What Drives Teachers to Change their Teaching Practices? Insights from Zambia

• In Event: Innovations on teacher professional development from the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) initiative - Research learnings from country experiences

Proposal

Various educational programs and literature have shown that students' performance is influenced by among other factors teachers' teaching practices, which are largely shaped by Teacher Professional Development (TPD). This is especially effective when teachers possess the required skills for effective teaching and employ methods that cater to the diverse needs of their students. TPD encompasses in-service professional development opportunities, both externally provided and job-embedded, including workshops, peer-to-peer sessions.

In 2021, to understand how TPD works in a developing country, Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa with MIT J-PAL conducted an exploratory study in Zambia to identify drivers of changes in teaching practices across select TPD programs, with a particular focus on the TaRL approach. This approach involves assessing and grouping students based on their basic numeracy and literacy skills rather than by age and grade. Implemented in collaboration with VVOB - Education for Development and the Ministry of Education (MoE), the program, locally known as “Catch Up”, targets students in grades three to five. Catch Up, along with the TPD programs, provided off-site training workshops and regular on-site mentoring and monitoring during school visits. The MoE also offered support through the "School Programme of In-Service Training for the Term (SPRINT)," which included off-site review meetings and biweekly school-based continuous professional development (CPD) sessions.

Informed by a sample of 78 Zambian education personnel, the study aimed to verify the context's suitability for observing changes in instruction among public school teachers, identify the key drivers behind these changes, and assess extent to which these drivers were associated with large-scale in-service TPD activities. A theoretical framework guided the investigation, emphasizing the belief that CPD activities lead to changes in teachers' attitudes, knowledge, and skills, which subsequently impact teaching practices, ultimately influencing learner outcomes.

The findings revealed that teaching practices can easily be influenced, with change primarily influenced by on-site CPD opportunities. These opportunities include peer mentoring, team-based problem-solving, verbal encouragement, discussions, and the sharing of solutions for improvement. Additionally, while off-site teacher training may be most effective for introducing new skills, subsequent on-site training and mentoring are necessary to facilitate joint problem-solving. Changes in teachers' behaviors were most frequently observed in relation to the Catch Up program, compared to other TPD programs. This was indicated by approximately half of the teachers who reported increased understanding of learners' needs, differentiated instruction, enhanced utilization of teaching and learning materials, and increased teacher-student interactions. Notably, these positive changes were observed to extend beyond the targeted classes, indirectly impacting other non-targeted students.

These findings underscore the potential of school-based CPD opportunities to drive pedagogical shifts in developing countries. Effective teacher mentoring and coaching emerge as promising approaches to improve instruction and elevate student achievement, particularly when the provided professional development helps teachers tailor their teaching to students' learning levels. To learn more on the Catch Up CPD, we are evaluating the program to advise the government on potential scale up opportunities.

Author

• Daniele J Ressler, Teaching at the Right Level - Africa