Pedagogical Support and Motivators for Teachers: Advancing Teaching at the Right Level in Zambia

• In Event: Teachers, Competencies and Development

Proposal

The quest for just and inclusive foundational education in Africa is driven by a range of diverse approaches and avenues encompassing the "power to motivate teachers." This article explores the motivators and pedagogical support that teachers and education institutions need to foster the development of capacities to act, particularly in the context of foundational literacy and numeracy competence. Through qualitative research involving interviews with teaching at the right level (TaRL) teachers in Zambia, the study identifies key individual, social, and environmental motivators and de-motivators that influence quality implementation of TaRL. This includes observed learner performance improvement, confidence to teach, desire to fit among peers, and sufficient teaching facilities. The findings emphasize the significance of addressing institutional inequalities, and providing adequate resources to empower teachers and promote active learner participation. By empowering teachers through continuing professional development (CPD) and adequate resources, we can nurture active learners and cultivate motivated teachers to deliver foundational education.

1. Zambia’s learning crisis
A considerable number of children around the world are in school but not learning. Zambia is not an exception where despite gains in school enrolment in recent years following the free primary school rollout in 2002, many students in school lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. Statistics show the learning crisis in Zambia, as it had been ranked last in measures of literacy and numeracy by the 2011 Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ). The 2018 World Development Report notes that in 2012, over 80% of grade two students in Zambia could not read a single word. A 2014 national assessment found that 65% of Zambian grade two learners were unable to read a single word in their local language.

2. Teaching at the learning level to address the learning crisis
The learning crisis in Zambia has highlighted the importance of adopting effective teaching approaches to promote foundational education. The teaching at the right level (TaRL) approach is one such strategy that recognizes the diverse backgrounds, abilities, and learning styles of students, ensuring that each child receives personalized education tailored to their individual needs. TaRL focuses on building basic literacy and numeracy skills for learners in grades 3-6 by grouping them according to their current learning levels rather than age or grade. The approach, supported by simple one-on-one assessments, facilitates accelerated learning in a non-linear manner. Multiple studies, including six randomized evaluations conducted in India, have demonstrated the positive impact of TaRL. This has informed TaRL’s piloting and scaling journey in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries such as Zambia.

Zambia's adoption of TaRL, locally known as ‘Catch Up’, began in 2015 through a collaboration between the Ministry of Education (MoE), TaRL Africa, and VVOB - Education for Development and by 2023 had over 4,000 schools and more than 500,000 children participating.

To effectively implement TaRL in Zambia, it is crucial to motivate teachers through continuing professional development (CPD), mentorship support, and the provision of appropriate teaching materials and facilities. This article aims to explore the individual, social, and institutional motivators and de-motivators that influence teachers' ability to effectively implement TaRL in Zambia.

3. Study approach
To achieve this, in 2023, Busara Center for Behavioral Economics in collaboration with TaRL Africa and VVOB - Education for Development, conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews (IDIs) to collect data. The respondents were 30 purposely selected Catch Up (CU) teachers in Zambia's Southern, Eastern, and Lusaka provinces, representing urban, rural, and peri-urban areas. Thematic contextual analysis was used to analyze the data; bringing out behavioural, social, and structural factors affecting CU implementation. Using the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation Behaviour (COM-B) Model, we classified these factors as barriers or levers, understanding their influence on a teacher's capability, opportunity, and motivation to provide quality CU lessons. This model proves suitable for identifying necessary improvements in teaching approaches, considering the complex interrelationship of individual, social, and structural elements influencing CU lesson facilitation.

4. TaRL teacher motivators and demotivators
Teachers' perceived control over internal and external factors. Teachers with an internal locus of control are more motivated as they believe that their actions directly influence how they deliver TaRL and ultimately learners’ outcomes, while teachers with an external locus of control attribute outcomes to external factors like limited resources.

Noticeable learner outcome improvements, desire to fit among peers, and mentorship support motivates teachers. Individual motivators are teachers observing learners being enthusiastic about learning, noticeable academic improvement among learners, and teachers feeling confident to facilitate CU due to skills or training. The desire to fit and comply with peer CU teachers’ norms was a social motivator. Receiving pre-planned lesson plans, teaching guides, and mentors’ guidance constituted the key institutional motivators.

Language barriers and perceived lack of conducive teaching environment including school administration and MoE support demotivates teachers. Zambia policy on education requires teachers to teach in familiar Zambian languages from preschool up to grade 4. As such, a mismatch in the local language of the learners and languages spoken by the teacher were individual de-motivators. Limited capability to teach lessons, limited CU classrooms or class resources resulting in sharing resources and teaching outside were the major institutional demotivators. High pupil teacher ratio (PTR), and unfavourable TaRL classes time (such as early as 7am or as late as 7pm), when learners and teachers are fatigued, aggravated the institutional de-demotivators.

5. Conclusion and further research
By addressing institutional inequalities in accessing pedagogical support, creating environments where teachers feel they fit and learn from peers, continuing professional development, and providing necessary teaching materials and enough teachers creates teachers who are passionate to teach. Literature shows teacher motivation is important in ensuring learner motivation, quality education, and possibly learner outcomes (Kalyar et al., 2018; Luu, 2020; Bardach and Klassen, 2021).

To complement the qualitative findings and further assess variation of TaRL teachers’ motivation and how it influences their capacities to act, a quantitative study will be conducted with comparisons across demographics.

Authors

• Denis Kyalo Wambua, Teaching at the Right Level TaRL Africa

• Jacqueline Mathenge, Teaching at the Right Level TaRL Africa