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The Devalorization of Education in Congo Stakes and Realities

Dzanvoula Chéri Thibaut Gaël*, Muweesi Charles

National Institute for Research and Pedagogic Actions, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo

Abstract: It is commonly recognized that; the development of humanity inevitably passes through education which sets the means for any society to ensure its sustainability. But the reality within the Congolese education system shows that the paramount role of a school is no longer valued. The issue of devalorization of education is nowadays a global concern. A loss of attractiveness of the teaching profession in primary and secondary schools, even teacher shortages are intensely felt in many contexts. The goal of this study was to identify the causes of devalorization of education in the Congolese society, and its stakes and realities across public schools in Congo. Through a qualitative approach, using a semi structured interview form consisting of ten questions, purposively selected as the data collection tool, to the attention of a study group constituted of fifteen respondents, both teachers and administrative staff, and learners of Mvoumvou and Antoine Banthoud primary and secondary schools, research findings were generated. It emerged that issues which orchestrated teacher dissatisfaction, including the decline of their status were a key pointer of devalorization of education in the nation. Consistent suggestions were developed in line with the findings obtained as the results of the study.

Keywords: devalorization, education, Congo, public schools

Received June 20, 2022; Revised July 27, 2022; Accepted August xx, 2022

Citation: Dzanvoula Chéri Thibaut Gaël, Muweesi Charles, The Devalorization of Education in Congo Stakes and Realities. American Journal of Educational Research, 10 (8). 476-483. January 2022. doi:10.12691/education-10-8-1

1. Introduction

Education is one of the oldest occupations, as old as medicine and law. It has long been presented as a vocation, priesthood. Its operation was based above all, on the moral qualities that the good teacher had to possess and display. Education aims at the complete and effective training of citizens, capable of working for the overall development of societies.

In the year 2000, six educational objectives were adopted in Dakar (Senegal), the sixth of which aimed at improving the quality of education. This highlighted the initial training of teachers. Through that Conference, all developing countries were to take adequate measures to reform their education systems and readjust them to the new demands of the moment.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, more particularly in Congo, the progress made in the field of education since independence is considerable. However, it has been observed in recent years that despite the efforts made at the national level, the Congolese education system is in the process of deterioration in terms of quality education.

During the last decades, in the context of the standardization of education, and by extension in the framework of bureaucratization of education systems, the teacher unionism and professional associations have rightly insisted that the teaching job be recognized as a noble profession and that teachers, as qualified professionals, be properly treated by the government. However, with the enthusiasm experienced by the schools and numbers of students which have continued to grow; in addition to the existing qualified and trained teachers, the government has embarked on the recruitment of auxiliary, temporary and contractual teachers, most of whom have received no basic training for the teaching profession. The austerity measures that followed the financial crisis have at the same time created a shortage of jobs.

This is how young graduates began to rush into education career without prior training. We see a number of young people coming accidently into education, often after failing in other areas.

In the present state of our developing countries, nothing is more necessary than a good education. To this regard, Abdou Diouf, the former general secretary of the francophone zone institution (the French speaking countries international organization) stated “It is through education that Africa, both its sons and daughters will be able to match with the requirements and challenges of this 21st century” ([1], P10). In the same vein, Henri Lopes, the former Deputy Director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), affirmed that “If you do not have educated people in the country, you cannot get developed” ([2], P8). Nonetheless, good education is conditioned among others by a large qualified teaching staff. But everyone is aware of this challenge concerning the shortage of teachers at all level.

It is now accepted that every time we open a school, a laboratory, a university, or increase the human capital of the nation, education which is necessarily a cause of expenditure, and even of great expenditure, also becomes a source of enrichment for the future. This is called an investment: it is no less useful to invest in people than in goods and equipment. Thus, in addition to the moral or social reasons for giving a privileged place to education in public affairs, there are new ones, and how powerful then, they are of an economic nature. Now the game is ready to be won. This is how education is celebrated; it occupies a special place in the concerns of countries. This leads us to believe that the teaching function is increasingly valued. Education becomes a cherished child that everyone takes care of [3]. However, the experienced reality seems to show another aspect of the teaching position. There is an overall feeling of dissatisfaction among our teachers in Africa, in general and particularly in Congo, and perhaps in other parts of the world as well.

Since its independence, the Republic of Congo took initiatives regarding the education system in order to guarantee quality education to citizens. Part of them is a professional training for teachers. Despite all those developments, there are several handicaps to the success of educational missions. Referring to the socioeconomic conditions and the problem of non-qualification of teachers, the United Nations Population Fund in its report devoted to the study on the dropout and out of school girls in Congo, wrote:

"Sequential training and retraining should be organized to enforce the skills of teachers [...] for it is observed that teachers are underpaid and poorly trained." ([4], P 12)

In addition, still according to the same survey, one respondent stated in an interview, that “the quality of education is less good today than it was before in the 1980s” ([4], P 13). Evoking the status of teacher in Europe, Barriuso-Ceuster ([5], P17) wrote “half of European countries have their teachers hired as contractual cadres under common law and if, in other nations, they are civil servants, only a minority of them got a lifetime appointment”. Consequently, we notice that the issue of devalorization or depreciation of the teaching staff in Congo is still pending just as anywhere else in the world and this is detrimental to the quality of education provided in schools.

Therefore, the goal of this study was to identify the causes of devalorization of education in the Congolese society, and tackle its stakes and realities across public schools in Congo.

2. Literature Review

Since the inception of sub-Saharan African young republics, freshly independent from the colonial era, both national and international conferences dealt with the issue of the need for enhancing quality education by giving an important part to the condition of those who are responsible for training, that is, the teachers. Earlier in the autumn of 1966, just after a wave of independences across Sub Saharan Africa region, a special intergovernmental conference met in Paris, on the initiative of UNESCO and with the active collaboration of the International Labor Organization, to study the problems posed by the conditions of teachers, seventy states were represented and many international organizations sent observers. At the end of the meeting, the conference adopted to humanity a text which bears the name of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.

In Africa, a survey conducted by the World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession made it possible to notify in virtually all the countries visited, teachers complained of not being properly paid; many felt that their wages were insignificant than those of some employees in other sectors with lower qualifications. The feeling of unfairness was very widespread. It probably explains the state of dissatisfaction that reigns among teachers, in the tendency to make envious comparisons with other professions, even to quit teaching assignment at the first opportunity. Hence, the teachers would be solely responsible for the debacle.

“Problems that teachers face include handling student needs, lack of parental support, and even criticism from a public that can be largely unaware of their everyday lives. Addressing these problems and bringing awareness to the educational environment that our teachers and students face daily can help improve teacher retention, student success rates, and the overall quality of education in our schools”. ([6], P 4)

Lack of proper funding, lack of parental support, poor public perception, insufficient training as well, lack of motivation, non-replacement or random replacement in the event of absence, overcrowded classrooms ... These are the causes that are believed to be at the root of most of the problems encountered by teachers, susceptible to limit their overall effectiveness, and thereby depreciate the teaching profession. It seems so obvious according to the words of Silvia Montoya (2019, P1), Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS):

“Without good teachers, there cannot be good education. But when you look more closely at the conditions in which millions of them work, you could be forgiven for thinking that this message isn’t getting through. And it seems to me that you cannot sustain anything in education – not even one single school class – without a good teacher who is driving the pupils’ learning”.

From the above, it is clearly understood that the single role of an individual teacher is unavoidable to the effective running of a teaching industry, and their overall job satisfaction is a crucial factor to the valorization of education as a whole.

The educational sociologist [7] points out weaknesses in the management of the education system today, with the level of students less good than twenty years, ten years or even some few years ago. Basically, the downfall of the educational level can be considered as an important drought of knowledge. It manifests itself in the lack of mastery by students of the basic knowledge supposedly acquired since primary school. And the drop in the learners’ level today in the Republic of Congo is largely the responsibility of the teacher. They are supposed to supervise the students in good conditions while respecting the ethical and pedagogical rules [8]. However, it is not rare to find in Congolese primary and secondary schools that some teachers cling to corruption, which is also a scourge that plagues the school environment, resulting to the allocation of fake marks and the issuance of unreliable transcripts.

Hence, Taylor (2006) cited by [9] argues that good schools are ordered institutions which cultivate a strong work ethic, the ability to perform under pressure, and a sense of initiative and responsibility; they teach children, both in the way they operate and in the values they espouse, that expertise and principle, not patronage and corruption, are the paths to sustainable success, and teacher trustworthiness and reliability. Such schools are places where future citizens learn to appreciate cultural diversity and resolve their differences through the application of rational rules. Unfortunately, in Congo, such schools are rare.

The stark reality is that some 60% - 80% of the schools today might be called dysfunctional [10]. Examining the dilemma of Education in the context of South Africa’ system, Block asks pertinent questions on what will make the difference and open access to quality education. And he goes ahead by raising the need of radical “redesign” or “reengineering”. Gauthier & Dembélé, [11] argue that several decades of pedagogical research show that what teachers do in the class is undoubtedly a key educational determinant in student learning and achievement. In the Republic of the Congo, nowadays, there is a climate of dissatisfaction in almost all fields of endeavor: at the educational, political, economic, professional sectors, raising concerns, uncertainties and growing questions about the becoming of the school of tomorrow.

In fact, teacher job satisfaction has a crucial influence on students, teachers, and schools. Highly satisfied teachers have more positive relationships with students and are more likely to help them achieve higher academic outcomes [12]. For teachers, the level of job satisfaction affects their involvement, commitment, motivation work enthusiasm, and self-growth; for schools, job satisfaction has been identified as an important factor in teacher retention. Compared with their peers, highly satisfied teachers are more likely to stay in their schools and keep on working in their teaching jobs [13]. Therefore, exploring teacher job satisfaction is not only helpful for improving student outcomes, teaching performance, and achieving school effectiveness but also helpful for understanding the reasons for teacher migration and retention in schools [14]. We can see a noticeable divorce between the goals pursued by the school and concerns for the harmonious development of society. Among students and teachers, disinterest and apparent absenteeism, agitation, contestation, incessant strikes seem to be the symptoms, and undoubtedly, one of the parameters of the current devalorization of education.

Education’s main purpose, being to train people to be empowered, autonomous, free, critical and independent, and providing the tools to make people able to contribute to improve and develop society in which they live; Congolese junior high schools have been invaded by a vicious circle of social discrimination, extreme poverty, youth violence, especially in urban areas, and greater job instability and long-term unemployment making teaching more complex and difficult, more unstable and insecure [15].

However, one of the key pointers, behind the open devalorization of education as observed in the Congo Republic, is the overall deterioration of the living conditions of teachers, job dissatisfaction and the decline of their status, thereby affecting the quality of education as a whole.

Job satisfaction is vital insofar as it immediately establishes the link between satisfaction and performance. While job satisfaction makes it possible to account to a certain point of an individual's performance, it can also shed light on the phenomena of career abandonment, absenteeism and instability at work. Indeed, studies on job satisfaction clearly relate the rates of instability at work to the satisfaction indices [16]. Of course, difficult economic situations and collective pressure, for example, the time of war can make this statistical relationship more anemic. It should be noted, for our benefit, that four factors seem critical in the reasons for quitting a career, absenteeism and instability at work: the attitude of management, the climate of the organization, professional and financial status and attitudes towards the organization as a whole [17]. We will see what it is for teachers. Job satisfaction therefore appears to be a complex phenomenon where, even from a theoretical point of view, there is no immediate causal link between job satisfaction and performance. Several factors such as the characteristics of individuals and the social context affect performance to an extent and in ways that vary according to the work environment studied.

A case study carried out in the Netherlands by the EFEE (European Federation of Explosives Engineers) concludes that the teaching profession is not remunerated at its fair value, especially as it requires an overload of work, and the possibilities of retraining and promotion are almost non-existent [18].

He speaks of a valorization that is not solely financial. Teachers cannot be rewarded for the quality of their work by a promotion (leadership positions being very limited) or by a salary increase (the scale being based solely on seniority). In addition, teachers do not always see the benefits of their work because the positive school effects can manifest themselves years later. On the other hand, a bad decision by a teacher can immediately show in the behavior of the student. There is therefore a great imbalance between the consequences of long-term successes and the moments of immediate failure [18].

According to a study carried out in 2004 by Ingersoll, 50% of teachers indicate that salary level is among the key reasons for teacher attrition. For about two-thirds of teachers, a higher salary would encourage them to persevere in their profession. Another study, done by [19], shows that, improving working conditions is more important than salary in retaining teachers. This idea is supported by the study of Futernick (2007) cited by Jouk [18] admits that an increase in teacher's salary will be less effective in attracting quitted teachers, than improving teaching and learning conditions.

Beginning teachers are uncertain about their jobs for many years, and that idea is also supported by Ingersoll [23], according to him, teachers would not leave teaching less often and less quickly if job security was guaranteed from the start of their career.

Many researchers have focused to identify factors related to teacher job satisfaction, retention, happiness, and the set of daily challenges of teachers in the course of exercising their profession across the countries of the world in general, and particularly in the Republic of the Congo, but, very little has concretely connected them to a case study of the stakes and realities of the overall devalorization of education in Congo, as being tackled in this study; evidenced by “MVOUMVOU” primary school and “ANTOINE BANTHOUD” secondary school. Mupa & Chinooneka, [24] admit that for years, the government has contributed a lot to the depreciation of the teaching profession. Though the demand has always been very high with teachers going on retirement every year, but, the policy for recruiting teachers on yearly basis is not effectively applied in the Republic of Congo; as a result, teacher shortage across the teaching industry keeps getting high day in and day out. However, in order to overcome the challenge of shortage, leaders of schools especially in the remote (rural) and suburban areas used to employ some learned people in consonance with learners’ parents’ union at the local level, in order to train children, most often, these improvised teachers are unqualified, and sometimes not regularly paid, leading to a serious demotivation at work, and causing a substantiated drop in students overall learning achievements. This is for sure, part of the reasons for earlier students’ dropout. This reality is visibly active at Antoine Banthoud middle school.

In the light of the above, as for the Republic of Congo, a question could boldly be asked, “Is being a teacher (still) an enviable position in society?”. According to the UNICEF report, upon investigating the changes in the social status of a teacher across the generations who entered the profession, most teachers have a tendency to feel exercising a profession which is not socially valued [25]. Today’s loss of attractiveness of the teaching profession is a key pointer associated with the devalorization of the same [26].

Tackling the need for enhancing value in the education sector, Bouchard (2019), supports that teaching in kindergarten and elementary school means working hard to gamify the pedagogy, a dual mandate often little recognized and valued. For a young person to want to learn, elementary school teachers often include crafts in their teaching approach. That does not mean, however, that these people have a "DIY baccalaureate Certificate". Above all, this means that they have added volunteering to their workload in order to promote learning for their students. Suzie Bouchard was interested in the less recognized elements of teachers' work, such as the gift of self and the teaching approach specific to each student. Talking with Maurice Tardif, a professor in the Faculty of Education at University of Montreal, she realizes that their demands go much further than salary demands.

"We think that being a primary school teacher is mothering, that everyone can do it", laments Maurice Tardif, who draws a direct link with the traditionally female nature of work to explain this prejudice. This depreciation of the teaching profession means that the latter are currently relegated to the background, while their expertise would allow them to do much more.

3. Study Objectives

The objectives of this research claim at the following:

• Highlighting the key factors associated with today’s devalorization of education;

• Arousing teachers' motivation towards the teaching profession;

• Stressing dynamics related to the valorization of the Congolese education industry;

• Raising the government awareness towards improving the teachers living and working condition, in order to enhance the social prestige of the teaching profession.

4. Methodology

Referring to the research aim of this study, which was to tackle stakes and realities related to the devalorization of education in the Republic of the Congo, with a case study of “Mvoumvou” primary school and “Antoine Banthoud” secondary school, the researcher got to scrutinize the opinions and perceptions of some key informants regarding factors of devalorization in a case study design, which is one of the qualitative research approaches, used as the research model. One of the most important characteristics of a case study, which is widely used in qualitative research is that, it enables the thorough examination of one or several cases (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2006) cited by [27].

A form consisting of ten semi-structured interview questions, purposively selected, was employed as the data collection tool, to the attention of a study group consisted of fifteen respondents both teachers and administrative staff, and learners of Mvoumvou and Antoine Banthoud primary & schools.

The design was meant to understand the social phenomena from the participants’ perspectives in their natural settings [28]. It also enabled the researcher, to be the primary instrument for data collection and analysis (Conrad & Serlin, 2006) cited by [25]. Specifically, a descriptive multi case study approach was used, involving an intensive inquiry into instances of a phenomenon and seeking to understand it from the perspectives of insiders, including the researcher and the respondents [29]. Such understanding is not sought as an end in itself, but as a means for addressing critical problems and improving practices [30]. The choice of the case study approach allowed the researcher to explore in depth individuals’ perceptions towards the subject matter within the scope of time [31].

However, following the perspective of a qualitative methodological design, which data analysis is inductively built from particulars to general themes, and the researcher making interpretations of the meaning thereof [32]; an inductive approach was therefore observed in the manual analysis of data. And themes and categories were generated from the analysis of the transcripts and given names from the actual terms used by participants [33].

The credibility of the study was assured and specifically, the researcher engaged in-depth semi-structured interviews to collect data over a reasonable period of time and by so doing, the latter gained more insight into the contextual life of the participants within their settings [34]. Thus, an array of measures was also observed still in regard to the accuracy and credibility of findings; among others:

- A case study protocol and interview schedule were based and guided on themes derived from extant literature on the valorization of education in Congo-Brazzaville [35];

- Personal perspectives were not brought into the process of data collection and analysis;

- Prior to finalizing findings, the tentative interpretation of data was referred to focus group respondents, to clarify uncertainties and verify accuracy and plausibility of findings [36];

- Data from the various focus groups were interpreted in comparison with the information contained in the existing empirical literature, as above disseminated [32].

Sequel to the essentials of research ethics, the researcher assured participants that their responses were not to be used to any other end than the goal of the study [25].

5. Findings and Discussion

Sequel to data analysis, the origins of education’ devalorization were discussed and interpreted under the following theme areas:

5.1. Devalorization as a Result of Teacher Dissatisfaction

The causes of dissatisfaction from both teachers and learners originating from low monthly income and difficult economic situations were gathered under five main themes.

Thirteen respondents recognized of being regularly paid by the government, but they pointed out a low financial capacity of their monthly income; in the same vein, twelve respondents evoked the failure of government to carry out permanently the scheme of teachers’ incentives and allowances. As for the state of school facilities and working environment, twenty-two respondents admitted the most unfavorable conditions along with defective learning facilities, school buildings are poorly constructed and have not access to basic facilities and services like clean water, electricity and telephone connectivity. However, both twelve teachers and nine learners as acting respondents, considered the point of the overall poor economic condition.

Nevertheless, in line with the above analysis, it is clearly observed from the feedback of respondents that, the reality of devalorization of education in Congo generally, and particularly Antoine-Banthoud junior school lies in most the dissatisfaction of the teaching staff, resulting among others, from the poor financial condition of teachers, working environment, and difficult economic situation as a whole. The mechanism of incentives, allowances and the consistency of teacher’s monthly revenue are a vital predictor of teacher’s motivation and satisfaction; and the latter averts the scourge of devalorization. According to the Cornell Job Description Index (JDI), the employee’s earnings are part of the six separate scales which measure satisfaction at work.

In fact, underpaid teachers are typically underprepared and not supportive as they confront lower levels of resources, poorer working conditions [37]. And in the case of the Republic of the Congo, as it shows several factors affect the valorization of education, including intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The former emanates from the teacher and are related to his individual characteristics as well as the feelings of accomplishment and performance he may experience. The latter are characterized by a set of elements related to the organization and, more broadly, to the system, such as salary or possible promotions [38].

Table 1. The categorized breakdown of responses from the interviews and respondents 1

5.2. Devalorization Resulting from a Poor Management of the Education System

Majority of the respondents stated that in addition to the insufficiency of resources, the problems linked to the improvement of access to quality education as an important index of education valorization, have their origins sometimes in the overly centralized management policies of education systems where almost all decisions are made at the central level and the direct players in the field are relegated to the role of mere performers without decision-making power or initiative. Of course, such management does not make the link between the resources injected into education and the school outputs as a whole. In fact, twelve of them portrayed a poor management of the education system as a key factor in explaining the educational devalorization today, and some of the responses were identically expressed as follows:

Every society, every community and every place have its commonalities and realities. Most of our teachers and learnersdeplore a lack of strategic vision which manifests into a monopolization of officials at the central level for administrative tasks to the detriment of strategic issues such as: What an orientation should be given to the education system in t face of challenges of globalization, and new information and communication technologies? (ICT). Teachers also point out a very ineffective, inequitable and inefficient administrative management of resources. The teaching staff receives little training and pedagogical support from the supervisory structures. Schools do not have budgets for their operation and the development of school projects. They also have no autonomy, nor room for maneuver to integrate educational content specific to the local context. And the information system is inefficient. (Participants 5-10, personal communication, October 16, 2021)

In fact, from the above analysis, we come to understand that in the setting of the Congolese society, an inventory generally shows an overly centralized management of the education system where the government sets the standards in relation to curriculums, administrative and financial management as well as the evaluation of school results. It is the government, through their various branches at regional and sub-regional levels, which implement and coordinate all educational activities. This mode of management involves very little of the stakeholders and direct beneficiaries in the field, particularly teachers, school principals, teachers' unions, parents of students, communities, local authorities and students.

5.3. Devalorization as Parameterized by the Deterioration of Teacher’s Living Conditions

The causes of devalorization originating from the deterioration of the living conditions of teachers were grouped under four main themes as depicted in the below table.

Table 2. The categorized breakdown of responses from the interviews and respondents 2

All the respondents in one accord pointed the scourge of education devalorization to poorer working and teaching conditions, and of course to the insufficiency of physical infrastructures that definitely lead to overcrowded classes, making a teaching learning process an uncomfortable experience.

In fact, school becomes extremely less burdensome for teachers when the structure is raised for them to flow in their duty. The Republic of Congo is part of the Countries in the world, with a lot of the most unfavorable conditions along with defective education and learning facilities. The report on the sixth edition of World Bank data on education concerning the Republic of Congo, states that existing schools conditions impacted negatively on the quality of teaching, and it further notes that most school buildings, are poorly equipped as they do not have access to basic facilities and services like clean water, electricity and telephone connectivity; as result, the Country faces high rates of absenteeism and shortage of teachers traceable to the devalorization, and this is exactly what is reflective in Mvoumvou and Antoine Banthoud primary & schools.

It has also to be noted from the above analysis that, when schools fail to become interesting places due to reasons such as lack of sociocultural activities, conflicting relationships between learners leading to multiple incidents in schools, and peer bullying problem, for sure the school environment becomes less attractive and more devalued.

5.4. Devalorization of Education as Orchestrated by the Status’ Decline of Teachers

Virtually all respondents admitted that teachers feel exercising a noble job, but unfortunately undermined in the society, due their low financial capacity, poorer working conditions, poor career development plans, old and damaged facilities; and surely these scourges affect their worth, esteem, pride and reputation, thereby contributing a lot to the discredit of the noblesse of teaching profession in the society. A common sentiment that was expressed is reflected in the following statement:

The status of teachers in Republic of the Congo is currently low and visibly very low at Antoine Banthoud school. And having it enhanced, the government has to increase the payroll index of teachers, because education is the cadres making sector and we all are aware of this fact. Additionally in enhancing the teacher status in Congo, the government should endeavor to employ pre-service teachers as many as, when they complete their teacher education program at the college. When these challenges are properly fixed up, then, we can expect a progressive positive change in terms of teacher status enhancement. (Participants 1-4, personal communication, October 18, 2021)

From the above view, most teachers are displeased of their current status that they consider very low, and they all point at the government’s responsibility that has a major part to play in raising the status of teachers in Republic of the Congo. In fact, Poorer working and teaching conditions, school facilities in state of decrepitude and insufficiency, low remuneration and low social esteem, and dire shortage of teachers are among others, the key elements contributing in the low current teacher status in Republic of the Congo. However, the government must ensure to improve on these things, and eventually the teaching seniority index, and salary increase, in order to give a push to teachers towards undertaking properly their duty and attaining higher learning achievements.

6. Arising Study Conclusion

The issue of devalorization of education is nowadays a global concern. A loss of attractiveness of the teaching profession in primary and secondary schools, even teacher shortages are intensely felt in many contexts, particularly at Mvoumvou and Antoine Banthoud primary & schools. While this "malaise" is most often associated with the devalorization of the profession or with changes in their conditions of employment, we will underline, from a case study of this research, that the professional dissatisfaction of teachers is also linked to the heart of their profession, and to the aspects of the profession that they value most. In fact, the teaching industry is underestimated in Republic of the Congo, that’s why the responsibility of the Congolese education’ system must be shared between all stakeholders, that is, the government, educational leaders, teachers, learners and the parents; but government has the primary duty to improve the overall school condition in terms of working materials, working environment, and infrastructures, that will make teaching more attractive as a profession in the society, and schools a safe and flourishing learning place for students.

7. Recommendations

From the international to the national perspectives, it well admitted that the teacher, among so many pedagogical factors, turns out to be the most important toward a successful quality education lane of a nation. Therefore, in the light this current study outcomes, the following suggestions were developed:

• The government must enhance its implication towards the education sector by improving the teaching and learning conditions of schools. A provision should be made for the construction of dining halls, bookshops, libraries, computer and internet rooms, and organize periodically cultural activities which will attract not only learners, but teachers as well;

• A provision should be actively made by the government to enhance the professional autonomy of teachers. The analysis shows that professionalism becomes fruitful when pedagogues address themselves and create awareness aimed at governing their working conditions. To this end, the precursors of professionalization must know the skills and conditions required to succeed in this profession. Teachers, for their part, must provide evidence of the "professional nature" of their work in order to deserve the valuation of society in the first place and accept the social responsibility that their profession imposes, secondly;

• Teacher training criteria and recruitment: the promotion of teaching as a profession also requires the generation and disclosure of information on the supply and demand of teachers, requirements that should be placed at the service of candidates, teachers, as well as schools. It also requires the consolidation of direct relational structures between recruitment bodies and training establishments, like other professions.

• An identification of the types of professional development activities that support educational reforms and innovations, promote certain normal or new pedagogical tasks, meet the needs of the school and teachers themselves in terms of development;

• Clarification of the training conditions and identification of the types of motivation encouraging integration into professional development;

• The analysis shows that the valorization of the teaching profession is not solely linked to the model of administration and management of teachers' affairs (the State, the institution, the position): it is more to professional scientific conditions (training diplomas, employment conditions, etc.), or even the conditions guaranteeing the quality of work in the profession and its professional character. The analysis also shows that people in the profession, playing a role in the evaluation of performance and the awarding of diplomas, also contribute to the professional character of teaching.

• The study shows that the increase in teachers' salaries is not without exerting a certain attraction: it enhances this profession compared to others and extends the length of service of teachers. But for it to be fruitful in terms of the quality education, the increase in salaries must be accompanied by the improvement of adherence to the profession and the working conditions of teachers.

Notes

1. A radiophonic interview held on 13th April, 2019, available at https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/faites-du-bruit/segments/chronique/114458/enseigner-au-primaire-donner-du-prestige-aux-profs.

2. Idem.

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