers without reducing class size if those teachers have lower contact loads or undertake other functions. It can operate relatively small classes with a less favourable ratio if pupil instruction time or teacher organisation differs. For vacancy risk, the resource ratio versus class size evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A class-size policy affects rooms, class formation and timetables; a staffing-ratio policy affects aggregate labour resources. They interact but are not the same instrument.
Comparative teaching time
Preparation, assessment, professional activity and administration may be regulated differently. The comparison is useful because the same teacher FTE can support different quantities of scheduled instruction under different contact-time rules. For vacancy risk, the comparative teaching time evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-08]
Weekly loads cannot be compared without the number of teaching weeks. Statutory time is not observed time. A complete comparative account identifies whether a value is required, scheduled or delivered. For vacancy risk, the comparative teaching time evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Evidence on presence
For the primary-school observations reproduced in its table 1. 2, the reported rates were 16 per cent in Ecuador, 25 per cent for an average of 14 Indian states, 18 per cent in Indonesia, 15 per cent in Papua New Guinea, 13 per cent in Peru, 17 per cent in Zambia and 26 per cent in Uganda. The related state table for India ranged from 15 per cent in Gujarat to 39 per cent in Bihar among the listed states. For vacancy risk, the evidence on presence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-06]
Costing evidence and the status of 40:1
In its adjusted sample, primary pupil–teacher ratios ranged from 13:1 to 79:1. The group characterised by relatively higher primary completion had an average ratio of 39:1; the full sample average was 44:1. The study used 40:1 as a 2015 parameter in simulations that also adjusted salary, repetition, non-teacher inputs, public finance and private enrolment. For vacancy risk, the costing evidence and the status of 40:1 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
The requirement acknowledges that pupil–teacher ratio is not perfectly correlated with class size, that country geography can constrain deployment, and that the parameter forms one part of a balanced package. Its regression table reported essentially no independent association for the ratio within the specified model after other variables were included, while repetition and spending variables carried different relationships. That result does not prove ratio is irrelevant; it warns against presenting the benchmark as an isolated causal threshold. For vacancy risk, the costing evidence and the status of 40:1 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
One group combined high enrolment with low completion and very high repetition. Another combined low coverage, high teacher salaries relative to national income and high ratios. In each case, changing teacher numbers alone would leave a material constraint unresolved. For vacancy risk, the costing evidence and the status of 40:1 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
A bounded comparative conclusion
Large differences in aggregate teacher resources exist; nationally recognised preparation remains incomplete in many reporting systems; teaching-time organisation affects the meaning of resource ratios; and presence losses can materially reduce service. The evidence does not support a universal staffing number, a common training-quality scale or a global estimate of delivered instructional FTE. For vacancy risk, the a bounded comparative conclusion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement may identify systems or regions for further investigation, but policy selection follows national and subnational diagnosis. The stronger the claim—especially a claim about quality, causation or individual conduct—the more direct the evidence required. For vacancy risk, the a bounded comparative conclusion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part VII
Presence, time and instructional capacity
Presence as a service-delivery measure
The requirement is narrower than attendance over a term and broader than unauthorised absence. A valid presence measure begins with a roster of persons expected, excludes those not scheduled, and records the reason and authorisation status separately from the initial observation. For vacancy risk, the presence as a service-delivery measure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Repeated visits across days and seasons are required for system estimates. The 2004 *World Development Report* tables define absence as a person supposed to be present but not present during an unannounced visit, including authorised and unauthorised reasons. The preliminary country estimates ranged from 13 to 26 per cent for the primary-school observations shown, while the reported state values within India ranged more widely. These figures demonstrate measurement relevance; they do not establish a current rate for every school or a cause applicable across countries. For vacancy risk, the presence as a service-delivery measure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-06]
Observation and administrative data therefore provide complementary checks. Payroll deductions are not a presence measure, since authorised leave, delayed procedure and sanctions follow different rules. For vacancy risk, the presence as a service-delivery measure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Reasons, duration and replacement
The classification is completed after verification, not inferred by an observer. Duration matters because one extended absence and repeated single-day absence have different replacement and continuity effects. For vacancy risk, the reasons, duration and replacement evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The educational loss is scheduled periods not delivered or materially curtailed, not the number of absent persons alone. Replacement by combining classes may preserve supervision while reducing instructional conditions; it is reported as a distinct arrangement. For vacancy risk, the reasons, duration and replacement evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Calendar, closure and timetable loss
School-level closure can result from weather, insecurity, elections, examinations, public-health events, building failure or local administrative decisions. Teacher presence cannot restore time when the school is closed, so closure is measured separately. For vacancy risk, the calendar, closure and timetable loss evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Reliable measurement may use sampled observation, timetable records and school logs. The burden is to be proportionate: the objective is a defensible system estimate and timely local response, not continuous surveillance of every professional action. For vacancy risk, the calendar, closure and timetable loss evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
From employed FTE to instructional FTE
The example is not a performance target. It shows why a payroll stock can overstate delivered capacity and why double-counting losses must be avoided. If absence is already included in delivered-period data, it is not applied again. For vacancy risk, the from employed fte to instructional fte evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Capacity is not quality
The requirement cannot establish clarity of explanation, appropriateness of pedagogy, classroom climate, formative assessment or learning. The quality framework in the 2005 EFA Global Monitoring Report connects learner characteristics, context, enabling inputs, teaching and learning procedure, and outcomes; the workforce account occupies only part of this wider structure. For vacancy risk, the capacity is not quality evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-03]
Credentials, experience, presence and contact time are not interchangeable and cannot be added without arbitrary weights. Each measure supports a specific decision and retains its limitation. For vacancy risk, the capacity is not quality evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part VIII
Data architecture and reconciliation
Personnel register
Its minimum fields include identifier, employment status, workload, preparation, subject or grade field, employing authority, assignment, start and end dates, leave status and source of verification. Sensitive information is protected and public outputs are aggregated. For vacancy risk, the personnel register evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A correction procedure is required for errors, and access to personal records is logged. The statistical function does not require publication of names, salary details or individual attendance. For vacancy risk, the personnel register evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Establishment and payroll
The relevant actors are related but neither proves school service. Reconciliation identifies active payments without a current personnel record, filled posts without payment, persons charged to the wrong location, duplicated payments and delayed removal after exit. For vacancy risk, the establishment and payroll evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Timing differences, lawful arrears and approved secondment can explain a mismatch. The control result records resolution and prevents unresolved exceptions from silently entering published teacher totals. For vacancy risk, the establishment and payroll evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
School census and timetable records
The requirement is indispensable for deployment ratios. It may nevertheless count staff reported by the head teacher rather than verified persons, omit teachers temporarily away or include visitors. Stable school and person identifiers permit reconciliation. For vacancy risk, the school census and timetable records evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The relevant actors require period length, subject, grade or class, teacher and day. A timetable that assigns one person simultaneously to different classes is internally invalid. Rule-based validation may identify the conflict, but its correction remains an administrative task supported by the school record. For vacancy risk, the school census and timetable records evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Training-provider sequence
Those findings data require cohort identifiers so that completion yield is not calculated from unrelated annual totals. Recognition status and programme changes are dated.
Public analysis reports aggregate transitions and does not expose applicant-level results. Where linkage is unavailable, the uncertainty between completions and appointments is stated rather than filled by assumption. For vacancy risk, the training-provider sequence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Master classifications
ISCED 1997 supports international level mapping, while national detail is preserved beneath that map.[REF-10]
Version numbers and effective dates are therefore part of the statistical record. A new definition of “trained” is not to be presented as a change in teacher preparation unless historical data have been recoded on the same basis. For vacancy risk, the master classifications evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Revision and statistical independence
Political or administrative preference cannot determine whether an unfavourable result is published. The Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics provide the relevant basis for professional methods, transparency and confidential treatment of individual data. For vacancy risk, the revision and statistical independence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-11]
A census update, payroll cleaning exercise or reclassification may alter prior years without indicating an actual workforce change. Both the revised series and the break explanation are necessary for public interpretation. For vacancy risk, the revision and statistical independence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part IX
Planning scenarios and finance
Scenario construction
The requirement then states class formation or subject-period demand, teacher workload, minimum school staffing, expected availability and replacement assumptions. Only after those choices is the teacher requirement calculated. For vacancy risk, the scenario construction evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Each case uses coherent assumptions. Combining high enrolment with low training capacity but leaving vacancies at zero is internally inconsistent.
The place of ratio benchmarks
The 2003 study of universal primary completion observed an average pupil–teacher ratio of 39:1 among a group of higher-completion low-income countries and used 40:1 in its 2015 costing scenarios. The authors also documented substantial country variation and placed the ratio alongside salaries, repetition, non-salary inputs and finance. For vacancy risk, the the place of ratio benchmarks evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
Extremely high or low ratios warrant diagnosis, and balanced resource parameters matter. It does not establish a universal optimum. Country geography, school size, curriculum, contact time, teacher preparation and fiscal capacity alter both cost and feasibility. For vacancy risk, the the place of ratio benchmarks evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Salary bill and complementary inputs
Average salary multiplied by teacher count is insufficient where the grade distribution or hardship payments change. Vacancies, arrears and newly recruited cadres are separately shown. For vacancy risk, the salary bill and complementary inputs evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The 2003 costing study explicitly protected non-teacher inputs, including materials, development, supervision, assessment and management, because unchecked salary pressure can displace conditions required for effective teaching. For vacancy risk, the salary bill and complementary inputs evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
Training and transition costs
Rapid change can also require temporary classrooms, teacher housing, transport or additional supervision. These costs have different timing from salaries and must appear in the implementation schedule. For vacancy risk, the training and transition costs evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Counting the same teacher as fully available for instruction and full-time preparation over the same period overstates capacity.
Fiscal sustainability
A scenario therefore reports recurrent cost at the horizon, its share of the relevant public resource envelope and the sensitivity to salary and attrition. External finance may support transition, but an unfunded future wage bill is not a sustainable staffing plan. For vacancy risk, the fiscal sustainability evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Workforce projections serve that procedure when assumptions, sequencing and domestic responsibilities are explicit.[REF-09]
Part X
Public reporting and use
National profile
The requirement states coverage of non-government provision, temporary staff and missing records.
A defensible statement identifies the scope: for example, aggregate filled FTE equalled modelled national demand under stated assumptions, while specified districts and subjects retained shortages. For vacancy risk, the national profile evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Subnational and school-level use
School-level data are used administratively but public release is governed by privacy, data quality and risk of misinterpretation. Small cells concerning qualification, absence or personal characteristics are suppressed or combined. For vacancy risk, the subnational and school-level use evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The responsible authority and correction route accompany material deficiencies.
Comparability statement
If one country reports headcount and another FTE, direct ranking is withheld or clearly qualified.
A wider coverage can raise or lower a ratio without a change in service. The user is to be able to reconstruct the statistical boundary from the note. For vacancy risk, the comparability statement evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Appropriate and inappropriate uses
The requirement supports questions, not automatic sanctions.
The requirement is also inappropriate to compare salary cost without workload and price context.
Part XI
Differentiated planning contexts
Pre-primary provision
The age of children, duration of sessions, group organisation, care and protection responsibilities, adult support and the boundary between education and other early-childhood services affect the required workforce. Titles and preparation routes also vary, making international teacher counts especially sensitive to classification. For vacancy risk, the pre-primary provision evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Their contributions are complementary, but merging them into a single denominator obscures both cost and professional preparation. Where sessions are part day, child and staff full-time equivalents require a stated conversion. For vacancy risk, the pre-primary provision evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Headcount can substantially exceed FTE, and annual turnover may be masked by short contracts. A pre-primary profile therefore reports hours, setting type, preparation status and continuity in addition to persons. For vacancy risk, the pre-primary provision evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Primary class-teacher systems
National enrolment divided by a ratio is insufficient because every school has grade-specific, integer requirements. Entry expansion first raises demand in early grades and then moves through the cycle; the location and timing of the cohort must be retained. For vacancy risk, the primary class-teacher systems evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A teacher qualified for primary education under the national rule may still require specific support for an unfamiliar language or combined-grade assignment. Such support is not represented by the trained-teacher percentage. For vacancy risk, the primary class-teacher systems evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Repeated movement of class teachers can disrupt progression even if each vacancy is filled quickly. The school turnover rate, days without a regular teacher and replacement arrangement provide a stronger account than an annual vacancy snapshot. For vacancy risk, the primary class-teacher systems evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Lower-secondary subject transition
The same pupils generate several subject-period requirements, and teachers' timetables contain non-contact preparation and assessment time. A national surplus in one subject does not offset a shortage in another. For vacancy risk, the lower-secondary subject transition evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Permissible solutions include teachers prepared across related fields, coordinated timetables across nearby schools and carefully scheduled itinerant provision. Every solution requires a valid subject-match rule and travel or coordination time. Treating fractional needs as nationally poolable can produce a calculated balance that no timetable can operate. For vacancy risk, the lower-secondary subject transition evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Hiring subject teachers without the enabling conditions may increase payroll but not the intended curriculum. Workforce and non-salary planning remain connected.
Upper-secondary and vocational programmes
Occupational expertise may be acquired outside the teacher-training route, while pedagogical preparation remains relevant. The register is to preserve both dimensions instead of classifying all specialists as trained or untrained through one field. For vacancy risk, the upper-secondary and vocational programmes evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Their headcount is a poor measure of capacity if each contributes few periods. FTE, timetable availability and continuity across the programme are necessary. Equipment safety and supervision can also set minimum staffing independent of enrolment. For vacancy risk, the upper-secondary and vocational programmes evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Redeployment scenarios state the additional preparation required and do not count a person as immediately deployable merely because an employment post remains funded.
Rapid expansion after policy change
The first-year plan identifies teachers already qualified but not employed, possible re-entrants, lawful temporary routes, deployable staff and the training capacity required for later years. Each source is reported separately because its cost and sustainability differ. For vacancy risk, the rapid expansion after policy change evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
New posts may be filled first in accessible areas, leaving the intended beneficiaries with larger classes or less-prepared staff. Monitoring therefore compares the pace of enrolment growth, post creation, appointment and arrival by district and school. For vacancy risk, the rapid expansion after policy change evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The planning implication is not to delay access until every input is ideal; it is to make the transition condition, duration and corrective path explicit. For vacancy risk, the rapid expansion after policy change evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
Conflict, displacement and institutional interruption
Historic establishment figures rapidly lose relevance. A temporary register may be necessary, but it records the source and verification status of each entry so that emergency data do not become an unexamined permanent payroll. For vacancy risk, the conflict, displacement and institutional interruption evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Minimum service, safe access, language and psychosocial conditions may require staffing arrangements not captured by ordinary ratios. Teachers themselves may be displaced and require recognition of prior service or credentials where records can be verified. For vacancy risk, the conflict, displacement and institutional interruption evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Publishing exact teacher or school locations can create risk. Public accountability can report aggregate coverage and service gaps without releasing operational details that endanger staff or pupils. For vacancy risk, the conflict, displacement and institutional interruption evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
HIV/AIDS and workforce continuity
The 2003 costing study identifies sickness-related absence, teacher mortality, replacement recruitment, training demand and increased numbers of orphans requiring support as connected consequences. It estimates costs through explicit epidemiological and demographic assumptions rather than treating the epidemic as a general narrative risk. For vacancy risk, the hiv/aids and workforce continuity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
Individual health status is not needed for routine teacher statistics and must not be inferred. Mortality and long-term absence data may inform projections when collected lawfully; workplace support, leave and replacement are handled through applicable employment and health arrangements. For vacancy risk, the hiv/aids and workforce continuity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The projection states mortality, long-absence and replacement assumptions and varies them within evidence-based ranges. It also tests the training system's ability to replace losses without lowering preparation standards or stripping experienced staff from training roles. For vacancy risk, the hiv/aids and workforce continuity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Remote, island and sparsely populated systems
A school or island may require at least one teacher even when enrolment is very low. National ratios can then appear favourable while the system faces high unit costs, single-teacher vulnerability and limited curriculum breadth. For vacancy risk, the remote, island and sparsely populated systems evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The 2003 costing study expressly notes that low population density and geography can make movement towards a common ratio difficult. A model that ignores this constraint turns legitimate access cost into apparent inefficiency. For vacancy risk, the remote, island and sparsely populated systems evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
If a one-teacher school loses its teacher, instructional capacity falls to zero. A modest system-level substitute pool, housing provision, scheduled relief and cluster support may have greater service value than reducing the nominal ratio elsewhere. For vacancy risk, the remote, island and sparsely populated systems evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Non-government and community provision
Coverage is to follow the legal and statistical mandate and is clearly labelled. Public funding, employment responsibility and data reporting are separate questions.
Their workload, preparation, payment regularity and continuity still affect pupils. Inclusion in statistics must not be presented as a change in governmental employment status or an endorsement of employment conditions. For vacancy risk, the non-government and community provision evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Person headcount is consolidated within the defined population, while assignment FTE is allocated to each sector under a stated rule.
Decentralised responsibility
The national information system must therefore distinguish who owns the record and who is accountable for each transition. A central payroll cannot correct a local timetable; a school cannot fund an unauthorised post. For vacancy risk, the decentralised responsibility evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Local systems can retain operational detail while submitting a controlled set of person, post, assignment and school records. The central publication reports coverage and late or non-reporting authorities. For vacancy risk, the decentralised responsibility evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Otherwise, variation in ratios cannot be separated into legitimate adaptation, historical allocation or unequal treatment.
Part XII
Planning conclusions
A sequenced national programme
The second phase is diagnostic: calculate stock, flow, deployment and time measures with uncertainty. The third phase is projection: connect pupil demand, curriculum, workload and exits. The fourth phase is implementation: align training, recruitment, deployment, conditions and finance. The fifth phase is public review: publish results, revisions and unresolved gaps. For vacancy risk, the a sequenced national programme evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A sophisticated projection cannot repair duplicated persons or invalid school codes. Equally, data cleaning without a decision purpose can consume capacity while vacancies persist. Each data improvement is tied to a planning decision it enables. For vacancy risk, the a sequenced national programme evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Institutional responsibilities
Finance authorities control funding and payroll; employer authorities control appointments; districts and schools confirm assignment and service; training authorities govern preparation; statistical offices maintain classifications and publication standards. A written data-responsibility schedule is therefore required. For vacancy risk, the institutional responsibilities evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Teachers and their organisations hold evidence about workload, feasibility, rural conditions and the consequences of timetable rules. Consultation does not replace governmental responsibility; it improves the factual basis and legitimacy of decisions. For vacancy risk, the institutional responsibilities evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-02]
Research priorities at the 2008 cut-off
Evaluation designs need comparison groups or credible counterfactuals where causal claims are intended.
Harmonisation is valuable where it preserves national detail and does not imply that differently constituted credentials are equal.
Limitations
Several sources use different reference years, and school-level distributions are not consistently available. This report therefore provides a measurement and planning architecture rather than a new global estimate of teacher shortage. For vacancy risk, the limitations evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement cannot remove uncertainty from demographic projection or predict individual behaviour. It can require that these choices and uncertainties be visible.
Differences in pupil–teacher ratios, nationally defined preparation status, reported presence or completion do not isolate the effect of one workforce condition from finance, pupil composition, curriculum, school organisation or wider social circumstances. The report therefore does not estimate a causal return to recruitment, class-size change, qualification reform or attendance control. Those questions require designs capable of distinguishing the intervention from concurrent change and of examining implementation over time. For vacancy risk, the limitations evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
National and regional aggregates can indicate where further inquiry is required, but they cannot reveal every school, subject or population gap. Conversely, a small number of documented local cases cannot establish a national pattern. The planning method addresses this limitation by moving from aggregate signal to reconciled school and timetable evidence before an allocation decision is made. Where such evidence is absent, the limitation is a reason to narrow the conclusion, not to substitute an assumed distribution. For vacancy risk, the limitations evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Conclusion
Headcount alone cannot establish that condition. Neither can a favourable national ratio, a training credential without its definition, or a funded post without a person present to teach. For vacancy risk, the conclusion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Where the chain breaks, the break is the planning finding.
A system that makes missing assignments, unresolved vacancies, unequal deployment and lost instructional time visible is better placed to act than one that protects an aggregate appearance of balance. For vacancy risk, the conclusion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XIII
Indicator dictionary
General conventions
“Teacher” denotes a person assigned to direct instruction under the applicable national and international statistical definition. Mixed-function staff are apportioned in FTE measures where valid workload data exist; otherwise they are separately classified. For vacancy risk, the general conventions evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Percentages are not calculated where coverage is materially incomplete unless the covered population is explicit. Results are rounded only after calculation. Suppression for confidentiality is not treated as zero. For vacancy risk, the general conventions evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Denominator control
Where pupil FTE is unavailable, headcount-based ratios are labelled accordingly. Boarding, distance and part-year participation rules are disclosed where material.
For absence observation, the denominator contains persons expected at the observed time, not all employees.
Distribution control
Pupil-weighted exposure attaches each pupil to the ratio of the school attended. District aggregates are calculated from district totals rather than averaging school ratios unless the statistic is expressly the mean school ratio. For vacancy risk, the distribution control evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XIV
Stock-and-flow equations
Workforce identity
For level (l), location (g), subject or function (s), and period (t):
T_{lgs,t+1}=T_{lgs,t}+E_{lgs,t}+R_{lgs,t}+M^{in}_{lgs,t}-A_{lgs,t}-M^{out}_{lgs,t}+C_{lgs,t}
where (T) is stock, (E) first entry, (R) re-entry, (M) transfer or migration, (A) attrition and (C) verified correction. Every term uses the same headcount or FTE basis. For vacancy risk, the workforce identity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Recruitment requirement
Candidate completions required equal appointments divided by expected appointment yield. If preparation completion yield is below one, admissions required are calculated separately using a cohort model. For vacancy risk, the recruitment requirement evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Class-based demand
Aggregation occurs after school calculation. Rounding only after national aggregation understates demand where many small residual classes exist.
Period-based demand
Fractional needs cannot automatically be pooled across schools where travel makes schedules incompatible.
Availability adjustment
The adjustment is scenario-specific. It is not a licence to normalise avoidable absence; improvement cases show the workforce and service consequences of reducing preventable loss. For vacancy risk, the availability adjustment evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XV
Data-quality tests
Identity and duplication
Matches are reviewed; rule-based flags do not determine identity.
Temporal validity
Assignment, qualification and employment statuses are valid on the reference date. A school code is active for the same period. Transactions entered late retain both event and entry dates. For vacancy risk, the temporal validity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Internal consistency
Timetable periods do not overlap. Teacher level and subject codes are compatible with the assignment rule or carry a mismatch status. Funded vacancies cannot exceed funded establishment. For vacancy risk, the internal consistency evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
External reconciliation
Differences are classified by timing, coverage, definition or unresolved error. A reconciliation statement reports both counts and the number resolved.
Part XVI
Scenario record
Required assumptions
Scenario disclosure should set out the base year; projection horizon; population source; enrolment, repetition and progression assumptions; school network; class-formation rules; curriculum periods; teacher workload; minimum staffing; qualification boundary; attrition by reason; retirement behaviour; training yield; appointment yield; salary and allowance path; and price basis. This formulation is used to judge sustained instructional capacity. For vacancy risk, the required assumptions evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Sensitivities
Where salary expenditure is material, salary growth and grade distribution are varied. Where remoteness is material, the feasibility of redistribution and the cost of minimum schools are tested. For vacancy risk, the sensitivities evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Decision record
The requirement names the authority responsible for each implementation condition and the date on which actual results will be compared with the projection.
Part XVII
Field verification protocol
Sampling
Probability selection supports system inference. Purposeful visits can investigate known risks but are not combined with probability estimates without appropriate weighting.
Observation
The relevant actors do not classify the reason for absence without subsequent verification. Visit date and time are protected during fieldwork to reduce anticipation.
Verification and response
Individual due procedure is preserved. The statistical report uses aggregate, reviewed classifications and states the share unresolved.
Ethical controls
Observation does not intrude on instruction beyond what is necessary. Data are retained only for the authorised purpose, with access limited and correction available.
Part XVIII
Publication checklist and limitations register
Release checklist
Release should follow verification that the responsible statistical body confirms that units and reference dates align; source coverage is stated; unknown values remain visible; training definitions are current for the year; revisions are logged; tables reconcile with source files; and narrative claims do not exceed the data. This formulation is used to judge sustained instructional capacity. For vacancy risk, the release checklist evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Interpretation checklist
Published terminology should make clear that pupil–teacher ratio is not called class size; trained status is not called teaching quality; presence is not equated with unauthorised absence; contact time is not equated with learning; and a national balance is not called equitable deployment without distributional evidence. This formulation is used to judge sustained instructional capacity. For vacancy risk, the interpretation checklist evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Final interpretive position
The requirement requires a result matched to the strength of evidence. A verified national headcount may be published as headcount; it is not converted rhetorically into classroom availability. A sampled presence estimate may inform system planning; it is not used to declare individual fault. For vacancy risk, the final interpretive position evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
That standard protects teachers from unsupported inference, protects public funds from false reconciliation and protects pupils from the assumption that a recorded post is the same as instruction received. For vacancy risk, the final interpretive position evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XIX
Establishment review method
Purpose and boundary
The requirement is not a general reduction exercise. Its reference population comprises every active school and programme within the stated sector, together with central or district teaching-support functions that draw from the same occupational establishment. For vacancy risk, the purpose and boundary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
For each school it records projected pupils, grades, classes, curriculum periods, approved school hours, leadership arrangements, specialised obligations and justified minimum staffing. It then compares calculated entitlement, authorised posts, funded posts, filled FTE and assigned instructional FTE. For vacancy risk, the purpose and boundary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Baseline freeze and transaction window
Appointments, transfers, exits and school changes occurring after that date remain in a transaction window and are not mixed into the snapshot. Without this separation, a person may appear at an old school in the personnel extract and at a new school in the school census. For vacancy risk, the baseline freeze and transaction window evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement is frozen statistically so that every comparison refers to a reproducible point. The final review applies validated transactions and produces a second dated position. For vacancy risk, the baseline freeze and transaction window evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Entitlement calculation
The requirement specifies upward rounding, treatment of combined grades, leadership release, subjects, shifts, small schools and travelling staff. Exceptions carry an authority, reason and expiry or review date. For vacancy risk, the entitlement calculation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Applying a national ratio first can suppress the indivisible staffing requirements of small schools. Conversely, school-level calculation without a rule for feasible multi-grade organisation can overstate need. Both the entitlement and its educational assumptions are reviewed. For vacancy risk, the entitlement calculation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Comparison states
A second classification tests subject, grade and qualification fit. A school at aggregate entitlement but lacking a teacher for a required subject is not fully staffed. A school above aggregate entitlement may nevertheless have a justified minimum or a mismatch that prevents redistribution. For vacancy risk, the comparison states evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Treatment of apparent surplus
The review tests minimum school staffing, actual timetable, part-time fractions, impending retirement, approved leave, language or specialist functions, travel feasibility and expected enrolment. Only the remaining deployable excess enters a redistribution scenario. For vacancy risk, the treatment of apparent surplus evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A scenario that counts every numerical surplus as immediately movable overstates implementation capacity and can disrupt schools without filling the target vacancy.
Treatment of shortage
A timetable adjustment may resolve a fractional subject gap within a term; recruitment may require a year; preparation of new teachers may require several years. Temporary measures are identified as such and carry an end condition. For vacancy risk, the treatment of shortage evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Shortage caused by a genuine service obligation becomes part of the recruitment, deployment or school-organisation plan.
Review safeguards
The review distinguishes correction of fact from appeal against policy. Aggregate findings are published with methods, while personal records remain protected.
Part XX
Qualification and subject-match protocol
Qualification rule register
Historical records are evaluated under the rule applicable at the reference date unless the policy question expressly requires current status.
Time-series publication therefore provides both the legal-definition series and, where feasible, a constant-definition analytical series. It does not describe the discontinuity as improvement or decline in capability. For vacancy risk, the qualification rule register evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Credential verification
The requirement does not evaluate the quality of an individual teacher. Where original records are unavailable, the competent authority applies a documented alternative-evidence procedure. Pending cases remain pending or unknown. For vacancy risk, the credential verification evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The statistical office does not infer equivalence from title similarity. Recognition for employment and evidence of subject preparation are maintained as separate fields where national rules distinguish them. For vacancy risk, the credential verification evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Match matrix
The requirement may contain full match, accepted related field, provisional match requiring support, and no established match. The matrix is level-specific and dated. Broad occupation codes are not sufficient. For vacancy risk, the match matrix evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
In-service preparation
Attendance at a short activity does not alter trained status unless the national rule expressly provides that result. Professional development is analysed as continuing preparation rather than a substitute label for initial qualification. For vacancy risk, the in-service preparation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
If training occurs during scheduled instruction, the replacement or rescheduling arrangement is recorded. A programme can strengthen future capacity while temporarily reducing current contact time; both effects belong in the plan. For vacancy risk, the in-service preparation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Interpretation
The requirement does not prove command of content, pedagogy or pupil learning. Conversely, a mismatch classification does not prove ineffective teaching: experienced teachers may have acquired substantial competence outside the recognised route. The measure identifies a planning and support question under the governing rule. For vacancy risk, the interpretation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXI
Presence-study design and inference
Estimand
Alternative estimands include the proportion of teachers absent at least once across visits, the proportion of scheduled periods delivered and the proportion of pupil-hours lost. They are not interchangeable. For vacancy risk, the estimand evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Persons not scheduled at that time, no longer assigned, or lawfully working at another location are excluded from “expected” only after verification.
Sampling unit and weighting
Selection probabilities are retained. Estimates use weights and account for clustering. A simple mean across visited schools can overrepresent small schools if the target is teacher opportunities or pupil exposure. For vacancy risk, the sampling unit and weighting evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Oversampled strata are returned to their population weight for national estimates. Separate estimates are published only where sample size supports them.
Visit frequency
Repeated visits permit analysis of recurrence and seasonality. The interval and visit window are chosen without creating a predictable schedule that changes behaviour.
Reason verification
A separate verification procedure checks authorised leave, training, official duty and assignment. “Unknown reason” remains a result where evidence is not available. The analysis can report total absence and the verified distribution of reasons without converting unknown cases into unauthorised absence. For vacancy risk, the reason verification evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Non-response and closure
If closure is itself part of service availability, it enters the appropriate estimate. Security or access non-response is reported and may require adjustment; substitution with an easier school can bias results. For vacancy risk, the non-response and closure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Reporting conduct
Preliminary results are labelled. The report does not publish names or use a system estimate to allege individual misconduct.
Part XXII
Worked planning cases
Rapid primary-entry expansion
The immediate requirement is estimated by school and grade, not by applying a national ratio to total enrolment. Existing classrooms, double-shift feasibility, teacher candidates already prepared and the distribution of growth determine what can open on time. For vacancy risk, the rapid primary-entry expansion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A one-year entry bulge progresses through the cycle; its teacher and classroom requirement moves by grade. If participation remains permanently higher, later cohorts sustain the expansion. Recruitment, preparation and budget profiles differ between these cases. For vacancy risk, the rapid primary-entry expansion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The experience documented in the 2003 universal-primary-education study, including instances where rapid expansion raised ratios and increased reliance on unqualified teachers, shows why access and workforce preparation must be costed together. For vacancy risk, the rapid primary-entry expansion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
Small remote school cluster
A national efficiency screen might identify surplus. The appropriate analysis maps travel time, road seasonality, grade combinations, teacher skills, community access and the minimum adult presence required. For vacancy risk, the small remote school cluster evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Closure or consolidation is not treated as a staffing calculation alone because distance can exclude children. The scenario compares service received, not only FTE saved. For vacancy risk, the small remote school cluster evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Secondary subject imbalance
Person counts cannot resolve the conflict. Timetables are converted into subject periods, credentials are mapped under the match matrix, and feasible cross-school assignments are tested. For vacancy risk, the secondary subject imbalance evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Each has lead time and quality conditions. Redeploying an unmatched surplus into a vacancy changes the post count but not subject-matched capacity.
Ageing workforce
The projection uses actual eligibility and observed retirement timing, not age alone. Candidate admissions are increased early enough to account for preparation duration and completion yield. For vacancy risk, the ageing workforce evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Phased retirement or return arrangements are modelled only if legally available and supported by evidence of uptake.
High recorded absence
Before sanction or additional recruitment, the authority verifies leave, official duties, training schedules, payment delays, housing, travel and replacement. It also examines school closure and delivered periods. For vacancy risk, the high recorded absence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
If assignment records are wrong, the response is reconciliation. If unexplained recurrent absence remains after due procedure, employment controls may apply. The same rate can therefore lead to different action according to cause. For vacancy risk, the high recorded absence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Payroll growth without instructional growth
Reconciliation tests central assignments, new leadership release, leave, delayed deployment, duplicates and expansion in non-school functions. The finding is not automatically payroll fraud or administrative waste. For vacancy risk, the payroll growth without instructional growth evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Only validated instructional assignments enter the pupil–teacher ratio used for service planning.
Case conclusion
Each begins by selecting the unit appropriate to the decision and tracing the point at which recorded resources cease to be deployable service. This discipline prevents ratio targets from substituting for diagnosis and keeps administrative action proportionate to evidence. For vacancy risk, the case conclusion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXIII
Projection construction and verification
Base-year reconstruction
Opening pupil and teacher stocks refer to the same school year and education boundary. Late census returns, duplicate schools, teachers assigned outside the level and unresolved payroll records are identified. A base-year adjustment is documented rather than silently absorbed into the first projected change. For vacancy risk, the base-year reconstruction evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Teacher stocks are held by person, FTE, assignment, subject or grade capability and employment status. Aggregation is delayed until the organisational constraints have been applied. For vacancy risk, the base-year reconstruction evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Pupil-flow component
New entrants are derived from the relevant age population and entry assumptions or from a separately estimated intake series. The sum of outcomes for a grade cohort is reconciled to the opening cohort, with migration and record corrections explicit. For vacancy risk, the pupil-flow component evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A gross-enrolment trend does not permit precise grade-flow projection. In that case, broader demand ranges are preferable to invented transition rates.
Class and period formation
The upward-rounding rule is applied, and approved combined-grade arrangements are incorporated. For specialist teaching, classes are multiplied by curriculum periods by subject. The resulting timetable demand is checked against the total prescribed instructional period. For vacancy risk, the class and period formation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A new school changes minimum staffing and distribution even if total enrolment remains unchanged. Consolidation changes travel and access and is not introduced solely as an arithmetic means to reduce FTE. For vacancy risk, the class and period formation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Teacher-flow component
First entry, re-entry, retirement, resignation, mortality, dismissal, transfer and workload change have separate rates or counts. The model prevents a transfer between districts from becoming both a national exit and entry unless the national boundary genuinely changes. For vacancy risk, the teacher-flow component evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Candidate cohorts complete after the applicable programme duration, and only the expected eligible and appointed share reaches the teacher stock. An unconstrained recruitment case may be shown to describe need, but the operational case cannot recruit more candidates than the sequence can supply. For vacancy risk, the teacher-flow component evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Deployment component
Perfect allocation is not assumed. Historical vacancy duration, subject scarcity, geographic constraints and transfer limits inform the deployable share. The difference between total supply and feasible deployment is reported. For vacancy risk, the deployment component evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The model records the year in which movement can occur. Immediate transfer at the base date is not assumed when consultation and notice are required. For vacancy risk, the deployment component evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Instructional-capacity component
The sequence is defined to avoid applying the same loss twice. Where only one availability estimate exists, scenarios use an interval and do not distribute identical absence mechanically to every school. For vacancy risk, the instructional-capacity component evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Pupil-received hours additionally require pupil attendance; this lies outside the teacher-stock equation and is reported separately.
Back-testing
Differences are decomposed into demographic, enrolment, attrition, recruitment, deployment and data-revision components. Back-testing does not validate an unchanged future, but it reveals unstable assumptions and coding errors. For vacancy risk, the back-testing evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Version control
A new release does not overwrite the prior scenario. Decision-makers can therefore distinguish a changed outlook from a changed model or revised baseline.
Part XXIV
Regional and distributional profile protocol
Purpose
The requirement is not a league table. Its purpose is to locate service constraints, determine whether they are widespread or concentrated and identify the authority able to respond. For vacancy risk, the purpose evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Common core and contextual module
The contextual module records remoteness, school size, language, conflict or displacement, shift operation and other conditions relevant to interpretation.
Contextual variables explain why equal ratios do not necessarily imply equal provision. They are not used to excuse avoidable inequality without evidence.
Geographic unit
Publication therefore includes both administrative aggregates and school-distribution statistics. Boundary changes are versioned; historical values are recast only where the source permits a defensible mapping. For vacancy risk, the geographic unit evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Counting the full person in each region inflates the national total. Pupils are assigned to the school attended for service ratios and to residence for access analysis where both data exist. For vacancy risk, the geographic unit evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Equity stratification
The stratifier must be measured at the appropriate unit. A district poverty category is not treated as a household characteristic for every pupil.
Small groups are combined or suppressed, and suppression does not erase the need for administrative response. Narrative findings can identify a protected service gap without publishing identifiable cells. For vacancy risk, the equity stratification evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Regional typology
Grouping is based on disclosed variables and does not replace the published underlying measures.
The relevant actors are not institutional labels or permanent judgements. Their value lies in matching technical assistance and planning tools to a documented problem.
Outlier review
A very low ratio may result from a small denominator, closure, duplicated staff or justified minimum provision. A very high ratio may reflect missing teachers, double shifts or an enrolment surge. The validated value remains in the distribution; it is not removed merely because it is inconvenient. For vacancy risk, the outlier review evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Narrative standard
The requirement avoids adjectives of praise or blame. Where a region differs from the national result, the report identifies the magnitude, period and relevant context. Recommendations are assigned to the authority with the competence and resources to act. For vacancy risk, the narrative standard evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXV
Workforce finance model
Cost boundary
Capital costs such as housing or new training facilities are separated from recurrent expenditure.
Nominal and real series are not mixed. Foreign-financed and domestically financed components are separately visible where this affects sustainability, without implying that one source changes the educational value of the input. For vacancy risk, the cost boundary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Salary calculation
Entry cohorts begin at their applicable point; promotions, increments and retirement alter the distribution over time. Part-year appointment and vacancy timing are included.
An allowance that is legally due but historically delayed remains a liability; its absence from cash execution is not an efficiency saving.
Preparation cost
If the completion yield is 80 per cent, funding only the number of eventual appointments as entrants understates capacity. Practicum, instructor supply and facilities can constrain expansion even when funds are nominally available. For vacancy risk, the preparation cost evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The model records these as policy components rather than burying them in an average training cost.
Recruitment and induction
Large recruitment exercises also require procedure capacity. Delayed appointment can leave funded posts vacant for part of the school year, producing apparent underspending and real service loss. For vacancy risk, the recruitment and induction evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Its cost can appear as release time or additional staffing rather than a cash payment. Excluding it assumes that induction has no effect on existing instructional capacity. For vacancy risk, the recruitment and induction evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Deployment supports
The 1966 Recommendation provides an international basis for attention to accommodation, travel and hardship in remote areas. The finance model tests receipt and retention, not announcement alone. For vacancy risk, the deployment supports evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-02]
The education budget records only its share where an agreed allocation exists; the staffing scenario nevertheless states the dependency.
Complementary educational inputs
The 2003 universal-primary-education model used a distinct share for inputs other than teacher salaries and explained their role in quality and system management.[REF-07]
The requirement requires the scenario to show what remains after workforce costs and whether the curriculum and professional support can operate within that amount.
Fiscal indicators
Those findings measures require context; a high salary share can reflect underfunded non-salary inputs, large staff need or narrow accounting coverage.
The requirement is an efficiency diagnostic, not a wage judgement, and is not compared across systems without price, workload and curriculum context.
Financing gap
Aspirational funds are not counted as available. A gap can be reduced by additional finance, changed sequencing or genuine efficiency improvement; it cannot be removed by omitting required costs. For vacancy risk, the financing gap evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Sustainability test
Sensitivity tests cover salary, exchange-rate exposure where relevant, attrition and enrolment. A plan that can be financed only during the initial project period is identified as transitional and requires a continuation decision. For vacancy risk, the sustainability test evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXVI
Data collection specifications
Personnel event record
Appointment, confirmation, workload change, qualification recognition, assignment, leave, return, promotion, transfer and exit are separate dated events. A current-status table may be derived from them, but it does not replace the history required for stock-and-flow analysis. For vacancy risk, the personnel event record evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Corrections identify the field corrected and retain the superseded value under controlled access. Deletion is restricted to invalid duplicate records and remains auditable.
Post record
A post transferred between schools is closed at the origin and opened or reauthorised at the destination; its history is not overwritten.
A person can be linked to more than one fractional post, but the combined workload control applies. A post without a person is a vacancy only if it is funded and available for filling under the stated definition. For vacancy risk, the post record evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
School census teacher module
The school head certifies the return, and the district validates unresolved identity or assignment differences.
The requirement collects school-level facts needed for reconciliation. Pre-populated fields can reduce burden, but schools must be able to report a factual discrepancy without altering the authoritative personnel record directly. For vacancy risk, the school census teacher module evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Timetable module
The cycle start and end dates permit term changes. Cancelled or replaced periods are held in a delivery record, not by editing the approved timetable after the event. For vacancy risk, the timetable module evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A flagged conflict is returned to the school for correction or a documented exception.
Training-provider cohort module
Candidate linkage uses protected identifiers under lawful arrangements. Aggregate publication distinguishes provider-reported completion from recognition and employment eligibility. In this workforce study, the decisive issue is whether the condition provides an early warning of lost instructional capacity.
Changes to programme duration or requirements receive an effective date.
Absence and delivery observation form
The requirement does not ask the observer to judge whether absence is lawful. Verification fields are completed later by authorised personnel.
The relevant actors remain in the field dataset and are handled under the sampling protocol. Free-text notes support resolution but are not substituted for controlled categories in aggregate statistics. For vacancy risk, the absence and delivery observation form evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Data transfer and validation
Each submission has reporting period, producing authority, creation date, record count and checksum. Rejected records return a specific error; valid records are not discarded because other records fail. For vacancy risk, the data transfer and validation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Entry checks format and code validity. Consolidation checks cross-source identity and timing. Pre-publication checks totals, revisions, tables and disclosure risk.
Retention and confidentiality
Public analytical files remove direct identifiers and limit combinations that permit re-identification. Access roles distinguish payroll operation, personnel administration, statistical analysis and public release. In this workforce study, the decisive issue is whether the condition provides an early warning of lost instructional capacity.
When correction materially changes an aggregate, the statistical release follows the revision policy.
Part XXVII
Risk, proportionality and safeguards
Measurement risk
Examples include headcount used as labour input, payroll used as presence, trained status used as effectiveness and ratio used as class size. The control is conceptual before it is technical: the indicator name, unit and permissible claim are fixed before collection. For vacancy risk, the measurement risk evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Administrative gaming
Posts may be reclassified, pupils shifted between dates, teachers temporarily reassigned for the census or unknown qualifications coded as compliant. Independent reconciliation and multiple measures reduce this risk. For vacancy risk, the administrative gaming evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A drive to lower vacancies is checked against arrival and retention; a drive to increase trained share is checked against unknown status and subject match; a drive to increase contact time is checked against preparation and lawful workload. For vacancy risk, the administrative gaming evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Perverse redistribution
The safeguard is a service-based entitlement with minimums and contextual evidence. Redistribution is tested for access, curriculum and continuity before implementation.
Workforce rights and due procedure
Statistical anomalies are not disciplinary findings. Individuals receive applicable notice, evidence and review before adverse employment action. Aggregate reporting does not name teachers in absence or qualification tables. For vacancy risk, the workforce rights and due procedure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The 1966 Recommendation provides a basis for participation and objective assessment within the education service.[REF-02]
Privacy and security
Collection is limited to necessary fields. Health status is not gathered for routine workforce planning when aggregate mortality or absence evidence is sufficient.
Public tables use suppression, aggregation or controlled rounding where small cells could identify a person. Security-sensitive school locations can be aggregated during conflict.
Statistical uncertainty
Sampling error, model range, classification uncertainty and coverage gap are separate limitations. A narrow model interval does not compensate for missing private-school teachers or unknown assignments. For vacancy risk, the statistical uncertainty evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Policy overclaim
A credential share does not establish classroom practice. The safeguard is a claim-evidence matrix reviewed before release.
Proportionality test
Is the proposed action connected to its cause? Is a less disruptive effective action available? Are impacts on underserved pupils and teachers assessed? Is the action reviewable against a dated result? The original proposition is retained as a limiting premise: every intervention is tested against five questions: Is the service problem verified? For vacancy risk, the proportionality test evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement also prevents data limitations from indefinitely delaying a necessary response where the service failure is directly observed.
Disclosure of unresolved risk
A publication can pass statistical preparation while noting that a material share of credentials remains unverified or that presence estimates exclude inaccessible areas. The limitation appears with the affected finding and in the technical register. For vacancy risk, the disclosure of unresolved risk evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXVIII
Implementation and capability programme
Opening assessment
Each domain is classified by evidence available, decision prevented and feasible next improvement.
A single score would allow strength in payroll to offset absence of assignment data. The domains remain visible because each can block a different decision. For vacancy risk, the opening assessment evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
First operational cycle
The requirement need not await a complete historical series. Unknown status and unresolved exceptions are included as results.
Less consequential descriptive fields can follow.
Projection cycle
The first projection may use broad attrition or training-yield ranges if detailed cohorts are unavailable. The range narrows only as evidence improves.
Separate projections that use different teacher counts, salary bases or school years are not combined in a final total.
Deployment cycle
The authority then classifies shortage, justified minimum, feasible surplus and mismatch. Movement, recruitment and support actions are scheduled with effective dates and responsibilities. In this workforce study, the decisive issue is whether the condition provides an early warning of lost instructional capacity.
Implementation monitoring records appointment, arrival, timetable assignment and retention. A transfer order or signed contract is an intermediate event, not the service result.
Statistical release cycle
Tables are generated from the same controlled data used for the narrative. A correction protocol remains open after publication.
Institutional capability
Training is directed to actual functions. A central statistical course does not equip district officers to resolve transfer and assignment transactions unless those tasks are included. For vacancy risk, the institutional capability evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Documentation is an operational asset. Definitions, code lists, validation rules and recurring procedures are maintained so that the system does not depend on one individual. For vacancy risk, the institutional capability evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Capability indicators
Relevant indicators include the share of active persons with valid assignment, the proportion of post and payroll exceptions resolved within the period, reporting timeliness, credential verification coverage, projection residuals and publication correction time. For vacancy risk, the capability indicators evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The relevant actors are owned by the responsible office and accompanied by the resources needed to improve them.
Maintenance
Annual clean-up cannot substitute for timely transaction control. Code changes, school openings and policy revisions enter through governed procedures.
Measures that no longer serve a decision are revised or retired with a documented series break.
Final implementation principle
The requirement is to produce timely, limited and trustworthy evidence that connects public expenditure to instruction. The implementation programme is successful when vacancies, deployment gaps and lost time can be identified early enough for a responsible authority to act and when the public account remains accurate about what the data do not establish. For vacancy risk, the final implementation principle evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXIX
Indicator metadata records
Metadata as part of the result
Name, purpose, population, unit, numerator, denominator, reference period, source, collection method, coverage, calculation, revision and limitation are held in one controlled record. A change in any defining element receives a new version. For vacancy risk, the metadata as part of the result evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Detail that affects only procedure can remain internal; detail that affects meaning cannot.
Teacher headcount metadata
The requirement defines the reference date and the rule for active employment.
If cross-sector identity cannot be reconciled, sector totals are published without claiming that their sum is a unique-person total. A teacher headcount is not described as available or classroom teaching unless assignment and function are part of the measure. For vacancy risk, the teacher headcount metadata evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Full-time-equivalent metadata
Contracted FTE, assigned teaching FTE and instructional FTE have separate indicator codes.
One universal divisor is not applied to incompatible workloads. Comparisons identify whether pupil FTE is also used.
Pupil–teacher ratio metadata
The record specifies sector coverage, assignment treatment and whether teachers are counted regardless of actual teaching assignment, as in the definition reported in *World Development Indicators 2004*. For vacancy risk, the pupil–teacher ratio metadata evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-05]
If a time series crosses the ISCED 1976 to ISCED 1997 transition, the break is disclosed.[REF-05] [REF-10]
Vacancy metadata
Filled-but-unoccupied, temporarily covered and frozen posts are distinct statuses. The reference date and duration bands are included.
Comparison with calculated service entitlement provides the planning interpretation.
Attrition metadata
The metadata lists included reasons, treatment of transfers, denominator, time at risk and late-recorded events. Retirement eligibility and actual retirement are separate measures. In this workforce study, the decisive issue is whether the condition provides an early warning of lost instructional capacity.
Rates by subject or region identify movement out of that group even when the person remains in the national system; these are labelled group exits, not national attrition. For vacancy risk, the attrition metadata evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Presence metadata
The requirement reports uncertainty and non-response.
“Unauthorised absence” is reserved for verified cases under the governing rule.
Instructional-capacity metadata
The requirement explains whether capacity is estimated from separate factors or directly from period records. The same loss is not applied more than once.
The limitation states that delivered time is not evidence of pedagogical quality or learning. Subject-matched capacity has an additional dated match rule.
Metadata governance
A change request states why the current measure no longer serves its purpose, expected series effect and recoding feasibility. Statistical and policy users are informed before release where a break is material. For vacancy risk, the metadata governance evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXX
Decision records for recurrent planning questions
Whether to expand preparation intake
The requirement subtracts eligible candidates already in the sequence, credible re-entrants and feasible redistribution. It then applies completion and appointment yields to determine admissions. In this workforce study, the decisive issue is whether the condition provides an early warning of lost instructional capacity.
The decision states whether additional intake is permanent or temporary. A temporary bulge has an exit strategy so that institutions and candidates are not left with unsupported capacity after demand falls. For vacancy risk, the whether to expand preparation intake evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Whether to create new posts
Evidence includes projected pupils, curriculum, class or period formation, existing assignments, feasible redistribution and duration of need. Funding covers salary and associated costs over the planning horizon. For vacancy risk, the whether to create new posts evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
If the school does not open, the appointment and deployment plan is revised rather than leaving a teacher notionally assigned to a non-operating location.
Whether to redeploy staff
The requirement estimates both donor-school and recipient-school effects.
Non-arrival, appeal or delayed movement remains visible. The staffing account avoids counting the same FTE at both schools during the transition.
Whether to introduce a hardship measure
The decision identifies which constraint the measure is intended to change. A general allowance may be poorly targeted if housing or delayed pay is the binding problem. For vacancy risk, the whether to introduce a hardship measure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Receipt and timeliness are measured. Retention without presence or service continuity is insufficient evidence of success.
Whether to use temporary appointments
The requirement considers whether the temporary route draws candidates away from full preparation.
Monitoring of temporary appointments should be disaggregated by location and population served so that lower standards or insecure conditions are not concentrated among disadvantaged pupils without explicit justification and corrective plan. This formulation is used to judge sustained instructional capacity. For vacancy risk, the whether to use temporary appointments evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Whether to change teacher contact hours
The requirement estimates staffing and service effects, not only salary savings.
Reducing contact time may support quality but requires additional staff. The policy record states the evidence and trade-off.
Whether to consolidate small schools
Staffing efficiency is one component. A consolidation that makes attendance impracticable does not improve educational access.
Community evidence is included, but the decision remains subject to the child's educational opportunity and public responsibility.
Whether to publish school-level results
A school-level ratio may be suitable; individual absence or qualification details ordinarily are not. Small cells and exceptional circumstances require protection.
The release provides correction and contextual notes. School publication does not substitute for the authority's duty to correct a known shortage.
Decision integrity
The requirement records departure from the evidence with the authority and reason. This protects the statistical function from being recast after the event and permits public assessment of whether implementation matched the stated basis. For vacancy risk, the decision integrity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXXI
Source-specific methodological notes
Education for All quality evidence
The requirement frames quality through learner characteristics, context, enabling inputs, teaching and learning, and outcomes. Its teacher evidence supports the proposition that numbers, preparation, conditions and instructional procedure are connected, but it does not create a single teacher-quality index. For vacancy risk, the education for all quality evidence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-03]
Workforce statistics describe enabling capacity and part of the procedure; they do not replace learning evidence. Where the EFA report presents country or regional observations, later revisions are not imported. For vacancy risk, the education for all quality evidence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Global Education Digest 2004
Its role here is definition and coverage rather than creation of a new country ranking. National education structures are mapped through ISCED 1997, with national detail retained. For vacancy risk, the global education digest 2004 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-04] [REF-10]
Reference years are taken from the table and note. A report using these data in March 2005 therefore describes the latest reported observation, not the current school condition without qualification. For vacancy risk, the global education digest 2004 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
World Development Indicators 2004
World Development Report 2004
The source defines the rate as the percentage of staff supposed to be present but not present, including excused and unexcused absence.[REF-06]
The requirement does not extend the figures to countries not observed, to later years or to individual misconduct. The India figure is identified as an average for 14 states, not a national census. For vacancy risk, the world development report 2004 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The resulting finding report uses the narrower measurement implication: financed employment must be connected to service received. It does not adopt every institutional prescription for every country. For vacancy risk, the world development report 2004 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015
The requirement reports wide ranges in service-delivery parameters and constructs simulations around country reform paths. Its 40:1 pupil–teacher ratio is a model parameter associated with the observed average of a relatively higher-completion group, not a universal standard. For vacancy risk, the achieving universal primary education by 2015 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-07]
Selective citation of 40:1 without those conditions would misrepresent the source. The present study uses the value only to demonstrate scenario practice and benchmark limits. For vacancy risk, the achieving universal primary education by 2015 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement does not supply school-level entitlement rules. National planners must therefore move from aggregate scenario to school and timetable calculation.
Education at a Glance 2004
The requirement reports instruction time, teaching time, working-time organisation, salaries and decision structures for participating systems.[REF-08]
Values are not combined into one global distribution without harmonisation. The conceptual distinction between ratio, class size and time is transferable; the numerical results are not assumed to apply outside the reported population. For vacancy risk, the education at a glance 2004 evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
International recommendations and rights instruments
The requirement guides the normative context but does not prescribe a global staffing ratio.[REF-02]
The requirement does not convert every workforce indicator into a direct legal compliance test without analysis of the applicable obligation and facts.[REF-12]
United Nations Millennium Project
Its use in this report is to support integrated and sequenced planning. It is not used as evidence for workforce outcomes that had not yet occurred by the cut-off. For vacancy risk, the united nations millennium project evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-09]
Evidence hierarchy
Analytical propositions are attributed to their study and retain scope. ICEQC calculations are labelled as illustrations or calculations based on cited data. No later source is used to revise the contemporaneous position. For vacancy risk, the evidence hierarchy evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXXII
Controlled terminology and interpretive glossary
Funded post
An authorised position with budget provision for the stated period. A funded post may be vacant, frozen, temporarily covered or filled.
Filled post
A post to which an appointment is active. The term does not establish that the appointee has reported, is assigned to a school, is present or is teaching. For vacancy risk, the filled post evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Teacher headcount
The number of unique persons meeting the stated teacher and active-status definition at the reference date. Headcount gives equal weight to full-time and part-time persons. For vacancy risk, the teacher headcount evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Teacher full-time equivalent
The sum of teacher workloads expressed relative to the nationally defined full-time workload. Contracted, assigned and instructional FTE are distinct.
Teaching staff
Personnel directly involved in instruction under the applicable statistical definition. The treatment of principals, specialists and mixed functions must be stated.
Trained teacher
The term is nationally defined and does not establish common preparation across countries.[REF-05]
Professionally qualified teacher
The resulting finding may coincide with trained status but is retained separately where national law or data distinguish them.
Subject match
The relationship between recognised preparation and assigned curriculum under a dated national match rule. It is calculated by period where assignments are mixed.
Pupil–teacher ratio
Pupils divided by teachers within a stated level, sector, period and unit. It is a resource ratio and is not average class size.
Pupil–trained-teacher ratio
Pupils divided by teachers meeting the stated national preparation requirement. It combines resource quantity and nationally defined status but does not measure teaching quality.
Class size
A pupil can belong to different groups by subject; a teacher can serve more than one class.
Teacher contact time
The requirement is part of total working time and differs from pupil instruction time where schedules or groups vary.
Instructional full-time equivalent
The requirement measures delivered time capacity, not pedagogy or learning.
Vacancy
The vacancy definition states whether posts temporarily covered or not open for recruitment are included.
Teacher shortage
The requirement depends on entitlement, capability, deployment and time, not vacancies alone.
Entry
Movement of a person into the defined teacher workforce during the period. First entry, re-entry and transfer in are separately classified.
Attrition
Retirement, resignation, death, dismissal and other reasons are separated; internal transfers are treated according to the boundary.
Turnover
Movement into and out of a school, district or group. It can be high when national attrition is low because internal transfers contribute.
Deployment
A deployment order is complete for service measurement only after effective arrival and timetable assignment.
Presence
The observed or validly recorded condition of an expected teacher being at the required location and time. It does not by itself show that instruction occurred. For vacancy risk, the presence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Observed absence
The condition of an expected teacher not observed present under a stated visit design. It can include authorised and unauthorised reasons until verification.
School-open time
The portion of intended calendar time during which the school is operating and available to pupils. It is distinct from teacher presence and pupil attendance. For vacancy risk, the school-open time evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Delivered period
A scheduled instructional period that occurred under the stated delivery rule. Replacement, combined-class and shortened-period arrangements are separately coded.
Instructional capacity
The requirement is an enabling condition and not a learning outcome.
Replacement demand
Recruitment or return required to offset expected exits and workload reduction. It exists even where enrolment and target workforce stock are stable.
Growth demand
Additional capacity required because pupil numbers, programmes, curriculum, access conditions or staffing policy expand.
Gross recruitment need
Growth demand plus replacement demand, less credible re-entry and transfers in, with the same boundary and period.
Training yield
Annual completions divided by annual admissions is not a cohort yield when programme duration exceeds one year.
Appointment yield
Eligible selected candidates who accept appointment and report for duty divided by the relevant eligible candidate population. The precise stage used as denominator is stated. For vacancy risk, the appointment yield evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Establishment entitlement
The teacher FTE calculated under the approved staffing rule for a school or programme. It is distinct from inherited authorised posts and is subject to review of the rule itself. For vacancy risk, the establishment entitlement evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Minimum viable staffing
The requirement can produce a low ratio in small schools without implying avoidable surplus.
Reconciliation residual
The requirement indicates unresolved data or boundary change and is not labelled recruitment or attrition.
Statistical break
A discontinuity caused by definition, classification, coverage, source or method change. It is distinguished from an actual change in workforce or service.
Planning benchmark
A reference value used to test implications under stated evidence and context. It is not automatically a standard, target or causal threshold.
Scenario
The requirement is not a prediction independent of those assumptions.
Coverage
The population, sector, geography and records represented in an indicator. Coverage gaps remain explicit and can differ across numerator and denominator.
Unknown status
A case for which the required evidence is unavailable or unresolved. Unknown is neither compliant nor non-compliant and remains visible in denominators and limitations.
Revision
A change to a published statistic resulting from corrected data, updated source or method. Revision date, reason and series effect are disclosed.
Part XXXIII
Worked calculations and interpretation tests
Headcount and FTE reconciliation
Twelve work full time in classroom teaching. Two work half time. One principal teaches 40 per cent of the full-time classroom load. One full-time teacher is on long authorised leave with a separately appointed replacement. One person has transferred but remains on the school list, and one visiting teacher is counted both by this school and the home school. For vacancy risk, the headcount and fte reconciliation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
After removing the transferred duplicate, retaining unique persons, allocating the visitor by workload and avoiding double count between leave holder and replacement, the employment, assignment and instructional measures differ. The exact result depends on the applicable treatment of leave and the visiting fraction; the calculation record must show those choices. For vacancy risk, the headcount and fte reconciliation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A school may have several part-time assignments from staff based elsewhere, increasing assignment headcount while producing a modest FTE. The purpose of reconciliation is to select the unit that matches the question. For vacancy risk, the headcount and fte reconciliation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Ratio calculation at national and school levels
Their school ratios are 20:1, 32:1 and 40:1. The unweighted mean school ratio is approximately 30. 7:1. The national aggregate ratio is 1,000 pupils divided by 27 FTE, or approximately 37. 0:1. The results differ because the aggregate weights schools by pupils and teachers through their totals. For vacancy risk, the ratio calculation at national and school levels evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The aggregate answers how total pupils relate to total resources. The mean describes the average of three school ratios, giving the 40-pupil school the same influence as the 800-pupil school. A public table must name the statistic and preferably show the distribution. For vacancy risk, the ratio calculation at national and school levels evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Class formation and rounding
Each school requires two classes, for a total of eight. Aggregating first gives 164 pupils divided by 40, or 4. 1, which rounds upward to five. National-first calculation would understate the requirement by three classes because the classes cannot be pooled across schools. For vacancy risk, the class formation and rounding evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement is not a mathematical correction to the class-size rule.
Subject-period demand
A full-time mathematics teacher has an 18-period contact load. The arithmetic requirement is 2. 78 FTE. Because timetables require actual people and periods, three appropriately matched full-time teachers may be necessary unless a lawful fractional appointment or cross-school assignment is feasible. For vacancy risk, the subject-period demand evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
5 FTE, not a headcount of three. The uncovered periods remain visible even if overall school teacher headcount exceeds entitlement.
Attrition and turnover
During the year, 300 retire, 100 resign, 50 die, 30 are dismissed and 20 leave for other recorded reasons. Five hundred teachers transfer between districts. National attrition is 500 exits divided by 10,000, or 5 per cent. The 500 internal transfers do not change national stock. For vacancy risk, the attrition and turnover evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
If all movements were added to national attrition, replacement demand would be overstated because each transfer in is also an available teacher elsewhere in the national system. If transfers were ignored locally, staffing instability would be understated. For vacancy risk, the attrition and turnover evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Training sequence
If 1,360 of those completers apply and are eligible, 1,200 accept appointment and 1,140 report for duty, the report-to-duty yield from recognised completers is 71. 25 per cent. For vacancy risk, the training sequence evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The correct planning response may also include improving completion, appointment timing or acceptance rather than expanding admissions alone.
Presence estimate and reason composition
The observed absence rate is 18 per cent. Verification classifies 180 absent opportunities as authorised leave, 90 as official duty or training, 120 as unauthorised and 60 as unresolved. For vacancy risk, the presence estimate and reason composition evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The unauthorised share among all expected opportunities is 4. 8 per cent under the verified classification; the unresolved share is 2. 4 per cent. It would be incorrect to describe all 18 per cent as unauthorised, and it would also be incorrect to exclude authorised absence when estimating immediate replacement need. For vacancy risk, the presence estimate and reason composition evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The sampling interval accompanies each estimate. The weighted counts presented here are illustrative and do not carry a calculated interval because no sample design is specified. For vacancy risk, the presence estimate and reason composition evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Instructional-time account
School closures cancel 400,000. Among the 9. 6 million periods in open schools, teacher unavailability leaves 700,000 uncovered; replacement staff deliver 300,000 of those. Of the remaining scheduled periods with an available teacher, 100,000 are not delivered for other recorded reasons. For vacancy risk, the instructional-time account evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
1 million if the replacement periods are included and each loss is counted once. The delivered-period rate is 91 per cent of intended periods, while the rate conditional on schools being open is approximately 94. 8 per cent. The two denominators answer different questions and are both labelled. For vacancy risk, the instructional-time account evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Vacancy and entitlement
Fifty funded posts are vacant, giving a funded-vacancy rate of about 4. 8 per cent. A current school-based demand calculation, however, indicates an entitlement of 1,080 FTE. Relative to current service need, the filled gap is 80 FTE, not 50. For vacancy risk, the vacancy and entitlement evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Conversely, if entitlement were 970 FTE, a vacancy rate would still exist within the funded establishment while the district held an apparent aggregate surplus relative to the current rule. Both comparisons are required before action. For vacancy risk, the vacancy and entitlement evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Deployment dispersion
In one, most schools lie between 32:1 and 38:1. In the other, remote schools operate at 15:1 while large schools reach 60:1. The first has a relatively concentrated distribution; the second has marked dispersion and likely organisational constraints. For vacancy risk, the deployment dispersion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The relevant finding is not merely that the second region is unequal. It is that pupils encounter very different staffing conditions and the reasons must be separated into justified minimum provision, avoidable concentration and data error. For vacancy risk, the deployment dispersion evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Salary scenario
Annual employment cost is 36 million units before preparation, substitution and administration. If the workforce grows by 5 per cent and the salary scale rises by 4 per cent, the next-year employment cost is not 36 million plus 9 per cent when grade composition, part-year recruitment and allowances change; a grade-level calculation is required. For vacancy risk, the salary scenario evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The simple approximation—39. 312 million—can serve as a check. Material deviation from the detailed calculation is explained by timing or composition rather than hidden in a total. For vacancy risk, the salary scenario evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Scenario sensitivity
If projected enrolment is 3 per cent higher, attrition rises from 5 to 7 per cent, and appointment yield falls from 85 to 75 per cent, candidate requirement can rise by much more than 3 per cent because growth, replacement and sequence conversion compound. For vacancy risk, the scenario sensitivity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Reporting only one-factor changes can understate combined implementation pressure. The joint case must remain plausible; it is not constructed by combining every extreme regardless of coherence. For vacancy risk, the scenario sensitivity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Interpretation tests
The **unit test** asks whether the noun in the sentence matches the statistical unit. The **boundary test** asks whether level, sector and geography match. The **time test** asks whether the date supports a current, trend or projection statement. The **claim test** asks whether the measure can support the verb and conclusion. For vacancy risk, the interpretation tests evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Correction is made in the sentence, not deferred to a distant footnote.
Closing note on worked examples
The relevant actors demonstrate calculation boundaries and failure modes; they do not describe a country, region or school. Their value lies in making assumptions inspectable. A national application replaces every illustrative value with verified evidence and retains the same controls. For vacancy risk, the closing note on worked examples evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXXIV
Workforce planning decision review
Purpose
The requirement asks whether the proposed stock, recruitment, deployment and financing decisions can produce the stated instructional service. It does not assess individual teachers and does not convert statistical exceptions into employment findings. For vacancy risk, the purpose evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Service boundary
Teacher headcount, FTE, posts and instructional periods are aligned to that boundary. A national balance is not accepted as evidence of district or subject sufficiency. For vacancy risk, the service boundary evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Base-year integrity
Unresolved duplicates, unassigned persons and unknown qualifications remain visible. A material residual prevents precise projection and is carried as a sensitivity or corrected before decision. For vacancy risk, the base-year integrity evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Demand logic
Upward rounding, minimum schools, subject periods, contact time and travel constraints are included. The review rejects national-first arithmetic that cannot produce a feasible school timetable. For vacancy risk, the demand logic evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Supply logic
Training admissions, recognised completion, appointment acceptance and report-to-duty yields are not merged. The plan cannot appoint more suitable candidates than the sequence supplies without identifying an interim route and its safeguards. For vacancy risk, the supply logic evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Deployment feasibility
Transfers have realistic dates and conditions. A person is not counted at the receiving school until assignment becomes effective and service is confirmed.
Time and availability
Replacement provision is not counted twice. Presence evidence retains its observation design and reason limitations.
Financial sustainability
Complementary materials and management are protected from unexamined salary crowding. Recurrent obligation remains visible after transitional finance ends.
Equity and professional safeguards
The requirement also examines teacher conditions, consultation, privacy and due procedure. An efficiency measure that removes minimum service fails the review.
Decision disposition
Approval identifies critical assumptions and the date on which actual recruitment, deployment, cost and instructional coverage will be compared with the plan. A material assumption failure reopens the relevant decision rather than being concealed in an aggregate variance. For vacancy risk, the decision disposition evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Part XXXV
Early-warning interpretation at the 2008 policy horizon
Warning as a decision function
The requirement is an ordered body of evidence showing that the probability, expected scale or likely duration of an interruption has changed enough to justify verification or preventive action. The distinction matters because education authorities operate under uncertainty. Retirement eligibility is known more precisely than actual retirement; an application for transfer is more informative than a stated preference; a delayed salary payment may precede departure without causing every affected teacher to leave. Each signal therefore requires a defined decision use, a review interval and a named authority able to respond. For vacancy risk, the warning as a decision function evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The warning chain begins with exposure, moves through pressure and intention, and ends with an observed workforce event. Exposure indicators include age structure, remoteness, housing scarcity, insecurity, high living costs, disease burden and dependence on a narrow preparation sequence. Pressure indicators include salary arrears, repeated excess workload, unfilled leadership posts, deteriorating housing, exceptional absence and unsuccessful recruitment rounds. Intention indicators include applications for transfer, non-renewal notices, retirement inquiries and withdrawal after appointment. Event indicators include resignation, retirement, death, dismissal, transfer, failure to report and a funded post remaining unfilled after its recruitment window. Authorities should not collapse these stages into one attrition rate. For vacancy risk, the warning as a decision function evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A rising share of teachers eligible to retire may justify preparation-intake review where pupil demand is stable or growing. It should not automatically trigger recruitment if enrolment is falling, subject requirements are changing or eligible staff commonly remain. Repeated vacancy advertisements with no qualified applicants may justify attention to pay, housing, preparation supply or appointment delay. They do not establish which response will work. The warning record should state the observed measure, its threshold or comparison, the mechanism requiring investigation, the response available and the cost of a false alarm or missed warning. This is the discipline that converts workforce statistics into service protection. For vacancy risk, the warning as a decision function evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-13] [REF-14]
Attrition definitions and competing denominators
Its numerator comprises members of that workforce who, by the end of the observation interval, are no longer active in the defined teaching service. Its denominator is normally the opening active workforce, not the closing workforce and not all persons ever appearing on the payroll during the year. Entries during the year belong in the stock-and-flow account but do not belong in the opening cohort. Where records cannot identify a unique person across years, apparent attrition may be produced by changed identifiers, delayed returns or reassignment between administrative units. For vacancy risk, the attrition definitions and competing denominators evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Total service attrition records departures from the defined education workforce. Occupational attrition records departure from teaching even when the person remains employed by the ministry. School attrition records departure from a particular school and therefore includes transfers within the system. Contract attrition records non-renewal or non-return among a specified temporary cohort. These measures answer different questions. A national service may retain nearly all teachers while schools serving remote or disadvantaged communities experience repeated loss. Conversely, high school mobility may partly reflect planned promotion or correction of an earlier maldistribution. For vacancy risk, the attrition definitions and competing denominators evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Retirement, death, long-term incapacity, resignation for another occupation, international migration, domestic transfer, promotion to non-teaching work, dismissal, contract expiry and unknown departure should remain separate. Planned and unplanned losses impose different lead times. Preventable and unavoidable are evaluative categories requiring evidence, not codes to be assigned from assumption. Unknown status must be published because a falling unknown share can raise recorded attrition without any change in actual behaviour. For vacancy risk, the attrition definitions and competing denominators evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Authorities should follow new appointees from acceptance through reporting, completion of the first term, completion of induction and continued service after one, three and five years where records permit. Loss before reporting points to a different institutional failure from loss after several years. Comparable reporting requires the service boundary, employment categories, treatment of leave, observation dates, matching procedure and revision policy. OECD comparative work available by the cutoff reinforces the importance of distinguishing policies for the whole profession from targeted measures for particular teachers and schools. For vacancy risk, the attrition definitions and competing denominators evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-14]
Trigger design, verification and escalation
Three types should be distinguished. A level trigger is crossed when an indicator exceeds a stated value, such as a funded vacancy remaining open beyond the normal appointment window. A change trigger is crossed when deterioration from the previous comparable period exceeds ordinary variation. A conjunction trigger requires several observations, such as rising transfers, unsuccessful recruitment and loss of subject coverage in the same district. Conjunctions often reduce false alarms but may delay recognition; single severe events, including loss of the only teacher at a small school, require immediate action regardless of trend. For vacancy risk, the trigger design, verification and escalation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The data steward confirms identity matching, reference dates, denominator and late transactions. The establishment authority confirms that the post exists and is funded. The district verifies the school, timetable and interim coverage. The personnel authority establishes recruitment or departure status. The finance authority confirms salary and allowance execution where relevant. The result is classified as confirmed risk, data correction, resolved interruption or unresolved case. The record should preserve both the original signal and its disposition so that the warning rule can later be evaluated. For vacancy risk, the trigger design, verification and escalation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A local staffing officer may resolve an isolated short absence. A persistent subject vacancy spanning several schools may require regional deployment, preparation or distance-support measures. A national cluster of expected retirements may require intake, finance and regulatory decisions several years in advance. Emergency interruption may require temporary measures, but temporary appointments, enlarged classes or compressed timetables must carry expiry dates, minimum preparation, supervision and restoration plans. The ease of a temporary response must not turn a warning mechanism into a route around professional standards. For vacancy risk, the trigger design, verification and escalation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Relevant measures include the share of signals verified within the required time, positive predictive value where outcomes can be observed, false-alarm burden, missed interruptions discovered outside the system, time from warning to coverage, recurrence after closure and distribution of unresolved cases. These measures are not a release judgement on the report. They are ordinary management evidence about whether the early-warning arrangement protects instruction. For vacancy risk, the trigger design, verification and escalation evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-11] [REF-14]
Comparative interpretation across income and institutional settings
Administrative forms differ. A central civil service, decentralised employer, school-based contract system or mixed public and non-government arrangement may locate these functions in different bodies. Comparison is sound when it aligns the function, population and observation period; it is unsound when it assumes that one administrative label has the same legal meaning everywhere. For vacancy risk, the comparative interpretation across income and institutional settings evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Its comparative value lies in a consistent scenario framework, while national decisions still require school, subject, training and financing detail. The 2008 Education for All assessment similarly places teacher recruitment and quality within the remaining distance to 2015. These sources support warning about aggregate pressure; they do not by themselves identify which school will be vacant next term. For vacancy risk, the comparative interpretation across income and institutional settings evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-13] [REF-15]
In systems with stable or declining cohorts, an ageing workforce can still create abrupt subject or location shortages because pupil decline and retirement are not distributed alike. Small island and remote systems face indivisible minimum staffing: a national surplus cannot replace the only qualified teacher required at a distant school. Conflict-affected systems may lose records, facilities and staff simultaneously, making conventional rates least reliable when warning is most necessary. For vacancy risk, the comparative interpretation across income and institutional settings evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Teacher age, pupil–teacher ratios and prospective youth cohorts describe parts of supply and demand but do not yield a universally accepted shortage measure. This limitation is analytically useful. It directs authorities to publish national vacancy, applicant, attrition and service-gap measures with full definitions, then compare patterns and institutional responses without claiming false equivalence. The proper comparative conclusion may be that two systems face similar educational risk through different administrative mechanisms. For vacancy risk, the comparative interpretation across income and institutional settings evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-16] [REF-17]
Equity, professional conditions and rights
A national warning system should test whether rural, remote, poor, minority-language, disability-inclusive, conflict-affected and small-school settings experience higher departure, longer recruitment duration, lower qualified-applicant yield or more frequent unmatched assignment. The categories must reflect lawful national data practice and should not be used to attribute risk to learners or communities. They describe obligations placed on the system. For vacancy risk, the equity, professional conditions and rights evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Salary level relative to relevant alternatives, payment regularity, housing, travel, safety, workload, class composition, leadership, access to preparation, career progression and participation in decisions may influence recruitment and retention. These are not interchangeable and their association with departures does not prove causation. They are nevertheless legitimate diagnostic evidence. The 1966 Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers connects employment conditions, professional preparation, consultation and educational quality; it does not support treating teachers as movable units without rights or context. For vacancy risk, the equity, professional conditions and rights evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-02]
Hardship allowances may be suitable where a verified cost or amenity difference impedes recruitment, but they require timely payment and evaluation. Local recruitment may improve continuity where candidates meet standards and receive support, but it must not confine disadvantaged areas to a lower qualification rule. Compulsory transfer may fill a post quickly while worsening morale or producing rapid return movement. Housing provision, induction, mentoring, safe transport, workload adjustment and career recognition may operate together. The warning record should identify the hypothesised constraint and the response selected so that continuation depends on evidence. For vacancy risk, the equity, professional conditions and rights evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force on 3 May 2008 and requires an inclusive education system. At the cutoff, this strengthens the case for tracking specialist and support capacity required for inclusion without defining children as a staffing burden. A vacant or unmatched post matters because it interrupts an educational entitlement. For vacancy risk, the equity, professional conditions and rights evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-12] [REF-18]
Immediate programme for the 2008–09 planning cycle
National authorities should match personnel, payroll, establishment and school-census records; assign unique case identifiers; express part-time service consistently; and publish the residual that cannot be reconciled. Districts should confirm schools with no assigned teacher, no head, no required subject coverage, prolonged vacancies or repeated temporary coverage. Corrections should remain auditable through dated transactions rather than overwriting the starting position. For vacancy risk, the immediate programme for the 2008–09 planning cycle evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Every active teacher at the base date should have a subsequent status: continuing in the same school, transferred, promoted outside teaching, on defined leave, retired, resigned, deceased, dismissed, contract ended or unknown. New appointees should be followed from offer to acceptance and reporting. Preparation cohorts should be followed from entry to completion, eligibility, application, appointment and reporting. These linked transitions expose where apparent supply is lost and permit plausible lead-time estimates. For vacancy risk, the immediate programme for the 2008–09 planning cycle evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A term-opening round addresses immediate coverage. A pre-budget round identifies posts, allowances, preparation places and transition costs. A pre-recruitment round identifies subjects and locations requiring targeted action. A mid-year round verifies persistent vacancies, unplanned departures and the effectiveness of temporary coverage. The schedule should state who receives each signal, the time allowed for verification and the escalation path when responsible institutions disagree. For vacancy risk, the immediate programme for the 2008–09 planning cycle evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement should show workforce stock and flow, attrition by reason, vacancy by entitlement basis and duration, recruitment yield, age and contract exposure, geographic and subject concentration, instructional coverage and uncertainty. It should explain breaks in series and refrain from a single international league table. Authorities should accompany the profile with corrective commitments, responsible bodies and next reporting dates. This closes the loop between statistics and educational service. For vacancy risk, the immediate programme for the 2008–09 planning cycle evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
By 8 June 2008, the global evidence supports urgency but not a universal numerical alarm threshold. Education for All expansion, teacher retirement, uneven deployment, health and economic pressures, and the difficulty of attracting candidates to particular schools create different risk combinations. The defensible response is a common measurement architecture with locally valid thresholds, rapid verification and professional safeguards. Early warning succeeds when it preserves continuous, appropriately prepared teaching where learners would otherwise lose it; it fails when a favourable national average conceals that loss. For vacancy risk, the immediate programme for the 2008–09 planning cycle evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-01] [REF-02] [REF-13] [REF-14] [REF-15]
Lead-time accounts and the timing of intervention
Teacher preparation, budget authorisation, establishment creation, recruitment, appointment, relocation and reporting each have a different lead time. A system that observes a retirement on the day a teacher leaves has produced an accurate event record but no useful advance notice. The planning account should therefore work backwards from the date on which instruction must be available. It should identify the latest dates for approving finance, opening recruitment, completing selection, issuing offers, arranging travel or housing, confirming acceptance and preparing interim coverage. For vacancy risk, the lead-time accounts and the timing of intervention evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Contract expiry provides a definite review date but may leave uncertainty about renewal. Pregnancy, illness and family leave require lawful and confidential administration; they should inform substitute capacity without becoming grounds for adverse treatment. Resignation may offer only the contractual notice period. Death, displacement, insecurity and sudden disaster may offer none. The warning system therefore needs both a planned replacement channel and a contingency reserve. For vacancy risk, the lead-time accounts and the timing of intervention evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Increasing admission to a multi-year programme cannot fill next term's vacancy. Authorities should distinguish immediate candidates already eligible for appointment, near-term candidates completing preparation, and prospective candidates whose entry can affect only later years. Completion, eligibility, application, appointment and reporting yields should be applied sequentially. A plan based on admitted students alone will overstate supply where dropout, examination failure, occupational choice, appointment delay or refusal of location is material. For vacancy risk, the lead-time accounts and the timing of intervention evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-14] [REF-15]
A vacancy discovered after national recruitment closes may persist for a full cycle even if many candidates exist. Late fiscal release can produce the same result. The dashboard should measure administrative time as well as labour-market scarcity: days from confirmed need to recruitment authority, advertisement, shortlist, offer, acceptance and reporting. This separation locates delay within the responsible institution. It also prevents a general claim of shortage when qualified applicants are waiting for an appointment decision. For vacancy risk, the lead-time accounts and the timing of intervention evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
An intervention should be chosen at the earliest stage where evidence is sufficient. sequence weakness may justify outreach or additional preparation capacity. Low completion may require student support or programme review. Low application yield may point to employment attractiveness. Low offer acceptance may be concentrated by location or subject. Failure to report may reflect late notice, transport or housing. Early-career exit may call for induction, manageable assignment and leadership support. Each response has its own time to effect and should be evaluated against the transition it was intended to improve. For vacancy risk, the lead-time accounts and the timing of intervention evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Calibration, back-testing and uncertainty
A simple approach begins with several years of school-level or district-level observations, identifies the signals known before each staffing cycle, and records whether a defined interruption subsequently occurred. The authority can then examine how alternative thresholds would have changed true warnings, false alarms and missed events. The purpose is not to maximise one statistical score. It is to choose a tolerable balance given the educational harm of missed coverage and the administrative cost of verification. For vacancy risk, the calibration, back-testing and uncertainty evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A model should use only data that would actually have been available when the decision was due. Later corrections, final payroll transactions and explanations discovered after departure cannot be treated as advance knowledge. Where historical records are incomplete, the authority should state that calibration is provisional and begin accumulating a prospective record. Apparent precision from reconstructed data is less useful than a transparent rule subject to scheduled revision. For vacancy risk, the calibration, back-testing and uncertainty evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Missing the probable closure of a one-teacher school may leave an entire community without nearby provision; a false alarm may require only a telephone verification. A national age-structure alert can justify long-range review but need not generate individual case action. A warning concerning a rare specialist may need a lower threshold because replacement time is long. A large urban district may absorb one departure more readily but still face serious subject clusters. Thresholds should therefore be set by decision class, not by a desire for one visually simple national score. For vacancy risk, the calibration, back-testing and uncertainty evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Confidence intervals are appropriate for survey estimates, including sampled presence measures, but administrative indicators also have uncertainty. Coverage error, duplicate persons, unmatched identifiers, late transactions, unknown exit reasons and outdated establishments can materially alter results. Authorities should publish a range or quality class where a numerical interval cannot be calculated. They should test whether the warning remains under plausible corrections. A signal that disappears when one late transaction is entered should initiate verification; a large persistent gap across sources supports stronger action. For vacancy risk, the calibration, back-testing and uncertainty evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Posts may be suppressed, exits miscoded as transfers, recruitment opened briefly to reset duration, or difficult schools administratively combined. Counter-measures include publishing related quantities, retaining transaction histories, using independent statistical review and examining educational service directly. A falling vacancy rate alongside more cancelled lessons is not improvement. The test is whether required, appropriately prepared instruction became more continuous. For vacancy risk, the calibration, back-testing and uncertainty evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-06] [REF-11]
Continuity under health, food-price and fiscal pressure
Rising food and transport costs can reduce the real value and reliability of remuneration, especially for personnel posted far from markets or dependent on long travel. Fiscal pressure can delay hiring, salary release, maintenance and housing. Health burdens can increase absence, mortality, caring responsibilities and training loss. Conflict or displacement can change both pupil demand and teacher availability quickly. These pressures do not justify a speculative attrition estimate; they justify more frequent observation of the transitions through which service may fail. For vacancy risk, the continuity under health, food-price and fiscal pressure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
The requirement should also monitor whether schools respond by merging classes, shortening the day, cancelling subjects or relying repeatedly on unprepared personnel. Changes should be compared with the same period of prior years where seasonality matters. National economic indicators can identify exposure, but school and personnel records establish the educational consequence. For vacancy risk, the continuity under health, food-price and fiscal pressure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
A contingency roster may include qualified retired teachers willing to return temporarily, teachers available for short assignment, supervised candidates near completion and mobile specialist teams. The rules should define eligibility, safeguarding, remuneration, duration, supervision and return to normal staffing. Community or volunteer assistance can support schools but should not be counted as equivalent teacher capacity unless it meets the applicable professional definition. Emergency measures must not convert temporary necessity into a permanent lower standard for disadvantaged learners. For vacancy risk, the continuity under health, food-price and fiscal pressure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Finance ministries control releases; public-service bodies may control establishments; education ministries set curriculum and teacher policy; training institutions control programme capacity; local authorities and school leaders observe service interruption. A warning that stops at the statistical office has not protected instruction. Each high-risk category should have a pre-agreed communication path and a body authorised to decide. Disputes over records or responsibility should have a time limit and an interim coverage rule. For vacancy risk, the continuity under health, food-price and fiscal pressure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Leaving a post vacant may appear to save salary while increasing class size, dropout risk, replacement costs, supervision burden and inequality. Conversely, indiscriminate recruitment can create an unsustainable salary liability and crowd out materials or maintenance. Scenario comparison should show the cost of prevention, temporary coverage, delayed appointment and prolonged interruption. The educational consequence and distribution should accompany the financial result. For vacancy risk, the continuity under health, food-price and fiscal pressure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.
Authorities should shorten reporting intervals where shocks are intensifying, preserve definitions so that change remains interpretable, and avoid attributing an individual departure to a macroeconomic pressure without case evidence. The early-warning framework is designed to reveal accumulating exposure and service loss soon enough for proportionate action. It does not transform association into certainty, nor does it permit a crisis narrative to displace professional rights, due procedure or minimum educational conditions. For vacancy risk, the continuity under health, food-price and fiscal pressure evidence must show whether authorised and funded staffing becomes stable instructional capacity where learners require it.[REF-02] [REF-03] [REF-13]
References
- REF-01
World Education Forum. The Dakar Framework for Action: Education for All — Meeting Our Collective Commitments. 2000. ED-2000/WS/27.
The commitment to expand free primary education of good quality and to improve the status, morale and professionalism of teachers.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000121147 - REF-02
International Labour Organization and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. 1966.
International principles concerning teacher preparation, employment, professional participation, working conditions, rural service and educational planning.
https://www.ilo.org/ilo-unesco-recommendation-concerning-status-teachers-1966 - REF-03
Education for All Global Monitoring Report Team. Education for All: The Quality Imperative. 2004. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005.
The contemporaneous global account of education quality, teacher availability, qualification, working conditions and the relationship between enabling inputs and learning.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000137333 - REF-04
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Global Education Digest 2004: Comparing Education Statistics Across the World. 2004.
International definitions and comparative education statistics relevant to teachers, pupils, programme levels and data coverage.
https://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/global-education-digest-2004-comparing-education-statistics-across-the-world-en_0.pdf - REF-05
World Bank. World Development Indicators 2004. 2004.
Contemporaneous regional and country indicators for pupil–teacher ratios and the percentage of primary teachers trained, with methodological notes on coverage and comparability.
https://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/517231468762935046/pdf/289690PAPER0WDI02004.pdf - REF-06
World Bank. World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. 2003. Chapter 1 and tables 1.2–1.3; education service-delivery chapters.
Evidence on provider presence, public-service accountability and the distinction between financed posts and services received.
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/832891468338681960/pdf/268950WDR00PUB0ces0work0poor0people.pdf - REF-07
World Bank. Achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015: A Chance for Every Child. 2003. Chapters 3–5 and technical annexes.
A contemporaneous country-based costing and policy model linking enrolment, teacher salaries, pupil–teacher ratios, deployment, repetition and non-salary inputs.
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/558081468767411386/pdf/multi0page.pdf - REF-08
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Education at a Glance 2004: OECD Indicators. 2004. Indicators D1–D4 and Annex 3.
Definitions and comparative evidence concerning class size, full-time-equivalent student–teacher ratios, instruction time, teaching time and teacher working conditions.
https://doi.org/10.1787/eag-2004-en - REF-09
United Nations Millennium Project. Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. 2005.
The development-planning context available at the cut-off, including the need to cost teacher recruitment, training and supporting inputs within national strategies.
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/564468 - REF-10
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. International Standard Classification of Education: ISCED 1997. 1997. BPE-98/WS/1.
The programme-level classification needed to align teacher and pupil counts across national education structures.
https://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/international-standard-classification-of-education-1997-en_0.pdf - REF-11
United Nations Economic and Social Council. Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. 1994. E/RES/1994/13.
Principles governing impartiality, professional methods, transparency, correction and confidentiality in workforce statistics.
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/gp/fundprinciples.aspx - REF-12
United Nations General Assembly. Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1989. A/RES/44/25. Articles 2, 28 and 29.
The rights and non-discrimination basis for examining whether teacher allocation secures effective educational opportunity for every child.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child - REF-13
Education for All Global Monitoring Report Team. Education for All by 2015: Will We Make It? — EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008. 2007.
Contemporary global assessment of teacher requirements, education quality and progress towards Education for All by 2015.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000154743 - REF-14
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Teachers Matter: Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers. 2005.
Comparative evidence from 25 countries on workforce ageing, recruitment, retention, targeted staffing policies and teacher labour-market information.
https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264018044-en - REF-15
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Teachers and Educational Quality: Monitoring Global Needs for 2015. 2006.
Global teacher-stock, trained-teacher and projection evidence, including the distinction between expansion and attrition requirements.
https://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/teachers-and-educational-quality-monitoring-global-needs-for-2015-en_0.pdf - REF-16
Eurydice. The Teaching Profession in Europe: Profile, Trends and Concerns — Report II: Supply and Demand, General Lower Secondary Education. 2002.
Comparative European evidence on teacher shortage and surplus, supply-demand concepts and national variation.
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/ebc5d2b6-43dc-4d2f-8118-96a537d1e8a8 - REF-17
European Commission, Eurydice and Eurostat. Key Data on Education in Europe 2005. 2005.
European comparative indicators on teacher education, employment, working time, age, retirement, part-time work and salaries.
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/7b0d9b60-3f91-4c4d-8e55-8c4ab4f0ec7e - REF-18
United Nations General Assembly. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 2006.
Right to inclusive education; entered into force on 3 May 2008, before the evidence cutoff.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities