QUALITY IN EDUCATION FROM AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Paper for the Conference on General Education Quality, Access and

Equity: Research into Practice 2-4 April 2012

Radisson Blu Hotel Addis Ababa

EdQual Working Paper No. 29

Angeline M. Barrett and Leon Tikly

April 2012

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EdQual RPC is a Research Consortium led by the University of Bristol UK and sponsored by the

Department for International Development, UK.

The Consortium comprises:

The Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK

The Department of Education, University of Bath, UK The Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

The Faculty of Education, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania The Kigali Institute of Education, Rwanda

The Education Policy Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

EdQual also collaborates with the Institute for Educational Development, The Aga Khan University, Pakistan and the Instituto de Informática Educativa, Universidad de La Frontera, Chile.

EdQual runs research projects mainly in Africa, aimed at improving the quality of formal basic

education for disadvantaged groups. Our projects include: Implementing Curriculum Change to Reduce Poverty and to Increase Gender Equity

Leadership and Management of Change for Quality Improvement

Literacy and Language Development through Primary Education School Effectiveness and Education Quality in Southern and Eastern Africa

The Use of ICT to Support Basic Education in Disadvantaged Schools and Communities in Low Income Countries.

For more information and other papers in this series, visit www.edqual.org.

Extracts from this Working Paper may only be reproduced with the permission of the Author[s].

©EdQual 2012

The views expressed are those of the authors.

ISBN:

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CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1

2. QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL: A SOCIAL JUSTICE FRAMEWORK ......................... 2

2.1 Three dimensions of quality............................................................................................... 3

2.2 The importance of context ................................................................................................ 4

2.3 Learning from elsewhere and from pilots ........................................................................... 6

3. MONITORING EDUCATION QUALITY ................................................................................. 7

3.1 Identifying disadvantaged groups ..................................................................................... 7

3.2 Monitoring education quality ............................................................................................. 7

Longitudinal data sets ................................................................................................................ 7

Assessment for learning ............................................................................................................. 9

Beyond learning outcomes ......................................................................................................... 9

3.3 School leadership for school improvement ........................................................................ 10

4. CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGICAL CHANGE ..................................................................... 12

4.1 The use of ICTs to support pedagogic change .................................................................. 14

Gansu Basic Education Project (1999 – 2006), China ................................................................. 16

5. MAKING A DIFFERENCE TO WHAT TEACHERS DO ............................................................ 17

5.1 Professional development opportunities ........................................................................... 18

Initial teacher development ...................................................................................................... 18

Continuing Professional Development ....................................................................................... 18

Preparing the teacher educators ............................................................................................... 19

Social justice in initial and continuing teacher development ........................................................ 20

5.2 Status, respect and rewards ............................................................................................ 21

5.3 Policy and school contexts ............................................................................................... 22

Teachers’ experience of policy change ...................................................................................... 22

Teachers and democratic participation ...................................................................................... 23

6. TEACHING AND LEARNING IN MULTILINGUAL CONTEXTS ................................................ 24

7. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 26

Build national capacity for education research linked to teacher education .................................. 26

Curriculum reform needs to carry with it all parts of the education system .................................. 26

Talking, reading and writing in the classroom ............................................................................ 26

Informed leadership and multidirectional accountability ............................................................. 27

REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 28

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1. INTRODUCTION

We were invited to undertake this literature review on the basis of our involvement in the

EdQual Research Programme Consortium, a large scale programme of research on education quality in low income countries that ran from 2005 to 2011 and was funded by the UK

Department for International Development. EdQual conducted research mainly in Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa (Tanzania, Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa) focusing on formal primary

and secondary education. Four out of five large scale projects worked closely with classroom

teachers to develop initiatives for improving teaching and learning within their particular policy and resource contexts. Hence, much of this paper focuses on processes of curriculum and

pedagogic change. EdQual also performed secondary analysis of a large dataset (SACMEQ II) and conducted collaborative research with headteachers to understand processes of school

improvement. This highlighted to us the importance of school evaluation and the use of measurement of learning outcomes to indicate, who is being excluded from an education of

adequate quality – another theme within this review.

The title to this paper claims an ‘international perspective’. Nonetheless, it was conducted at a

specific time and place that imposes selectivity on the literature reviewed. Much of it is published in international journals that come out of publishing houses mainly in the North. The

entire review was conducted in the medium of English and there is negligible coverage of

literature other languages.

Section two starts by setting out our own approach to education quality, informed by social justice theories, and a framework for conceptualising education quality. It is predicated on the

view that education quality is not just a matter of inputs and outputs but centrally about processes. Education is essentially a social and cultural activity and hence understandings of

quality tend to be referenced, explicitly or implicitly, to specific contexts. Section three explores

implications of this framework for how education quality is monitored, including and going beyond the measurements of learning outcomes. The discussion is related to issues of

accountability, transparency and the space for open informed debate within and between different levels of education systems. The next three sections are centrally concerned with

improving processes of teaching and learning. Within sub-Saharan Africa many countries are

attempting curriculum reform, usually replacing content-based curricula with competency-based curricula. Section four looks at the common features of this curriculum change, the obstacles

and opportunities it presents, and implications for pedagogy and resources. Teachers, we are often told (e.g. Mourshed, Chijioke et al. 2010), lie at the heart of education quality – an

education system is only as good as its teachers. Curriculum change places particular demands

on teachers. So section five focuses on teachers, the forms of teacher education and professional development that support pedagogical reform and how status and rewards, school

and policy contexts influence their ability to do their job. Another aspect of the sub-Saharan contexts that demands professional skill from teachers and is given particularly consideration in

section six, that of multilingualism and diverse linguistic contexts. Throughout sections two to five connections are made to EdQual research and some of our projects are briefly summarised

in boxes to illustrate the points being made. The conclusion draws out cross-cutting themes

consistent with a view of education quality as inhering in contextually situated processes.

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2. QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL: A SOCIAL JUSTICE FRAMEWORK

Education quality is notoriously hard to define. Within human capital approaches a good quality

education is associated with cognitive achievement and improvements in scores in standardised tests. Threshold levels of literacy and numeracy are important outcomes in their own right but

also lay the foundation for the development of broad based cognitive skills in later stages of

schooling that are key for economic growth, income distribution and returns to investment in education (Hanushek and Wößmann 2007). By way of contrast, human rights based approaches

have emphasised a wider set of outcomes including not only basic literacy and numeracy but also life skills including social attitudes, basic knowledge such as HIV\AIDS awareness and

practical skills. Combining these approaches, EdQual has developed its own definition, which is

informed by our reading of literature on social justice. This includes Sen’s capability approach (1999; 2009)and Nancy Fraser’s (1996; 2008)(1996; 2008) three dimensions of social justice. A

full account of how our framework was developed can be found elsewhere (Tikly and Barrett 2007; Tikly 2011; Tikly and Barrett 2011)1. Here it is enough to say that Sen challenges an

overdependence on economic growth as an indicator of development through defining development in terms of the substantive freedom that individuals have to lead the kind of life

that they have reason to value. The meaningful choices or opportunities that people have are

termed ‘capabilities’ and it is assumed that individuals will use their freedom or capabilities to contribute towards societal development. Nancy Fraser defines social justice as parity of participation and is concerned with identifying and removing institutional barriers to social participation. She identifies three types of barriers and hence three related forms, or

dimensions, of social justice. The socio-economic dimension concerns the redistribution of

economic wealth. The socio-cultural dimension concerns the recognition and valuing of individuals’ multiple social cultural identities and the cultures, histories and practices associated

with these. So, for example, women, men, members of different religious, ethnic and linguistic groups are able to participate fully in the social institutions of their society without having to

conceal or deny their identities. Lastly, representation concerns participation in the political life of a society, the ability to participate in public debate and decision-making. It also concerns

legal representation and who is entitled and able to make justice claims within a society.

How Sen, Fraser and the wider body of literature applying their ideas to education influenced

our starting position on education quality is captured in the following three value statements (Tikly and Barrett 2007:7):

1. A good quality education enables all learners to realise the capabilities they require to become economically productive, develop sustainable livelihoods, contribute to peaceful

and democratic societies and enhance wellbeing;

2. The learning outcomes that are required vary according to context but at the end of the basic education cycle must include (and go beyond) threshold levels of literacy and

numeracy and life skills including awareness and prevention of disease.

3. A good quality education must be inclusive, relevant and democratic.

What we mean by inclusive, relevant and democratic is summarised in terms of learning outcomes in box 1 and elaborated further in the next section.

1 See also EdQual Working Papers no. 10, 18 and 27.

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Box 1: Learning outcomes within a good quality education

2.1 Three dimensions of quality We have come to view education quality as a contested terrain running along three dimensions.

The three dimensions of inclusion, relevance and participation are sufficient to encompass the

characteristics of a good quality education identified in a range of educational literature (e.g. Hawes and Stephens 1990; Sayed 1997; UNESCO 2004; Pigozzi 2008; Nikel and Lowe 2010),

including school effectiveness literature (as reviewed by Yu 2007) and literature representing the view of human rights organisations (Delors and et al. 1996; GCE 2002; UNICEF 2009).

Inclusion

Inclusion can be considered as relating to Fraser’s dimensions of economic redistribution and

socio-cultural recognition. In its simplest interpretation, inclusion simply re-states the EFA goal of a complete basic education being accessible to all. However, as surveys reveal that many

children leave school with little more and sometimes less than functional literacy, it is increasingly recognised that inclusion needs to be understood as opportunity to achieve and not

just in terms of access to schools (see Barrett 2011). Distribution of resources is a key question

for inclusion. However, following the capability approach, this is not simply a matter of equal resources or a minimum entitlement of resources for school age children as the ability of

individuals to convert resources into educational outcomes varies. For example, a visually impaired individual may require Braille books in order to learn to read. Inclusion also has a

socio-cultural element as curriculum, pedagogy and management practices influence the ability of learners to convert educational resources into outcomes or capabilities.

For education reform to be sustainable, considerations of inclusion need to be extended to future generations. Analysis by Lewin (2007; 2009) shows that ‘expansion by explosion’,

intended to make free education available to all school age children, and sometimes even older students, almost overnight is likely to lead to less inclusion as schools are overwhelmed by a

massive rise in enrolments. Tanzania has been identified as being relatively successful in

expanding primary education sustainably (Bray 2007). When fees were removed in 2002 access to Grade 1 was strictly limited to 8 to 10 year olds and repetition discouraged so that within five

years, universal enrolment was very close to being achieved. SACMEQ data also shows an impressive improvement in year six performance in reading and mathematics between 2000

and 2007, indicating an improvement in inclusion as access to learning outcomes.

Relevance

Whereas inclusion concerns who achieves learning outcomes, relevance concerns what those outcomes are and it also has a redistribution and recognition strand. A good quality education is

relevant to the socio-economic context and human development needs of the individual and society at the same time as being meaningful to the various socio-cultural groups to which they

belong, including national society. From a capabilities perspective, a socio-economically relevant

education enhances the capabilities of learners to lead sustainable livelihoods in their diverse local environments and to benefit from a globalising world. This definition of relevance is

compatible with the concerns of indigenous groups that education enable them to participate in modern states and a globalised world at the same time as pursuing traditional lifestyles (Dyer

2001; Aikman 2011) and with the priorities for skill development highlighted by authors arguing

Inclusive: All learners have the opportunity to achieve specified learning

outcomes.

Relevant: Learning outcomes are meaningful for all learners, valued by their

communities and consistent with national development priorities in a changing

global context.

Democratic: Learning outcomes are determined through public debate and

ensured through processes of accountability.

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that education should contribute to sustainable development (Palmer, Wedgwood et al. 2007;

King 2009; McGrath and Akoojee 2009). Sustainability also stretches thinking around relevance to incorporate a concern for the natural environment and enhanced understanding of the

dependence of human livelihoods on bio-diversity and finite natural resources (Bangay and Blum 2010; Nikel and Lowe 2010).

There is also a recognition dimension to relevance. A relevant education recognises the diverse socio-cultural identities of their learners, particularly those belonging to groups that tend to

marginalised. This argument can be traced back to postcolonial thinkers, such as Nyerere (1967), argued that a good quality education in Africa, was one that brought mental liberation

from the dominant world view then associated with Empire. To this end national curricula were revised to incorporate African history, geography and literature. More recently, Ahlquist and

Hickling-Hudson (2004), studying the quality of education of first nations people in Australia

and USA, have argued that schools need to collaborate with community leaders to design curricula that are relevant to and respectful of the cultural heritage and histories of indigenous

peoples and marginalized communities. Concerns for socio-cultural relevance, however, do not just concern marginalised groups. Nussbaum (2006) has reflected on the challenge of living in a

global community to argue that a good quality education is one that promotes the

‘cosmopolitan capabilities’ of critical thinking, world citizenship and imaginative understanding.

Participation

Within education, participation concerns the processes by which educational goals are set at the

micro, meso and macro levels and who participates in these processes and, hence, underpins the dimensions of inclusion and relevance. It relates to the political dimension of social justice,

which Nancy Fraser (2008) calls representation. Participation within education encompasses the

rights-based concerns for learner voice and the participation of learners and other stakeholders in educational decision-making (UNICEF 2009). At the classroom level, it concerns the extent of

control that learners have over content and classroom processes. At the school level, participation asks questions of the structures of governance that constrain debate and

determine whose voice is heard within debates on education. Authors have drawn attention to

the participation of pupils in schools governance (Harber 2004) and the relationship between the school and the community. At the national level, educational goals, allied as they are to

national development goals, should be a matter of open public debate (Alexander 2008). The quality of education then is interdependent with the political context of a nation, the presence

of a free press and the mechanisms through which a society conducts public debate. Accountability, transparency and the free flow of information are essential conditions for

democratic participation in decision-making. Educational practitioners and managers at all levels, communities and parents need to be linked by multidirectional webs of mutual

accountability (this is taken up in section 3 below). Hence, multiple organisations and agencies participate not just in decision-making from a position of knowledge of inputs, processes and

outputs within schools and the wider education system. Weighting accountability towards top-

down control can constrain teacher autonomy, reducing responsive inclusion at the classroom level and eroding curricula relevance as teachers focus on preparing pupils for high stakes tests

(Goldstein 2004; Tatto and Plank 2007; Barrett 2011). Participation, we argue, is the most fundamental of the three principles of quality in education because it concerns who makes

decisions and the processes by which decisions are made on inclusion and relevance.

2.2 The importance of context Capabilities, as conceptualised by Amartya Sen, are situated within specific social and

geographic contexts and hence, the quality of education can only be evaluated with reference to specific contexts. In general it is possible to identify three levels of environments that

together determine the quality of education although these differ in their implications for education quality between and within countries. The policy environment tends to act most

powerfully at the national level and, in the case of large nations, the provincial or state level, to set official curriculum, train teachers and regulate and monitor quality. The institutional

environment of the school mediates and elaborates educational policy through processes of

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implementation. The home and community environment is possibly the most important in

determining children’s learning opportunities and EdQual analysis of SACMEQ II data suggests this is especially true for children belonging to low socio-economic households (Smith and

Barrett 2011; Smith, Barrett et al. 2011). Education quality depends on articulation between these three contextual levels, with decision-making within each being responsive the demands

of the other. So for example, to be relevant the curriculum and its delivery within a school

needs to be responsive to the economic opportunities within the local environment and to the culture, language, history and knowledge of the local communities. It also has to be relevant to

national development priorities and opportunities within the national economy. To be inclusive, educational quality, needs to be based from an informed position of understanding of school

and local realities.

Figure 1: Context model for planning education quality

A good quality education arises from interactions between three overlapping contexts, namely

the policy, the school and the home and community context. Creating enabling contexts requires the right mix of inputs into each context. In contrast to traditional input-output

models of education quality, however, the EdQual framework highlights the importance of accompanying processes that are key for ensuring that inputs get converted to desired

outcomes. Whereas traditional understandings of education quality are often based on a linear

model our framework is more akin to making a tasty soup in which the outcomes (a good quality education) depend on the particular mix of ingredients (inputs and processes) and the

interaction between contexts. The success of the ‘recipe’ can only be determined by measuring the desired outcomes over time.

Creating a good quality education involves paying attention to the interface between each

context and ensuring that enabling inputs and processes have the effect of closing the gaps that sometimes exist between contexts and creating greater synergy and coherence. For

example, overcoming the so-called ‘implementation gap’ between national policy and how this is implemented at the school level requires engaging with the experiences and views of teachers

and headteachers, ensuring that initial and continuing professional development opportunities are consistent with the demands of new curricula and other initiatives, and providing support

for schools in implementing and monitoring change. Closing the ‘expectations gap’ between the

outcomes of education and what parents and communities expect education systems to deliver requires paying attention to the relevance of the curriculum, listening to the voices of parents in

national debates and developing greater accountability. Addressing the ‘learning gap’ that often exists between learning that takes place in schools and the home and community context of

learners requires a focus on the health and nutrition of learners and working with parents to

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create an enabling home environment to support learning. This is represented in figure 1 by the

area of overlap between the three circles – the larger the overlap or coherence between policy, school and community environments, the better the quality of education.

2.3 Learning from elsewhere and from pilots A view of education as a highly contextual process is one that is echoed by a large number of international education researchers, who also highlight implications for learning for other

contexts (e.g. Crossley and Watson 2003; Phillips and Ochs 2003; Steiner-Khamsi 2003). This substantial body of literature is sceptical of attempts to synthesize ‘best practices’, abstract

them from the settings where they were successful, and assume that they can be applied as

well (see for example contributions to King 2007). Whilst we can all learn from other contexts that learning needs to be integrated with educational professionals’ intimate knowledge of local

contexts to design policies and interventions designed for that context. This has been referred to as a process of ‘adaptation’ or ‘indigenization’ (Steiner-Khamsi 2003).

Samoff, Dembele and Sebatane (2011) have conducted a comprehensive review of literature on education reform in sub-Saharan Africa. First published in 2003 (Samoff, Sebatane et al. 2005),

they have continued to update this and the latest version was published in 2011 in the EdQual

working paper series. This review focused on ‘scaling up’ as the replication of successful pilots, observing that in Africa, many projects are set up with donor support with the expectation that,

if successful, they will be scaled up to the national level. The empirical research evidence they review however showed that very few are successfully scaled up but rather many prove difficult

to sustain even at a small scale “after the departure of their initial leaders or the end of their

initial funding.”

They identify three factors that are critical to enlarging the scale of an education reform:

1. a charismatic leader dedicated to the reform and committed to its expansion; 2. strong interest and demand in the communities at the sites targeted for expansion;

and

3. sufficient funding, which may in practice be limited resources available from local sources.

This leads them to conclude that what national governments should seek to scale up is not the

content or structures of a pilot but the conditions that enabled the reform. They describe the

role for national governments in enlarging the scale of innovation as: specifying broad objectives and providing resources;

linking programme planning and implementation—establishing appropriate

institutions, appointing key personnel, and then providing discretion to leaders;

monitoring progress and performance;

providing continuity and stability [...]; and

curbing the power of local elites, especially through institutionalising democratic

decision making, ensuring accountability, and strengthening local institutions. (Samoff et al. 2011:12)

This seems to us a set of principles that have broader application in the design of education reform. We would stress in particular, the importance of creating an enabling policy and

systemic environment within which local educators are empowered to innovate and lead change

at the classroom or school level (see section 4 below).

Samoff et al. go on to outline the role of funding agencies, arguing in favour of support to small projects as more valuable in their own right then as pilots for large scale influence:

agencies should view pilot projects like venture capital investments—with great

optimism, continued funding through initial adversity, and likely a high failure rate. Because there can be no standard blueprint and because each effort must be tuned to

local contexts, circumstances, and timing, support programmes must permit flexibility. Effective assistance to education reform must go beyond technical inputs to include

explicit and energetic support for democratic and participatory decision making and to insist on transparency and accountability to the local community. (Samoff et al.

2011:14)

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3. MONITORING EDUCATION QUALITY

3.1 Identifying disadvantaged groups We have argued above that an expanded understanding of inclusion requires an unequal distribution of resources in favour of disadvantaged groups. However, in their analysis of data

on attendance rates and educational attainment from demographic and health surveys relating

in 37 developing countrie’s, Harttgen, Klasen and Misselhorn (2008) conclude that whilst the EFA agenda has expanded access, educational outcomes for the poorest in many countries is

improving more slowly that for the richest, so increasing inequality.

EdQual’s own analysis of SACMEQ II data analysis found that patterns of disadvantage vary between and within countries. So for example, whilst girls in Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania

performed less well in reading than boys in Botswana girls performed better than boys. One

factor, however, socio-economic status, was strongly associated with achievement across all contexts (Smith and Barrett, forthcoming). Even here though the indicators of socio-economic

status that had the strongest association varied between countries (Smith and Barrett 2011)2. So, for example, having a table for study at home was strongly associated with learning in the

low income countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawai and Zanzibar but made no

difference in Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. In contrast to findings from analysis of PISA 2003 data in wealthier countries (Ma 2008), books in the home only had a very weak

association with score. Where surveys collect detailed information on location, they often reveal disparities in performance between neighbouring districts or even schools. For example UWEZO

data revealed considerable disparity between rural and urban districts in primary school pupils’ ability in language and mathematics in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya (Uwezo 2012).

As educational budgets are inevitably finite, it makes sense to target spending on schools with high numbers of disadvantaged learners. Our analysis of SACMEQ data (Smith and Barrett

2011) also looked at peer effects and found that where a high number of students disadvantaged by low socio-economic status, repeating a year during their academic career or

poor nutrition the knock-on effects for children in the same school is substantial, including those

who are not directly affected by these forms of disadvantage themselves. This underscores the importance of targeting schools where a high number of pupils are performing below the

national average for support. However, in order to do this, reliable information on who is disadvantaged needs to be collected. Another important reason for collecting such information

is a political one of transparency and accountability. Relatively more privileged, well-educated

and articulate parents are better able to petition for resources for their children’s schools. For example, they are less likely to tolerate corrupt or ineffective headteachers and hence schools

serving the urban ‘middle-classes’ often have the best teachers. Protecting the interests of the poor therefore depends on the transparent application of criteria for resource distribution. This

is not just a matter of collecting data but making it available in an accessible format. For example, in the Philippines a simple colour-code scheme implemented in 2002-2004 to

represent pupil to teacher ratios in schools facilitated more equal distribution of staff (Genito,

Roces et al. 2005).

3.2 Monitoring education quality

Longitudinal data sets

The most commonly used indicators of education quality are those that are readily measurable. These are usually raw scores in national examinations or international studies such as PISA,

TIMMS and SACMEQ. Recently, independent household surveys have been established in India (Annual State of Education Report) and East Africa (Uwezo) using simple tests to measure

learning outcomes. However, these do not take account of student background characteristics,

2 EdQual working Paper no. 23: Social and economic effects on primary pupils' reading achievement:

findings from Southern and East Africa, is an earlier version of this paper.

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the most important of which is their level of learning at the point of entry to a school. Hence, a

primary school serving mainly pupil, who have benefited from private pre-school education and may be attending private tuition, appears to be of better quality than a school serving mainly

pupils from poorer households, who do not access pre-school education or private tuition. However, it is possible that the latter school has produced greater improvements in learning, in

which case the considerable achievement and skill of its teachers may be going unrecognised.

Longitudinal datasets that match individual students’ assessment data from two or more points

in time allow schools and governments to analyse the extent to which they have effectively raised pupil achievement. By taking students’ prior attainment into account they provide, what

is known as, ‘value added’ measures. Two separate research projects in China (IEEQC 2012) and Zanzibar (Salim 2011) have piloted the use of value-added measures of secondary school

quality. Thomas and Salim (2011) argue that analysis of value-added measures can provide

important information for national level managers and decision-makers to identify inputs and processes associated with effective schools and groups of students (e.g. by income level,

ethnicity, parental occupation). At the school level, leaders can identify groups of learners (e.g. high\middle\low ability) that tend to under achieve in the school and the effect of a change in

processes or inputs on learning achievement. The learning outcomes, school and pupil

information that are useful to policy makers and schools, however, is likely to be different countries in different countries, as is the level of sophistication in analysis that is appropriate.

This is a powerful reason to invest in data management and analysis within country as an alternative to the services offered by the World Bank’s System Assessment and Benchmarking

for Education Results (SABER) initiative.

Box 2: Information collected for longitudinal data sets

Source: Thomas and Salim (2011)

Salim’s (2011) research in Zanzibar also showed that assessment data can only be a reliable measure of quality is the assessment tests are themselves reliable. Other research in Zanzibar

(Rea-Dickins, Khamis et al. 2011) focused on the quality of assessment at the secondary level,

found that the language and question formats were not supportive of second language learners, who in Zanzibar constitute more than 90% of secondary school students. Hence,

examinations in science and mathematics did not provide an accurate measure of students’ knowledge and ability in these subjects. This research the highlights the importance of

focusing resources on developing national examinations not just for improving measurement of

quality but also processes in education.

Longitudinal data sets include ...

Unique Identifying Codes for each student, class and school.

Student Outcome Measures - individual student assessment results for different

academic subjects.

Student Prior attainment Measures from one or more time points before the

collection of the outcome measures.

Student Background Measures - individual data on student background

characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity, family income.

School\Class Context Measures - individual data on student characteristics

aggregated to the school\class level to estimate, for example mean family income.

Any other type of contextual variable outside the control of the school.

School\Class Input or Process Measures - quantitative measures relating to any

input or process aspects of schooling (e.g. teacher qualifications or length of school

day). This data indicates potential explanations for observed differences in schools‟ value added effects.

(Thomas & Salim, 2011)

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Box 3: Questions to ask when designing measurement of quality

Adapted from Scheerens (1992)

Assessment for learning

As argued in section 2, education is centrally about processes. Whilst making reliable

information on learning outcomes available to education decision-makers and parents may contribute towards improved regulation, accountability and hence, education quality the

relationship between test performance and learning is not always a straightforward one.

Measurement of learning outcomes can never by an entirely neutral activity but is also part of the learning process and hence, is didactic. When tests have major consequences for the

educational or professional futures of pupils or teachers, they influence pupil and teacher behaviour and even policy, an effect known as ‘washback’ (Shohamy, Donitsa-Schmidt et al.

1996; Rea-Dickins and Scott 2007). Goldstein (2004) provides examples of high stakes testing in England and Texas impoverishing classroom practices and curriculum as teachers ‘teach to

the test’. Drawing on research from a mainly high income countries (Stiggins 1999; Stiggins

2002`; Popham 2009; Koh 2011), researchers have called for assessment for learning as well as assessment of learning, pointing out that ongoing formative assessment integrated into

planned classroom learning is most constructive in supporting learning. Formative assessment is explained by Popham (2009:5) as “a process in which assessment-elicited evidence is used by

teachers to adjust their ongoing instructional activities, or by students to adjust the ways they

are trying to learn something”. This has given rise to the term ‘assessment literacy’ to describe

teachers’ ability to collect and use evidence on learning. Such evidence goes beyond

performance in formal texts to include diverse forms, such as oral responses to teachers’

questions, reading outloud passages from books, completing and writing up experimental investigations. The body of academic writing on assessment literacy argues for techniques of

formative assessment to be included in teacher education and professional development. Box 4 describes action research conducted by EdQual, which supported to teachers to use data they

were already collecting on pupil test performance to identify pupils in need of support and to

make decisions about their teaching strategies.

Beyond learning outcomes

In section two, we identified three dimensions of education quality – inclusion, relevance and

participation. It was also asserted that education is principally about complex, contextually situated processes. In this section we have argued that reliable measures of learning outcomes

are important and powerful indicators of inclusion and their measurement and communication

can support participation through making education systems and schools accountable for learning outcomes. We have also argued that measures of learning outcomes, including value-

added measures need to be selected for relevance to national contexts and warned that over-reliance on measures of learning outcomes and their use in top-down results-based

accountability can distort quality (Goldstein 2004) . Measurements of learning outcomes remain

only partial indicators of quality and cannot take the place of inspection or supervision systems that involve regular classroom observation (O'Sullivan 2006). Alexander (2008), writing with

reference to the NCERT framework for measuring the quality in India, has argued against on an overdependence on quantitative measures of learning outcomes and also points out that

classroom observation and qualitative judgements are indispensible indicators of quality. This

highlights the importance of sound inspectorate systems, an area in which there has been little research African context.

Measuring Education Quality – Some Considerations

From whose perspective is quality judged?

Which area of activity within an organisation determines quality?

At what level of the organisation is quality analysed?

How is quality defined in terms of time?

What data are used to form an opinion of quality?

What standards or measures are used in order to make quality judgements?

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Alexander (2008) also criticizes the tendency for indicators to focus only on the school classroom so that concerns for quality are consistently deflected downwards to the level of the

school and classroom. He calls for indicators of quality within each level of the education system to focus on the work of that level and for sharing of responsibility for quality. In other words,

monitoring and evaluation in education tends to be focused at the school level. However, as we

argued in section 2, networks of accountability need to be multidirectional, and this requires setting targets and indicators for the policy sphere and for the work of school inspectors, local

education officers and curriculum designers, who mediate between policy and teachers. At the national level, process indicators for democratic public and professional debate on quality might

also be monitored (Barrett 2011). Such qualitative indicators are of course a matter of professional judgement and hence contestable. Contestation, however, is integral to the

business of building and maintaining socially just good quality education. One way of doing this

may be by adapting the model of ‘backward mapping’, developed by Dyer (2007) for a study of policy implementation in India or through aggregating school data for district and higher levels,

as discussed below.

3.3 School leadership for school improvement EdQual research in Ghana and Tanzania found that whilst schools and teachers collected data

on pupil attendance and performance in school tests, this was not used to identify disadvantaged students at risk of dropping out or diagnostically to inform teaching. In our

research, university-based researchers showed head teachers simple pen and paper techniques

for analysing and presenting data and performed more complex statistical analysis for them using personal laptops. Head teachers then used this information to mobilise teachers and

community members to engage with initiatives to improve education quality for the most disadvantaged groups in their school (see box 4).

Prew & Quaigran (2010) describes in detail an initiative that created multidirectional

accountability and improved planning for quality improvement in Northern Ghana. The School Performance Review initiative collected data against a range of quality indicators for and with schools and then communicated this in accessible formats at school-community meetings,

circuit meetings (the local level responsible for managing and supporting schools in Ghana) and district meetings. The 44 indicators included 22 outcomes indicators generated from

standardized tests in English and Mathematics administered across the whole district to Year 3

and Year 6; 17 quantitative and qualitative indicators School Performance Review indicators based on observations, interviews, documentary analysis and survey data and 5 teaching and

learning process indicators generated from detailed lesson observations. Meetings were held at different levels, which were spaces for dialogue. So, for example, at the school-community

meeting teacher drinking habits and absenteeism rates were discussed along with parents’

neglect in allowing children to truant. As schools had ownership of the data, school leaders accepted findings and responded to them in school development plans. Likewise, circuit

supervisors and district managers aggregated data to generate evidence that informed their initiatives, allowing resources and efforts to be targeted where they were needed most. The

School Performance Review process has also been implemented in Uganda and South Africa, where unlike in Northern Ghana, positive impact on learning outcomes was evidenced.

11

Box 4: Head teachers leading change in Ghana and Tanzania

Source: Oduro and Dachi (2010) EdQual Policy Brief no. 6. See also Bosu et al. (2011) and Oduro et al. (forthcoming).

EdQual’s Leadership and Management of Change project set out to identify effective school

leadership practices for improving the quality of education for the most disadvantaged learners.

It did this through facilitating 20 primary school head teachers in Ghana and 10 in Tanzania to each conduct an action research project in their own school. Head teachers identified a specific

issue, collected data to understand it better and then creatively planned and implemented actions to tackle the issue, monitoring outcomes as they went along. University-based

researchers gave support, particularly with data analysis, through regular visits. In addition, the

project conducted a survey of head teachers’ views on leadership and case studies of effective practice in a small number of schools. Clear and easily understood data on school quality

enabled head teachers to engage staff in their initiative and mobilise local support. Initiatives included: a community-funded feeding programme; finding NGO training and support for

children heading families; remedial classes for working boys; a multi-pronged initiative to reduce girls’ exposure to sexual risk, raise their confidence and aspirations; pedagogic

improvement and parental awareness-raising to support the development of communication

skills of hearing impaired learners.

For some head teachers, participating in the action research transformed attitudes to leadership. In Ghana in particular, it generated a belief amongst head teachers that they could

make a difference to learning and teaching in their schools. There was a clear change of head

teachers’ mind-sets from seeing themselves as bureaucrats and functionaries to a view that they could act as ‘instructional leaders’. In a minority of schools, particularly in Tanzania, head

teachers did not seem able to bring about change. These schools served communities with little capacity to support the school, for example because most parents were migrant workers and

absent much of the year. When this was compounded by understaffing or a head teacher, who was distracted from her or his work by other responsibilities then, it would seem, school

improvement could only be initiated by an external actor, usually the district education office.

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4. CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGICAL CHANGE There is a large and growing body of research documenting classroom implementation of new

competency or outcomes-based curricula across various low to middle-income countries (for a review of some this literature see, Schweisfurth 2011). These curricula set targets for

knowledge and skills to be achieved (outcomes or competencies), including cross-curricular skills such as those related to critical thinking. This contrasts with the traditional form of many

African curricula. Known as content-based, these were presented to teachers as syllabi, documents that specified the knowledge content to be delivered and were often read as

specifying the order and pace for delivering material. Teachers could be characterised as

transmitters or conduits for delivering objective knowledge, or specified texts (Bernstein 2000), which students were then expected to reproduce. Competency-based curricula are informed by

constructivist theories of learning, within which the learner is viewed as active in constructing knowledge and drawing on their prior knowledge in the process. The teacher’s role is to

facilitate the learning process, with an emphasis placed on creating an enabling learning

environment. Hence, the introduction of compentency-based curricula has gone hand-in-hand with the expectation that teachers will employ learner-centred pedagogies, in which the learner

is an active inquirer with ‘apparent control’ of content and pace of learning (Bernstein 2000). These entail some degree of ‘personalisation’ so that each pupil learns at their own pace and

has the opportunity to pursue their lines of inquiry and create their own texts (drawings, composition, project-work etc). This requires teachers to engage constantly in formative and

diagnostic assessment in order to plan resources and activities for the learner. Assessment also

tends to celebrate what is present in the texts created by the learner (e.g. ‘what an exciting story, tell me what happens next’) rather than the deficit in reproduction of a text (e.g. mistake

in reciting of Archimedes’ principle). Competency-based curricula are also associated with greater use of thematic teaching, where a topic or project spans more than one subject area.

Curricular reform in Africa has been linked by Chisholm and Leyendecker (2008) to the shift to multiparty politics in many countries during the 1980s legitimating a “new market orientation”

(Ibid., p. 195) and hence opening the door for industry to influence education policies. Competency-based curricula, initially emerging in Western countries (Australia, New Zealand,

Scotland, Canada), were seen as equipping entrants to the workforce with transferable skills

needed for an era of globalisation, mobile capital and rapid technological development. Hence, they set out to develop students as lifelong learners able to acquire new skills midway through

their careers and adapt to technological change (Cross, Mungadi et al. 2002). At the same time, learner-centred pedagogies and notions of child-centred (or child-friendly) schooling are

advocated by human rights organisations as promoting children’s rights in education and also the values of political democracy (Tabulawa 2003; Schweisfurth 2011). Competency-based

curricula also viewed as being more inclusive than content-based curricula with an assumption

that all learners are ”inherently competent” (Bernstein 2000:43) and the flexibility to recognise learners’ knowledge acquired outside school (Le Fanu forthcoming).

However, a series of research articles have pointed to limitations in the implementation of

competency-based curricula and\or learner-centred pedagogies in classrooms (Tabulawa 1997;

Chisholm 2000; Harley, Barasa et al. 2000; Cross, Mungadi et al. 2002; O'Sullivan 2004; Todd and Mason 2005; Dussel 2006; Chisholm and Leyendecker 2008; Hardman, Abd-Kadira et al.

2008; Guthrie 2010; Schweisfurth 2011). Several of these note the continued predominance of whole class teaching and restricted dialogic interactions, with teacher explanation, recitation

and rote predominating (e.g. Hardman, Abd-Kadira et al. 2008; Wedin 2010; Hardman, Abd-Kadira et al. in press). Barriers to classroom implementation of reform that have repeatedly

been identified include:

large class sizes defy ‘personalisation’ strategies;

learning resources are too scarce to support student-led learning inquiries;

limited professional capacity of teachers, who have with little or no experience of or

training in learner-centred pedagogies; pupils and sometimes teachers’ limited fluency in the language of instruction;

conflict between the implicit values, particularly in regard to teacher-learner relations,

and those held by teachers;

a failure to link teacher education and assessment with changes to primary and

secondary curricula (see section 5 below); and

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the complexity of new curricula and their use of opaque jargon.

Several authors have argued against a simple oppositional relationship between ‘teacher-centred’ and ‘learner-centred’ techniques observing that many teachers’ practice displays

elements of each (Alexander 2000; Nakabugo and Siebörger 2001; Brodie, Lelliott et al. 2002; Lewin and Stuart 2003; Barrett 2007; Vavrus 2009; Mtika and Gates 2010). These writers share

in common a social constructivist view of learning but do not see this as being incompatible

with a mixed palette of teaching techniques. Some argue that, in part due to a prevalent ‘deficit discourse’ around education in developing countries, the effective practices that teachers have

evolved for working with learners in their contexts have been overlooked and hence, opportunities missed to spread and build on existing good practices (O'Sullivan 2006; Barrett

2007; Le Fanu forthcoming). Le Fanu (forthcoming) has also suggested that incorporating these local practices into curriculum development make teaching and learning more inclusive in

practice (see box 5). Other authors (Hardman, Abd-Kadira et al. 2008; Halai forthcoming;

Hardman, Abd-Kadira et al. in press) have made recommendations for the design of initial teacher education and continuing professional development that can transform attitudes and

practices (this is taken up in section 5).

Nonetheless, there are also recorded success stories where the format of teaching and learning

has been transformed not just in recent years but dating back to the 1970s. Examples include the Escuela Neuva schools in various Latin American countries and the more recent rolling out

of activity-based learning in the metropolitan district of Chennai in India (Little 2006). Both of these arrange students into multigrade classes and rely on the use of learning materials that

pupils work through in groups at their own rate. In Chennai, teachers were given adequate training, which included involving them in the production of materials (Anandalakshmy and with

Madir 2007). Small scale initiatives targeted at minority groups that have fallen through the net

of government formal schooling have also been successful in breaking the traditional mould of schooling, including. Farrell (2002) gives the examples of the Alternative Basic Education in

Karamojong (ABEK) programme in North Uganda and community schools in Zambia.

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Box 5: An inclusive curriculum in Papua New Guinea

Source: Le Fanu (2010). See also Le Fanu (forthcoming; forthcoming).

The research In 2004, the government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) introduced a new ‘inclusive‘ curriculum

designed to meet the needs of all students. Le Fanu studied its implementation in three primary

schools in the Eastern Highlands of PNG between 2008 and 2009 and examined the processes of formulation for the new curriculum.

Findings

Although the teachers’ practice had changed in some ways since the introduction of the

curriculum, they had not adopted many of the student-centred ‘teaching and learning precepts prescribed in curriculum documents.

Non-implementation of the curriculum could partly be attributed to the gap between the

technical demands of the curriculum and the capacity of the teachers to meet those demands—

for instance, due to lack of in-service training and access to resources. It can also be attributed to culturally embedded teacher resistance to the facilitative roles they were expected to play in

the classroom by the curriculum and to teacher scepticism about the validity of constructivist theories of learning.

Although the teachers ignored many of the curriculum‘s precepts, some of them had developed

their own contextually appropriate approaches for promoting student learning. However, many

of these approaches assumed teachers should centrally control teaching and learning and were hence contrary to the spirit, as well as the letter, of the new curriculum.

No disabled children were visible in the schools he visisted. This can be attributed to various

factors, including high school fees, negative social attitudes, and lack of investment in support

services for students with impairments. Other marginalised groups (such as girls) were also under-represented or unrepresented in the schools. This shows that ‘inclusive curricula need to

be combined with additional, contextually appropriate measures.

Recommendations

Policymakers should work with rather than against educational realities to promote sustainable and authentic inclusive education. New curricula should therefore be both contextually

responsive and supported with appropriate measures. This means governments and development agencies need to be:

Enquiring organisations, so they can discover these realities;

Open-minded organisations, so they can respond to these realities;

Collaborative organisations, so they can work with local stakeholders to change these realities

when this is necessary.

4.1 The use of ICTs to support pedagogic change There is evidence to suggest that appropriate ICTs, when incorporated into teaching and learning, can be catalysts for more interactive teaching and learning and student-led inquiry

(Selinger ; Beauchamp and Kennewell 2010). However, placing hardware and software in

schools does not on its own produce change. Teachers need professional development in their use that includes an opportunity to explore its potential, involvement in developing materials

and support with classroom practice. An EdQual project in Rwanda explored the potential of computers, already appearing in primary and secondary schools, to enhance classroom teaching

and learning. The project was underpinned by socio-cultural theories of learning, which claim that all human action is mediated by tools. The idea of ‘tool’ can incorporate a wide range of

technologies and artefacts (for example pen, paper, book, computer), semiotic systems (for

example language, texts, graphs, diagrams), social interaction (for example group work) and institutional structures (for example national educational policy). Project design built on

previous research in UK (Sutherland, Roberston et al. 2009) and Chile (Hinostroza, Guzmán et

15

al. 2002). The findings, presented in box 6, illustrate similar potentials, challenges and

limitations to those identified in high income countries (Levin and Wadmany 2008; Kennewell, Tanner et al. 2009; Ward and Parr 2010). Even when teachers do not use ICTs to transform

their practice to be more facilitative of learner-led inquiry, they still managed to enhance the quality of teacher-led whole class teaching. However, the project concluded that in order to

develop the kind of ICT capabilities that will support Rwanda’s national development vision of

growing its service sector and becoming a regional communications hub, young people also need opportunities to use ICTs in an explorative and playful way (Rubagiza, Were et al. 2011).

Teachers will only be able to facilitate this if they themselves are given time to develop confidence not just in using computers but in supporting students to use them and this also

involves finding time to experiment collaboratively with colleagues. The extension of the Rwanda project by Uworwabayeho (2009; Uworwabayeho, Rubagiza et al. forthcoming)

illustrates the value of teacher educators engaging in research inquiry directed at the design of

such professional development for teachers. The Gansu Basic Education Project (box 7) is an example of ICTs being integrated into large scale reform to provide a rich resource of teaching

and learning materials for teachers.

Box 6: Using computers to enhance classroom learning in Rwanda

Source: Uworwabayeho et al. (Uworwabayeho, Rubagiza et al.). See also EdQual Policy Brief no. 3 (Sutherland 2010).

The EdQual in Rwanda project examined ways in which the computers appearing in increasing

numbers in primary and secondary schools in Rwanda could be used to enhance teaching and

learning. It was conducted in the context of imminent curriculum reform and focused on science and mathematics subjects at the primary and secondary level. The project centred around the

implementation of a collaborative professional development programme, working with more than 65 teachers for four years, and its evaluation. Through a series of workshops and follow-

up visits from researchers, nearly all of whom were teacher educators, teacher participants developed their own skills and to plan activities to be carried out in their own schools. Video-

recorded lessons were used in subsequent workshops for reflection and evaluation on teachers’

practices of using ICTs. Within the first three years of the project it was observed that although teachers started to use ICT in lessons, they tended to incorporate it into the dominant teacher-

led lesson format. Even when an activity was planned for students using the computers, 80 of the 100 minutes of the lesson were taken up with teacher-talk and demonstration before the

students finally were allowed hands-on time with the computers.

During the last two years of the project, one of the teacher educator-researchers, Alphonse

Uworwabayeho, worked more intensively with two mathematics teachers experimenting with

the use of dynamic geometry software. Both researcher and teachers were qualified for teaching mathematics but had never used any ICT tools before. Both teachers’ schools were

well equipped with computers and connected to the internet. The lessons they planned, implemented and evaluated generally started with the teacher setting a problems. For about

80% of the lesson time, students worked in groups of two to three on a computer to investigate

the problems as the teachers moved around the class to ensure students were on task and discuss their mathematical activities. The lesson ended with a review in which the teacher

highlighted new mathematical knowledge that the students had produced.

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Box 7: Use of ICT to support curriculum reform in Gansu, Ghina

Source: Barrett et al. (2007:3)

Gansu Basic Education Project (1999 – 2006), China

The Gansu Basic Education Project (GBEP) is a major attempt to improve the quality of education in a region of China where the three major dimensions defining the distribution of

educational inequality meet: the west of the country rather than the east, rural rather than

urban areas and ethnic minority rather than Han majority populations. Its implementation coincided with the introduction of the New Curriculum Reform for Basic Education (Ministry of

Education, 2001) with an emphasis on child-centred learning, co-operative learning, creativity and the development of the individual. GBEP is a multi-component project but with two pivotal

aspects, School Development Planning and Participatory Approaches to Teaching, that define a

shift towards a ‘bottom up’ approach that ultimately focuses on meeting the learning needs of the individual child (GBEP, 2007). Important aspects in the project design include teacher

training and up-grading; a variety of access improvement strategies such as the provision of scholarships, posting of female teachers to remote areas, feeding programmes and the

development of child friendly campuses; the development of locally relevant materials for teacher and manager training and for classroom use.

The project makes considerable use of ICT. Resource centres, set up in township central schools and in-service teacher training institutions, capitalise on an existing national

infrastructure of satellite communications and educational television. They are equipped with satellite dishes and a range of electronic hardware, including computers, printer, CD-player and

re-writer, data storage items, television, digital camera and computer modem, plus a range of

software. Not all of these centres have internet access but connectivity is rapidly increasing. The centres are used for teacher professional development activities but also for the production

of print and video materials by local teams, to be relevant to local conditions and learning needs (Robinson, 2006).

An unusual component of the programme has been the designing and provision of ‘Children’s

Schools’, which starts from asking: ‘What is a child’s school? What does a school look like that a

child would design rather than an adult? What should a school be like when the child is placed at the centre of the picture?’ (Smawfield and Du, 2006). Important aspects of this design

process include the provision, design and use of furniture to support participatory teaching methods and co-operative learning; the consideration of school and classroom displays; and the

creation of a ‘happy campus’ by means such as the provision of space and facilities for sports

and play and general improvement of the appearance and functionality of school grounds, often with active community involvement.

An account of the achievements of the project (GBEP, 2007) identifies the biggest changes that

it has brought about as being changes in relationships between the school and local authorities,

school and community and teachers and pupils. The last of these is perhaps most important in

terms of identifying and meeting the diverse needs of learners in a truly inclusive education.

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5. MAKING A DIFFERENCE TO WHAT TEACHERS DO Internationally, there is a growing recognition of the centrality of teacher professionalism to

education quality, even when quality is narrowly defined in terms of student performance in tests (UNESCO 2004). As the recent and influential McKinsey Report (Mourshed, Chijioke et al.

2010) on education improvement across 20 education systems in low and middle income countries, including Ghana, Jordan, Madhya Pradesh in India and Chile asserted, educational

improvement essentially means changing processes of teaching and managing schools and this requires teachers not just to develop technical skills but to also internalize new ways of thinking

about learning. Much of the EdQual research was concerned with how teachers can be best

supported to transform their practice (e.g. Uworwabayeho 2009; Halai 2011; Halai forthcoming; Oduro, Fertig et al. forthcoming; Uworwabayeho, Rubagiza et al. forthcoming) However,

research on teacher management (e.g. Duthilleul 2005; Mpokosa and Ndaruhutse 2008; Mulkeen 2010) and teacher professionalism (Avalos and Barrett forthcoming) points to teachers’

working conditions, training and qualifications (Lewin and Stuart 2003) and weak management

and supervision as reasons for poor practice. This is illustrated by Sriprakash’s (2010) study of a child-centred curriculum in rural India, called ‘Joyful Learning’, in which she found that teachers’

unprofessionalism and lack of engagement with their work undermined implementation.

Adapting Avalos and Barrett’s (forthcoming) model for teacher professional development, teachers’ practice –what they actually do in their work - may be conceptualised as dependent

on their ability to do the tasks required of them, or self-effiicacy, and their willingness to invest

time and effort in doing those tasks well, or motivation. In capabilities language, self-efficacy may be realted to having the capability or opportunity to teach well and motivation to the

decision to realise that capability. Both efficacy and motivation are influenced by professional development opportunities; status, respect and rewards and the policy and school contexts.

Well-designed professional development expands what teachers are able to do and also,

through collegial interactions and opportunity for reflection on practice development, may inspire and motivate teachers. Employment conditions such as adequate and regular pay and

security of tenure create conditions that enable people to maintain physical health and psychological well-being, unimpeded by anxiety regarding their own health and safety of

themselves and or that of their dependents. Social status, respect and appreciation from the

local community can also contribute to teachers’ perceptions of their self-efficacy and motivation. Policy and teaching contexts have profound implications for teachers’ sense of self-

efficacy. Frequent changes in curriculum and other policies affecting teachers’ work has for many years been recognised as undermining teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, to impinge on the

space for developing professional expertise and hence for teachers’ to lead. At the school level, inadequate resources, over-sized classes and corrupt or ineffective school leadership all create

conditions, in which teachers find it impossible to do what is required of them. This in turn

leads to a sense inefficacy – feeling that they are not good at the job – that over time erodes motivation to invest time and effort.

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Figure 2: teacher efficacy and motivation

5.1 Professional development opportunities

Initial teacher development

Teacher perceptions of self-efficacy and agency are related to how secure they feel about their

knowledge base and their teaching strategies. And these in turn are closely related to their initial

preparation and professional development opportunities. Akyeampong et al.’s (2011) recent study of initial teacher education and continuing professional development in six African

countries3 focused on the curriculum areas of reading and mathematics. Across all six countries it identified a gap between the aspirations of competency-based primary curricula and initial

teacher education practices. This they related to the contrast between the detailed and frequent

work on development of primary curricula and the relative neglect of teacher education; the fact that very few teacher educators had primary school experience or access to the syllabus and

textbooks available in primary schools; and imbalance in assessment with procedural knowledge given more weight through examinations than pedagogical knowledge assessed through erratic

observation. In a study of teacher education in six districts in Tanzania, Hardman et al. (forthcoming) note the predominance of lecture format and teacher domination of classroom

talk, not dissimilar to patterns of interaction in primary schools themselves. Like Akyeampong et al. (2011) they also note an imbalance of content matter with subject knowledge being privileged over pedagogical knowledge and inadequate supervision of the practicum. Hence,

newly qualified teachers find themselves ill-prepared for working with large classes, poorly resourced schools, pupils who do not know the language of instruction and who are starting

school without pre-reading skills (e.g. letter recognition) that nursery of pre-school develops

(Akyeampong et al., 2011). Two small scale studies (Vavrus 2009; Mtika and Gates 2010) that have analysed the practices of trainee secondary school students from individual teachers’

colleges in Tanzania and Malawi, also highlighted limitations to the capacity of teachers’ colleges to prepare students to deliver new competency-based curricula.

Continuing Professional Development

Akyeampong et al. (2011) did find examples of continuing professional development enabling

teachers to develop skills on the job, usually provided through external support, such as the Children’s Book Project in Tanzania, and, exceptionally, mentoring from experienced teachers.

Hardman et al. (2008) argue for the use of school-based professional development, which both introduces new techniques and challenges deeply entrenched educational values. Combining

workshops with mentoring in schools means that teachers are exposed to theory, supported to

change their practice and, if they see the benefits of that change, may change their educational

3 Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.

Self-Efficacy

Ability to do tasks

required

Teachers’ practice - What teachers’ do

Motivation - Willingness to invest

time and effort

Professional development opportunities

Status, respect, rewards

Policy and school contexts

19

values. Hardman et al. (2008) also recommend teachers participating in such CPD are clustered

within schools or neighbouring schools so that they can support each. Collegiality can also reduce resistance to change (Clement and Vandenberghe 2000). Hardman also recommends the

use of supporting materials such as handbooks or radio pragrammes, as used in Malawi (Shaba 2009), to support teachers’ professional learning. EdQual projects achieved some limited success

with supporting secondary mathematics and science teachers in South Africa, Pakistan and

Rwanda (Sutherland 2010; Venkat, with Mhlolo et al. 2011; Halai forthcoming; Uworwabayeho, Rubagiza et al. forthcoming) to use interactive methods that created space for student-led

inquiry through combining workshops with regular mentoring visits to schools (for examples, see boxes 6, 8 and 9). However, they also demonstrate the extent to which changing educational

values and pedagogical practice in Africa is an uphill task, unlikely to be accomplished through a single programme of short-term workshops.

Akyeampong et al. (2011) point out the advantage of continuing professional development over initial teacher education is that it can support teachers to learning in the context of practice and

can be tuned to address specific needs. Whilst initial teacher training is wider in focus, being concerned with general principles and methods, it does reach a large mass of teachers. This

means that if investment in teacher education was commensurate with attention given to

developing sophisticated constructivist primary curricula, it has a potential to make a central contribution to the implementation of curriculum reform.

Box 8: Professional development to support curriculum reform in rural Pakistan

Source: Halai (forthcoming)

The project studied the process of implementation in disadvantaged rural classrooms in

Pakistan of the problem solving strand in Standard V of the national curriculum in mathematics.

University-researchers worked with twelve mathematics teachers to interpret the national curriculum, explain and demonstrate teaching and learning processes, develop teaching plans

and encourage reflection on their teaching. To encourage peer-support within the research process, schools were selected within one administrative unit (a taluka) and headteachers were

encouraged to create space in the school timetables so that the mathematics teachers could

meet and work collaboratively to interpret and implement the new curriculum.

Initiall,y lessons followed the same format in all the lessons observed. The teachers explained mathematics rules and procedures on the blackboard and the students then followed these to

solve problems taken from the exercises in the prescribed textbooks. Over the course of the

project, the teachers demonstrated an increasingly sophisticated understanding of problem solving in mathematics classrooms. Close to 60% of the total lessons observed engaged

students in the problem solving process by providing opportunities for them to express their thinking and rationalise their mathematics decisions. Instead of providing only one standard

procedure for solving a problem, teachers encouraged multiple routes to the solution.

Preparing the teacher educators

Hardman et al. (forthcoming) observed that the professional development of teacher educators

was neglected in Tanzania, with only a third of teacher educators having participated in a SIDA-funded three month teacher educators’ programme that ran from 1997 to 2002, when funding

came to an end. Uganda has expected primary teacher educators to complete a two year

Diploma in Teacher Education, now being replaced by a Bachelors in Teacher Education, since the 1960s. However, O’Sullivan (2010) observed this to share many of the weaknesses of

teacher education more generally, in being skewed towards subject knowledge with very little time given to pedagogical content knowledge or general pedagogical knowledge. She calls for

much more content and time to be given to teacher education pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge and the use of formative and

summative assessment. Both O’Sullivan and Hardman et al. recommend that teacher educators

be engaged with research, including research on their own practice - “the role of research and enquiry is key to supporting teacher educator preparation and professional development”

(O’Sullivan, 2010). Hardman et al. (forthcoming) see the isolation of many teachers colleges from universities as obstructive to their engagement with and in research and hence the

20

cultivation of professional reflexivity. EdQual research in Rwanda and South Africa, including

doctoral research, provides examples of teacher education inquiry in collaboration with school teachers, which was intended to inform the design of initial teacher education and continuing

professional education. In Rwanda, the projects were part of a strategy for building the capacity of Kigali Institute of Education for leading research on ICTs in education (Barrett, Cross et al.

2010; Sutherland 2010; Barrett, Crossley et al. 2011).

Box 9: Talking science in secondary classrooms in South Africa

Source: Venkat et al. (2011)

In South Africa, the new Further Education and Training (a post-compulsory phase) curriculum demands shifts from teacher centred pedagogical practices that promote rote learning to

methods that promote high learner participation, develop problem solving and critical thinking

skills as well ability to construct scientific arguments. However, most teachers are inadequately prepared for these changes or else unsure of what is required. Doctoral research by Msimanga

focused on the use of classroom talk as a teaching strategy to create the kinds of learner participation and engagement envisaged in the science curriculum. The focus was guided by

research which suggests that classroom discussion plays a central role not only in science knowledge construction but also in the development of critical thinking and argumentation skills

and cognition. Implementing these methods is challenging for science teachers, however, who

often experience a tension between their view of science as an authoritative discourse and the pedagogic requirement to create space for students to construct scientific meaning.

A qualitative collaborative research methodology was used, in which the researcher, a teacher educator, was a participant-observer working with three school science teachers in Soweto. The

study commenced with workshops, proceeding to classroom observation, in which the researcher initially co-taught to model the strategies considered in the workshops. Pre-teaching

planning meetings were held followed by lesson presentation and then post-teaching reflection meetings. Co-teaching was gradually reduced and eventually stopped. This was followed by

classroom observations and video recordings of a series of lessons by each teacher. Only one

teacher seemed to foster learner argumentation in her classes. In some of her lessons, students jointly constructed arguments with the teacher and then constructed individual arguments and

provided rebuttals for some of those arguments. Teacher confidence in science content knowledge varied among the teachers and also for each teacher depending on the topic under

consideration.

This project and its findings demonstrates the scale of the challenge of introducing complex

curriculum change that demand high levels of pedagogical skill from teachers and run counter

to their understanding of how teaching works.

Social justice in initial and continuing teacher development

Not only should teacher preparation provide grounding in relevant content knowledge and

pedagogical skills but also a concern for social justice and understanding of its implications for school organisation, curricula and pedagogy. However, an earlier study of teacher education in

six low to middle income countries (Lewin and Stuart 2003) found that goals relating to

professional responsibility and interpersonal skills were mostly left to the ‘hidden curriculum’: This may sometimes promote positive attitudes; for example, Malawi students noted

the opportunity ‘to share ideas, work together and get to know people from other tribes and areas’ as one of the best things about college, and Ghanaian students appreciated

some of the social and moral aspects of their training. On the other hand, the strict rules and authoritarian attitudes in many African colleges seem unlikely to develop

independence, personal and social responsibility, or a sense of professional agency.

(Lewin and Stuart 2003:74) Teacher training institutions can also take a lead in modelling and promoting democratic

organisational cultures and practices for schools, as illustrated by Schweisfurth’s (2002) reflections on an initiative to promote understanding of democracy in a teacher education

college in The Gambia. Avalos and Barrett (forthcoming) point out that if practicum sites are

selected to expose student teachers to social difference and diversity, they can be facilitated to

21

recognise learners’ diverse socio-cultural identities and examine their own attitudes towards

them. They cite examples of teaching programmes in Latin America, North America and Australia that set out to prepare students to work in socially, ethnically and culturally diverse

communities (Quilaqueo, Quintriqueo et al. 2005; Zeichner 2009; Hickling-Hudson 2011).

The principle of inclusion that applies to children’s participation in education, similarly applies to

teachers’ access to professional growth opportunities. Gender balance in recruitment, and even more especially deployment to rural\urban settings, is a subject of much debate in mainstream

education and development literature. There is also some concern over the recruitment of teachers from marginalised ethnic groups (for example UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2006;

UNESCO 2008). Mpokosa and Ndaruhutse (Mpokosa and Ndaruhutse 2008) note the under-representation of teachers with disabilities and consequent shortage of teachers able to sign for

learners with hearing impairments. When it comes to professional development and promotion

of serving teachers, teachers in remote postings are less likely to access opportunities. Clearly, it is logistically much more difficult to provide professional development opportunities when

schools are sparsely distributed over wide areas, where communications infrastructure is poor, and travel is expensive and time-consuming. However, unless specific initiatives are targeted at

providing these teachers with development opportunities and representation in national debate,

a large number of them will continue to be less than professional in their practice.

5.2 Status, respect and rewards

Source for this section: Avalos and Barrett (forthcoming) In the last ten years or so there have been a number of studies that focus on teachers and their

working conditions around the world (VSO 2002; UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2006; Bennell

and Akyeampong 2007; UNESCO 2008). In low income countries, this focus has been prompted in part by concerns about high absenteeism and low morale amongst teachers, and the

detrimental impact this is having on the achievement of EFA. The McKinsey report (Mourshed, Chijioke et al. 2010) identified appropriate reward and remuneration structures as an essential

ingredient of successful reform. While there are obvious differences in how the salary issue

manifests itself in different contexts, if unsatisfactory remunerations are added to poor working conditions such as high pupil-teacher ratios, then teacher motivation and sense of wellbeing

diminish. On these issues, there are a number of studies that report on teacher perceptions in low income countries and fragile contexts as well as in better-off country situations (e.g.

Robalino and Körner 2005; Tenti Fanfani 2005; Liu and Ramsey 2008). Among these is the comprehensive set of country case studies, synthesised by Bennell and Akyeampong (2007) that

found respondents identifying low salaries as the key cause of poor motivation in ten out of

twelve low income countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Other studies have shown the effect on teacher morale and perceived social status of salaries below those of civil servants

or workers in other economic sectors (VSO 2002; Welmond 2002; Benveniste, Marshall et al. 2008). For contract or ‘para’ teachers, the situation is magnified by even lower salaries and

insecure contracts (Pandey 2006). In fragile or conflict-afflicted contexts, if compensation is late

in arriving or simply never arrives, as occurred during wars in Sudan and Liberia, teacher motivation may understandably dwindle to almost nothing (Sommers 2005; Kirk 2008).

Low teacher motivation as a product of unsatisfactory salary conditions may be overcome if

other factors facilitate their work, such as community recognition or a strong commitment to teaching observed in the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) study of Liberian teachers (IRC

2007). Studies in Africa have found that for individuals committed to teaching as a vocation,

recognition and appreciation from the community supports positive professional identity (Barrett 2005; Tanaka 2010). Such commitment in turn is associated with ‘wellbeing”’, a physical and

psychological condition resulting from basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing being met (IRC, 2007). Commitment to teaching and to the young may also be a main reason for selecting

the teaching profession, over and above salary considerations as found in studies on Chilean

future teachers and serving teachers (Avalos and de los Ríos 2010; Avalos and Matus 2010). On the other hand, poor relations between the school and community can erode a sense of pride in

professional identity and low remuneration can have knock-on consequences for perceived status within local communities (VSO, 2002).

22

Teacher motivation is assisted by collegial relationships and the possibility offered by their

schools and working conditions (especially allocated time) to engage in such activities. Also important is the support provided by specialised staff to meet situations of extreme

misbehaviour or violence in schools and classrooms, as well as dealing with pupil differences and their complex requirements. For teachers working in rural schools, the social support of

colleagues may ameliorate the hardships associated with remote postings, for example by

sharing meals, accommodation or making a staff collection when a teacher is affected by illness or bereavement (Barrett, 2005; Tanaka, 2010). Whilst, friendships between staff may be an

important factor in retaining teachers in remote schools (Hedges 2002), the benefits do not always extend to professional support in teaching and learning activities. To a large extent,

establishing a culture of professional collegiality within a school depends on skilled school management and facilitative support from local education managers (Ngcobo and Tikly 2010;

Oduro, Fertig et al. forthcoming).

5.3 Policy and school contexts

Teachers’ experience of policy change

The policy contexts in which teachers work and especially the messages transmitted about what

are considered appropriate outcomes of teachers’ work have an effect on teachers’ sense of self-efficacy. Over the last decade and a half, one of the greatest changes to teachers’ work in low

income countries has been the universalisation of primary education, confronting them with large classes and a greater diversity of learners, including more learners from homes where

parents have had very little or no education and, in some countries, a wider range of ages

(Ramachandran, Pal et al. 2005; Croft 2006; Kamunde 2010). Bennell and Akyeampong (2007) note that whilst this has led to increased resource flows through donors and government

prioritisation of primary education, it has already increased workloads, which, particularly for teachers in the lower year groups, where enrolments tend to be highest, can diminish teachers’

sense of self-efficacy and, motivation. Teachers can also experience tension between their own values and beliefs concerning teaching

and learning and those prescribed in policy. This is seen for example, with the introduction of

new regulations limiting the use of corporal punishment in schools in many countries, often with little professional debate or professional development around alternative disciplinary regimes.

Widespread reforms in curriculum, described in section 4 of this paper, demands a reconceptualisation of the learning process predicated on socio-cultural and related learning

theories, to which many teachers in low income countries have had little exposure. In a review

of over 70 research articles on learner-centred education, Schweisfurth (2011) highlighted conflict teachers’ attitudes and practice, which has been shaped by their own learning, training

and teaching experiences, together with the speed and complexity of change. This is compounded by levels of classroom resourcing that is a far cry from the information-rich school

environments of the Western countries where the “doctrine of progressivists” (Schweisfurth 2011:427) has its roots.

In other parts of the world, however, the uptake of results-based management within education systems have implied a more restricted notion of teaching than that held by teachers’

themselves (Tatto and Plank 2007). In Chile, for example, measures of pupil learning outcomes are being used to determine teachers’ pay and promotion opportunities (Avalos and de los Ríos

2010). Teachers’ perceive this as narrowing their role to a focus on language and mathematics

teaching. This and other research (Anagnostopoulos 2007) suggests that in countries where teachers are highly qualified, resentment is likely to be most acute amongst teachers serving in

schools with large numbers of disadvantaged pupils. It is these schools that tend to be placed in the spotlight for having below average scores and hence are put under pressure to focus on the

core curriculum. However, teachers in these schools may be used to developing curricula that

engage pupils in difficult circumstances and support the development of social and emotional skills. In India, however, where teacher absenteeism is a chronic problem (Kremer, Chaudhury

et al. 2005), there is some experimental evidence to suggest that performance-related pay can increase pupil achievement in tests in India (Muralidharan and Sundararaman 2006; Kingdon

and Teal 2007). This research has relied has relied on statistical analysis of scores and not studied the effect on classroom processes.

23

Teachers and democratic participation

We have indicated that teachers should be participating in debates and decision-making around education quality. This is facilitated by open channels of communication between national

decision-making institutions, which also signal recognition and respect for teachers’ professional knowledge and expertise and benefits teacher motivation. However, Mpokosa and Ndaruhutse

(2008), in their review of teacher management in developing countries, observe that many

teachers in rural and remote locations feel that they are not consulted by managers or policy makers. Whilst, they offer examples of school management successfully including teacher

participation in decision-making, they do not report on a positive example of more central administrative levels engaging with teachers. Teachers’ professional associations and teacher

unions have a role to play here as well as representing the legal and political interests of teachers. The exclusion of some teachers from such organisations, for example contract or

para-teachers, can make them vulnerable to exploitation. Robinson and Gauri (2010) found that

contract teachers in India had no legal recourse if salaries were paid late or they were dismissed at short notice, despite usually doing the same jobs as regular teachers and being equally or

even better qualified (see alsoGovinda and Josephine 2004).

The principle of democratic participation also places responsibilities on teachers, requiring that

they be responsive to the concerns of parents and the community served by the school as well as professionally accountable. Jansen (Jansen 2004) has argued that resistance of the South

African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) to whole school evaluation, although understandable in that it is rooted in historic mistrust of surveillance dating back to the

apartheid era, undermined “substantive accountability” (ibid: 64). It meant that published performance of students’ grades in exit-point examinations continued to be only quality indicator

available to parents, preventing them from gaining a fuller understanding of school quality.

Research in other countries, has shown that training school committee members in how to oversee school quality can be effective in creating local accountability and restoring trust and

communication between school and community (Welford and Mosha 2002; Save the Children UK 2008).

24

6. TEACHING AND LEARNING IN MULTILINGUAL CONTEXTS The interaction analysis conducted by advocates of dialogic pedagogy (Hardman, Abd-Kadira et

al. 2008; Wedin 2010; Hardman, Abd-Kadira et al. in press) or argumentation in science

education (see box 9) is similar to that conducted by those analyzing the influence of language of instruction on the quality of teaching and learning (e.g. Afitska, Ankomah et al. forthcoming).

However, rather than starting from a broad commitment to social constructivism for cognitive development, their arguments focus on language and literacy development. Simply put, children

and young people learn how to speak, write and read any language by practicing speaking,

writing and reading. So classrooms in which learners are expected to spend most of the lesson listening, in which they do not have access to books and only open their mouths to answer

restricted closed questions, often in unison with the whole class, are not conducive to acquiring language skills whatever the language of instruction. However, when teachers and learners are

not fluent in the language of instruction, the scope to engage in more cognitively complex tasks, including group discussion, reading and writing work, is severely restricted. Hence, it is

hardly surprising that a range of research, including that conducted by EdQual in Tanzania (see

box 10) shows that English-medium education in African schools with learners whose English language ability is low impedes learning (Macdonald 1993; Rubagumya 2003). By contrast

mother-tongue-medium education (MTE) enables teachers to teach and learners to learn more effectively (Heugh 2006). Initial short-term MTE is now used in many English-medium

education systems in Africa. However, much research both from Africa and elsewhere suggests

initial ‘early-exit’ MTE (e.g. four years) may not deliver strong academic benefits. In particular, it may not enable learners to learn successfully either through the African Language of

Instruction (LoI) or later through a European LoI. Current evidence suggests strongly that if it is to deliver these academic benefits, initial MTE needs to be longer – a minimum of six years –

and more cognitively challenging (Heugh 2006; Ouane and Glanz 2010).

Debate on education quality is, as we have argued in section 1, political and this is especially

true when it comes to language of instruction. Language is integral to and constitutive of culture and hence, decisions about language of instruction are loaded with concerns around

national, ethnic and community identities. They are also loaded with individual and national aspirations related to social mobility, economic opportunities and participation in processes of

globalisation. As Rubagumya et al. (2011) argue, our freedoms and positions within local,

national and the global society depend sharply on language fluency. Hence, in Africa, education for wealthy elites is usually in the medium of an European language. By contrast, education in

the medium of African language is often relatively underfunded and beset with quality challenges that obscure the benefits of MTE (Rubagumya, with Afitska et al. 2011). A good

quality education in a second or third language may indeed be a rationale choice for parents

and students if the only mother-tongue alternative is of very poor quality. Much debate around language of instruction has been polarised between academics arguing for MTE and popular

demand for an European LoI (Brock-Utne 2010). This neglects the reality that many people in Africa, especially but not only in urban areas, live in multilingual societies (Prah 2010).

Unsurprisingly, schools and classrooms often are in practice multilingual, whether or not literacy in two or more languages is an official educational goal.

Whilst decisions over language of instruction need to be debated within the society served by an education system, international research does suggest priorities for improving instruction in

multilingual contexts and for second language learners. First, teachers need to know strategies for engaging learners in talk in the language of instruction, for developing reading fluency and

writing (Benson 2004). This calls for initial teacher education and continuing professional

development, very much in line with that recommended in section 5 above, that includes strategies for teaching second language learners (Afitska, Ankomah et al. forthcoming).

Likewise, textbooks written in English need to use language that is appropriate to the linguistic abilities of students (Clegg and Afitska 2011). As mentioned above, this extends to

examinations that can only assess subject knowledge if the language and formatting of

questions is accessible to second language learners (Rea-Dickins, Yu et al. 2009). To summarise, research shows that it is easier for learners to acquire literacy and other cognitive

25

skills in a language in which they are already fluent. This is borne out by large scale surveys of

school quality that show that once other factors are taken into account, frequent exposure the language of instruction outside of school is strongly associated with improved learning

outcomes (e.g. Smith and Barrett 2011). Nonetheless, there is scope to improve teaching and learning and assessment within the parameters of existing language policies.

Box 10: Teaching and learning in more than one language in Tanzania and Ghana

Source: Rubagumya et al. (2010)

EdQual’s language and literacy projects examined classroom processes in English (L2) and

African languages (L1) in Ghana and Tanzania at the stage when there is an official switch in

the Language of Instruction (LoI). Having gathered initial data, teacher-development workshops were offered and the impact of these were measured through another round of observation.

The workshops were designed to focus the attention of teachers on ways to increase the pedagogical effectiveness of their talk, and also the quality and quantity of learner talk, reading

and writing in both languages (L1 and L2). Video observation data was gathered in classrooms in primary years 3 and 4 in three schools in Ghana and in primary year 6 and secondary form 1

in 12 schools in Tanzania. The sample included urban and rural schools. Textbooks used by

learners in both countries were also analyzed.

Findings in Tanzania showed that teachers used a wider range of teaching and learner involvement strategies when they taught lessons in Kiswahili. However, the teacher-

development interventions improved teaching practices and learner involvement in lessons taught both in Kiswahili and in English. In Ghana, teachers used some teaching strategies more

frequently when they taught in African languages, but higher fluency in English enabled them to use others more easily in English. In both countries, textbooks written in English were difficult

for learners to read.

26

7. CONCLUSION In section 2 we argued that education quality is essentially about processes, which are socio-

cultural in nature and necessarily situated. Coming from a social justice perspective, we highlighted the importance of open and transparent public and professional debate in achieving

and sustaining quality. Throughout the paper we have emphasized the role of local leadership and innovation for quality improvement. This also suggests that any attempt to draw out

overarching recommendations from an international review needs to be set about with caveats and digested into a broader stream of debate. Nonetheless, in this conclusion we draw out

some cross-cutting themes and their implications for planning education reform.

Build national capacity for education research linked to teacher education

Demands for ‘more training’ for teachers are commonplace, not least from teachers themselves but these should raise another set of questions - training by whom and how?

“If you have poorly trained tutors how can they train good quality teachers”

(Principal, Primary Teachers’ College, Uganda, August 2006). (O'Sullivan 2010:377) There is no endless change of knowledge transmission reaching into distant unreachable

heavens or the distant shores and ivory towers of professors’ officers. Acts of knowledge creation in education are performed at the chalkface of school, college, classroom, the

workplace and marketplace as well as in the offices of statistical officers and examination officers and so knowledge creators are often closer to those sites then is sometimes supposed.

Although external expertise may be consulted, learning from international best practices and

research elsewhere is enabled by an understanding of contextual realities at home {O’Sullivan, 2010 #835}. This may seem paradoxical but it is only with an understanding of the context for

application that informed judgements can be made about the usefulness and relevance of ideas and experiences from elsewhere and that so-called ‘best practices’ can be intelligently adapted

(or rejected). Teacher educators hold a pivotal position at the nexus of educational theory and

practice and hence pivotal in the success or otherwise of curriculum reform. This means that teachers’ colleges need to be linked with research-active institutions and teacher educators

need to be given space for their own professional development and inquiry into practice.

Curriculum reform needs to carry with it all parts of the education system

We have seen how curriculum reform carefully designed for relevance in a globalising world

and, perhaps less effectively, relevance to local contexts, aims to develop creative, flexible lifelong learners, who are problem-solvers and, at least notionally, critical thinkers. These are in

line with national visions for economic and political development. We have also seen evidence that in some countries, new curricula have run ahead of teachers’ colleges, which need

investment to regenerate as centres for innovating and disseminating the pedagogical strategies demanded by these curricula. National assessment is also too often neglected, not

least because it demands highly specialised expertise, which may not be available. However,

selective end of cycle examinations are extremely high stakes for students and teachers and easily become the ‘tail that wags the dog’ when it comes to determining educational processes.

They can also provide vital information for evaluating quality, particularly inclusion. This paper has not covered inspectorates but they also need to be applying criteria and providing support

that is compatible with new curricula. In other words, for curriculum change to be implemented

investment in curriculum development needs to be matched by investment in other areas that shape classroom practice.

Talking, reading and writing in the classroom

International research on the quality of teaching and learning has taken a range of theoretical

perspectives although much contemporary research fits within the broad umbrella of social constructivism. Without going into much detail, research in Africa consistently highlights the

need for pupils to be engaged in more cognitively demanding activities in lessons as opposed to

spending the majority of lesson time listening to teacher-explanations punctuated by limited responses to teacher questions. This includes not only the use of group work for talking,

discussing and arguing but also individual activities of reading and writing. Expanding the pedagogic strategies upon which teachers can draw is particularly important for developing

language fluency and literacy skills, which give access other subject areas. The development of

27

these skills is front loaded in the lower primary years, which form a gateway to educational

opportunity that for many is closed by disengaged teachers, large class sizes or the unavailability of paper, pen and print matter to read. Richer resource environments and

reasonable class sizes that allow the use of group work make it easier to implement a range of pedagogic strategies. Skills in formative and diagnostic assessment allow teachers to make

informed decisions about which strategies and resources to use with which students. ICTs may

be used to facilitate learning activities but their introduction needs to go hand-in-hand with teacher development that gives teachers and teacher educators the opportunity to experiment

with the new technology outside of and then within the classroom. Although there are plenty of good examples of externally funded projects successfully facilitating pedagogical change, only

through initial teacher education and formal professional development programmes can change teachers’ practice on the scale required by national curriculum reform.

Informed leadership and multidirectional accountability

We argued in section one that open, transparent, democratic processes of decision-making

underpin inclusion and relevance in education. Informed debate depends on reliable data collected against a range of qualitative and quantitative process and outcomes indicators and

being available in accessible formats to a range of audiences. This calls for investment in

assessment systems and establishing school evaluation mechanisms that incorporate multidirectional dialogue between parents and teachers, communities and schools, schools and

district officers and up to the national level. Aggregated data, for example, showing differences between districts or regions, can provide indicators for the work of district and national level

staff.

Section two and three highlighted how informed, effective local leadership sustains school level

innovation and change. Incorporating school leaders into top-down systems of control, whether intentionally or otherwise, can stultify contextually relevant innovation. Accountability and

management systems need to be designed to enable educators as reflexive professionals and as local leaders of change. This involves schools have a sense of ownership over data relating

their schools, that can motivate them to diagnose and respond to quality challenges of

inclusion, relevance and participation.

28

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1

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