Achieving Teaching Quality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Empirical Results from Cascade Training

242 Pages·2016·2.687 MB·English

by  Sarah Lange (auth.)

Sarah Lange
Achieving
Teaching Quality in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Empirical Results
from Cascade Training
Achieving Teaching Quality
in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sarah Lange
Achieving
Teaching Quality in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Empirical Results
from Cascade Training
With a foreword by Prof. Dr. Aaron Benavot
Sarah Lange
Bamberg, Deutschland
Dissertation Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2015
ISBN 978-3-658-14682-5 ISBN 978-3-658-14683-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-14683-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016943813
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Foreword from Aaron Benavot

A sufficient supply of teachers and educators who are “empowered, well-trained,
professionally qualified, motivated and supported” has been agreed upon by the
international education community as a key target in the post-2015 development
agenda. African leaders have also committed their countries to this critical policy
objective so as to ensure good quality education for all African children. Howev-
er, it is one thing to put pen to paper and commit to this laudable aim, it is quite
another for governments to take effective action to ensure that those teachers
who enter school classrooms are knowledgeable and skillful in their teaching
practices, resulting in significant learning for all. Pre-service and in-service train-
ing programs are critical if African classrooms are to be populated with effective
teachers.
Sarah Lange’s dissertation, Achieving Teaching Quality in sub-Saharan Africa:
Empirical findings from Cascade Training, is a well-argued and rigorously de-
signed study of a promising professional development program in Cameroon in
which trained teachers teach other teachers, who then use their new skills to
teach more teachers and so on. This study shows that such ‘cascade training’ can
have multiplier effects: not only on actual teacher practices but also on student
achievement, with little dilution, if conducted well. Given the scale of the teach-
ing and learning challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, evidence that such a teacher
training model can bear fruit and improve the provision of quality education
marks a real contribution to the literature. Dr. Lange’s study deserves to be
closely read and emulated in other contexts in Africa and elsewhere.
Aaron Benavot is Director of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report.
He is currently on leave from the University of Albany-SUNY, where he serves as
Professor of Global Education Policy in the School of Education.

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Expression of thanks

With the following, I would like to highlight the most important institutions and
individuals who have made significant contributions to the process and the com-
pletion of this work. My PhD would not have been possible without the support
of the Elite Network of Bavaria and the Church Development Service [of the
German Protestant Churches] (Bread for the World). My thanks go to all partici-
pants, for their willingness to give insights into the educational work in Came-
roon, which made this study possible. For the continuous and outstanding coop-
eration I extend my special thanks to Bamenda (Cameroon) to the coordinator of
the intervention Frederick Njobati as well as the programme advisors Emmanuel
Wepngong, Stella Matuke and George Funjong. For her incomparable sense of
always finding the right level of support and of challenge, which has opened and
inspired my way into research, I am very grateful to my doctoral supervisor Prof.
Dr. Annette Scheunpflug. For the indespensable encouragement and willingness
to support my work as a second consultant, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Barba-
ra Drechsel sincerely. For her important role as supporting trailblazer I would
like to thank deeply Dr. Claudia Bergmüller-Hauptmann as well as the diligent
student assistants for their essential participation in the conception and imple-
mentation phase. With their continuous readiness to discuss the methodological
approach of my research, Dr. Eva Fritzsche and Dr. Matthias Buntins have taken
important roles. I would like to warmly thank all former and current participants
in the Rieneck-group, as the many discussions in the context of the doctoral
colloquia in Rieneck have inspired my work process repeatedly. I would like to
emphasize the close friendship and professional support of my mentors Prof. Dr.
Gregor Lang-Wojtasik and Prof. Dr. Julia Franz and the continuing exchange of
ideas with Dr. Ralf Schieferdecker. This work would not have been possible
without the unconditional and grounding backing of my close friends Monika

König, Daniela von Entress-Fürsteneck and Katharina Dasch.

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Content

1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 17
1.1 Context and relevance of the study ...................................................... 17
1.2 Focus of the study ................................................................................ 22
1.3 Method................................................................................................. 23
1.4 Outline of the study ............................................................................. 24

2 Theoretical Background.................................................................... 27
2.1 Teaching Quality ................................................................................. 28
2.1.1 The concept of teaching quality ............................................ 28
2.1.2 Developing teaching quality: Learner orientation ................. 31
2.2 Teacher Professionalism ...................................................................... 34
2.2.1 The concept of teacher professionalism ................................ 35
2.2.2 Developing teacher professionalism: Professional
development of teachers ....................................................... 41
2.3 Measuring educational quality ............................................................. 45
2.3.1 Measuring teaching quality ................................................... 45
2.3.2 Measuring teacher professionalism ....................................... 47
2.3.3 Student outcome as indicator of quality ................................ 54
2.4 Research desideratum .......................................................................... 59
2.4.1 Research questions ................................................................ 59
2.4.2 Hypotheses ............................................................................ 60
2.5 Analytical framework of this study ..................................................... 62

3 The cascade training: ‘Implementation of learner-oriented

education’ ........................................................................................... 65
3.1 Context of the cascade training ........................................................... 65
3.1.1 The Cameroonian context for education................................ 66
3.1.2 History of the cascade training .............................................. 67
3.2 Objectives of the cascade training ....................................................... 69
3.3 Content of the cascade training ........................................................... 70
3.4 Structure of the cascade training.......................................................... 71

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4 Methodological approach.................................................................. 75
4.1 Challenges of research in development cooperation countries ............ 75
4.2 Design .................................................................................................. 80
4.3 Instrumentation of the study ................................................................ 82
4.3.1 Instrumentation of the teacher questionnaire ......................... 84
4.3.2 Instrumentation of the video survey ...................................... 87
4.3.3 Instrumentation of the achievement test in natural sciences .. 88
4.3.4 Instrumentation of the student questionnaire ......................... 91
4.3.5 Instrumentation of the school questionnaire .......................... 93
4.4 Sample ................................................................................................. 96
4.5 Analysis of the empirical data ............................................................. 99
4.5.1 Pretest of the data collection instruments .............................. 99
4.5.2 Data analysis of the questionnaire data ................................. 100
4.5.3 Data analysis of the video data .............................................. 102
4.5.4 Data analysis of the achievement test .................................... 107
4.5.5 Limitations of the study ......................................................... 109

5 Empirical findings: Effects of the cascade training of the

professional development programme ............................................. 111
5.1 School portraits .................................................................................... 111
5.2 Effects of the cascade training on the self-reported teaching practice . 119
5.2.1 Comparability of the teacher groups ..................................... 120
5.2.2 Professional Development ..................................................... 122
5.2.3 Perceived learner orientation ................................................. 127
5.2.4 Perceived teaching practice ................................................... 129
5.2.5 Results of the test of the hypotheses in regards to the
self-reported teaching practice .............................................. 131
5.2.6 Summary of the effects of the cascade training on the
self-reported teaching practice .............................................. 132
5.3 Effects of the cascade training on the actual teaching practice ............ 133
5.3.1 Comparison of the ratings of the single video profiles .......... 133
5.3.2 Comparison of the ratings of the group video profiles .......... 134
5.3.3 Statistical comparison of the group profiles .......................... 138
5.3.4 Result of the test of the hypotheses in regards to the actual
teaching practice ................................................................... 138
5.3.5 Summary of the results of the cascade training on the
actual teaching practice......................................................... 140
5.4 Effects of the cascade training on the students’ achievement .............. 142
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5.4.1 Comparability of the student groups ..................................... 142
5.4.2 Effects of the cascade training on student achievement ........ 148
5.4.3 Results of the test of the hypotheses in regards to the
student achievement ............................................................. 155
5.4.4 Summary of the effects of the cascade training on the
students ................................................................................. 157

6 Discussion: Success and risk conditions for the implementation

of cascade training in professional development ............................ 159
6.1 Summary of the results ........................................................................ 159
6.2 Effectiveness of the cascade training ................................................... 160
6.2.1 No dilution of the cascade ..................................................... 161
6.2.2 Professional Learning Communities as support for the
effectiveness of cascade models ........................................... 162
6.3 Success condition I: Conception & Implementation of
cascade training ................................................................................... 165
6.3.1 Didactic and coherent structures support conceptual
change of teachers ................................................................ 166
6.3.2 School support structures ...................................................... 168
6.3.3 Content design of trainings with cognitive and affective-
motivational components ...................................................... 172
6.4 Success condition II: Indicators of effective cascade training ............. 173
6.4.1 Improved student achievement as indicator for quality ......... 173
6.4.2 Stronger learner orientation as an indicator for quality ......... 175
6.5 Risk conditions I: High teacher mobility ............................................. 176
6.5.1 Brain drain of intensely trained programme multipliers ........ 177
6.5.2 Teacher allocation as challenge for professional
development programmes ..................................................... 179
6.6 Marginalisation of non-governmental school sectors as challenging
context for professional development .................................................. 180

7 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 185
7.1 Implications for practice ...................................................................... 185
7.1.1 Evidence-based development of professional development
programmes .......................................................................... 185
7.1.2 Lessons learnt for the implementation of cascade models..... 189
7.2 Implications for research ..................................................................... 190
References ...................................................................................................... 193
Annex ............................................................................................................. 227
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Model of professional competence of teachers (cf. Baumert &
Kunter, 2006; Blömeke et al., 2009; Blömeke, Felbrich, Müller,
Kaiser, & Lehmann, 2008; Blömeke, Kaiser, & Lehrmann, 2008;
König, 2010). ........................................................................................... 38
Figure 2: The interconnected model of professional growth
(Source: Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002, p. 951). .................................... 43
Figure 3: Spectrum of CPD models (Kennedy, 2005, p. 17). ............................. 44
Figure 4: Extended offer-use model to explain the effectiveness of
professional development (Source: Lipowsky, 2010, p. 51).................... 51
Figure 5: Framework for the relation between teacher effectiveness and
student achievement (Source: own illustration). ...................................... 55
Figure 6: Analytical framework of this study (Source: own illustration). .......... 64
Figure 7: Model of cascade training (Source: own illustration).......................... 72
Figure 8: Achievement test - Example item 1. .................................................... 90
Figure 9: Achievement test - Example item 2. .................................................... 90
Figure 10: Achievement test - Example item 3. .................................................. 91
Figure 11: Comparison of Item profiles of video ratings (Source: own
figure). ................................................................................................... 136
Figure 12: Comparison of group profiles of video ratings (Source: own
figure). ................................................................................................... 137
Figure 13: Unidirectional hypothesis describing the trend between student
groups .................................................................................................... 152
Figure 14: Line chart of mean student achievement and standard deviation
(grouped according to in-service teacher qualification). ....................... 154

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