The Botswana Teaching Professional’s Council (BOTEPCO) a newly established Body Corporate mandated to professionalise teaching by: maintaining professional and ethical standards; registering and licensing teachers; advocating for the teaching profession amongst others, wishes to take this opportunity to applaud all the Teachers for the hard work and dedication.

According to the World Economic Forum, a strong education system broadens access to opportunities, improves health, and bolsters the resilience of communities – all while fueling economic growth in a way that can reinforce and accelerate these processes. Education furthermore provides an important construct where the perceived tensions between economic, social and environmental development can be harmonised and integrated.

In an endeavor to professionalise teaching, BOTEPCO through the support of key stakeholders, more importantly teachers, will take a lead in the ‘Policy Cycle’ space persistently advocating for Teachers in agenda setting. BOTEPCO will furthermore push for teacher centred solutions during the Policy Formulation stage, reliant on one of UNESCO’s key ‘dimensions’ being Teacher Employment and Working Conditions: “Employment and working conditions impact on the perceived status of the teaching profession, on its ability to attract and retain highquality candidates and on teacher professional satisfaction”.

At the policy decision-making, which is a bargaining process by those with interests, BOTEPCO will eagerly bargain and advance Teacher Interests and monitor the implementation of the teacher-centred solutions. The final step in the ‘Policy Cycle’ is to measure success through evaluation, a critical step that is normally given less attention. We will be steadfast in evaluation and undertake a rigorous, quantitative, scientific assessment as the go-to approach here.

BOTEPCO calls on Teachers to always maintain Ethical Standards. At the heart of a strong and effective teaching profession is a commitment to students and their learning. We inspire members to reflect and uphold the honour and dignity of the teaching profession and promote public trust and confidence. This will make it easy to sell and get buy-in from our Stakeholders in our professionalization journey.

BOTEPCO is pledging to support the Government in its commitment to transform the Country from a resource to a knowledge economy and to as well support Governments efforts in promoting Education. Teachers are imperative in this pursuit and their contribution to the success of the transformation is infinite.