In countries around the world, the employment of unqualified and contract teachers has been introduced as a measure to address qualified teacher shortages. There is serious concern that the practice of hiring unqualified teachers to increase access to education may compromise education quality. Quality teachers alone are not sufficient for the delivery of quality education; however, they are a prerequisite, and quality teacher training is certainly an essential requirement for the development of quality teachers. The Gambia's Poverty Reduction Strategy 2007-2011 Synthesis argues that the quality and relevance of education «is constrained by a shortage of well-trained teachers, inadequate teaching materials in schools, weak management of schools, as well as the difficulty of retaining qualified education personnel» (Republic of The Gambia, 2008:13). Therefore, education quality is one of the Ministry's top policy priorities, and an adequate qualified teacher supply is noted as a key priority for achieving quality education.