Understanding stakeholders’ perceptions of quality teaching in Rwandan secondary schools

• In Event: Adapting secondary schooling in Rwanda to the context of COVID-19: Lessons from the Leaders in Teaching Initiative

Proposal

Teacher quality is widely regarded as a critical factor in addressing growing concerns about the poor quality of teaching and learning in many countries, including Rwanda. This paper focuses on understanding teacher quality from the perspectives of five stakeholder groups: trainee teachers, early career teachers, late career teachers, teacher trainers, and deans of studies, through 18 focus group discussions (FGDs). These FGDs entailed an exploration of participants’ perceptions of factors which they identify as important in a good teacher; the most crucial aspects which define teacher quality and the kind of feedback which they believe helps teachers improve their teaching.

Analysis of the data highlights that teacher quality is perceived as a multidimensional construct, with interesting variations among some stakeholder groups. All stakeholders agreed that quality teachers take time to prepare lessons, use the appropriate teaching methodology (including resources and materials), facilitate group work for students, and monitor student learning. Giving all students opportunities to engage in lessons, and valuing each child while making sure that every child is learning, emerged as the most significant hallmarks of good quality teachers across all stakeholder groups. Interestingly, another important dimension of teacher quality which emerged was the role of good teachers in promoting strong Rwandan cultural values. Encouragingly, among the different groups, trainee teachers were the most vocal about the identifiers of good teacher as being aligned not only to having a degree/diploma, but the individual also having knowledge of the subject taught, understanding each student and promoting equal opportunities for the active participation for all students. We conclude the presentation by arguing that developing a contextually sensitive understating of quality teaching from the perspectives of different stakeholders is important to implement successful reforms in which teacher and policymaker expectations are aligned. Consideration of these findings for understanding how to assess teaching quality in a post-COVID era will be vital.

Authors

• Anthony Onwuegbuzie, University of Cambridge

• Emma Carter, University of Cambridge

• Nidhi Singal, University of Cambridge