The Regional Policy Dialogue was held in Washington, DC, on November 15-16, 2011 with the objective of opening a space that would enable the participation of teacher union leaders in the region. It initiated a new dialogue in the identification and formulation of education policies that could contribute to increase teacher quality and learning outcomes for Latin American and Caribbean students. The workshop, in which 14 Vice-Ministers of Education and 10 teacher union leaders participated, was the first of its kind in the region. The workshop addressed topics on teacher training and teacher selection and career development.

Successful stories of labor-management collaboration were shared in various presentations. Group work outcomes also revealed the need to deepen collaboration between teacher unions and governments in advancing the teaching career and that educational reforms require time and patience. Discussions on teacher training focused on how to attract better candidates to enroll in teacher training institutes and how to identify and hire good teachers. The recommendations on how to attract good teachers included: increasing the social prestige of the teaching profession to make it more attractive, reducing pre-service teacher training costs for high-ability students, and ensuring that new teachers find placement in schools upon graduation.

Recommendations to improve the teaching career consisted of providing mandatory mentoring programs for novice teachers, strengthening in-service training, and securing government funds for professional development. Another recommendation was to put in place a teacher career framework. However, in order to improve teacher quality, good management and administration practices applied to education are also needed. Participants recommended that the IDB support projects in the region aimed at strengthening teacher training systems and promoting government-union collaboration.