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22/09/2014

VVOB in South Africa supports its partners, the Department of Basic Education (DBE), the South African Council for Educators (SACE) and the Free State Department of Education (FSDOE) in improving learning outcomes of primary learners in mathematics. As better teaching leads to better learning, VVOB collaborates with the partners to improve professional development for teachers.

But how will we know whether professional development of teachers has an impact on student learning and outcomes of maths? What are the effects of teacher characteristics and the school environment on the impact teacher professional development has.

Bringing in expertise

VVOB requested the expertise of Professor Peter Van Petegem1 and Professor Vincent Donche2, from the Institute of Education and Information Sciences of the University of Antwerp (Belgium). They visited the Free State (4-10/9/2014) to orient and familiarise themselves and find out which challenges the research would be facing. The researchers met with officials of the Free State provincial and district Department of Education in order to explore the context and clarify the theoretical background and research design.

Learning-teaching environment

The research design for such impact study requires taking the learning-teaching environment into account (Richardson, 2014). With the study the researchers want to map out the relationships between learning outcomes, learners’ study behaviour, learners’ perceptions of their learning environment and their demographic background. The learning-teaching environment includes for example involvement in learning, cooperation and responsibility for learning.

A second objective of the study is to find out how learning outcomes are related to learner characteristics, such as attitudes towards learning and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is a person’s belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations. Your self-efficacy can play a major role in how you approach goals, tasks, and challenges. The research will focus on those characteristics that are malleable across time. The study can then provide insights in priorities for professional development activities for teachers.

Learner’s perceptions

The research will look at learner’s perceptions of the learning and teaching environment. Such environment consists of the teaching strategies used, the feedback given and the support for learning. Simply put: classrooms and teachers determine how the learner learns and behaves. Are learners encouraged to apply what they have learned? Are they stimulated to connect and engage with ideas? Are learners encouraged to ask questions that go beyond what is written in the curriculum? This is called deep learning. Or is learning limited to memorizing from the textbook? Are learners expected to just being able to recite what teachers have told them? This is called surface learning.

Does assessment evaluate deep learning or rather reinforce surface learning? Learners often behave according to what is expected and adapt their learning to the assessment. This could mean that learners engage in surface learning because that is the only way to gain marks.

Data on how learners perceive the environment, can directly be linked to learning outcomes.

Teacher learning and student learning

Secondly, variables on teacher level, such as their professional development and the way this affects their learning processes, their attitudes towards teaching and their self-efficacy have an impact on student learning (Vermunt, 2014).

Or put differently: the way how teachers see learning, think about learning and learn themselves, influences the way learners look at learning. Do teachers wait for someone to tell them new things or do they actively go and find information? Do they feel that collaborating with peers in a professional learning community can assist them in acquiring new knowledge and skills?

Moreover, the same questions could be applied to subject advisors and other departmental officials that assist teachers. How do teacher trainers (subject advisors, DTDC staff, provincial officers) look at professional development, learning processes and outcomes? Do they themselves want to be fed with content or do they prefer environments where people critically engage with learning materials, reflect upon it and look for new sources of information? Do they feel responsible for their own learning? How do they see the “learning” of teachers?

Multi layered research design

Based upon previous research findings on teacher level (Van Daal et al., 2013) and student level (Klatter, 2001) a multi-layered model is proposed. Teachers do not function in isolation. They are part of a school system. Hence, the school level needs to be added to the research design. The school level variables included in the integrated research model are inspired by the work of Aldridge (2000) in Limpopo, South Africa. She investigated the correlation between class dimensions, such as learners’ perceptions of the attention for differentiation and cooperation, and school level variables such as the level of collegiality, parental involvement and support for innovation in the school as perceived by the teachers. She asked questions like: Are teachers allowed to try out something new? Does the school leadership encourage them to try out and implement new approaches? Are teachers allowed to make mistakes? Is there support for teachers who want to take the lead in educational change?

Free State

The researchers explained the theoretical model underlying the research design and contextualised it based on input from FSDOE and VVOB.

They checked the availability of certain data with officials of the Education Information Management System (EMIS) and examination sections. For example, the demographic background of learners (e.g. age, gender) is relevant information for the analysis. The availability of rich statistical information (Annual national Assessment (ANA) and EMIS) at FSDOE and the willingness of the relevant officials to make these data available, is of great value for the research and its implications

Free State officials were very interested and further explained specifics of the education system. A school visit to Lemotso Primary, Thabong, was organised by the district subject advisor coordinators Dr Fourie and Ms De Bruin. The principal, HoD, teachers and pupils were all very helpful and gave the Belgian experts more insight in math teaching in South Africa. The researchers observed a grade 6 math lesson, interviewed a math teacher and learners in order to try out the surveys. Individual copies of previous ANA tests gave insights and examples of various issues related to the poor scores of many learners. This mission has given ample background to now further develop instruments and finalise the research protocol.

Way forward

The practical way forward will be discussed with FSDOE and district, but a desired scenario is to conduct baseline surveys with learners and math teachers in approximately 100 schools in the Free State early 2015. School level data will be collected from EMIS, data on learning outcomes from ANA. Data collection will be combined with a first capacity development training on research skills with subject advisors. A second data collection phase will be organised in late 2016 and a final one in 2018. Quantitative data analysis will be complemented by qualitative in-depth analysis in selected schools.

The process of discussing the survey tools, collecting the data and interpreting the analysis will form part of a trajectory the VVOB team will guide the partners on. Therefore, this longitudinal research could be used not only to assess the impact of the programme, but also to strengthen research capacities of subject advisors.

So, obviously this was only the start of the process and while we are looking forward to the outcomes, a lot of work needs to be done to get there. We will keep you informed.

 

 

1Peter Van Petegem is full professor at the Institute of Education and Information Science of the University of Antwerp, where he leads the research group Edubron (www.edubron.be). He is specialized in the area of evaluation of education, at micro level (e.g. Learning patterns of students), at mesolevel (e.g. Self evaluation of schools, educational innovation) and at macrolevel (e.g. Implementation legislation regarding equal opportunities). He teaches courses in these areas in the master program 'training and educational sciences’ and the teacher education program at the University of Antwerp. He publishes in both national and international journal in the above mentioned areas.

2Vincent Donche is associate professor at the Institute of Education and Information Sciences of the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and senior research fellow of the research group Edubron. He is responsible for various pre-master and master courses on educational research methodology, statistics and qualitative research methods in education and training sciences. He conducts and supervises educational research within the research domains of student learning, teacher learning, higher education and educational measurement.

References

Aldridge, J.M., Laugksch, R.C., Seopa, M.A., Frazer, B.J., (2006). Development and validation of an instrument to monitor the implementation of outcomes-based learning environments in science classrooms in South Africa. International Journal of Science Education, 28, 45-70.

Klatter, E., Lodewijks, G.L.C., Aarnoutse, C. (2001). Learning conceptions of young students in the final year of primary education. Learning and Instruction, 11, 485-516.

Richarson, J.T.E. (2014). Students’ approaches to learning and perceptions of the learning environment. Paper presented at the European Association for Learning and Instruction, SIG 4 Conference, Leuven.

Van Daal, T., Donche, V., De Maeyer, S. (2013). The impact of personality, goal orientation and self-efficacy on participation of high school teachers in learning activities in the workplace. Vocations and learning, 7, 21-40.

Vermunt, J.D. (2014). Patterns in student learning: the past, present and a future. Paper presented at the European Association for Learning and Instruction, SIG 4 Conference, Leuven.