1. Changes in teaching and learning: what counts, who to,
13th International Conference on Education and Development Learning for Sustainable Futures
15-17 September, 2015 University of Oxford, UK
Changes in teaching and learning: what counts, who to,
and how is it counted?
Tom Power, Senior Lecturer, the Open University
Rama Mathew, Professor of Education, University of Delhi:
Ashraf Siddique, RME Officer, English in Action:

2. Outline Introduction Approach to School Based Teacher Development
Research framework and findings to date
Further methodological development ~ Human Capital & Human Capabilities
Creating spaces for teachers voice

3. Introduction
Teacher Education / Educational Technology in Low-Middle Income Countries
Evidential issues in literature reporting changes in teaching practice and student learning outcome (see Power & McCormick, 2014)
What counts, to who? (Human Capabilities vs. Capital - Tikly & Barret, 2011)
Wrestling with capital vs capabilities approaches: Case Study: EIA, Large scale TE programme for ELT’s in Bangladesh

4. EIA approach to SBTD at scale…
practice expertise via (offline) mlearning
+ local peer support
Pilot
Upscale
local
peer
support
mobile
materials
mobile
materials

5. Research Framework: Large scale studies
Providing quantitative evidence of changes in:
Teacher & Student Perceptions (Questionnaire and focus groups)
Classroom Practices (Timed observations)
English Proficiency (Diagnostic interviews)
Supplemented by qualitative studies to provide greater insight / explanation
Driven by evidence needs of Programme, donor and GoB… designed a priori by programme team, pre-intervention

6. Research Framework: Small scale exploratory studies
Under-privileged (UCEP) School leavers: perceptions and experiences:
use English language, after completing school
role of English in improving employability or earnings
How English skills are viewed by others in workplace
expected significance for future career / earnings
New Elements: perceptions and experiences of:
using new programme materials and technologies
more ‘school-based’ teacher development programme
emphasis on peer- facilitation
focus on social inclusion in teaching materials

7. Further development required?
These studies are “…rare … in evidencing in exhaustive detail teacher and student activities… [and learning outcomes] on such a massive scale…” (external appraisal, 2015)
But… want to better understand participants perspectives and insights… the contexts, motivations and mechanisms that enable people to achieve changes they have reason to value… and why they value them… in their words… but grounded, evidenced…
Can large-scale teacher education programmes make space for more participatory / action research experiences?

8. Human Capital or Capabilities?
Human capital perspective:
Quality assessed in terms of enrolments and retention, student outcomes, cost- benefits; a priori determined by external agencies, possibly with poor understanding of contexts or processes
Human capabilities / rights perspective:
Values participants’ (teacher and students) perspectives & voice; supports them to identify learnings they have reason to value; enabling professionalism and agency; legitimises teacher knowledge and helps to theorise from practice

9. How do we hear teachers’ voices?
Provide opportunities for teachers to
confront held beliefs, existing practices through a research approach to their work (e.g. Japanese Lesson Study, similar initiatives in Malaysia, Australia, Singapore and China)
‘tell their story in their own words’ to capture how things unfold - insider perspective
Share their learning with other professionals resulting in communities of practice

10. Discussion
Experiences of tensions between human capital and human capacity discourses?
Increasing awareness of importance of context?
Research Methods for increasing participants voice?