Improving learning for all in Pakistan:
a search for teacher quality through
teacher education.
Gordon MacLeod
Quality and equality in student learning
The “problem” (from ASER, 2011)
• quality of student learning is poor;
• equality in student learning is low (girls; rural; public).
Consequences of both aspects of the problem
• Poorer societal well-being (economically, socially,
individually--health, wealth, satisfaction, etc.)
What relates to student learning? (Pakistan)
Possible teacher and student “reasons”
• Teachers’ poor quality; lack of attendance; lack of time in
class; lack of knowledge; poor motivation; lack of
integrity: lack of pedagogical content knowledge; lack of
emphasis on “basics”; etc.
• Student drop-out; lack of access; etc.
• But… ASER primarily a household survey.
Possibly associated with higher achievement
• Household wealth; parental education level; being in
certain regions/districts; private schools; tuition;
consistent student attendance; being a girl (with access);
etc.
What is teacher quality?
Four approaches
• by teacher qualifications and credentials (e.g. B.A.);
• by teacher characteristics (e.g. ages, gender);
• by teacher processes (e.g. questioning); and
• by student learning/outcomes.
Student learning/outcomes approach
• Most recent and fashionable. How much do students
learn? What is the value added by teachers?
• Leads to a type of high accountability, and ‘league tables’
of learning, both national and international.
What relates to student learning? (Global)
Thousands of studies
• difficult even to keep up with
• results sometimes appear confusing and even
contradictory
Meta-analysis
• Set of (relatively simple) statistical techniques
• Reduces results to a common measurement, an “effect
size” e.g. “What is the effect of class size on student
learning?”
• “effect sizes” can be averaged across lots of studies to
give single estimate. Therefore, very powerful synthesis
is possible.
What relates to student learning? (Hattie, 2009a)
A synthesis of 800+ meta-analyses of student learning
• over 50,000 separate research studies on student
learning;
• more than 200 million students involved;
• 138 factors related to student learning (from 6 domains)
–
–
–
–
–
–
child
home
school
curricula
teacher
approaches to teaching.
What relates to student learning? (Hattie, 2009a)
Item
Class size
H, M or L
Item
Professional
development
Gender
Providing formative
(“feedback”) evaluation
Homework
Self concept
Microteaching
Socio-economic status
Open versus traditional
Teacher clarity
Pre-school programmes
Teacher training (PS)
Principals/school leaders
H, M or L
What relates to student learning? (Hattie, 2009a)
Item
H, M or L
Item
H, M or L
Class size
L
Professional
H
development
Gender
L
Providing formative (“for
H
feedback”) evaluation
Homework
L
Self concept
M
Microteaching
H
Socio-economic status
M
Open versus traditional
L
Teacher clarity
H
Preschool programmes
M
Teacher training (PS)
L
Principals/school
L
leaders
What matters for student achievement?
(Hattie, 2009b)
Overall
• Student domain accounted for about half of variance in
student achievement.
• Teachers and teaching accounted for one-quarter to onethird of variance in student achievement.
• Principals (school leadership), schools, peers and home
influences account for an average 5% or 6% each.
• Taken together, teachers, teaching, school and school
leadership account for 30-40% of variance
• Meta-analysis requires cautious interpretation (see paper)
Does preservice teacher education
make a difference?
• Paper reports on work in three ‘rich countries’ -USA, UK
and Australia on preservice teacher education.
• Much of writing about teacher education is rhetorical,
driven by the political and ideological beliefs of vested
interests.
• Four agendas
– Social justice
– Professionalisation
– Regulation
– Deregulation
What works in preservice teacher education?
• Answer 1: Not a lot!
• Answer 2: “… nowhere is there strongly conclusive
evidence that preservice teacher education has a
substantial measurable impact on teachers’ subsequent
performances and student learning”
• Answer 3: Perhaps subject-matter knowledge matters
somewhat.
• Answer 4: Professional development seems to work.
Issues in Pakistani teacher education?
Little is known about:
• entrants to teaching—”the best and brightest?”;
• teacher educators—”the best and brightest?”;
• the Colleges—”somewhat dismal places”;
• curriculum and processes—will NACTE be a mechanism
for improving Pakistani teacher education and making
more transparent the curricula and teaching processes of
teacher education?
• Outcomes are of substantial concern.
Whither teacher education?
• But what of the context? Who, if anyone, really
cares?
• Teacher education cannot address context issues
that affect student learning e.g. access for girls;
transparency and openness in assessment; etc.
• Preservice teacher education has negligible apparent
effects on student learning but professional
development does.
• Should we then abandon pre-service teacher
education?
Should we abandon preservice teacher education?
A. Stages of becoming a teacher:
• self-orientation and survival
• then, task orientation
• and only then, focus on impact, on student outcomes
Beginning teachers have to be prepared for survival. What
skills are needed for this?
B. Also, students need to survive beginning teachers.
A tentative model for teacher education
Entry requires demonstrable subject-matter knowledge (an issue)
Initial course: short, sharp, focussed—six weeks? (child
development; classroom management; ethics; pedagogical skills,
duty of care and “caring” skills e.g first aid)
School-based placement with mentoring support.
Subsequent blocks of intensive coursework.
Primarily, a school-based approach based on principles of
professional learning (e.g. Timperley, 2011)
A tentative model for teacher education
BUT, …
No matter the model,
Teacher education or teacher professional learning cannot
succeed unless in a supportive environment of integrity,
openness, honesty, and morality.
Coda: the bit tacked on at the end
• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
Coda: the bit tacked on at the end
• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
• Beware of geeks bearing gifts.
Coda: the bit tacked on at the end
• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
• Beware of geeks bearing gifts.
• Beware of goras bearing gifts.
Coda: the bit tacked on at the end
• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
• Beware of geeks bearing gifts.
• Beware of goras bearing gifts.
• Beware of globalisers bearing gifts.
Coda: the bit tacked on at the end
• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
• Beware of geeks bearing gifts.
• Beware of goras bearing gifts.
• Beware of globalisers bearing gifts.
Thank you