Why is there so little love for teacher collaboration in international development?

By Simon King and Alastair Rodd ?

Friday Learning Lab

This new series will explore education programming and suggest where system “transformation” is more necessary than system “strengthening.” We’ll examine why many components of education programs (specifically Foundational Literacy and Numeracy) are often born out of habit and gut instinct rather than evidence and practice. We’ll suggest alternative pathways supported by research and practice in education and the social sciences.

We don’t have all the answers

It’s our desire to enthusiastically encourage discourse and discussion that leads to greater collaboration and understanding of how to support students, educators and other stakeholders. But we cannot effectively support local education systems unless we have an international education sector with a culture that encourages innovation rather than just repeating habits and behaviors that have already had little impact. Join us in this conversation and be a part of the journey to critically examine education systems, our ingrained approaches and sparks of innovation with the potential to move the needle on children’s literacy.

There are three key reasons why teacher collaboration is either ignored or treated as a bonus feature rather than the centerpiece of teacher professional development.?

1. The external coaching model takes up almost all the research and practice?

The external coaching model — sending coaches to schools from district education offices to observe teachers and provide constructive feedback — dominates international education. In a previous blog, we speculated as to why this is.?

2. We underestimate the power of peer influence.??

Thomas Frank (2020) argued that peer influence is often underrated and ignored because we all like to think of ourselves as unique individuals who make our own decisions. Peer influence is used extensively in programs in other sectors like public health. We education professionals are a little slow on the uptake.?

3. The pressure for quick results?

Many education programs use performance indicators such as improved learning outcomes to demonstrate effective implementation. The impact is often expected after a couple of years. Consequently, this pressures implementors to be as direct as possible to improve quality classroom instructional practices.??

Coaching feels much more direct than teacher collaboration, over which implementors have far less control. However, believing we have more direct control over how teachers are supported does not mean we have the best implementation design.?

As a result, the body of evidence on teacher collaboration in international education isn’t great.?

If you wanted to design a pilot focused on teacher collaboration for teacher in-school support, you’d struggle to find good guidance and research on how to do this. Instead, educational research tells us what doesn’t work.?

"The problem is that no nation has improved by focusing on individual teachers as the driver.” —Michael Fullan?

As we wrote about in a prior blog on accountability, external coaching, as part of a hierarchical educational system, tends to create behaviors that focus on delivery compliance but not the shifting complexity of classroom instructional practice. In other words, prior beliefs and attitudes remain as the system prioritizes content delivery over student learning. Michael Fullan writes that focusing on external coaching and individual teacher quality fails to address the culture and relationships within the system.?As discussed in a prior blog, we like children to learn collaboratively through group work and play but fail to acknowledge that peer collaboration is also important for adults. Teachers naturally gravitate to peer support to improve their classroom practice, much more than external coaches provided by an education system.??

Recommendations?

Systems transformation: Change the role of external coaches into facilitators of group learning?

We’re not suggesting that external coaches should be disbanded. However, their role can be changed from a one-on-one coach to a facilitator of group learning. This is not a new idea; it is just not used much in international education. This approach aligns with Michael Fullan’s research about how having a successful education system means having a collaborative learning culture at every level, not just in the classroom.?

Research and pilot teacher collaboration?

Right now, there is limited understanding of how to optimize teacher collaboration in international education. Borrowing research from the USA and similar countries isn't enough, as the context is quite different. For example, schools in the USA frequently have multiple classes per grade and are located near other schools. In low- and medium-income countries, we frequently have ruralschools with one teacher per grade. The culture and norms are also quite different compared to the USA. ?

Implementation research should focus on teacher communities of practice in the same way we focus on pedagogy and learning in the classroom. Designing and implementing teacher collaboration to facilitate learning is critical if it is to be effective.??

These are just a few of the research questions we need answers to?

Below are just a few of the considerations we need to learn more about for teacher communities of practice:?

How do we design teacher collaboration that will?

• Shift teacher beliefs and attitudes???
• Ensure what is learned is then applied to classroom instructional practice??

How should teacher collaboration be organized??

• What should be discussed and who should decide??
• Who should lead or facilitate???
• How much time needs to be given to teacher collaboration??

Focusing on teacher collaboration is not a risk.?

The risk is when policymakers, donors and implementors insist on tweaking the low- or no-impact approaches we currently deploy and expect a different result.??

Alastair Rodd?is a Senior Education Advisor with RTI International. Alastair's experience spans nearly 35 years working in international education,?which started with participation in the 1990 World Conference on Education in Jomtien. ?In previous incarnations, he has designed education projects at the World Bank, managed a local NGO in Haiti, served as an independent advisor within the Ugandan Ministry of Education, and served as both a long-term technical director and CoP on USAID-funded programs. Currently, amongst a myriad of interests, he provides technical support around system strengthening with a particular interest in what is now called "the middle tier."??

Dr. Simon King serves as Senior Manager of Evaluation and Research. Simon’s technical support for education programs is multifaceted, encompassing evaluation and learning, implementation, system strengthening, and behavioral economics. ?Before working in development, Simon spent many years teaching middle and high school mathematics in many countries, including two years as a volunteer teacher for Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO) in Chipata, Zambia. After moving to the USA, Simon served as a department chair, high school director, and school principal. ?Simon uses his experience in the classroom and supporting teachers as the foundation for his role at Creative Associates.???

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