teacher motivation and working conditions in low- income countries: breakout session

TEACHER MOTIVATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS IN LOW- INCOME COUNTRIES: BREAKOUT SESSION

9th Policy Dialogue Forum of the International Task Force on Teachers

December 3-7 in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Emily Richardson and Molly Hamm, TMWG Co-Chairs

Agenda• Overview of the Teacher Motivation Working Group• Motivation and Working Conditions: Key Factors• Teacher Motivation Diagnostic Tool (TMDT)• Gaps in Understanding• Recommendations• Implications for Education 2030• TMWG Next Steps• Questions• Contact Information

Teacher Motivation Working Group• Comprised of individuals across various sectors

interested in advancing the understanding of teacher motivation in order to uncover the factors (both intrinsic and extrinsic) that have an impact on teachers providing quality instruction as a channel for improving student learning outcomes.

• Conceived of during a workshop that was held at the annual Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) conference in New Orleans in 2013.

• Membership has grown to include interested individuals from Save the Children, International Rescue Committee, World Vision, FHI 360, Education Development Center, STIR, Chemonics, UNESCO, Asia Advisory, GPE, UNHCR, Childfund, RTI, INEE, USAID, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Teachers College, and Stanford University, among many other organizations and institutes.

• Officially partnered with UNESCO’s International Task Force on Teachers for Education for All.

Our WorkGoals Strategies

Understand teacher motivation and well-being—what it is, why it is important, and how it affects teachers’ desire and ability to provide quality instruction in low-income contexts.

Consolidate research and evaluation studies on teacher motivation and well-being.

Contribute to the global knowledge base on teacher motivation and well-being, and elevate teacher voices in the process of producing that knowledge.

Develop and openly share tools, resources, and formal learning experiences that help us better understand and measure teacher motivation and well-being.

Serve as a research hub and knowledge dissemination platform for a wide range of stakeholders including policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.

Build a community of stakeholders invested in advancing policy and practice that is informed by teacher motivation and well-being research.

Teacher Motivation and Working Conditions

School Location & Classroom Challenges

School Climate

In-School Support and Access to Professional Development

Teacher Motivation and Working Conditions • Extra responsibilities: HIV/AIDs education

and testing, census reporting, elections • Multi-grade teaching, one-teacher

schools, multiple shifts• Large class sizes, limited materials,

student absenteeism

Workload and Classroom Challenges

• Remote postings: beginner teachers are typically the first to be deployed to remote schools, far away from families

• More challenging teaching contexts, fewer resources, difficult living conditions

• Linguistic and cultural challenges

Deployment and School Location

Teacher Motivation and Working Conditions • Head Teachers need to be leaders• Lack of classroom support and

addressing of challenges• When Head teachers do give feedback to

teachers on their instruction, it is often “negative”

Head Teacher Support and

Feedback

• Teachers have limited voice in school-based decisions, curricula, etc.

• Teaching is not always treated as a prestigious profession

• Problems are pointed out before successes

Autonomy and Recognition

Teacher Motivation and Working Conditions • Lack of engagement in children’s learning• SMCs and PTAs are underutilized

Parent and Community Involvement

• Teaching can be an isolating profession, especially in rural schools, one-teacher schools, etc.

Peer Learning and Collaboration

• Limited access to opportunities, especially for rural-based teachers

• Type of professional development matters (workshops vs. cascade models, etc.)

Professional Development

Teacher Motivation Diagnostic Tool

9

Teacher Well-Being

Teacher Motivation

Student Learning

OutcomesStudent Well-

Being• TMDT 2.1 was designed

to capture a variety of factors hypothesized to influence and interact with teacher motivation and performance

• Developed in 2015 by Save the Children and World Vision, with support from the TMWG

• Piloted in India, Uganda, Vietnam, and Bangladesh

TMDT Findings: Teachers’ Working Conditions10

India Uganda Vietnam Bangladesh

# of students who regularly attend largest class 13 40 24 42

# of special needs students in class1 2-3 3 2

# of non-teaching responsibilities 1-2 1-2 0-1 Unreliable

Teaches at least one multi-grade class 57% 45% 56% 28%

Students in a single class speak more than one mother tongue 34% 75% 84% 3%

Have language difficulties communicating with students 14% 15% 79% 5%

Classroom management is a challenge 79% 25% 43% 39%

Student health/wellbeing is a challenge 84% 75% 45% 60%

TMDT Findings: Quantitative Correlations11

India Uganda (self-reported)

Vietnam Bangladesh

Positive correlation with motivation/effort index

• # pre-training days

• Male• Has assistant• Multilingual

group of students

• Experience• Female• Teaching was

first career choice

• Time lesson planning and communicating w/ parents

• Relations

• Managing stress well

• Feeling successful as a teacher

• Agrees teachers are held accountable

• Teaching children from different background

• Focused on helping all students achieve at least basic competence

Negative correlation with motivation/ effort index

• Class size• # special

needs students• # non-teaching

responsibilities

• Mentees• Language

trouble w/ students

• # non-teaching responsibilities

• Multi-grade class

• # of schools in which have taught

• Class size• Conducts

formative assessment

TMDT Findings: TPD and Support12

India Uganda Vietnam Bangladesh

Duration of preservice training (months)

41% none; otherwise 11 30 35 8

Most recent in-service training (days) 47% none;

otherwise 10 months ago

40% none; otherwise

over one year ago

N/A N/A

# of head teacher observations in past year 18 7.5 3 34

% rating head teacher visits ‘very useful’ 29% 80% 78% 46%

# of supervisor observations in past year 7 2 10 5

% rating supervisor visits ‘very useful’ 91% 77% 82% 68%

% mentees 25% 30% 32% 33%

TMDT Findings: Teachers’ Suggestions

Share videos of outstanding teachers

Offer scholarships for continuous professional development

Offer small rewards and recognition for high-performing teachers

Stimulate interest in the community by providing periodic report cards for parents to assess children’s progress

Provide more training support for Head Teachers and local education supervisors

Mobilize community to engage in schools and support for teachers

Gaps in Our Understanding of Teacher Motivation

• Data! • Need to collect more data on teacher motivation in various contexts• Difficult to collect as ‘motivation’ is subjective and self-reported

• Terms connected to motivation: commitment, satisfaction, well-being• Ask teachers themselves how they define ‘motivation’

• Research! • Need to assess which interventions and incentives improve

motivation and which have no impact• Move away from financial incentives, such as bonus pay

Recommendations

Ensure that teachers have a ‘voice’ in policy formation and implementation, as well as school-level decisions

Recognize teachers, and head teachers, for good performance and improvements

Ensure that teachers’ basic needs are met

Provide quality support and professional development, especially for beginning teachers

Provide the ‘right’ incentives to motivate teachers

Mobilize parents and community members to better support teachers and schools

Implications for Education 2030When teachers are unmotivated, we see increases in:

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’

Ensure that teachers and educators are empowered, adequately recruited, well trained, professionally qualified, motivated and supported within well-

resourced, efficient and effectively governed systems.

Absenteeism Less time on task Attrition Shortage

Teacher Motivation Working Group: Next Steps

• Expand Steering Committee Membership for broader reach and representation

• Promote opportunities to replicate research using the TMDT• Refine the TMDT as an open-source tool to better measure

teacher motivation• Continue to compile and distribute research on teacher

motivation• Webinar series• Annotated bibliography of teacher motivation studies• Consultant/Researcher roster • Guest blog posts• Policy briefs

• Strengthen relationships/collaborations with other organizations and initiatives related to teacher motivation

Thank You!

• TMWG Contact InfoWebsite and Newsletter Sign-Up:www.teachermotivation.org

General Email: [email protected]

Co-Chair Emily Richardson: [email protected]

Co-Chair Molly Hamm: [email protected]

Facebook:Teacher Motivation Working Group

Twitter:@tmotivationwg