A/HRC/20/21 the UNESCO-ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (1966) provides the most comprehensive guidance to secure adequate working conditions for teachers. Adequate salaries are essential to ensuring that the teaching profession becomes more attractive. Better emoluments can increase teachers‟ readiness to accept deployment in rural and remote areas. National laws can contribute to improving salary scales. In Ecuador, for instance, teachers‟ salaries were doubled after the adoption the Law on Intercultural Education (2008). Teaching methods 66. Quality of education depends on the dynamics of the teaching/learning process, including the use of instructional manuals and the teacher‟s pedagogical skills. New pedagogical approaches which are child-friendly as well as inspiring and motivating are necessary. Teachers need to be able to motivate students, develop their critical thinking, and nurture moral values. 67. Assessing the pedagogical performance of teachers and establishing objective criteria in this regard is particularly challenging. States have taken some measures, including producing guidelines or codes of conduct53 for teachers, ranging from prohibiting certain behaviour to expressing expectations of professional conduct. Portugal‟s teacher evaluation model, which assesses the pedagogical performance of teachers and their contribution to fulfilling the school‟s mission, including the pedagogical relationship with pupils, can serve as an example.54 In Ontario, Canada, a regulation pursuant to the Education Act requires teachers to demonstrate commitment to advance pupils‟ learning and achievement, as well as to their well-being and development.55 Other measures, such as prohibiting private tuitions and taking disciplinary action in case of teacher absenteeism, may also be covered under codes of conduct. D. National curriculum content and standards 68. Laws and policies in many countries require the national curriculum to establish common core competencies with uniform standards countrywide. Ministries of education and other national education authorities often frame the national curriculum according to which pedagogical materials for schools are developed.56 In the Republic of Korea, for example, the Elementary and Secondary Act provides for the Minister of Education, Science and Technology to determine the basic matters concerning the standards and contents of the common curriculum, and schools are required to use textbooks approved and authorized by the Ministry. In Russia, the Education Law (amended in 2005) stipulates a mandatory minimum content for basic education syllabi, and provides for a “single State educational standard” (arts. 7 and 9), as does the National Basic Curriculum in Guatemala. In Australia, all pupils should be taught on the basis of agreed curriculum content, 53 54 55 56 Response to the questionnaire – Guyana; see also Government of Uganda, Teacher‟s Code of Conduct. “Teacher Evaluation: A conceptual framework and examples of country practices,” OECD, December 2009, p. 34. Ontario, Canada, Education Act, Regulation 99/02, Teacher Performance Appraisal, available at http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/regs/english/elaws_regs_020099_e.htm. Responses to the questionnaire - Azerbaijan, Finland and Greece; in Finland, the National Board of Education draws up the National Core Curriculum. The education providers then draw up local curricula based on the National Core Curriculum. 15