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On-the-job improvements in teacher competence : policy options and their effects on teaching and learning in Thailand
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Abstract
Teachers must hone their teaching skills on the job if the quality of primary education is to improve in developing countries. The authors of this paper use a multi-level modeling procedure to examine two policy options for improving the competence of teachers already in the system: providing inservice training and encouraging regular classroom supervision. After examining a nationwide sample of small rural primary schools in Thailand, they found that a teacher's experience in inservice training courses predicts neither instructional quality nor student achievement. In sharp contrast, intensity of supervision within a school significantly predicts both instructional quality and student achievement, after controlling for a variety of school, teacher, and classroom variables. The effect of supervision is significant - roughly the same as the effect of preservice education. Intensive field work in carefully selected rural schools suggests that supervision by effective principals is a critical component in a larger strategy to create and sustain an"ethos of improvement"in school teaching and learning.Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Gender and Education,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation