We are pleased to share with you the electronic version of PREAL’s Working Paper No. 62 written by Carol DeShano da Silva entitled “Recruiting Teachers: Guidelines for Policy Design in Latin America.” The publication is accompanied by PREAL’s Education Synopsis No. 46, which highlights several of the author’s conclusions. 

The first section of the report presents a general perspective of the Latin American teaching force. The second describes several problems that affect teacher recruitment in the region. The third section examines academic theories that explain why a candidate might enter into the teaching profession and how their motivations might differ based on specific environments (such as urban or rural schools) or specific group characteristics (for example, bilingual teachers). The fourth section presents possible policies and programs to overcome obstacles to teacher recruitment. The report concludes by relating examples of teacher recruitment in high-income countries to the context in Latin America in order to recommend policy guidelines. The principle messages in this section are also outlined in PREAL’s Education Synopsis No. 46.