Teaching excellence: International teachers' perspectives on access, equity, and quality

• In Event: Reflections on the teaching profession

Abstract

As nations develop economically and educationally, they often face a common set of challenges to ensure the full realization of their populations’ human potential. Key challenges identified by previous literature include educational access, equity, and quality. While many of the interventions addressing these challenges are on a policy level, local context and practitioners exercise a large influence on the relative importance and success of addressing each challenge (Piper et al., 2006). It is important to study the perspectives of local actors in terms of the challenges of access, equity, and quality.

While some domestic studies have investigated teacher perceptions and efficacy (Lim and Eo, 2014; Meristo and Eisenschmidt, 2014), there have been few studies investigating teachers’ perspectives on educational access, equity, and quality, especially from an international perspective. Perry (2009), in her analysis of equity in twelve OECD countries, provides another important part of the foundation by identifying groups of factors influencing equity and the lack of it. However, we cannot tell from the data how local actors themselves perceive equity or inequity and the reasons for it. The present study builds on previous work done to examine teacher perceptions and the importance of teacher voice, while utilizing Piper’s (2006) access, equity, and quality framework.

The objective of this study is to bridge the researcher-practitioner gap by investigating teachers’ perceptions of educational access, equity, and quality – the causes, potential solutions, and proven innovations. The specific research questions include: What are teachers’ perspectives on the status, causes, and solutions of educational access, equity, and quality in their respective countries? What are the similarities and differences among each teachers’ perspectives on educational issues faced in each country? How do teachers perceive the impacts of national policies targeting access, equity, and quality? Through the process of interviewing teachers and identifying themes and patterns in their responses, we can provide lessons and implications for policy makers.

This project synthesizes the perspectives of 16 Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Fellows from 14 countries on access, equity, and quality in their schools and countries. The teachers interviewed in this study came to Claremont Graduate University for six weeks through the TEA program, a project funded by the US Department of State that aims to bring “outstanding secondary school teachers from around the globe to the United States to further develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States.”

The semi-structured interviews included questions related to teacher motivation, school structure, views on access, equity, and quality, and larger perspectives on education in their home countries. The countries represented in the study include: Russia, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Mali, Niger, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Through the process of interviewing and analyzing the transcripts, researchers began to identify broad themes and patterns. One emerging theme includes the patterns in what teachers deem to be the main causes of inequity and lack of access. Some attributed inequities to cultural factors or families, some to economic factors, some to teacher/administrator factors, and some to larger structural factors. Another theme is the impact of national policy in the local classroom. A third pattern is the lack of teacher voice in educational policy responses to the challenges of access, equity and quality.

This study provides a unique window into local actors’ perceptions of families, schools, economics, politics, and culture and can have implications for teacher training and policy development from governments and NGOs. Including these voices on access, equity, and quality will help to infuse broader global efforts with valuable local perspective.

References

Lim, S., & Eo, S. (2014). The mediating roles of collective teacher efficacy in the relations of teachers’ perceptions of school organizational climate to their burnout. Teaching and Teacher Education, 44, 138–147. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2014.08.007

Meristo, M., & Eisenschmidt, E. (2014). Novice teachers’ perceptions of school climate and self-efficacy. International Journal of Educational Research, 67, 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2014.04.003

Perry, L. (2009). Characteristics of Equitable Systems of Education. European Education, 41(1), 79–100. doi:10.2753/EUE1056-4934410104

Piper, B., Dryden-Peterson, S., & Kim, Y. (2006). Introduction: International education for the millennium: Toward access, equity, and quality. In B. Piper, S. Dryden-Peterson, & Y. Kim (eds.), International Education for the Millennium: Toward Access, Equity, and Quality (pp. 1-8). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review.

Authors

• Charlina Gozali, Claremont Graduate University

• Elizabeth Jill Claassen Thrush, PhD Student

• Thomas Luschei, Claremont Graduate University

• Michelle Soto-Peña, Claremont Graduate University

• Christine Whang, Claremont Graduate University