Promoting quality education in Chile: the politics of reforming teacher careers

ABSTRACT

Reformers in developing countries increasingly seek to raise education quality. Yet we know little about the politics of improving education. One significant and instructive case of reforms designed to boost education quality comes from Chile, where in 2016 the government enacted a sweeping reform of teaching careers. This paper first uses a quantitative analysis of appearances in the news to identify key stakeholders and then turns to process tracing to analyze how and when these stakeholders influenced reform dynamics. Comparatively, the Chilean case differs from similar reforms elsewhere in Latin America due to the absence of business, the strong role of policy networks, and the final negotiated settlement with the teacher union. Theoretically, the analysis confirms general theories that emphasize the roles of distributive politics and policy networks.     

Becoming a teacher educator: evidence from the field

This article makes a contribution to understanding the challenges new teacher educators face in establishing their professional identities in Higher Education. The data collected for the study allowed the researchers to analyse the tensions and conflicts arising for 28 teacher educators in their first 3 years of working on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses in England. The findings of the study show that, despite having previous successful careers in school teaching, the majority of the interviewees took between 2 and 3 years to establish their new professional identities. They faced challenges in two key areas—developing a pedagogy for HE-based ITE work and becoming research active. Meeting both of these challenges required significant adaptations to their previous identities as schoolteachers.     

Development and psychometric evidence of an engagement instrument in the pre-service teacher education context

The present study details the development and validation of an engagement instrument in the pre-service teacher education context. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses were used to obtain the factor structures performed on a sample of 196 and 212 pre-service teachers respectively. Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated four empirically interpretable and reliable dimensions: academic engagement, peer engagement, intellectual engagement, and online engagement. The confirmatory factor analysis results also supported the correlational four-dimensional model with adequate goodness-of-fit indices. Results also depicted convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument. Future research involved in the iterative process of instrument development is discussed.     

Students' estimates of knowledge gained as measures of the quality of teacher education

One set of measures of the quality of courses for the preparation of science teachers stems from the perceptions exit students have of their knowledge with respect to that teaching. The Discipline Review of Teacher Education in Mathematics and Science surveyed these students late in 1988 on three broad types of knowledge-science content knowledge, curriculum knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge. Some of these findings of the Review are described. In addition, the base for developing items to measure these three types of knowledge is discussed in this paper. The variety in the data that emerged is also presented and the consistency of the findings with other measures of quality is described. Specialisations: science and technology curriculum, environmental education, educational disadvantage. Specialisations: research and evaluation in teacher education, technical and further education and total quality management. Specialisations: research in educational systems.     

School accountability and teacher stress: international evidence from the OECD TALIS study

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Accountability—the monitoring and use of student performance data to make judgements about school and teacher effectiveness—is...     

How local market pressures shape leadership practices: evidence from Chile

Chile is well known worldwide for its extensive use of market-driven mechanisms in education. Using a case study strategy in three schools, this paper shows that ‘universal’ voucher system and mixed provision (co-existence of subsidised private and state-funded schools) policies are reshaping school management practices. The paper draws evidence from ethnographic data in disadvantaged Chilean public schools and uses Bourdieu’s notion of field as an analytical tool in order to conceptualise the schools’ practices within their local markets as a symbolic and strategic ‘game’ of competition. One of the main findings is that, in response to market pressures and their specific positions within local markets, school leaders built a market-competitive agenda, preparing detailed strategies and undertaking decision-making practices accordingly. These practices were distinctive in relation to different school market positions, impacting the schools’ priorities, value disputes, and management goals.     

The role of teacher trust in segregated elementary schools: a multilevel repeated measures examination

This study aims to investigate how teachers’ trust in their students relates to reading comprehension achievement in socially and ethnically segregated elementary schools in Flanders (Belgium) by taking into account class composition characteristics. It is examined how student variables, ethnic diversity and the proportion of non-native students in the class, and teachers’ trust in their students relate to reading comprehension achievement and learning growth. A 3-level multivariate repeated measures analysis was conducted. At 2 measurement occasions, reading tests and questionnaires were administered to a sample (n = 417) of 7- and 8-year-old students in 32 classes. Teachers’ trust in their students was found to be a key factor relating to learning growth in reading comprehension, and mediated the relationship between the level of ethnic diversity in the class and learning growth. Teachers with a higher level of trust in their students seem to foster more learning growth in reading comprehension.     

Two measures of the quality of group care for infants and toddlers

Two sets of quality measures of group care were used to assess their predictive power for two sets of measures of the development of infant and toddlers in group day care. One of the quality measures we investigated was the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). We replicated the findings of Scarr, Eisenberg, & Dealer-Deckard (1994) which were that the total score of the ECERS represents a global index and that the 37 items making up the scale are redundant and could be shortened considerably without loss of the scale as a quality criterion of group care for young children. Neither Scarr, Eisenberg, and Dealer-Deckard (1994) nor our own Factor Analyses of the 37 items supported the a priori distinction of seven Subscales. However further findings indicate that regardless of the redundancy within ECERS, two Subscales, dealing mainly with adult-child, child-child and adult-adult interactions, predict the development of infants and toddlers, but only when the measures of development were based on participant observations of the children over a longer period of time and in the broad context of the natural daycare environment. None of the Subscales, nor the total ECERS predicted social development when it was based on precise time sampling observations, assessed by non participant observers, in interactions between a child and a specific caregiver. Such measures of development were well predicted in our study by caregiver behaviors assessed through Time Sampling Observations.     

Culture,context and the quality of education: evidence from a small‐scale extended case study in England and Denmark

Much recent education policy‐making around the world has focused on a restructuring of the role of the classroom teacher in a bid to increase the ‘quality’ of the educational experience and raise pupil attainment. However, the definition of quality, as expressed through policy, may not always accord with the aims and aspirations of individual teachers who work within a specific cultural context. The rhetoric and intent expressed in policy texts may even have the potential to restrict the quality of what teachers do. This paper draws on some of the findings from a small‐scale comparative study of teachers' work in England and Denmark which used an extended case study approach, set in a socio‐cultural framework, to examine the relationship of policy trends to teacher values and professional practice. Evidence from the study is used to discuss the issue of ‘quality’, highlighting contextually specific variations which impact on the implementation of national policy at the local level. Through a discussion of the study's methodology, attention is also drawn to the need for a more contextually sensitive approach to the creation and evaluation of policy which, while recognising universal concerns, also pays heed to local priorities and teacher values.     

An experimental evaluation of three teacher quality measures: Value-added,classroom observations,and student surveys

Nearly every state evaluates teacher performance using multiple measures, but evidence has largely shown that only one such measure—teachers’ effects on student achievement (i.e., value-added)—captures teachers’ causal effects. We conducted a random assignment experiment in 66 fourth- and fifth-grade mathematics classrooms to evaluate the predictive validity of three measures of teacher performance: value-added, classroom observations, and student surveys. Combining our results with those from two previous random assignment experiments, we provide additional experimental evidence that value-added measures are unbiased predictors of teacher performance. Though results for the other two measures are less precise, we find that classroom observation scores are predictive of teachers’ performance after random assignment while student surveys are not. These results thus lend support to teacher evaluation systems that use value-added and classroom observations, but suggest practitioners should proceed with caution when considering student survey measures for teacher evaluation.     

The role of feedback from the school leader during teacher evaluation for teacher and school improvement

Since the turn of the century, teacher evaluation has been introduced around the world with the intent to improve teaching. However, in the literature on teacher evaluation, often findings reveal critical accounts about the effectiveness of feedback in teacher evaluation for teacher and school improvement. This article presents a qualitative study in eight schools where teachers did indicate to find the feedback they discussed with school leaders during teacher evaluation processes useful. In this study, we investigate whether we can identify what teachers actually do with this feedback and which factors contribute to their response. Our findings demonstrate the importance of school organizational characteristics and an integrated leadership approach for the feedback response of teachers. Also, our findings reveal how teacher evaluation is used in these schools to further school improvement.     

School reforms,principal leadership,and teacher resistance: evidence from Korea

Many countries design and implement school change with a focus on the fundamental reconfiguration in the structures of schooling. In this article, we examined the relationship between principal leadership and teacher resistance to school reforms driven by external interveners. For an empirical analysis, we took advantage of extensive data derived from 967 teachers and 32 principals in Korean vocational high schools that are now experiencing school reforms launched by the government. Our results revealed the importance of human aspects of school changes and reforms, in particular, driven by the external intervener. We first showed that a principal's initiative leadership is significantly related to the reduction of teacher resistance to change, in particular on the emotional and behavioural dimensions. Not surprisingly, teachers showed a higher level of resistance when their schools participate in the government-driven reform. Finally, teacher resistance depended upon characteristics of teachers as well as principals. These findings provide some useful policy implications for facilitating successful school reform efforts. Foremost, school reformers are advised to rethink the school change model design in a way of fully capturing human aspects in the reform process.     

Leadership redefined: an evocative context for teacher leadership

This article is a report of a low cost case study in a small primary school. The school has instituted several democratic procedures that involve pupils and staff in leadership activities such as reviewing policies and appointing staff. The study sheds light on Hargreaves (2001) capital theory of school improvement, indicating that a dimension should be added. It then examines the theories implicit in HMI (2002b) and finds that they ignore a major consequence and benefit of the citizenship education observed in the study. Finally, it is argued that if the re-culturing envisaged by Furman and Starratt (2002) was extended to include structural changes that placed value on pupils' insights and knowledge, even greater improvements in education would be available.     

What measures of program quality tell us about the importance of executive function: implications for teacher education and preparation

In recent years, increased attention has been given to executive function and its relationship to the overall learning and development of young children. Because of this, it is essential that educators have the skills needed to effectively facilitate the development of executive function throughout early childhood. The focus of the current paper is to provide early childhood practitioners, teacher educators, and researchers with (1) background information about executive function, and (2) findings from a recent large-scale study that provide preliminary information about specific aspects of the learning environment that may support executive function development. In addition, a discussion surrounding implications for practice, particularly related to supporting pre- and in-service teachers as they acquire the skills needed to effectively support young children’s development of executive function skills, is provided. Finally, potential avenues of future research that focus on understanding the role of the learning environment on executive function development are outlined.