School Effectiveness in Developing Countries - A Summary of the Research Evidence

School effectiveness in developing countries - A summary of the research evidence -
Education Research Paper

No. 01, 1993, 25 p.

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Section 4: Teacher effectiveness

Schiefelbein & Simmons (1981) reviewed research in more than 20 countries, and found
that teachers without certificates in educational training had students who tested as well
as those with certificates in 19 out of 32 studies. They concluded that "teacher
certification should be reviewed with caution as a way to increase student achievement".
They also found that years of teacher experience was a significant determinant of student
achievement in only 7 out of 19 studies, and that more years of teacher training was not
related to higher student achievement in 5 out of 6 studies.

These rather discouraging results have led to further research. Avalos & Haddad (1981)
conducted an extensive review and argued that "it does not seem reasonable to conclude
that training has no effect upon achievement". (p33)

Qualifications and training, contrary to existing pessimism, are related to
teacher behaviour and pupil achievement, although it is not known how
permanent this effect is nor what the optimum levels of qualifications are.
(ibid, p35)

Other findings from the Avalos & Haddad review were that some methods of teacher
training (e.g. micro-teaching and simulation) appeared consistently effective in
promoting changes in teaching techniques, that teacher expectations of students were
important, and that

The discovery/inquiry method... proved in most cases to be superior in
promoting higher levels of cognitive skills On lower levels of
cognitive achievement, teaching through behavioural objectives was found
to have an effect. (ibid, p35)

Saha (1983) reviewed empirical research studies in 21 LDCs on the relationships
between teacher variables and student academic achievement. Results are summarised in
the following table, in which the entries denote the number of studies demonstrating a
significant positive relationship (+), no relationship (0) or a significant negative
relationship (-) respectively.

<<   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   >>

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