[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"question:36:en-US":3},{"metadata":4,"sys":15,"fields":35},{"tags":5,"concepts":14},[6,11],{"sys":7},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":10},"Link","Tag","education",{"sys":12},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":13},"global",[],{"space":16,"id":20,"type":21,"createdAt":22,"updatedAt":23,"environment":24,"publishedVersion":28,"revision":29,"contentType":30,"locale":34},{"sys":17},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"Space","ghhpjogyw4x7","e7765e9e4df5062e7039f5541f05d10b","Entry","2021-11-11T07:06:57.164Z","2023-11-24T10:04:11.965Z",{"sys":25},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},"master","Environment",31,11,{"sys":31},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":33},"ContentType","question","en-US",{"globalId":36,"answers":37,"answersAsImages":56,"wrongPercentage":93,"name":94,"questionText":95,"statistics":96,"veryWrongStatistics":98,"correctSentence":100,"youWereWrong":101,"youWereRight":102,"dataSourceShortText":103,"dataSourceLinkLongText":104,"extendedAnswerText":105,"headingVeryWrong":106,"youWereVeryWrong":107,"headingWrong":106},"36",[38,59,76],{"metadata":39,"sys":42,"fields":54},{"tags":40,"concepts":41},[],[],{"space":43,"id":45,"type":21,"createdAt":46,"updatedAt":47,"environment":48,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":51,"locale":34},{"sys":44},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"b1b551dd7fa759536ed0b5ffcfe411a5","2021-11-11T06:52:22.617Z","2023-09-01T14:30:56.822Z",{"sys":49},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},6,{"sys":52},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},"answer",{"globalId":55,"correctAnswer":56,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":58},"36-a1",false,true,"30%",{"metadata":60,"sys":63,"fields":73},{"tags":61,"concepts":62},[],[],{"space":64,"id":66,"type":21,"createdAt":67,"updatedAt":68,"environment":69,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":71,"locale":34},{"sys":65},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"47633f984c4d51e318e649fa1086f416","2021-11-11T06:52:24.045Z","2023-09-01T14:30:56.944Z",{"sys":70},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":72},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},{"globalId":74,"correctAnswer":56,"isVeryWrong":56,"answerText":75},"36-a2","50%",{"metadata":77,"sys":80,"fields":90},{"tags":78,"concepts":79},[],[],{"space":81,"id":83,"type":21,"createdAt":84,"updatedAt":85,"environment":86,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":88,"locale":34},{"sys":82},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"36c6704d5662328a5bac392b2cab1241","2021-11-11T06:52:25.655Z","2023-09-01T14:30:56.983Z",{"sys":87},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":89},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},{"globalId":91,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":56,"answerText":92},"36-a3","70%",90,"Of all primary school teachers in low-income count","Of all primary school teachers in low-income countries, how many are trained?",[97],"uk 0.9",[99],"uk 0.61","Around 70% of primary school teachers in low-income countries are trained.","You think schools in poor countries are worse than they are. At least the majority of teachers have training.","They seem to think that most teachers in low-income countries have no training, while in fact the vast majority of them have, just like everywhere else in the world...","Source: UNESCO","The data is collected by the individual countries and reported to UNESCO. The main limitations are that it doesn’t take into account differences in teachers' years of education, their experience and status, teaching methods, teaching materials, and classroom conditions. Some of the data is also fairly old. \n\nWe felt safe to use this as our source after we contacted five independent experts who all confirmed that they felt confident that, despite its limitations, they would use the data and trusted the methodology used by UNESCO.\n\n[1]  [UNESCO. Trained teachers in primary education (% of total teachers) - Low income (via the World Bank).](https:\u002F\u002Fdata.worldbank.org\u002Findicator\u002FSE.PRM.TCAQ.ZS?locations=XM)  \n[2]  [UNESCO. “Wanted: The Best Teacher for Every Class” 2019, by Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.](http:\u002F\u002Fuis.unesco.org\u002Fen\u002Fblog\u002Fwanted-best-teacher-every-class)\n","Education is one of the key elements of global development. It can help push people (and even entire countries) out of poverty, increase equality and help control population growth. Things have been getting better, but it is not yet close to being as good as it could and should be. \n\n### Why is it a problem that people are wrong about this?\nOf all people, 9% live in low-income countries. Most people live in middle income countries that used to be low-income, but they changed, and it often started with educating everybody. When that happened, many failed to realize it, and now when the remaining low-income countries have trained most of their teachers, people keep believing a change won’t happen. The world keeps changing as people maintain the false perception that nothing improves.\n\n### Why are people wrong about this?\nWhen we think of schools in low-income countries, we easily imagine a disorganized place with little educational quality, because we have seen such reports from schools with big problems. Even if all of these examples are true, they are often exceptions. The many well organized teachers, who took their training and now help lift kids out of poverty by teaching them to read and write, are described as unusual, but they are more common than people think.\n\n### What is a “trained teacher”?\nThat depends on the countries’ requirements. There is no agreed strict international standard for teacher training. In some countries it might mean a short course of some months, in others it might be a four-year university degree.\n\n### Does having trained teachers mean better outcomes for pupils?\nMostly. The better trained a teacher is, the more prepared they are to be able to help children to reach the levels they are expected to be at. There are many untrained, talented educators who successfully teach children. And there are teacher training sessions that may be completely useless. Having a trained teacher is no guarantee for pupils to reach a minimum level of learning, but often it helps.\n\n### Can I trust this data?\nYes. One should be aware that the definition of teaching varies a bit between countries. And sometimes the data is a bit old. We felt safe to use this as our source after we contacted five independent experts who all confirmed that they felt confident that, despite its limitations, they would use the data and trusted the methodology used by UNESCO.\n\n### Resources\nSee [share of trained teachers](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Ftools\u002F#$state$time$value=2018;&marker$axis_y$data=data_wdi&which=se_prm_tcaq_zs&domainMin:null&domainMax:null&zoomedMin:null&zoomedMax:null&spaceRef:null;;;&chart-type=bubbles) in all countries over time. ","Not so poor teaching","You have an overly negative idea of schools in poor countries. They are not perfect, but at least the majority of teachers have training."]