Teacher effectiveness in the Indian context

: A mixed methods study investigating the relationship between teacher motivation, professional knowledge, classroom environment, and student learning.

Abstract

Teachers in India work within a complex and challenging environment. With the universalisation of school education, the expectations they face have changed: teachers are the public face of the system, expected to provide ‘quality’ teaching to an increasingly diverse range of learners within a policy environment which is critical and contradictory. This is the context for this study, which focuses on processes of ‘teacher effectiveness’ in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana, and in particular on the role of three main constructs within these: teacher motivation; teacher professional knowledge; and the classroom instructional environment. The study makes use of a conceptual framework which is multilevel, multidimensional, and interrelated to guide methodological decisions, prompting the use of primary and secondary data collected from different parts of the education system, analysed through mixed methods including multilevel modelling of quantitative data, and thematic analysis of qualitative data.

Findings from this study confirm the effects of teacher motivation and teacher absence, teacher professional knowledge, and the classroom instructional environment on student ‘value-added’ progress in AP and Telangana. While some variation is revealed between school management types, including indication that teachers’ understandings of ‘effective teaching’ may vary by school type, the study also highlights areas of relative consistency which suggest that processes of effectiveness are broadly similar across different school types. In parallel, findings indicate that processes of teacher effectiveness are multiple and overlapping, shaped by systemic and contextual factors. Interviews with education officials inform a deeper understanding of these processes, including how they are shaped by structural elements of the education system. These findings have relevance for ongoing work with teachers in this context, highlighting the need to recognise the challenges and opportunities which impact on processes of teacher effectiveness, and to acknowledge the extent of variation found within these.

Date of Award	23 Jan 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Sally M Thomas (Supervisor) & George B Leckie (Supervisor)