Teachers at the intersection of societal aspirations, policy priorities, and everyday realities (part 2): Perspectives on being/becoming a teacher

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Although much of their work is conducted in individual classrooms, teachers practice their craft at the confluence of many currents that ripple through the wider education system, state, and society. These currents—whether societal aspirations, policy platforms, economic constraints, or other large-scale movements—can profoundly shape teachers’ practice and lived experiences. Yet these currents, however influential they may be, are not the only force at play: teachers can and do exert their agency individually and collectively, which can lead to gaps between stated policy priorities and what actually occurs in classrooms and in teachers’ lives.

This two-part panel explores how teachers navigate the challenges, gaps and tensions presented by these currents in the classroom and their lived experience. It brings together eight papers that explore different domains of teachers’ practice and perspectives, across a range of contexts in both the Global South and Global North, as well as a range of research methods. Thus, each part of the panel will raise and discuss questions not only about thematic aspects of teachers’ daily work and experiences, but also about methodological approaches for better understanding these aspects.

Part 1 of the panel focuses on teaching practice, with four papers based on different but equally rigorous approaches to classroom observations. In addition to demonstrating a range of approaches and frameworks for studying classroom practice, each paper also sheds light on an aspect of student development that goes beyond conventional academic achievement.

Paper 1 draws on the OECD’s Teaching Insights video study of mathematics lessons in Chile, Colombia, England, Germany, Japan, Madrid, Mexico, and China, combining classroom videos, teaching materials, teacher and student questionnaires, and student assessments. Among other things, this study finds that classrooms tend to be well-managed, but students had few opportunities to engage in cognitively demanding activities; and also that most classrooms across countries were respectful, but few were warm and encouraging, implying some socioemotional support from teachers but only to a limited extent. Paper 2 also draws on classroom observations across eight countries (Afghanistan, Jordan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uruguay), in this case using the World Bank’s Teach framework. One finding from this paper is that most of the teachers observed did not enact high-quality inclusive teaching practices—but that those teachers who do use such practices also tend to show effective practice in other aspects of teaching. Paper 3 uses at a tablet-based classroom observation instrument called TEACH Plus, which combines the Teach framework with the Stallings Classroom Snapshot approach, as part of an evaluation a “growth mindset” intervention in Rio de Janeiro’s primary schools. In treatment schools, students also showed learning gains in standardized tests, and teachers scored higher in the domain of classroom culture and showed a significant shift in mindset. Paper 4 draws on a longitudinal qualitative study of lower secondary school classrooms in Vietnam, combining video-recorded lesson observations and teacher interviews, to understand teachers’ sensemaking of an ongoing curricular reform for competency-based education. Among the findings of the paper is that despite policy emphasis on fostering a range of student competencies, subject-related competencies tend to receive more attention from teachers than the more socioemotional competencies.

Part 2 of the panel shines a light on teachers’ firsthand perspectives and experiences of being and becoming teachers. Using a range of research approaches, these four papers explore varied aspects of how teachers experience and respond, on the ground, to policies and programs that are designed by higher levels administrative levels and to the wider social, cultural, and political environments in which they are embedded.

Paper 5 examines the experience of novice teachers in Indonesia, through a series of reflective journal entries and phone interviews over the course of two years. The narrative analytical approach in this paper identifies key themes in the professional identify development of these novice teachers, and highlights the strong influence—and ongoing shortcomings—of teacher policy on these early-career lived experiences, despite longstanding attempts in policy reform. Paper 6 turns instead to pre-service teachers in Zambia, using a mixed methods design to analyze pre-service teachers’ experiences of a teacher education course on sociological aspects of education. Encouragingly, this paper finds that the pre-service teachers strongly felt that the course was both conceptually and practically valuable for understanding how factors such as social inequalities and cultural differences affect teacher practice—yet these positive experiences were colored by less favorable resource constraints in teacher education, such as standing-room-only overcrowded lectures. Paper 7 explores teachers’ mindsets in low- and middle-income countries, using a multidisciplinary literature review alongside focus group discussions, interviews, and other empirical sources. This paper sheds light on how teachers perceive their roles, their expectations of disadvantaged students, and how teacher mindsets can be harnessed to improve student learning. Paper 8 explores the professional, organizational, and social norms that affect teacher practice, draws on a series of interviews between pairs of interlocutors with complementary expertise related to teacher norms, whether researchers or practitioners, and across a range of contexts. Preliminary findings highlight the deep interconnectedness between school-level norms and centralized policy-driven norms, and between daily practice and a larger sense of purpose.

Taken together, these papers highlight the wide range of currents and tensions that influence teachers’ day-to-day classroom practice and professional lives. They demonstrate the value of using a wide range of research approaches to understand these complex influences. They also offer empirically rooted encouragement: despite the widespread influence of centrally mandated policy decisions, priorities, and constraints, teachers can and do exert agency in their localized practice, whether they are Vietnamese teachers adapting pre-approved lesson plans to accommodate student needs, Zambian pre-service teachers actively engaging with a module on the interactions between education and society, or Indonesian novice teachers striving to maintain their professional commitments amid challenging working conditions. By drawing attention to tensions, complexity, agency, and adaptation, these studies offer insights into ways we might re-imagine teacher education and practice to fosters equitable and quality learning.

Sub Unit

• Teacher Education and the Teaching Profession SIG

Chair

• Joan Dejaeghere, University of Minnesota

Individual Presentations

• Becoming a Teacher: How Policy Shapes Novice Teacher Professional Identity Formation in Indonesia - Shintia Revina, The SMERU Research Institute

• Zambian Pre-service Teachers’ Experiences of Sociology of Education: Exploring Theory for (Future Teaching) Practice - Matthew A.M. Thomas, University of Sydney; Ferdinand M Chipindi, University of Zambia

• (Re)setting teacher professional norms amid the global learning crisis - Yue-Yi Hwa, RISE Programme, University of Oxford

• How Teacher Mindsets Shape Education: Insights from Low and Middle Income Countries - Vatsal Nahata, World Bank; Shwetlena Sabarwal, World Bank

Discussant

• Frances Vavrus, University of Minnesota