In the Philippine education sector, teacher assignments into specific positions are based on educational attainment, years of experience, and specialized skills and training.

Teacher III and Master Teacher positions are the highest-ranked teaching positions in the Department of Education (DepEd) and presumably reflect better teaching ability that has earned a promotion to these positions. Across all education levels, teacher quality varies widely across regions.

In 2017, the proportion of teachers with Teacher III and Master Teacher positions at the elementary level ranged from 12% (BARMM) to 66.2% (Region II); at the Junior High School level, from 7.4% (BARMM) to 62.3 % (Region II), while at the Senior High School level, the proportion ranged from 3.2% (Region IX) to 58.2% (NCR).

The need for teacher redeployment to effectively address local requirements is constrained by laws such as Republic Act No. 4670, also known as the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, which provides that teachers cannot be reassigned to another station without their consent. However, there are some special conditions under which teachers may be reassigned.

The limitations posed by the Magna Carta on teacher redeployment have long been recognized by studies as early as 1999. Moreover, appear to remain a challenge, as indicated by regional inequalities in teacher ratios and teacher qualifications.