Deconstructing the Capacity for Quality Instruction in Science, Mathematics and Language Teaching an

1
Deconstructing the Capacity for Quality
Instruction in Science, Mathematics and Language
Teaching and Learning in a Primary School 16
November 2006Makerere University, Uganda

• Promoting A Self-Reliant Approach To Basic
  Education Development in Africa Programme
• Loyiso C. Jita loyiso.jita_at_up.ac.za
• Matseliso L. Mokhele lineomats_at_yahoo.com
• University of Pretoria, South Africa

2
PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• Brief Recap of the South African Project
• Main Research Questions
• Approaches and Frameworks
• Feedback on Progress to date
• Future Plans and Way Forward
• Discussion of some findings
• Deconstructing the Capacity for Quality
  Instruction

3
Feedback on Progress to date
Organizational Structure

• Phase 1 (2005/2006)
• Phase 2 (2006/2007)
• Phase 3 (2006/2007)

• Pilot phase (2 schools) develop and refine the
  instruments techniques data analysis
  approaches.
• Thorough discourse and training on instruments
  methods. Identify collaborators research
  students.
• Schools Workshop I Identify schools/launch
  research
• Full Study (additional 2 schools)
• Focus of Investigation Research Question 1, 2
  (limited extent), 3 4.
• Schools Workshop II (Feedback Discussion of
  Findings)
• Full Study (continuedadd 2 more schools)
• Focus of Investigation Research Question 2 5.
• Continue exploration of longitudinal aspects (how
  capacity changes over time how it is lost,
  maintained and/or replenished over time).
• Schools Workshop III (Discussion of Final Report)

4
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM What makes two
schools, with similar sets of resources, offer
instruction of radically different qualities
and/or to have markedly different student
achievement levels?
5
Research Questions
6
Research Questions
7
Research Questions
8
Some Literature Review
3 Major Research Programmes Investigating Quality
and Effectiveness in Teaching and Learning

• Effective Schools Research (ESR)
• School Improvement Research (SIR)
• Improving Educational Quality (IEQ) Project

9
CRITIQUE OF THE RESEARCH

• ?Plethora of studies (USAID/WB) developing a
  LIST of school characteristics teacher
  behaviours associated with effective schools.
• Capacity viewed as deficit at school level
  (labs, textbooks, etc.) or at the level of
  teachers (knowledge, qualifications).

10
Instructional Capacity Framework
Instructional Capacity (Multidimensional /
Dynamic)
Individual
Organizational
Classroom Processes
School-wide Resources Arrangements
Materials
Leadership
Institutional Culture
Curriculum Physical Resources
Parent Community
Teachers
Learners
11
Study Design

• Longitudinal Qualitative Study (3-year period)
• Selection of School Sites
• ? 6 schools
• ? Groups of 2 per area (different in terms of
  performance quality of instruction).
• ? Sample Characteristics mix of schools
  originally designed to serve the different
  population groups in RSA
• ? Special group of 2 rural schools.

12
Feedback on Progress to date
Organizational Structure

• Phase 4 (2007/2008)

• Development of a Research Report and Several
  Articles for Publication.
• Conference Attendance and Presentation
• Dissemination and Sharing of Findings (Policy
  Briefs Seminars Newspapers etc.)

13
Deconstructing Capacity for Quality Instruction

• Case Study Approach (in-depth analysis of complex
  issues involved in the construction of schools
  capacity). Multiple Case Studies
• Although our unit of analysis schools, the
  research is designed to capture the
  multi-dimensionality of the concept of capacity.
• Data Collection Techniques Mixed Method
  (interviewsindividual focus groups,
  observations, etc.).

14
The Case of Hillview Primary School

• Background
• Instructional Practices
• Reform practices and strategies
• Learner engagement
• Classroom discourse Role of the teacher
• Conclusions and implications

15
The Case of Hillview Primary School

• Background
• located close to SA border with Mozambique and
  Swaziland
• Oldest school in the area (Build in the 60s)
• Educated many of the townships older
  residents.
• learners reside in informal settlements (
  mostly immigrants) few live in the oldest part of
  the village with grandparents
• less than 20 of parents can afford school
  fees of R80p/y-12
• lost a number of students and staff in five
  year period through the arrangements in the
  informal settlement and redeployment
  policy750,697,650, 571,573 in 2002,2003,2004,2005
  and 2006. 10 in 20 teachers were lost and 6
  replaced.
• no principal for a few months (leadership
  uncertain)

16
Background and Location
17
The Case of Hillview Primary School

• Instructional Practices
• All teachers were experienced ( 12-22) years.
• Not all of them were certified to teach the
  subjects
• Reform practices and strategies
• all teachers engaged reform practices e.g.
  Relevance to real life , engagement in hands on
  activities and experiments.
• Learner engagement
• Engaged students fully (maths lessons)
• Made efforts, struggled with content knowledge
  (science lessons)
• Made efforts, failed to involve 80 of the
  learners
• Classroom discourse Role of the teacher
• Learner centered (maths lessons)
• Teacher talk dominated ( science lessons)
• Between the reform oriented maths and non
  reformed science lessons (English lessons)

18
Conclusions and Implications(1)

• Conclusion One
• A schools Capacity for Instruction is defined
  more accurately in terms of BOTH the individual
  and the organizational resources
• Implication of the Conclusion
• To construct a schools Capacity for
  Instruction, we need to focus not only on adding
  individual teachers or other such resources BUT
  also to focus on institutional culture,
  development practices and the use of such
  resources in each organizational context.

19
Conclusions and Implications(2)

• Conclusion Two
• Resources upon which Instructional Capacity is
  built are variable AND multifaceted.
• Implication of the Conclusion
• To help schools construct their Capacity for
  High Quality Instruction, we need to do a careful
  analysis and description of all the different
  kinds of resources a school has access to and not
  just the monetary or physical resources.

20
Conclusions and Implications(3)

• Conclusion Three
• A number of factors some internal (to the
  school) AND others external (from the
  socio-political-economic environment) determine
  shape a schools Capacity for Instruction.
• Implication of the Conclusion
• School districts or regions can help schools
  build and retain Capacity for Instruction through
  some deliberate centralized and decentralized
  planning. Some interventions, e.g. on post
  provisioning need to be planned centrally for all
  schools in a area while other issues like
  allocations of subjects to teach still require
  careful planning at the school level.

21
Policy Impact A Link with Self-Reliance
Sustainability Approaches

• The study contributes to a broader understanding
  of what goes into making a school effective in
  fostering quality learning in the specific
  subject areas.
• Findings present several characterizations of
  capacity in schools the factors affecting its
  development use under different conditions.
• School practitioners policy-makers are
  presented with several models of how capacity has
  been constructed utilized (for better or worse)
  in the different case study schools, thereby
  encouraging informed debate choices in the
  service of school development and reform.