The behavioral science lens: human dimensions of education system change

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The behavioral science perspective is not new to international education. It has often been presented from different research perspectives, including teacher mental models of teacher beliefs (Saberwal et. al., 2018), and the social aspects of educational change (Fullan, 2015). However, recent interest has shifted focus on the understanding of education systems change using a behavioral science lens (Ajani 2022). This perspective is important as education systems programming is frequently designed without a true understanding of how individuals will respond to change (Jeevan and Hwa, 2022). The presentations present studies which examine teachers, teaching, and change within an educational system. What new insights do we have and how might they influence policy and implementation for education systems change?

The first panelist highlights the global shift in measurement and improvement in learning outcomes since the adoption of SDG 4.1.1, under which countries are asked to report on the “the proportion of children and young people…achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics”. Building on these results, the World Bank and UIS estimate that eighty percent of children in poor countries cannot read a simple sentence by the end of primary school. In reviewing the results of multiple regional and systems-level learning improvement programs to better understand the distribution of learning outcomes and system-level impact we find that: 1) while some progress has been made, the massive changes required to move the needle on the share of children reaching minimum proficiency remains elusive and 2) a small share of schools account for the majority of the gains. Finally, the panelist will create a link between this challenge and the theme of the panel; that education change will only be successful if work is undertaken to better understand and diminish the restraining forces of mindsets and education system social norms.

The second panelist focuses on the persistent challenge of how education systems inadvertently develop teacher professional norms that focus on curriculum completion, examinations, and compliance. The panelist suggests that ignoring these norms leads to interventions that are inappropriate for their contexts. The panelist presents qualitative findings from 28 interviews of both researchers and practitioners. The findings present a perspective that even if teachers value learning, they may nonetheless teach to the test due to top-down pressure to raise student exam scores, and the socially normed desire to behave how their colleagues expect them to. Finally, the panelist will discuss how reform efforts are more likely to succeed if they intervene across multiple domains such as teachers’ perceptions of what they value, what they believe can be done, and what is expected of them.

The third panelist argues that in order to improve teacher effectiveness, it is critical to understand how teachers perceive the education system they work-in. These teacher ‘mindsets’ likely will impact teachers’ conscious and sub-conscious decision-making and so understanding how teachers are likely to respond to programming action is critical for education policy and design. The panelist draws from literature in education, economics, psychology, and sociology to unlock actionable suggestions for harnessing teacher mindsets for more effective teaching.

The final panelist explores the idea that an individual’s response to change is fundamentally emotional, and so for effective early grade literacy programming, it is critical to understand the variation in how teachers respond to change and reform. By using a mixed-methods design, the panelist will present evidence that to understand the restraining forces of effective education programming, we need to look at the schools where learning gains are low. This is contrary to the common education research approach which focuses on factors of successful implementation. Finally, the panelist will draw from research in education, diffusion theory, and behavioral economics to suggest the best path to improved implementation is to diminish the restraining forces, rather than increase the driving forces such as incentives and more training.

Sub Unit

• Educational Improvement SIG

Chair

• Simon King, RTI International

Individual Presentations

• What have we learned about improving learning at the system level? - Amber K Gove, RTI International

• Selves, situations, standards, and society: Competing domains shaping teacher professional norms in the Global South - Yue-Yi Hwa, RISE Programme, University of Oxford

• The behavioral science and systems perspective: How teachers respond to educational change - Simon King, RTI International