Vol 15 no 9 august 2016 by ijlter.org

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching And Educational Research

Vol.15 No.9

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is an open-access journal which has been established for the disChief Editor Dr. Antonio Silva Sprock, Universidad Central de semination of state-of-the-art knowledge in the Venezuela, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of field of education, learning and teaching. IJLTER welcomes research articles from academics, edEditorial Board ucators, teachers, trainers and other practitionProf. Cecilia Junio Sabio ers on all aspects of education to publish high Prof. Judith Serah K. Achoka quality peer-reviewed papers. Papers for publiProf. Mojeed Kolawole Akinsola Dr Jonathan Glazzard cation in the International Journal of Learning, Dr Marius Costel Esi Teaching and Educational Research are selected Dr Katarzyna Peoples through precise peer-review to ensure quality, Dr Christopher David Thompson originality, appropriateness, significance and Dr Arif Sikander readability. Authors are solicited to contribute Dr Jelena Zascerinska to this journal by submitting articles that illusDr Gabor Kiss trate research results, projects, original surveys Dr Trish Julie Rooney Dr Esteban Vázquez-Cano and case studies that describe significant adDr Barry Chametzky vances in the fields of education, training, eDr Giorgio Poletti learning, etc. Authors are invited to submit paDr Chi Man Tsui pers to this journal through the ONLINE submisDr Alexander Franco sion system. Submissions must be original and Dr Habil Beata Stachowiak should not have been published previously or Dr Afsaneh Sharif be under consideration for publication while Dr Ronel Callaghan Dr Haim Shaked being evaluated by IJLTER. Dr Edith Uzoma Umeh Dr Amel Thafer Alshehry Dr Gail Dianna Caruth Dr Menelaos Emmanouel Sarris Dr Anabelie Villa Valdez Dr Özcan Özyurt Assistant Professor Dr Selma Kara Associate Professor Dr Habila Elisha Zuya

VOLUME 15

NUMBER 9

August 2016

Table of Contents Mapping the Domain of Subject Area Integration: Elementary Educators’ Descriptions and Practices ..................... 1 Gustave E. Nollmeyer, Lynn Kelting-Gibson and C. John Graves Improving Leadership Practice through the Power of Reflection: An Epistemological Study .................................. 28 Ann Thanaraj Towards Actualising Sustainable Education Standards in Nigeria ............................................................................... 44 Dr. B. K. Oyewole and Dr. (Mrs.) F. M. Osalusi Policy of Carrying Capacity and Access to University Education in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward .................................................................................................................................................................................. 55 Dr (Mrs.) Chinyere Amini-Philips and Mukoro, Samuel Akpoyowaire Who am I? Where am I Going? And which Path should I Choose? Developing the Personal and Professional Identity of Student-Teachers ............................................................................................................................................... 71 Batia Riechman Secondary Mathematics Teachers: What they Know and Don't Know about Dyscalculia ......................................... 84 Anastasia Chideridou–Mandari, Susana Padeliadu, Angeliki Karamatsouki, Angelos Sandravelis and Charalampos Karagiannidis Case Study – Results at Primary School Leaving Examination in a Rural District in Rwanda .................................. 99 Jan Willem Lackamp Teacher Evaluation and Quality of Pedagogical Practices ............................................................................................ 118 Paul Malunda, David Onen, John C. S. Musaazi and Joseph Oonyu Investigation Learners’ Performance in TOEFL Prior to their Participation in the TOEFL Enhancement Training Program................................................................................................................................................................................ 134 Ardi Marwan, Anggita and Indah Anjar Reski

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 1-27, August 2016

Mapping the Domain of Subject Area Integration: Elementary Educators‟ Descriptions and Practices Gustave E. Nollmeyer Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA Lynn Kelting-Gibson and C. John Graves Montana State University Bozeman, MT

Abstract. A review of relevant literature reveals that integration is a difficult practice to define, yet elementary teachers are quick to speak positively of it and many claim to integrate in their practice. If there is a lack of consensus about what integration means, what then are these teachers doing when they say that they integrate? This study investigated five cases in an effort to establish how elementary teachers describe the domain of subject area integration. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with the participants and observations of the integrated lessons they taught. The data revealed a healthy mix of commonalities within and differences between the teachers‟ descriptions and practices. These similarities and differences revealed a model of integration that goes beyond the linear continuums common in the literature. Instead we propose a model of the domain that consists of four variables. These variables can be used to describe with great detail an individual practice of integration and allow educators and administrators an opportunity to consider and plan for growth in the application of subject area integration. Keywords: Integration; Interdisciplinary Education; Curriculum and Instruction

curriculum;

Elementary

Introduction The practice of subject area integration began in the early part of the twentieth century; however, its philosophical origins have been traced into the 1800s. Mathison and Freeman (1997) credit Herbert Spencer‟s writings of 1855 for founding the idea of integration. The British psychologist suggested that the last step of a changing or adapting organism was that of integration. Fifty years later Spencer‟s explanation of the organism as a whole was translated, by Gestalt Theory, from the field of natural science to that of psychology (Humphrey, 1924). In the world of education this produced two practical realities. First, the learner was seen as a whole in need of meaningful learning experiences

reflecting this “wholeness.” Second, learning was not simply a linear process with new ideas being added onto existing ones. Instead, it was complex and interactive—filled with rebuilding and transformation (Harrell, 2010). It was this progressive thinking that led to integrated curriculum and authentic experiences which make learning meaningful (Mathison & Freeman, 1997). Through the first half of the twentieth century, integration was advanced in both theory and practice by innovators such as John Dewey and Hollis Caswell (Bunting, 1987; Fraley, 1977). Then, in the 1980s and 90s integration experienced another surge in popularity. Once again, integration was on the minds of educators, researchers, and policy makers. This rich period in the history of integration has been attributed to curriculum organizational theory, brain research, and learning theory (Hartzler, 2000). Whatever the impetus, several of the movement‟s most cited advocates sprang up during these years, including James Beane, Robin Fogarty, and Heidi Hayes Jacobs. It was a time of significant research; Hartzler (2000), looking with a specific criteria, located and analyzed thirty quantitative studies on integration—all between the years of 1985 and 1997. Also during this time, a number of United States policy organizations turned to integration for answers including the National Association for the Advancement of Science (NAAS), the Bradley Commission on History in Schools, the National Research Council (NRC), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). With so much interest and support, it appeared that the promotion of subject area integration would be a fixture of education in the United States for some time; however, in the years surrounding the turn of the century, calls for accountability resulted in a surge of high stakes testing. Over the next decade efforts in integration declined as teachers faced the pressure of the No Child Left Behind legislation and the achievement expectations associated with it (Musoleno & White, 2010). In spite of these challenges, those practicing integration have continued to believe in its ability to bring the curriculum alive (Treacy & O‟Donoghue, 2014). This faith has been rewarded by recent policy changes. Integration has been brought back to the vanguard in the United States. With the arrival of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, 2010) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013), relevance has once again been added to rigor. This shift in thinking is not novel, but it has thrust subject area integration to the forefront of the conversation among policy makers and educators. The resurfacing of integration brings with it both benefits and challenges. Research has shown that students experiencing integrated curriculum are more motivated to learn (Brown, 2011), find their studies more meaningful (Leung, 2006), and do as well if not better on standardized tests (Hartzler, 2000; Vars, 1997). Nevertheless, teachers who chose to integrate subject areas face a number of challenges. Mcbee (2000) consolidates, from a number of authors, a list of these barriers which include a lack of professional development and the compartmentalization of content in published

materials. These challenges are further complicated by the literature‟s lack of uniformity in defining integration. The literature presents a complex and diverse picture of integration; however, this leaves it unclear as to what elementary educators mean when they say that they “integrate.” With expectations for integration found in such policy documents as the United States‟ Common Core State Standards, it is important to form a clear picture of what in-service teachers are doing when they integrate (Collier & Nolan, 1996). With this purpose in mind, this research pursued two main research questions: 1. How do elementary educators‟ descriptions help map the domain of subject area integration? 2. How do elementary educators‟ practices fit within the resulting map of the domain of subject area integration?

Situating the Study The title of the Common Core Standards for English language arts is English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. This title makes it clear that ELA skills are a necessary element to understanding in the content areas—a reality well established in the literature (Brozo, Moorman, Meyer, & Stewart, 2013). The standards demand a high level of reading competency and bring back an emphasis on content area writing (Gewertz, 2012). These expectations combined with the push for nonfiction text—even for the youngest students—will require a successful integrated response. Still, the expectation is not simply an application of general language skills. Rather, there is a focus on content specific reading and writing which often includes technical skills (Hoachlander, 2014). The goal is that by drawing and synthesizing meaning from multiple texts, content knowledge would increase (Ciecierski & Bintz, 2015). Also, writing about what is learned would further strengthen the understanding.

Review of Relevant Literature Literacy across the Curriculum The Common Core‟s call for an increased emphasis on literacy across the curriculum is not a new idea. Content area literacy was a major topic in the literature of the 1980‟s and 1990‟s (Langer, 1986). The American Library Association (1989) described the need for informational literacy and how it would be achieved through an active, integrated curriculum based on real-world problems. The primary thrust of the movement was using reading and writing to facilitate learning in the content areas (Harp, 1989; McKenna & Robinson, 1990). Reading and writing about content knowledge stimulates thinking (Dickson, 1995) and serves to facilitate student metacognition (Harp, 1989). At the same time, using these skills while engaged in the content provide a meaningful backdrop for the complex tasks of literacy development. Subject specific applications allow students to explore their understandings of literacy while focusing on the content (Taylor, 1989).

Defining Integration Over the years attempts have been made to define integration and its relative terms. Instead of endeavoring to nail down one definition, most authors propose a continuum or range of integrated approaches (i.e. Applebee, Adler, & Flihan, 2007; Jacobs, 1989; Lonning, DeFranco, & Weinland, 1998). Several authors do propose a broad, all-encompassing definition: “[Integration is] bringing together in some fashion distinctive components of two or more disciplines” (Nissani, 1995, p. 122); “Integration involves relationships—relationships between different subject areas, relationships between different content, relationships between different skills . . .” (Hartzler, 2000, p. 19). Wang, et al. (2011), divide the domain into two categories of integration they label as “multidisciplinary” and “interdisciplinary.” From another perspective, Kain (1993), Shriner (2010), and Toren, et al. (2008), argue that all varieties of integration can fit within two approaches. The approaches they identify are Beane‟s (1992) student-centered, integrative approach and Jacobs‟ (1989) subject-centered curriculum, approach. Other researchers and authors do not address the fluid qualities of integration; but instead, speak with some confidence in their own view of the domain.  Gehrke (1998) defines curriculum integration as, “A collective term for those forms of curriculum in which student learning activities are built, less with concern for delineating disciplinary boundaries around kinds of learning, and more with the notion of helping students recognize or create their own learning” (p. 248).  Case (1991) defines content and skill integration as: “Connecting the understanding promoted within and among different subject areas or disciplines . . . . Integration of skills and processes refers to so-called generic skills and processes. The call to „teach reading and writing in the content areas‟ is an example of integrating reading and writing „skills‟ into subjects such as social studies and science” (p. 216).  Beane (1992) sees most “interdisciplinary” models a part of a “multidisciplinary” category. In his view, an interdisciplinary curriculum is one in which the concepts and activities are derived by the needs of a central theme. There is no specific concern for how each discipline may contribute to the study; “And although we may draw from one or another discipline of knowledge, the act itself is done without regard for subject area distinctions” (pp. 46-47).  Brown (2011) seems to take his thoughts a step further. Not only does he speak with conviction on definitions, he separates multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches from what he calls “true” curriculum integration. The major distinction he draws is that “true” integration requires student involvement in the design process. In doing so he claims, “Few educators [understand] the design of „true‟ CI” (p. 195).  Collier and Nolan (1996) recognize ambiguity in terms, but express a confidence in distinguishing between integrated curriculum, interdisciplinary instruction, and thematic instruction. “While a review of the literature indicated a clear distinction between the three instructional models . . .” (p. 7).

Diversity may abound in defining integration, yet foundational principles still exist. Beginning with integration‟s foundations in Gestalt psychology and the progressive education movement and following the literature through to present day, two consistent threads emerge. First, integrated curriculum in some way addresses connections between discipline content and/or skill. Second, integration enhances the relevance of school through meaningful experiences and/or student-centered approaches. Part of the frustration in defining the terms surrounding integration is alleviated by seeing the wide range of approaches not as competing models, but rather complimentary ones under a large umbrella. Some researchers speak directly of a continuum of integrated practice and propose their own (i.e. Applebee et al., 2007; Huntley, 1998; Leung, 2006; Lonning et al., 1998). Others infer or leave the possibility open in their presentation of the terms (i.e. Beane, 1992; Fogarty, 2009; Jacobs, 1989). Few of these authors agree on the terminology to be used at each stage of the continuum; however, there appears to be some agreement as to the scope and directionality of a continuum of integration. In scope, the continuums or variations stay solidly on the side of curriculum and content. In direction, Mathison and Freeman (1997) point out that most suggested continuums move from discipline based models at one end to totally integrated ones at the other end. Teachers’ Descriptions of the Domain Considering the years that integration has been a topic of research and the rich diversity of approaches, it is surprising that few studies have investigated inservice educators‟ definitions or descriptions of the domain. Of course, throughout the literature the presence of teachers is felt. Many worked closely with the movement‟s foundational theorists (i.e. Beane, 1995; Fogarty, 2009; Jacobs, 1991). Others participated in integrated programs under study (Greenleaf et al., 2011; Lonning et al., 1998; MacMath, Roberts, Wallace, & Chi, 2010; Romance & Vitale, 2001). A number have shared experiences, beliefs, or challenges (Applebee et al., 2007; Dowden, 2007; Greene, 1991; Harrell, 2010; Leung, 2006; McBee, 2000; Offer & Mireles, 2009; Shoemaker, 1991; Vars, 1991; Wang et al., 2011; Weilbacher, 2001). Some even participated in crafting integrated curriculums (DeCorse, 1996; Kain, 1996). However, our review uncovered only three studies since the mid-90‟s where in-service educators helped to describe or define the domain of integration (Collier & Nolan, 1996; DeCorse, 1996; Stinson, Harkness, Meyer, & Stallworth, 2009). Two of these studies included elementary educators. DeCorse (1996) studied how pre-service training prepared teachers to teach integrated lessons. As part of her research, she found that experienced teachers held to a variety of definitions. These educators were doubtful about their ability to fully practice what they believed integration to be. Collier and Nolan (1996) sought to understand elementary teachers‟ perceptions of three integrated instructional models. They reported findings similar to DeCorse. When presenting three models of integration— integrated, interdisciplinary, and thematic—teachers‟ descriptions differed. The responses were unclear and, at times, contradictory. The researchers concluded that professional development was needed for the clarification of terms and the success of any implementation (Collier & Nolan, 1996; DeCorse, 1996).

Methodology Context and Participants We worked from the inquiry paradigm of constructivism in this study. Instead of beginning with a deductive framework, like Collier‟s and Nolan‟s (1996) work, our desire was to understand the participants‟ constructed reality (Shadish, 1995). Since constructivism purports reality to be relative and multiple because of social and contextual factors (Lincoln, 1990), it captured the essence of our goals. With the rich variety of definitions present in the integration literature, educators will no doubt have constructed their own contextualized reality. Therefore, it made sense to employ this naturalistic inquiry paradigm. Our research design was case study as it is a preferred choice for answering “how” questions (Yin, 2003). Participants were identified using a combination of snowball and maximum variation sampling (Patton, 2002). A snowball sample was accomplished by talking to school principals about teachers in their building who integrated frequently; direction was also given by one of the district‟s instructional coaches. Following the leads supplied, five participants were selected based on several demographic factors for maximum variation: grade levels taught, current grade level, and years of experience. These participants were assigned pseudonyms for purposes of anonymity. Employing a multiple-case model has the advantage of being more robust than the classic single case design (Yin, 2003). Data Collection For our case study research, data were collected by conducting interviews and observing lessons. Collecting qualitative data best fits the ideals of the constructivist framework (Lincoln, 1990). The following pattern was used in data collection: pre-observational interview, lesson observation, and postobservational interview. The first interview was 30 to 45 minutes long and was conducted in the participant‟s classroom at her convenience. A pilot tested interview guide (Maxwell, 2005) was used as a framework for the first semistructured interview. Data were collected during the interview by audio recording. The final question of this interview asked the teacher to perform two tasks with the Matrix of Integration (MoI) depicted in Figure 1. Each participant was asked to mark the location that best described her current practice and mark the location that best described what her teaching would look like in a perfect world. Shortly after the first interview, a 30 to 60 minute lesson involving subject area integration was observed. Data collection during the observation consisted of typed notes. In the days following the observation, a second 30 to 45 minute interview was conducted with the participant. Again, a pilot-tested interview guide was used for the semi-structured interview. The final question of the interview asked the teacher to place one more mark on the MoI. The participant was asked to mark the location that best described the lesson taught for the observation. The overall process—pre-observation interview, lesson observation, and post-observation interview—was completed with each participant within a two-week period of time.

The MoI (Figure 1) used during the interviews was developed during a pilot study. It attempted to blend the literature and our own experiences to picture the domain of integration. For the purpose of labeling the MoI, Huntley‟s (1998) terminology was used to establish three of the four points.  “An intradisciplinary curriculum is typified by instruction that focuses on one discipline” (p. 320).  “An interdisciplinary curriculum is one in which the focus of instruction is on one discipline, and one or more other disciplines are used to support or facilitate content in the first domain” (p. 320).  “An integrated curriculum is one in which a teacher, or teachers, explicitly assimilates concepts from more than one discipline during instruction” (p. 321).  Needs driven was one researcher‟s term to describe a fluid delivery of instruction based on the current need instead of a daily schedule of subjects. Beane‟s (1992) work supports this variable by describing the flow of instruction as being concerned with the content or skill needed in the moment.

Figure 1: The Matrix of Integration (MoI) displays, at one time, two variables involved in integration.

Data Analysis The unit of analysis in this study was the individual, and the method of analysis was case study (Yin, 2003). The recordings were transcribed shortly following each interview. These transcriptions were entered into the HyperRESEACHER software program and coded as a case study. We used a combination of inductive and deductive themes while coding these data. The deductive themes arose from the pilot study and the review of the literature. Using HyperRESEARCH‟s reporting feature, quotes were grouped by theme. From this themed data, a case study was written and then emailed to the participant for

member checking to enhance reliability (Patton, 2002). All five case studies were returned with positive comments. Finally, the case studies were compared in a cross-case analysis to identify broader themes and highlight complex ideas (Yin, 2003).

Findings Each of the five case studies are displayed in order according to the grade level taught by the educator. At the conclusion of the individual cases, the cross-case analysis is summarized. Cullen Case Ms. Cullen, a kindergarten teacher with 26 years of experience, saw integration as making connections and a natural part of teaching. “Boy, I think it‟s really hard not to. The minute I think of a topic, I think of the books that go with it because that‟s just a love of mine and I think because I‟ve seen kids love that.” This type of organic teaching included subject area connections as well as connections of any kind. “I‟m a believer in connections. I don‟t really care what the connection is. It‟s firing a synapse; it‟s growing curiosity and questions and interest. And those are all good things.” Cullen believed that integration enriched learning experiences by creating more connections and increased the probability of meaningful learning. “I think [reading] hits a different area. And I don‟t want to say it cements it, but it either sparks interest, or it creates a synapse connection to what they were doing with their hands.” Therefore, when Cullen planned for instruction, she often sought to integrate. She built her integrated lessons around science content and the inquiry process, yet she did not plan with a detailed structure designed to ensure a certain number of subject areas or skills got brought into the lessons. Instead, she allowed for the integration to occur more naturally. “I guess I don‟t feel like I purposely set out to integrate like, „This will be a math table, and this will be a social studies table.‟” Because of this organic process, Cullen struggled to place her current practice on the MoI (see Figure 2). “I guess I have no idea where I would plot myself, but I would of course like to be—this is where I‟m aiming (pointing to upper right corner).” Eventually, she agreed to place a triangle over the area that most closely pictured her practice. Cullen conceded to this because she felt that when she did integrate it was a natural process, and things were delivered concurrently without a lot of planning for specific content areas. The observed lesson was an inquiry-based science lesson that integrated ELA, math, social studies, and art. It was a multiday lesson about water; the science content involved the states of water, water‟s interaction with other materials, and the water cycle. Cullen stated that tackling such lofty scientific learning goals and such complex concepts was only possible through high levels of integration. She particularly saw the value of integrating reading, writing, and speaking. Reading was integrated in the books about water Cullen read to the class, the station where an adult helper read books about water with small groups, and the station where students explored books on their own. Writing was integrated at the station where students created their own books about water. Speaking was integrated throughout as Cullen used inquiry based questioning to explore student understanding, as well as, at the end of the lesson

where students had a chance to present art work and their water books in front of the class. As with placing her full practice on the integration matrix, Cullen struggled to determine where the observed lesson belonged—readily admitting the process was difficult. “It is! Because I don‟t really set out planning, it just kind of happens. It‟s the way that I see things.” In an effort to help Cullen place her lesson, we talked her through what we had seen. At that point, she readily agreed that the lesson itself belonged up in the upper right hand corner of the MoI.

Figure 2: Cullen’s MoI completed during the interviews.

In a perfect world, Cullen felt that she would like to balance out that ability to integrate organically, with an increased level of structured planning so that she had a more complete integration of all knowledge and skill. She referred to this as a good balance between the delivery of content on the y axis and the combination of content on the x axis. “I would hope that it would be balanced and that‟s hard in kindergarten because we‟re always leading up to something else . . . . I guess I‟d like it to be up here and be using both of these.” She also felt that this balanced approach should be in the upper right hand corner of the MoI, where everything was integrated. At first she felt like some rote things needed to be handled in isolation. But, as we discussed it, she determined that even low level knowledge and skill could and should be integrated. “Then I would go all the way up because even those little rote things like drill and practice numbers we could be making it slightly more exciting.” Knox Case Ms. Knox, a first-grade teacher with 22 years of experience, described integration through the lens of teamwork. While she acknowledged that integration did occur within her classroom without the collaboration of fellow teachers, Knox believed true integration involved grade level teamwork. “What it looks like to me is that you‟re team teaching with a group of people that have the same grade level and the same subjects that you teach . . . . That‟s the beauty of integration—

when you work with teachers.” Knox said that integration was a matter of weaving together subject areas in the way that is best for kids. “It‟s not how many subjects you can teach at the same time. It‟s how well kids can relate to real life situations.” In her mind, single lessons done by individual teachers could not be considered integration. “It‟s an ongoing lesson; it‟s not just one shot . . . . We could do this for the rest of this year if we wanted. We could take quality rather than quantity and just build on what we do this week.” Ms. Knox planned for integration by meeting with her grade level teaching team. They met weekly and planned for special integrated units. These meetings were inclusive and welcoming. “It‟s an invitation to teachers, and I‟m learning that you can‟t demand it . . . . Treat it as novelty and then build with the team.” The integration that followed provided meaningful learning that bound together all subject areas. Because of the challenges of bringing team members on board and the time involved in developing these fully integrated units, Knox placed her current practice toward the bottom left corner of the MoI (See Figure 3). Yet, she saw it moving up the center line through the year and ending close the middle by the end of the year. “Well, I‟ll get [more teachers] involved, and we‟ll plan more science days . . . . You have to invite them and say, „hey, wouldn‟t it be great to save time if we did it this way?‟” Knox stated that fully integrating all the time with her team would be the perfect world situation. She placed this near the upper right hand corner of the MoI because she believed there was always room for improvement.

Figure 3: Knox’s MoI completed during the interviews.

The observed lesson was a multiday social studies lesson that integrated multiple subject areas. Because of this full integration, Knox placed the lesson in the upper right hand corner of the MoI. The content of the lesson was learning about mapping and focused on students moving from a map of their bedroom up to a map of the world. Reading was integrated through a read-a-loud book. Math was integrated when students used rulers as a tool for drawing their own maps. As Ms. Knox discussed the lesson, which included ELA, social studies,

and math, she described how even that successful integration would be strengthened by in involvement of her grade level team. Havel Case Ms. Havel, a first-grade teacher with seven years of teaching experience, described integration as teaching two subjects at one time. While she did see places for skills from one subject to be used as “tools” for mastering content within the primary content area, “true” or “full” integration, Havel asserted, needed to have lesson objectives for all subject areas being taught. She then conceded that this was only her view. “Are you integrating both subjects fully if there aren‟t objectives attached to both? I think you‟d hear arguments for and against.” Planning for integration came easily for Havel because she saw literacy as a natural part of every content area. Regardless of what she was teaching, her lessons involved reading, writing, speaking, and listening. “[Literacy is] one common subject that‟s in every subject—everyday. I‟m constantly repeating a word, having them repeat it back—speaking and listening, that covers that. Writing down their thoughts in each of the subjects so you have writing integrated with math and science and social studies.” While discussing integration, Havel never used the term “continuum;” however, she did employ several other terms and descriptions. Mostly, she discussed different “levels” of integration, but she exchanged this with “full” each time she described the highest level of integration. Havel compared previously taught lessons by discussing the difference in the “degree” of integration. “This [lesson] would be like a 1 or a 2—on a scale of 1 to 5—this would be a 2, and that would be a 4 or 5 because of the nature of how I did it.” Clearly having spent time considering how she was integrating as well as the levels at which she tended to integrate, Havel identified the location of her current practice on the MoI (see Figure 4) with some definitiveness and was able to discuss in detail why. She placed herself just past half way to the right side but well below the line. This was where Havel felt her practice belonged because she was not able to integrate everything, yet she did so with every opportunity she could find. She also felt that the inherit structure to her day limited her ability to be any further up the y axis. The observed lesson was a science inquiry lesson; however, the math and ELA integrated into it were of equal importance to Havel. She felt like that was an important feature of integration; each content area needed to have a purpose within the integration—even when it‟s being used as a tool. “I would say subject area integration is teaching two subjects in the same lesson sequence. You know, not less equally, so, with objectives in place for both . . . . I guess you could say „full‟ integration or not „true‟ integration if the objectives on both sides aren‟t being met.” She believed this one lesson was a good example of the content areas she typically integrated, but placed it higher on the MoI since she was able to integrate more seamlessly.

Figure 4: Havel’s MoI completed during the interviews.

Ms. Havel was fairly content with the amount of subject area integration she was able to do. The place she really wanted to have more flexibility was in the delivery of her curriculum. In the perfect world she would have as much blending of instructional time as she had connections between content. Her practice would be balanced that way, on the center line of the MoI, up toward the right hand corner. “I think I‟d want to be up here; like this, but I still think there would have to be some subject areas that I teach that would have to be— like spelling. I don‟t think I could teach it any other way just because of the structure involved.” Bilas Case Ms. Bilas, a third-grade teacher with nine years of experience, described integration in terms of connections. These connections could be between subject areas or bridging the gap between school and the real world. While regularly planning for integration in a variety of ways, Bilas also saw the advantage of connections that arise through teachable moments—whether they connected subject areas or school learning and life. Bilas planned for subject area integration because she believed that connecting reading and writing to her content area units was critical to maximizing instructional time. “So, like when I was thinking about this last writing assignment . . . the first thing I thought about was my social studies content. How can I build a writing assignment around what I‟m going to be teaching in social studies?” This was a regular thought process for Bilas because there was so much ground to cover. Plus, from a pragmatic standpoint, connecting subject areas only made sense. “Why would you be reading other nonfiction texts? That doesn‟t make any sense. Why not teach your students how to read the nonfiction texts that give them the [social studies and science] content?” While she did not use the term “continuum,” Bilas saw levels to integration where higher levels of integration would include multiple content areas. “I guess better integration, if it was on a scale, would be

when you‟re able to connect multiple disciplines.” Bilas conceded that the planning involved in high levels of integration is overwhelming. “I think that it can be difficult on a daily basis so any kind of connecting is beneficial rather than having things taught completely in isolation, separate from each other.” Because of this challenge and the constraints of school wide structures, Bilas placed herself towards the bottom left corner of the MoI (See Figure 5).

Figure 5: Bilas’ MoI completed during the interviews.

The observed lesson was part of a unit studying a traditional Native American story; however, it was the reading skills and not the Native culture that formed the foundation of the unit. The social studies content, science content, speaking, and writing skills were given attention as they were needed. The reading skills taught during the observation were the skill of recognizing traditional stories and the skill of visualization. Social studies was integrated through the traditional Native American story used for the visualization. ELA speaking skills were applied as students presented group work. In other lessons of the unit science knowledge about fire and skills of inquiry were learned and applied. Even though these other subject areas played a small role, Bilas saw it belonging above the center line on and on the left edge of the MoI. “I think it‟s always going to be heavy on the reading . . . . If you look at the whole unit, it‟s going to be heavy on the reading throughout.” As Figure 5 shows, Bilas wanted to be integrating most subjects most of the time. She still saw the need for some isolated instruction and isolated content. “So, I don‟t feel like I can be like, here (pointing to upper right hand corner of the MoI) because math has to be taught in isolation. Especially the last two years I‟ve spent here with these students because I think that they have, in some ways, really weak math skills.”

Donner Case Ms. Donner, a fifth-grade teacher with eight years of experience, saw integration as teaching multiple subject areas at the same time. She thought that it was important for there to be a natural fit in the content being taught, and any subject brought into the lesson needed to contribute to the purpose and goal of the learning. “If it‟s a natural fit, I‟ll do it. If I‟m pushing, I‟ll think, „Eh, maybe this isn‟t the right thing.‟” When we began our discussion about integration, Donner felt that anytime another subject area was brought into a lesson (i.e. writing about science content) integration was occurring. As we explored these thoughts deeper and Donner spent time considering her own practice, she came to the conclusion that “true” integration required knowledge or skill to be taught for each subject being integrated.

Figure 6: Donner’s MoI completed during the interviews.

Ms. Donner‟s planning for integration occurred primarily around her science content. The main reason for this structuring of curriculum was that she loved science. Since her fifth-grade team rotated students for several subjects, science was also the place where Donner had the greatest opportunities to integrate. “For me, my easiest way to integrate is in science. I look at my standards in science, and „Well, okay! This is kind of the big idea, and this is what I have to teach. So, how do I push other subjects into that idea?‟” For Donner, looking for opportunities to integrate was a natural part of planning. She began with her science standards, but that did not mean that content from other subjects was used merely as a means to an end. She examined the standards of other subject areas to determine what should be brought in—what would be a natural fit and also needed to be taught. “I have an environments kit now, and so, I have to look where I‟m at in the math standards . . . . If I can find objectives that meet my objectives in science, that‟s when I put them together.” Because of the challenge of designing such experiences and finding the needed materials coupled with practical limitations with schedules at her school, Donner placed her current practice low on the y axis of the MoI (See Figure 6). She did put herself half way

through the x axis because of her focus on bringing subjects together whenever possible. The observed lesson was about environmental impact and integrated social studies, mathematics, and ELA into the science content. It took multiple days to complete. Working with a group, students developed their own stretch of land bordering a river. Then, Donner explained the potential for pollution with each plan. As students struggled with the realities of human impact, Donner integrated reading through a nonfiction book about river pollution, and social studies through an exploration of the industrial revolution. She then integrated writing as students wrote critical pieces about technological advancement. Since the lesson included nearly all of the subjects, Donner positioned it on the MoI far on the right side. However, she felt that within the lesson there still was significant separation between subject areas; therefore, Donner was not comfortable placing the lesson very high on the y axis. Donner discussed a range in integrated practice throughout the interviews. She saw the highest level as the “best practice” of integration. In a perfect world, this was what her teaching practice would look like. “I would be . . . where you would integrate fully all day, and the curriculum was completely integrated. There [would be] no time constraints—if it was possible.” Cross-Case Analysis A cross-case analysis revealed common themes within the cases and discrepancies between the cases. Four compatible themes were found within the cases: (1) an organizing description, (2) grounded in content, (3) range of options, and (4) perfect world versus reality. The contrasting themes between the cases were (1) philosophical foundations, (2) planning structure, and (3) depth of integration. All five participates described subject area integration as combining subjects. Cullen and Bilas used the term “connections,” Havel and Donner simply stated that it was teaching multiple subjects at the same time, and Knox referred to it as “weaving.” Each statement contained nuances; nevertheless, the foundation was the same. Also, these educators saw integration as both a planned and natural process. Bilas, Havel, and Donner all explicitly stated that they were constantly looking for opportunities to combine subjects. Knox, emphasized the planning done with a grade level team. Of the five, Cullen spoke the least about structured planning, yet the lesson I observed contained a high level of subject area orchestration. At the same time, each teacher spoke to one degree or another about the organic elements of integrating. For Cullen, Knox, and Havel it was who they were as teachers. Cullen questioned whether she could “disintegrate” if she tried. While clearly more planning oriented, Bilas and Donner felt that true integration required natural connections. They both spoke of combining subjects that had a natural fit.

While none claimed it to be the only way to integrate, four of the five participants described integration that was grounded in the content disciplines of science or social studies. Cullen and Donner planned and taught that way because of their love for science—each referred to the fact that it was how they saw the world. Bilas regularly built her integrated units around science or social studies in order to maximize instructional time and cover all of her ELA standards. Havel integrated based upon science and social studies because she saw literacy as being the one commonality throughout her day. Knox did not discuss planning in this way; yet, the lesson we observed was a social studies based lesson that had integrated other subjects into it. Each of the five teachers recognized a range of options for integration. They all quickly grasped the MoI and discussed the range present there. Four of them readily acknowledged that their methods of integrating were not the only ways to do it. Cullen and Donner, who most routinely integrated through science only, discussed how their teaching peers had different strengths and passions. Havel, Bilas, and Donner all discussed a range of levels for integration. Havel most frequently termed these as “levels.” Bilas discussed the range in terms of “complexity” of integration. Donner, referred to the highest level as “best practice.” Even though Knox never directly discussed a range of integrated options, she suggested that her own practice changed in the “amount” of integration throughout the year.

Figure 7: The compiled MoI comparing all teachers’ current and preferred practice. B=Bilas; C=Cullen; D=Donner; H=Havel; and K=Knox.

The final common theme across the cases was a discussion of the perfect world versus reality. These educators all placed their current practice at low levels on the MoI and their desired practice at very high levels (see Figure 7). The uniformity in their desire to integrate at or near the “full” level of the upper right hand corner of the matrix was very telling data. This shows that if possible, each of these five educators would like to be integrating at a “full” or nearly full level. The cross-case analysis also revealed contrasting themes between the cases: philosophical foundations, planning structure, and depth of integration. There were philosophical ideas about integration that differed between cases. In her discussion of integration, Cullen described it as teaching the “whole” instead of the parts. She emphasized the need for students to see the whole so that it makes sense. This idea was unique to Cullen‟s description. None of the other teachers referenced this view, but Knox discussed a different idea dealing with whole versus parts. She described integration as something that extended through the whole year. Because of this perspective, Knox did not see a single lesson taught in isolation to be part of the domain of integration. Again, no other participant mentioned anything similar. Also, Knox believed that “true” integration was a team effort. Others mentioned this as an option but never attributed higher “value” to the resulting integration. Differences were present between the participants‟ planning structure for integration. Two educators discussed using themes for planning but neither explained them in the same way. Havel brought up themes in reference to conceptual ideas that cross disciplinary boundaries. Knox, did not directly state the word “theme”; however, her description of the integrated units taught by her grade level team matched descriptions of thematic units—as presented in the literature. Other participants‟ planned integrated units topically around a science or social studies foundation. While planning for integration was clearly performed by all participants, it was not as important to Cullen. She described her planning for integration as an organic process. She integrated subjects as the opportunity arose and felt like she never really set out to integrate certain subjects or certain skills. A final difference between the cases was variations in the depth of integration. In describing the range of options in the practice of integration, there was general consensus about there being “amounts” of integration. At the same time, participants were split over the details. Two teachers, Havel and Donner, believed that true integration required lesson objectives or standards for each subject area in the lesson. In other words, reading an article in science class would not be considered integration of reading unless specific standards or lesson objectives for reading were being met. The other three participants did not state such an expectation.

Discussion Knowing how teachers describe the domain of integration would be a helpful addition to the literature. This is especially true in the United States with the arrival of new standards emphasizing integration (i.e. English Language Arts and

Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Common Core Standards). The purpose of this study was to explore elementary teachers‟ descriptions and practices of subject area integration in an attempt to help define the domain. As the teachers in the study described their practice of integration, a number of commonalities were found; however, with many unique perspectives also present, it still remained challenging to establish a concise definition. This finding mirrors Nissani‟s (1995) assertion that the very nature of integration makes such clarity impossible. At the same time, Nissani provided a broad definition of integration, and our participants‟ general descriptions sounded quite similar. In simple terms, subject area integration is combining two or more subjects into a lesson, lesson sequence, or unit. As the participants discussed integration, their ideas regularly agreed with Case‟s (1991) definition of “skill” integration. According to Case, “skill” integration is bringing skills like reading or writing into content areas like science or social studies. While none of the participants identified a continuum, they all readily recognized a range of options and approaches to integration. This finding again matches work established in the literature where any number of continuums and options for approaching the task can be found (Adler & Flihan, 1997; Applebee et al., 2007; Fogarty, 1991; Huntley, 1998; Jacobs, 1989; Leung, 2006; Lonning & DeFranco, 1997; Mathison & Freeman, 1997). On the surface it seemed that the participants‟ understanding of a continuum was only one dimensional. They used terms like levels, amounts, full, range, and true. To some degree, the continuums presented in the literature describe the domain of integration in similar linear terms. At the one end of such a continuum, subjects are separated and at the other, they are integrated (Mathison & Freeman, 1997). On closer inspection the range of options, discussed by the elementary educators in this study, were far more complex and required a model with multiple variables. Even the dual axes of the MoI used during the interviews failed to fully capture what educators described as the domain of integration. As Nissani (1995) claimed, integration must be seen as multidimensional and not linear. With this more complex lens in mind, it became apparent that many of the continuums found in the literature also include more complexity. Though often presented in a linear graphic, most contain characteristics from multiple dimensions that describe movement along the continuum. Based on findings in this study, we propose a model that maps the domain of subject area integration (hereafter referred to as the Model) comprised of four variables. Table 1 describes and gives an example of a low, medium, and high level for each variable. Evidence from the study, by means of participant quotes, is presented for most variable levels. The first variable, subject areas in the integration, identifies the number of subjects being combined. The range of options within this variable was presented on the MoI used in the interviews. The second variable, frequency of integration, was one of the most conversed aspects of the practice. The educators in the study all desired to integrate more often and gave detailed explanations about the challenges that make an increase in frequency difficult. The third variable, delivery of integration, was also on the

MoI. The range of options within this variable are often challenged by factors out of teachers‟ control including district mandates, curricular programs, and building schedules. Four of the five teachers in the study pointed to these issues and others as hurdles to an integrated delivery. The final variable, depth of integration, was discussed by four of the five educators. This variable has a limited range, but according to some of the teachers in the study, the depth of the combination can create distinct differences in learning experiences. Table 1. Modeling the Domain of Integration: Descriptions and Evidence. Variables Low Level Medium Level High Level Lessons Lessons combine most or Lessons are developed combine two all subjects taught at the around real-world subject areas. grade level. problems that require knowledge and skill from all or nearly all grade level subjects. “I think “I hope the tactile, using “So, let‟s say you‟re teachers would the water with the lids, I studying the normally think hope that that was math environments. Well about it as just and science. What else did somehow you would two [subjects] we do? We did some take your math because you writing which is always standards and your don‟t—you good . . . . Then, they read science standards and kind of think it to each other or they your ELA standards in pairs I think, read it to the group later.” and all of that would naturally.” Cullen kind of be in harmony.” Subject Havel “Interventions, for Donner Areas in “Moving example, leads to the “[It starts with] a Integration toward the study of simple machines problem, idea, or middle of the in science, to reading and concept, and builds continuum writing about inventors in knowledge from a represents an language arts . . . to variety of areas without increased drawing and studying regard to disciplinary infusion of one Rube Goldberg boundaries” (Adler & discipline contraptions in math” Flihan, 1997, p. 7). (mathematics (Fogarty, 1991, p. 63). or science) into the teaching and learning of the other discipline” (Huntley, 1998, p. 321).

Variables

Low Level Medium Level Integrating Integrating on a regular only a few basis like one day a week. lessons in the year. Frequency “Well, I get a [few] more of teachers involved, and we Integration plan more science days.” Knox

Knowledge and skill for each subject area is delivered separately. “If I had complete control over my classroom, I would probably be reading science content Delivery during my of reading Integration block.” Bilas

Around half of the knowledge and skill content is delivered separately and about half is delivered as needed regardless of subject area.

High Level Every all of the time, every lesson, every day, all year long. “I would [like to teach] where you would integrate fully all day and the curriculum was completely integrated.” Donner Knowledge and skill is delivered as needed regardless of subject area.

“I think honestly if you had the perfect scenario [you would] teach a lesson, a unit, where you couldn‟t really distinguish between [subjects]. Okay, „this is math and this is the science part.‟” Donner “The integrated day is a natural day. Time is structured according to the needs of the students, and the needs of the curriculum are planned around them, rather than institutional demands” (Jacobs, 1989, p. 17).

Variables

Low Level Knowledge or skill from one subject area is used as a tool to enhance learning in another subject area.

Medium Level Standards and objectives are being met for each subject area being integrated.

“You just have to think about how can one subject be used, if it‟s math and science, how can math be used as a Depth of tool?” Havel Integration “They combined literature and science to make the science content more interesting and meaningful. The literature, they said, had educational value, but the primary emphasis was the science” (Mathison & Freeman, 1997, p. 14)

“I think whenever you can integrate the standards from any subject matter whether it be math or reading or whatever it is, I think it makes the integration that much more rich because you‟re touching on all of the things standard wise.” Donner “At the center of the continuum are those activities meeting the curricular objectives for both science and mathematics” (Lonning et al., 1998, p. 313)

High Level Standards from multiple subjects are being met through curriculum developed around real-world problems. No discipline is the “primary” or organizing subject matter. “Curriculum integration begins with the identification of organizing themes . . . . drawn from real-life concerns . . . . [it] transcends subject-area and disciplinary identifications; the goal is integrative activities that use knowledge without regard for subject or discipline lines” (Beane, 1995, p. 619)

Note. There are two types of information found in the cells for each variable. At the top is a short description of the level for the variable. Below the description, most cells have one or two quotations that support the description. These quotations come from the participants in the study and/or from the literature on integration.

We believe that the interaction of the four variables in the Model provides further clarity in mapping the domain of subject area integration. It also allows for an individual to describe the patterns of personal integrated practice. By utilizing a bubble chart, this interaction can be displayed visually. First, the frequency of the integration and the subjects in integration are assigned to the x and

y axes. Figure 8 shows the positions along these axes. As the frequency of the integration increases, the position of the plot moves to the right. Since the range in this variable moves from a single lesson to every lesson in the year, half way across the axis would describe half of the lessons in a given period (i.e. day, month, or year) being integrated. The number of subjects being integrated is displayed on the y axis. At the bottom of the axis only two subjects would be integrated. The further up the axis the greater the number of subjects involved. With an increase in both frequency and the number of subjects being integrated, the position plotted would move toward the upper right hand corner of the chart.

Figure 8: Variables associated with the x and y axes of the Model.

The third and fourth variables are associated with the circles used to plot the position on the chart (Figure 9). The depth of the integration is displayed by the size of the circleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the smaller the circle the lower the level of depth. A small circle, then, would display a practice that uses one or more supporting subjects to facilitate the learning in an emphasized subject. An increase in the level of this variable is displayed by an increase in the size of the circle. Similarly, the delivery of the integration is depicted by the shade of color in the circle. A light shade represents a low level of integrated deliveryâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;indicating that knowledge and skill are delivered in isolation. For example, a teacher may have students write about their science content, but the science work and the writing take place during different periods of the day. As the tint darkens, the level of the delivery increases. A dark color indicates that content is being delivered as needed regardless of the subject area or a set schedule of classes.

Figure 9: Variables associated with the circles plotted on the Model.

Figure 10 displays the interaction of the four variables in the Model which is designed to map the domain of subject area integration. Plotting a practice on the Model, involves consideration of each variable. Moving from left to right represents an increase in the frequency of the integration. Moving from bottom to top represents an increase in the subject areas involved in the integration. Increasing the circle‟s diameter represents a deeper integration. Finally, a darkening of the color shade indicates an increase in the integrated delivery. Each circle plotted in Figure 10 represents an individual integrated practice. Three plots have been labeled for the purpose of describing hypothetical teachers. For clarity, we refer to the examples simply as Teachers “A”, “B”, and “C.”

Figure 10: The four variable Model proposed to help map the domain of subject area Integration.



Teacher A integrates frequently. Over half of the lessons she teaches are integrated. These lessons have a high level of subject area integration as well as a high level of depth in integration. Her curriculum is constructed around real-world problems that are not driven by any one discipline but require the knowledge and skills from most subject areas. Teacher A delivers this integrated curriculum as knowledge and skill are needed without regard for subject area. Teacher B integrates English language arts into her science curriculum. These are the only two subjects she integrates; however, her frequency of the integration is high. Teacher B integrates with virtually every science lesson she teaches throughout the year because she uses a science notebook as a central piece to her program. The depth of this integration is at a medium level. She has both science and ELA standards in mind as students write in their science notebooks. Nevertheless, she has a set schedule for her day and does not attempt to do any of the actual writing instruction during her science block. This means that her delivery of integration is at a low level. Teacher C rarely teaches integrated lessons throughout the year. When she does integrate, she usually builds these lessons around her social studies content. These lessons connect all or nearly all of the subjects; however, there is a low level of depth. Teacher C is focused only on students understanding the social studies content. The ELA, math, science, and art knowledge and skills that are brought into the integration are only used as tools to support and add meaning to the social studies content. Some of the time, the typical schedule of the day is removed and knowledge and skill are used in the flow of the curriculum. At other times, Teacher C keeps the schedule in place and just uses those blocks of the day to work on pieces of the integration.

Conclusion While interpreting the data, it became apparent that what educators described and practiced did not fit into a simple linear continuum. Nor was the MoI developed during a pilot study sufficient to capture the full domain of subject area integration. In an attempt to help map this domain and its rich range of options, a Model consisting of four variables was developed. These variables captured key aspects discussed by participants in describing subject area integration. The Model provides a fundamental framework for considering the various options in the range of integrated practice. It could prove useful for a number of stake holders in education. Departments of Education and Curriculum Leadership Teams could compare integrated practice and current teacher understandings of integrated expectations with actual expectations and desired practice. Districts and administrators could use these findings to plan for professional development. Finally, teacher training programs, in concert with Departments of Education, could use these findings to update pre-service teacher education. The Model interpreted from the data in this study remains untested. Further research on the variables of the Model would help to refine it. One aspect of future research should be to attribute value to the levels of each variable. The

purpose behind the Model of the domain is to describe teacher practice and promote professional development. However, without additional research it remains unclear if each variable is equal in value. Should educators focus on increasing their level of integration on one variable more than another? And, how is the value of each variable influenced by the subject areas involved? These and many more questions need answering to further understand the domain of subject area integration. For now, we hope that the Model can serve to further the conversation of educators everywhere.

Acknowledgement We wish to acknowledge the contributions to the elementary educators who gave their time and energy as they participated voluntarily in this study.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 28-43, August 2016

Improving Leadership Practice through the Power of Reflection: An Epistemological Study Ann Thanaraj University of Cumbria Carlisle, United Kingdom Abstract. This paper reports on a personal journey using reflection to benefit and transform the development of the author‟s thinking on important elements of leadership. The paper discusses the value of critical reflection in professional development before building upon the dynamic and complex multi-facet process of leadership. The reflection has helped to draw out the author‟s epistemological stance on the variety of different responsibilities, requirements of professional, personal and interpersonal knowledge and skill and the need to engage in reflection and continual improvement and growth as a leader. In order to grow and improve as a leader there is a strong need to address personal values and challenges that underpin thinking about leadership and the manner of implementing leadership. Keywords: Reflective learning; personal values; professional learning, situational leadership, ethic.

leadership,

Introduction This paper is an epistemological study which reports on a personal journey using reflection to benefit and transform the development of the author‟s thinking on key elements of leadership. The paper is written in a first person speech in order to allow for personal reflection, drawing on lived experiences and self-awareness as this develops. As an academic team leader and a principal lecturer in my subject discipline of law, the nature of my work and areas of responsibilities are set out in my contract. To name a few, these include team leadership, management of programmes, setting and meeting the objectives of the department, researching, influencing academics and students through research, income generation and contributions to the wider university and the professional bodies. Within the context of working in higher education, I believe leadership is a dynamic and complex multi-facet process of initiating positive impact on others. This process brings with it a variety of different responsibilities, requirements of professional, personal and interpersonal knowledge and skill and the need to

engage in reflection and continual improvement and growth as an experienced leader. This echoes what theorists have suggested; that leadership cannot be taught as a skill set but it can be developed (Gill 2011; Avolio 2009; Yammarino et al. 2005). As such, I am keen to develop more effective practices, learning and evolving from challenges that have I have attempted to overcome. The paper reflects on the skills, traits and challenges of leadership. I began conscientiously reflecting on my experience of leadership two years ago, with a strong desire for my team members to have confidence in me, as their new leader and, together as a team, for us to take our subject area into a successful and sustainable future. In order to achieve the wider aim of my leadership, I set myself three priorities that underpin my leadership focus and objectives: ● To achieve excellence in higher education through successful management of teaching, learning and student support ● To instil a clear sense of purpose ● To motivate team members and work effectively Increasingly, however, I have realised there is much more to being a leader than effectively fulfilling the responsibilities set out in the job description. I decided to keep a reflective journal, posing questions and issues that I found I needed to address around my values that underpin what I think leadership is; my understanding of influence and its place within leadership, my character and its impact on how I lead, what it means to lead, the emotional dimension to leading and general people skills. These reflections are reported in this paper. This reflection is undertaken in light of the significant changes that higher education continues to undergo in response to such factors as the advancement of the new Higher Education bill in England and Wales being considered by Parliament, contributions to the research excellence framework, impact of the teaching excellence framework, impact of digital education, league tables, widening participation and globalisation, to name a few (Times Higher Education, August 2016). Furthermore within the legal profession, method of delivery of legal services and legal education itself is undergoing vast consultations and review (Legal Education Training Review 2013). In this climate of change, there is a need for good strategic leadership and as such, I will need to reflect, identify and develop my skills and qualities as a leader.

Methodology This study is a reflective biography giving an account of the author‟s thinking on the development of leadership skills and qualities over the past two years within the context of the higher education sector. The reflection is written in an auto-ethnographical style. This gives priority to the lived experiences and reflections drawn from considering issues and questions which has raised self-awareness and critical thinking from the author‟s point of view. As such, a self-study research provides readers with the

opportunity to draw on the author‟s questions and experience and reflect on their journey through leadership development.

Research focus The research focus presented below guides the author‟s reflection on current leadership experience. The term leadership provides us with a „mental picture of power, prestige, and authority‟ (Yukl 2002, p4). There is also some disconnect and ambiguity as to what leadership is (Bryman, 2002, 2004). Some consider leadership as a function or task for completion, or a role defined by the person carrying that responsibility (Goodall, 2006). Others consider this to be a process of influence to achieve common objectives (Northouse, 2004). It is acknowledged that skills such as problem-solving, interpersonal skills, organising and planning, decision making and delegating are absolutely crucial for successful leadership. The aim of undertaking this reflection is to create some time and space to consider personal characteristics, the values essential for leadership and to develop awareness and reflect on current practices in higher education. Within a wider context, it is hoped that this reflection may help to address whether good leadership is derived from the personal traits of the leader or whether it is a functional process. The reflection will focus on: 1. Understanding the power of critical reflection in professional practice; 2. Identifying and reflecting on what my leadership values are; 3. Drawing out the extent to which emotion, influence and authority (Yukl, 2002) has an impact upon my leadership values; and 4. Reflecting on my character and its impact on the leadership process.

Evaluating the power of reflection in an ongoing journey of becoming an effective leader I have seen effective and transformational development in our students‟ ability to formulate new ideas and they try to figure out a solution to a problem on their own, whilst identifying areas for change and improvement through applying what was learned from one situation to other situations, through the embedded reflective learning scheme across all our law programmes. As such, being a believer in the power of reflections and its ability to bring to surface awareness, improvement and tackling challenges, I adopted reflection as a part of my personal and professional development as an academic leader to understand and recognise influences and improvements to my leadership practice. There is no straightforward or simple definition of reflection; instead there is a wide variety of literature on what it is and how it is best implemented. Moon‟s

(1999; 2005) work on reflection explains that reflection is “a form of mental processing…that we can use to fulfil a purpose…based on the further processing of knowledge and understanding and possibly emotions that we already possess” (Moon 1999, 2005, working paper 4). This presents useful insights into what reflection is: ● Thinking carefully about complicated matters where there is no obvious or immediate solution; ● There is an emotional dimension to reflection; ● Existing knowledge is the starting point where reflections commence; ● Through the mental processing we may add new knowledge or areas for further investigation after an experience; and ● Consequently, addressing the purpose of the reflection Done well and effectively, reflective practice can be an enormously powerful tool to examine and transform practice. It facilitates the time and space for one to go “…to the heart of things…to reengage with beliefs of fundamental importance, which provides a cohesive bedrock for all of life‟s activities” (Fook 2013). There are a variety of frameworks, for example from Argyris and Schön (1974); Schön (1983, 1987); Dewey (1933); Brookfield (1995); Ghaye (2004); Boud and Walker (1998) and Reynolds and Vince (2004) on reflective practice and how the “mental processing … to achieve some anticipated outcome…” (Moon, 2005, Working Paper 4), however a review of the literature shows that there is no one right way of reflecting effectively. Instead a number of features of effective reflection need to be present in order to draw out the process of learning from experience in order to improve practice. We begin with Dewey‟s (1933) „How We Think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process‟ as a starting point in reviewing reflective practices. Dewey was a pioneer in advocating for reflection becoming a core feature in any education stating that “while we cannot learn or be taught to think, we do have to learn to think well, especially acquire the general habit of reflection” (p.18). He takes a holistic view of reflection as a process which moved people away from routine ways of thinking about an experience towards reflective action involving “active, persistent and careful consideration” (p.4). Dewey‟s (1933) view has influenced theorists such as Kolb (1984); Schön (1983) and Boud and Walker (1998) thinking about learning from reflection. Kolb‟s (1984) experiential learning model features reflection as its nexus for effective and active learning. It has been defined as fundamental to develop, renew and expand one‟s knowledge and learning, achieved through a “cyclical process of identification, review, questioning and reconstruction through experience” (p.27). Schon‟s (1983) work explored the development of one‟s professional practice through reflection. He provided some helpful tips for reflection, which although not a linear and sequential model, it offers structure to the process: i) being aware of feelings or thoughts which may be challenging or uncomfortable, ii) © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

undertaking a critical analysis of the experience and iii) evaluating new perspectives derived from the analysis. The use of such a process has been suggested to lead to a state of expertise by bringing to the forefront of thinking one‟s existing knowledge so that it could be considered and improved through the process of reflection (p.67). Building on previous literature on reflection and its processes, Boud and Walker (1998) explain that reflection is more than “an intellectual exercise” (p.194) and acknowledges the emotional dimension of undertaking reflections. They offer a structured approach to reflecting to encapsulate and harness the value of emotions in reflections. They encourage one to begin with reflecting on an experience by mentally replaying the experience and describing it in a descriptive, non-judgemental way. After this, identify the positive and negative feelings triggered by the experience and attempt to „discharge‟ negative feelings which may obstruct the reflection. When the emotional dimension has been expressed and acknowledged, re-evaluate the issue by associating new information to what is already known and integrating new ideas with existing knowledge. One is also encouraged to validate the authenticity of the newly developed ideas, exploring inconsistencies or contradictions. Although they do not explain how this process of validation may be achieved, I would be keen to develop a reflective dialogue to inject a much needed social dimension to this process. Finally, to adopt and appropriate the new knowledge or behaviour as part of one‟s own practice to be applied in future circumstances. With regards to achieving the depth of awareness and learning through reflection, Mezirow (1990) explained, reflection requires critiquing on the assumptions on which our beliefs and values have developed. In Van Maanen (1995) and Thompson‟s (2008) view, to engage in critical reflection, an issue or experience will need to be explored with the “breadth and depth of practice, rather than to focus on the negative or „crisis point‟ interpretations of the term” (p.23). Taking this a step further, Fook and Askeland (2006) advices to critically reflect using a clear rationale and analysis embedded in theory to draw upon a structured process for reflection. Reflection can aid successful professional identity Reflective practice is often discussed as the foundation in achieving improved professional development (Schon 1983). In adopting Schon‟s (1983, 1995) and Fook and Askeland‟s (2006)‟s view, to engage in critical reflection effectively, we need to be involved in more than just thinking about our experiences and move towards understanding our experiences within the social context, based upon theories and research, to help us develop our knowledge about our practice. In turn, this helps professionals including leaders become aware of the wider organisation and context in which they operate. There are some insightful studies situated within the realm of the literature surrounding the value and implication of reflection on leadership.

Research shows that the ability to reflect on experience is evident in leaders who exhibit higher levels of cognitive development seen through their thought processes, problem solving and decision-making (Kegan, 1994; Kuhnert & Lewis, 1987). Reflective leaders also seem to be self-aware, able to reconsider their assumptions and current practices and are more open to new ideas (Mezirow, 1998). Neck & Manz (2010) explain that through self-awareness comes “improved work performance” (p. 185) and as such “have higher productivity and more fulfilling careers” (p.195). Further, adopting reflection as part of one‟s professional identity can also assist and encourage one to draw upon personal values, examine personality traits and consider their ethical stance in light of challenging situations (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, & Walumbwa, 2005), whilst developing one‟s capacity to be mindful of the emotional dimensions in which leadership operates (Goleman et al. 2002). Fook (2004) proposes that critical reflection is a valuable tool which leaders could employ to help them consider and understand the power and political relationships within organisations and as such it has the potential of offering a transformational approach to the manner in which one leads (Kayes, Kayes and Kolb 2005), both to the individual and team level (Ghaye 2005). Personal experience of reflection From my own experience, conscientious and structured critical reflection has the potential to bring about new ideas, renew practices and a sense of confidence over the way I lead and decisions I make. I enjoy writing and reflecting by making notes on my experiences, ideas, feelings, challenges. Writing is a powerful mode of thinking (Smith 1998). I adopt a structured approach to reflection by referring to a set of questions I have developed which help me to draw out, focus and structure thoughts about my experiences. This enables me to explore, question and evaluate my performance and development as a leader. These questions which I have developed to aid my reflection are derived from my tactical knowledge and past experiences and are used as prompts when analysing a particular issue. Initially, I found that being new to leadership and having read a limited amount of research on effective practice, it was difficult to understand assumptions and analyse how preconceived ideas of leadership could influence outcomes in a positive or negative way. Having adopted Fook and Askeland‟s (2006) advice on critical reflection to question what we know as well as how we know it using theory (p.35), I enrolled on a leadership study programme and studied various pieces of research on effective leadership (including leadership papers by Kempster and Stewart‟s (2010) Leadership as purpose: Exploring the role of purpose in leadership practice; George & Sims et al‟s (2007) discovering your authentic leadership; Dent‟s (1999) Challenging “resistance to change”; Duignan & Bhindi‟s (1997) Authenticity in leadership: an emerging perspective; Kotter‟s

(1995) Leading change: Why transformational efforts fail; Bennis & Nanus‟ (1985) Leaders: The strategy for taking charge). This period of learning helped me to open up to new ideas and change as well as realise the importance of adapting to new strategies (Napier & Fook, 2000). It was this combination of reflection underpinned by critical theory which allowed me to deconstruct and understand assumptions about practice and its influence, explore perceptions and expectations and consider different ways to reconstruct the incident with other possible outcomes in a structured manner. I found that, over time, I became more confident and open to examining assumptions and expectations about my values and personality which helped me gain awareness on some of the key facets of leadership such as control, management, uncertainty and change; all of which require more than just decision making or problem solving skills. In fact, many of these facets require personal strength in courage, integrity and values to succeed. From my experience of critical reflection, I believe it is a powerful technique that has the potential to bring about new understanding and confidence in knowing how to handle a situation.

My learning journey on the elements of leadership There is much ambiguity involved in forming an exact definition of leadership and whether it is a process or a function. From my own experience, I have found the art of leadership to be a process of influence, inspiring people to work towards goals which require fulfilling the tasks and objectives along the way. Understanding leadership values Personal values is the “…underlying moral, ethical foundation” (Copeland, 2014, p.129), which is capable of underpinning one‟s leadership style and practice (Brown & Treviño, 2006; Gardner et al, 2005). I wanted to reflect and understand what my values were so that I had an awareness of how these could shape my decisions, reactions to issues, and effectiveness as a leader as well as the example I set for others. Leadership theorists suggested that one‟s personal values influence how leaders shape an organisation‟s culture (Peregrym and Wollf, 2013), which consequently, can impact on how teams under one‟s leadership will conduct themselves. In a business administration doctoral study, Lichtenstein(2005) contextualised the importance of this by reviewing 163 managers and leaders. The study found that a leader‟s personal values had a “direct and significant” impact on organisational performance and influence, whilst their „age, experience and qualifications‟ had no bearing on leadership (Lichtenstein, 2005, p.57).

Understanding the importance placed on value and its impact on a leader, I drafted a set of questions to provide me with structure to my thought process, whilst ensuring that I situated my thinking within critical theory.  What characteristics do I possess?  What do I know about effective leadership?  Do I have the skills and attributes which contribute towards effective leadership?  What does a leader do?  How well do I understand myself as a leader?  What do I hope to achieve as a leader?  Do I worry about what others think of me?  What do I believe to be the most important values in a leader?  What are my values?  What are my aspirations and how does it contribute to my personal and professional practices?  What motivates me?  What motivates my stakeholders? What are the differences? How do I adapt my values without compromising on my integrity and beliefs? My reflections lead me to the following value statements which underpin my leadership style. Adapting to fit As a leader, I want to be able to help my team achieve our desired goals. In order to do so, I have learnt that the way to lead effectively is to be fluid, dynamic and responsive to change dependent on the needs of the group, using different leadership skills and techniques at appropriate times. This mirrors Fiedler‟s (1964, 1967), Hersey and Blanchard‟s (1969, 1977) and Yukl & Mahsud‟s (2010) findings that there are no templates or strategies on how best to lead; instead the style and manner of leadership should be appropriate to a situation, task and audience, and the level of attention paid to a situation or task or audience may vary and this requires a careful balance (Adair 1973). For example, when faced with situations in the workplace which disrupt the normal operation of an academic delivery, I have been able to provide a rapid, decisive and appropriate response to minimize the adverse effects for staff, students and the organisation. However, this has been challenging for me as this has sometimes meant that I have had to find a balance for objectives that involve difficult trade-offs. From this, I have learnt that to be flexible and adaptive in my approach to leadership, I should attempt to be proactive in planning how to avoid anticipated problems and have a draft contingency plan to should a difficult situation arise. Understanding and appreciating those whom we are working with

Being a results-focused individual, I have often failed to acknowledge that to take forward an objective, team members will need to feel included, empowered and engaged in the decision making process. Consequently, a leader requires skills to work in a variety of settings, both in formal situations and in informal settings, dealing with resistance and building relationships to share a common vision, including learning to work through the dynamics of those involved (Boyte, 1989). Ramsden (1998) argued that successful leadership is about “how people relate to each other” (p.4). This is also known as emotional intelligence which is capable of influencing leadership effectiveness (Mayer et al. 2000; Goldman 1999, 2002). Apart from the functionalities of a leader, the process of leadership is a state of mind underpin by personal values and characteristics, which evolve from experience and reflection (Parry & Kempster, 2014). I recognised that despite being self-aware, I need to improve on emotional intelligence and adopt a more suitable balance between prioritising people and objectives, rather than one over the other. Theorists such as Goldman (1995, 1999, 2002), Cowan & Heywood (2001) and Mittal & Sindhu (2012) explain that any form of effective people skill requires a good understanding of one‟s ability to recognise and manage own feelings, react appropriately, recognise feelings and emotions of others through especially paying attention to non-verbal cues, and managing relationships including interacting appropriately, resolving conflict and finding suitable outcomes (Arnold & Connelly, 2013). Being clear and focused about the direction of travel As a team leader, I have successfully and confidently created and established a sense of direction for the team by outlining the vision of the future, developing strategies for change to achieve goals, providing and justifying a clear sense of purpose, focusing explicitly on the needs and experiences of stakeholders and continually reinforcing key objectives. Although I have successfully implemented many of these strategies, I am aware of the need to be more people-focused, with an awareness and appreciation of the impact on team members, the additionality of any work involved or changes to their practices. Doing the right thing When making a decision, I focus on why something should be done, what is to be done, and the values that underlie the situation. Integrity has been a cornerstone of my motivations behind making decisions, based on being transparent, truthful and trustworthy and having courage of conviction. I believe that my personal integrity and trustworthiness were important factors which led the team to come together and work on developing a vision (Bolden 2001, 2003). I have come to realise that even above the need to be organised and decisive; good people skills are most important in setting team direction, creating an environment of collegiality, acting as a role model, and driving forward goals and objective.

Reflecting on my character and personality within the context of leadership As a team leader, I believe that achieving excellence in the programmes we offer, encouraging my team, communicating a clear sense of purpose and motivating team members to work effectively are the overarching priorities that govern the work we do. Together with the values which influence my leadership and these objectives for the team which provides focus for my leadership, I reflected on my motivations and style. I began thinking carefully and delving deeper into my assumptions and expectations; more so than the answers to the questions I had set out. I considered the following issues: ● How do I balance my personal values against external purposes, ethics, authority and social pressures? ● How do I balance meeting targets and objectives without compromising staff motivation and values? ● How do I support and develop new skills and make work as suitable and meaningful for team members? ● To what extent am I willing to make changes to my routine ways of doing things to meet objectives? The reflection to the questions above can be categorised as follows: Using objectives to achieve results I have always been driven by objectives and focus on achieving the desired results in the interest of my team and students. In order to achieve a goal, I have often ventured beyond familiar territory to pursue ambitious new outcomes, in programme development, in identifying new opportunities for income generation and in seeking collaborations nationally and internationally. Despite being proactive and persistent with a clear sense of what needs to be achieved, I have learnt that in order to achieve results, one cannot lead without creating a positive, supportive and collaborative working environment with the team‟s commitment and willingness to take forward objectives developed. I have found it challenging at times to take the necessary time to ensure that relevant stakeholders are on board with plans. However, I have learnt that persuading academics to be open to proposed new practices by explaining their perceived advantages and by ensuring that everyone is supported well, this has helped to create collegiality in the department and to facilitate motivation. Frequent communications on achievements, progress, new developments and practices from other institutions and setting achievable tasks have all contributed to motivating and promoting teamwork and sharing trials and triumphs with each other. Making decisions which prioritise students and staff:

Literature on values-based leadership (such as George & Sims et al 2007; Duignan & Bhindi 1997) advocate for a leader to be credible, with clear values and using these to build a unified team-approach to vision and objectives. As such, being a diligent and conscientious leader sometimes comes at the expense of one‟s own sacrifices. However, a commitment to the collective good, putting the team, student and the organisation‟s values first is paramount. I find this comfortable to do as I work from my core values of courage, integrity and loyalty and I have found that this helps create and sustain a sense of community that is empowering and collegiate. However, being goal oriented, I am more concerned over the process and how to achieve a goal. I have come to realise that effective leadership requires nurturing of personality and the ability to empathise. I have in the past forgotten about addressing expectations and engaging team members effectively. With experience, as I have begun to realise the value and importance of the team and their support, I have improved in the manner and frequency of communicating our direction and creating a supportive and positive environment to encourage best performance. Overtime, I have become aware that professionals, such as law lecturers who had practiced as lawyers before beginning their careers as academics require a more subtle form of leadership rather than the traditional sense of providing direction in the carrying out of tasks. This view is consistent with the literature on the management of professionals, as Mintzberg (1995) suggests “most professional workers require little direct supervision from managers” (p143). I have found it to be quite a challenge in managing professionals, some of whom are experienced academics and others who are new academics and all from professional legal and non-legal backgrounds. There is a need to balance their ability and experience in independent decision making and exercising professional skills and judgement, with working within the policies of a wellstructured hierarchical organisation, following a regulated law curriculum, meeting key statistics and objectives and operating as creatively using various educational models of learning. As such, the structure of higher education requires some degree of control and direction over the overarching aims and mission of the department and university, whilst as a leader there is a need to protect staff‟s freedom to undertake tasks within the creativity and judgement necessary. Further, Raelin (1995) suggests that for change to occur in universities, “collegiality and persuasion must reign over bureaucratic control” in which “critical debate and open examination” on making decisions and setting team objectives need to be adopted (p.208). Knight and Trowler (2000) view collegiality as mutual supportiveness among staff such as offering professional and perhaps personal support. With this in mind, I have moved away from setting directions for the team on my own and our goals and objectives for the department are set through collegiate discussions exploring the theoretical and educational rationale for our thoughts, underpinned by the trust and shared vision - which

has strengthened team motivation. As a result of revising my priorities, I now ensure that maintenance of staff‟s professional autonomy and they are consulted over important decisions. Reflection and learning underpin good leadership A leader needs to continually learn, reflect and develop. This is a continual and evolving process, adapting where necessary. I have learned to become more selfaware and more adaptive; recognising when change is necessary, provided it is driven by common good and new opportunities. In uncertain situations, I make decisions through deep thinking and rationalisation, weighing up the impact on all stakeholders and considering all possible options. Through my own leadership reflection journey I have realised what is important to me adaptability, transparency, decisiveness, courageousness and empathy – to successfully lead the team. Though seeking feedback from team members annually, I learnt what worked for the team and areas for improvement; I tried new approaches to situations and discovered new ways of working. Authority and influence in leadership At the beginning of this journey, I used to align leadership with a position of authority or expertise in a particular profession or subject area and as such, Yukl‟s description of leadership being a “mental picture of power, prestige, and authority” (p4) resonated very well. Two years on, I view leadership as something quite different – being the voice of a collective decision, equipped with knowledge through continual learning and adapting, whilst creating ways to take forward common goals, nurturing, supporting and respecting each other. When I started as a leader, as an academic who is frequently consulted on learning and teaching matters, curriculum design and matters involving digital education, I assumed that as I accumulated more knowledge and experience in my field, I would automatically be regarded as a good leader. This wasn‟t the case; instead, I was regarded as being an experienced and knowledgeable colleague, rather than a leader. In consulting French and Raven‟s (1959) model of power bases, I began to realise that knowledge expertise does not necessarily equate good leadership. It also challenges expertise and specialist knowledge such as with the possibility of making mistakes and keeping updated with changes to practices through evolving technology or policy. Having reflected on my experience thus far as a leader, I view leadership as demonstrating and setting examples of desirable abilities and good practices to colleagues, rather than only having the subject expertise in a field of practice. Within the realm of influencing others, my default position usually begins with making requests politely and especially with being results focused, using detailed justification, with supporting information and reasoning. Although this is an effective way of achieving objectives, it lacked the empathy and the necessary support required by stakeholders. Now, I ask what would be the best

way forward for others, in meeting the wider goals of the department and organisation, rather than either give in or to carry forward with the plans. I have always believed that successful influencing comes from meticulous planning. To an extent, armed with sufficient research, justification and knowledge I felt that it would allow me to influence a situation and in turn did not let down my team or key stakeholders to whom I was responsible for. Always being able to articulate a well-researched and well-defenced positon was linked to my assumptions about good professional practice, and this mirrors Fookâ&#x20AC;&#x;s (2002) challenge to question what we know as well as how we know it. Consequently however this assumption impacted on how I view the level of preparation expected from team members. I had to re-evaluate what efficient and suitable preparation meant, and how I managed to balance my own level of preparation against what I expected from others.

Conclusion Reflecting on leadership has helped me question and establish my assumptions and expectations of a leader, think critically and strategically about the ways in which I lead and align the team with the direction of the organisation. I am more aware about the importance of building relationships with those around me focusing on team dynamics and the way we work together. This reflection has provided me with new knowledge, an emphasis on what I have done well, a renewed awareness of my beliefs, capabilities and shortcomings. The process of reflecting had improved my ability to be more flexible and confident in my approach as a leader, and to approach leadership with the resilience and persistence needed to continue to inspire those around me.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 44-54, August 2016

Towards Actualising Sustainable Education Standards in Nigeria Dr. B. K. Oyewole Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria and Dr. (Mrs.) F. M. Osalusi Department of Social Science Education Faculty of Education Ekiti State University, Ado- Ekiti, Nigeria Abstract. The standard of education in Nigeria has now become an issue for national debate as some are of the opinions that the standards of education are falling in Nigeria today. This paper therefore examines the concept of sustainable education standard with allusion to quality education as suggested by UNICEF 2000. It examines the strategies towards ensuring sustainable education standards in Nigeria. These include reviewing the existing national educational policies, increase in budgetary allocation to education, provision of adequate learning resources, promoting capacity building for teachers, modernising instructional supervision, promoting quality assurance in schools, encouraging public/private partnership in education. It concludes that there is urgent need to re-design the school curriculum at all educational levels, train and re-train teachers and adequately fund the school system for the sustainability of education standards in Nigeria as the future development of our nation hinges on the product of our educational system. It therefore recommends that the Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria should re-design the schools curricula and syllabi in order to provide functional education for rapid national growth and development. Keywords: Development, Education, Policies, Standards, Sustainable, Quality.

Introduction The vital role of education in the development of nation cannot be overemphasised. In Nigeria, education has been a huge government venture as the Federal Government is placing adequate attention on education because of

its role in national growth and development (FGN, 2004). Education has been conceived as a veritable and vital tool towards ensuring a strong and virile society rather than a means of civilisation and social reform. Now that education has been recognized as a sensitive issue and an important factor for the development of any nation, Nigeria puts a high premium on the education of her citizenry. The economic growth of Nigeria hinges on the available personnel who are highly equipped with sound education and not only the high quantity of natural resources which are available (Oyewole, 2008). The standard of education in the contemporary Nigeria has now become a paramount issue for national debate as some are of the opinion that the standards of education in Nigeria today are falling (Sam, 2014). Hence, the issue is whether the falling standard of education in our country today is a myth or reality. Eguavo (2013) noted that a nation without sound education lacks adequately equipped future leaders who will help to propel development for the future generation. Oladunni (2012) observed that the falling education standard in Nigeria could be linked with inadequate dedication and commitment by the teachers who are saddled with the responsibility to facilitate effective instructional delivery and inadequate funding of education by the government in accordance with the United Nations standard. He further observed that the teachers at all tiers of our educational system as well as the government have not performed up to the expectation in the process of providing and maintaining good education standard in all our schools.Ochuba (2008) noted that the contents that students learn in secondary school, retain in their memory and put into action after graduation has a great role to play in national development. In another perspective, Chinelo (2011) opined that the declining education standard could be attributed to ineffective traditional education which helps to inculcate important values of hardwork, diligence, integrity and high productivity. It is pertinent to note that the quality of education in Nigeria has dropped to an alarming rate which could portend great danger for the future of our country (Atanda, 2014). Adebanjo (2013) was also of this view when he asserted that the standard of education is falling. He observed that the problem came as a result of neglect which education has to experience in the 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is gradually resulting to the decay of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s educational system. He noted that a study was carried out to examine whether the standard of education in Nigeria is actually declining or not. The results of the study revealed that 76% of the total respondents were of the opinion that the standard of education is declining while 24% disagreed. Based on the view of the respondents, it was revealed that the major aspects of falling standards of education are controllable. These include adequate finance, inadequate teaching aids and unconducive classrooms, corruption, persistent strike, low remuneration for teachers and dearth of qualified teachers in some states in Nigeria. It is quite unfortunate that education standard in Nigeria is losing its credibility in the global market as most graduates from universities do not possess saleable skills as required by many employers of labour (Omoregie,2008). It is pertinent to note that most students cram their notes and textbooks during the examination and therefore answer question words for words. After the examination, such students forget what they have read (Oladunni, 2013). In higher institutions, this trend is referred to by the students

as la cram, la pour, la forget. It is highly instructive that this unwholesome trend has been a major setback to our educational system. Examination has been construed by learners as a matter of do or die in which students engage in different forms of examination malpractices just to pass at all cost where as examination is supposed to be testing the students’ knowledge of what they have been taught in their own understanding (Ibukun & Oyewole, 2011). No wonder, the observation that the quality of Nigerian university graduates in recent time had declined considerably. Ijeoma (1997) observed that many of our university graduates cannot rub shoulders with graduates from other universities in the world. This implies that something must be wrong with the Nigerian educational system right away from the foundational level (primary and secondary education). The educational pyramid in Nigeria needs urgent attention by the government and all other stakeholders in the education industry in order to salvage and restore the lost glory of education in our country. To this end, this paper attempts to examine some strategies to actualize sustainable education standards in Nigeria. Concept of Sustainable Education Standard The concept of sustainable development came into the limelight in 1987 through the report of the Brundtland Commission where sustainable development was perceived as indices for determining present economic and social growth without losing focus on the ability of future generations towards achieving their own needs (United Nations Department of Social Affairs and Economics, 1987). Brundtland Commission posited that sustainability refers to ensuring adequate balance in the areas of environmental, societal and economic considerations towards the development and enhanced quality of life. It is quite evidence that the role of education in achieving this balance cannot be overemphasized. Atanda (2014) noted the significance of planning for sustaining national growth and development should aimed at the future, that is, it should ‘foresee’ and planned in a way that will meet the needs of the future generation. Sustainable education standard should entrench quality as the hall mark that is ready to stand the test of time. The standards that are set as regards quality education should be geared towards all round development in the process of producing sound education that could impact positively towards the development of individual and the nation in general. It is pertinent to note from the above submission that sustainable education standard is joint responsibility of every stakeholder in the education industry as everyone has a critical role to play in the development of education sector. Igwe (2001) noted that quality at any level of education is strictly based on measurement and degree of meeting the laid down standards, policy formulation to implementing the educational policies, coverage of the contents in the curriculum, the process of teaching and learning, teachers’ performance evaluation as well as research and academic environment. In essence, sustaining education standards in Nigeria requires active participation of the parents, students, educational administrators and education policy makers at both state and federal levels.

Strategies Towards Ensuring Sustainable Education Standards in Nigeria The following strategies as highlighted and discussed could go a long way towards actualizing sustainable education standards in Nigeria. a. Reviewing the national educational policies: The national educational policies need to be reviewed in line with the current national needs and global standard. Educational policy could be regarded as a principle or rule to guide educational decisions in order to achieve rational outcomes. The present educational policy of 6-3-3-4 educational system developed by the Federal Government of Nigeria has witnessed different reforms in structure and implementation in recent time, some of the changes that have political undertone rather than national interest. Though the idea behind the present national policy on education could be lofty but the implementation has not yielded the desired results (Kayoom, 2015). There is no focus on what education should be in addressing national problems. Hence, there is no stabled structure as this system of education was once changed to 9-3-4 and now modified as 1-63-3-4. This assertion was also remarked by Adebanjo (2013) when he noted that the government change educational policies frequently leaving the teachers and students confused. Amannah and Ahiakwo (2013) observed that there have been 44 Ministers of Education working to actualize the policies of 14 civilian Presidents and military Heads of States since independence. Faulty implementation of educational policies had undermined the fulfillment of educational goals. Progress made in some areas of the education sector were not necessarily consolidated as some education policies appear to be politicized thereby resulting to neglect, misappropriation of fund and poor implementation. There is need for a critical analysis of the existing situation in the education sector putting into consideration the socio-political and economic issues which could have significant influence on the education sector as well as decision making and of course the process of implementation should completely be devoid of politics. There is need to reform educational policies in Nigeria to pave way for access to educational opportunities, equity in the distribution of educational services, maintaining a consistent structure of the educational system with focus on internal and external efficiency. Hence, the need to make primary and secondary education compulsory for all school age children, train and re-train the teachers and ensure stability in the structure of the educational system. b. Increase in budgetary allocation to education: Sustaining the education standards at all levels depends largely on adequate funding. There is no doubt that education is the most capital intensive out of all other sectors as education is the bedrock of any national development. However, in recent time, the budgetary allocation to education in Nigeria has dwindled considerably when compared to other sectors of the economy. The 26% of national budget that UNESCO recommended for education has become a myriad in Nigeria as the total budget for education is less than half of the recommended percentage in some years back. Atanda (2014) observed that the percentage allocated to education did not go beyond 10% as against 26% of annual budgetary allocation

recommended by UNESCO. Adebakin and Ajadi (2014) opined that underfunding education in recent past and budgetary restriction of Nigerian education sector had posed a number of challenges in achieving quality in Nigerian education. It is evident that political interference could influence the level of funding the education system while corruption has constituted a major impediment to sustaining education standards in Nigeria. The depressed funding has resulted to inadequate supply of instructional materials and other resources that could facilitate effective teaching and learning process in our schools. To address this problem, Chinelo (2011) advocated for adequate funding of education through the adoption of UNESCOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 26% recommended from annual budget. The money to adequately finance education could be derived from the Education Tax Fund (ETF) and Petroleum Trust and Development Fund (PTDF). The bogus budgetary allocation to pay the public office holders could be reduced in order to have enough money for the development of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s educational system at all levels. This will help to address the decay in the state of school infrastructural facilities. In similar vein, Adebanjo (2013) observed that most of the problems that led to the falling standards of education are controllable and these problems can be solved easily when there is a remarkable increase in budgetary allocation for education in order to sustain educational standards in Nigeria as most of the problems facing education today are emanated from inadequate funding of the educational system. c. Provision of adequate learning resources: For any educational goals to be effectively achieved, urgent attention must be given to provision of adequately trained personnel and teaching materials. The infrastructural facilities in schools must be put in place based on standards. Atanda(2014) opined that the minimum standards documents for every level of education stipulate required standard in construction of classrooms, toilet facilities, library, laboratories, etc. Education is capital intensive and putting into consideration the demands of other sectors of the economy, it becomes highly imperative to develop public/private partnership in the process of funding education and instilling moral discipline at all levels of education in Nigeria. Education finance and provision of adequate facilities in schools should be the joint responsibility of all the stakeholders in the education industry. Evidence exists on the degree of dilapidation that characterizes school buildings especially in primary and secondary schools in many parts of Nigeria. Many of the schools are illequipped with basic learning resources while the taps of many laboratories in the schools are dried up. Experiments can no longer be performed in science laboratories as chemicals are not available. Many of the practical classes have turned into tutorials. This situation must be urgently addressed. The rapid increase in the demand for education relative to population increase in the country is a significant factor to consider in the decline in standard. Any expansion in the provision of such essential service must generate resources to match attendant costs of having additional teaching staff, procurement of textbooks, construction of classrooms, hostels, etc in the sustenance of standard (Sani, 2014). Worse still, there are inadequate textbooks in school libraries as many of the available textbooks are obsolete. Many of the students do not

cultivate the reading culture as they are busy engaged in the social media (Oyewole, 2015). Perhaps, this unwholesome attitude developed by the students towards reading habit has not encouraged many of the school administrators to place high premium on the acquisition of modern textbooks into the school libraries as this could result into share waste of meager financial resources that are available in the school. d. Promoting capacity building for teachers: Developing various programmes for teachers’ capacity building at all levels of the educational system is vital towards actualizing sustainable education standards in Nigeria. According to the national policy on education (FGN, 2004), it was clearly stated that no education could develop above the qualities of its teaching personnel. This implies that, the standard of knowledge acquisition of any teacher at a particular level will determine the standard of education at that level. The teachers play prominent role in determining education that is needed for human and national development. This great responsibility bestowed on the teachers cannot be handled carelessly or with levity. This calls for training and re-training of teachers at all levels in order to face the challenges of education in schools’ curricular which at times change from time to time in line with global standard and national development. According to Aghenta (2006) as cited in Ochuba (2008), the highly trained personnel help to bring about national development that could facilitate the tremendous growth and development of any nation. It is no doubt that teachers’ capacity building has a role to play in their job performance in schools and consequently enhancing students’ academic performance. Ajayi (1999) examined the relationship between teachers’ job performance and academic achievement of secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study revealed that levels of teachers’ job performance and students’ academic achievement were low. Moreover, the relationship between teachers’ job performance and academic performance of students was significant. In essence, for the teachers to perform optimally on their job, there is need to expose them to new strategies of teaching especially in the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in classroom instructional delivery. For educational standard in Nigeria to meet the global requirement, there is need to adequately train and re-train teachers at all levels through seminars, workshops and conferences on emerging issues that could facilitate effective teaching and learning process in our schools. The teachers must be exposed to modern techniques and application of ICT in instructional delivery in classrooms. It is pertinent to note that the use of ICT facilities in training teachers in Nigeria has been a great challenge as most of the teachers do not have adequate knowledge of ICT.Ayodele and Oyewole (2012) remarked that the teachers as builders of the nation should be adequately equipped in the revolutionary approach to modern day knowledge. The contemporary approach in teaching techniques need to be increasingly used and developed at all levels of the nation’s educational system and this can only be achieved through effective capacity building for the teachers.

e. Modernising instructional supervision:Instructional supervision is very vital in the actualisation of sustainable education standards in Nigeria. Ochuba (2008) observed that for education to effectively develop human capital, it becomes highly imperative to embark on regular and effective supervision. It is quite unfortunate that both the federal state inspectors have not performed up to the expectations due to various challenges such as inadequate fund for inspection, lack of transportation and other problems. In the past, teachers of schools were ‘snoopervised’ in the process of ensuring quality education in schools as this type of supervision was characterised with bossiness, threat, and lack of human relations. Ayodele and Oyewole (2014) noted that the modern day approach to instructional supervision is more clinical in nature as teachers need to be helped to improve on their job performance through corrections and personal guidance where necessary. The idea of clinical instructional supervision places much emphasis on the behaviours of the supervisors in the process of interacting with the teachers. It is a clear departure from the punitive measure that are embedded in the ‘old traditional’ supervision while the modern approach (clinical instructional supervision) focuses on corrective/rehabilitative measures in a cordial relationship that will totally erase symptom of suspicion for any kind of witch-hunting on the part of the teachers. Rather, this is a diagnostic approach that involves the teachers’ abilities, preparation and creating enabling environment that will keep the teachers to improve on the quality of instruction. This modern approach will ensure quality control through mutual interactive behavior between the supervisor and the supervisee in sustaining the standard of education in our schools. f. Developing mechanism for accountability and evaluation in schools: There is urgent need to develop accountability and evaluation of schools’ programmes and activities in sustaining standards of education. What distinguishes schools of the past from the present is discipline, hard work, virtues and values. Adebakin and Ajadi (2014) asserted that quality assurance is a concept that has been designed purposely to improve the quality of input, process and output in schools. Ajayi and Adegbesan (2007) opined that quality assurance could be linke with accountability which is aimed at maximizing effectiveness and efficiency of educational systems according to stated goals and objectives. Ajayi (2014) noted that the better the quality of education, the more effective the education system and vice-versa. He therefore suggested that it is necessary to ensure quality education so as to make the education system to be relevant in solving societal problems. One major problem that is confronting quality assurance in Nigerian educational system is the issue of examination malpractices. That there are malpractices in the process of examination in Nigeria is no longer news (Eguavo, 2013). The concern in contemporary society is the alarming rate of the frequency and dimensions of examination problems. Indeed, whether in the primary, secondary or tertiary levels in the school system, the problems of cheating and other sharp practices have been noted. Public campaigns and programmes embarked on by government and non-governmental agencies on the need to eliminate examination malpractices have not yielded the desired results, not even the introduction of jail terms for culprits (Ibukun & Oyewole, 2011). Today,

the qualities of certificates from Nigerian schools are questioned in the light of the growing challenges in the preparation and examination of the products of the school system. It very unfortunate that universities’ graduates with first class results are now put to test before they could be employed. There is urgent need to wage war against examination malpractices in the nation’s educational system through re-orientation and possible change in Nigerian value system, developing better and more flexible evaluation system through continuous assessment. The teachers handling pupils must be trained and experienced. Teachers should seriously observe the conduct and performance of their students. The continuous assessment on the students plus periodic tests results should form the means of evaluation in order to determine the strength and weakness of individual student. Those students who critically need assistance to catch up should be given extra lessons to enable them cope with regular lessons. There is also the need to enforce laid down laws/decrees on examination malpractices thereby promoting quality assurance in sustaining education standard. g. Encouraging public/private partnership in education: It is important to reiterate the fact that government alone cannot singularly bear the total costs on education in Nigeria if the education standards are to be sustained. There has been much criticism on the neglect of public schools by the government for failure to take corrective measures which will arrest the rapid decline in the standards of education. There is need for effective collaboration by all the stakeholders in the education industry. These include government, parents, philanthropists, religious bodies, private establishments and even the students. All these stakeholders have key roles to play towards sustaining education standards in Nigeria. The idea of private schools/institutions in Nigeria today has helped to reawake the standards of education in our country as many of the private schools are better equipped in terms of facilities than public schools. However, the exorbitant fees charged by many of these private schools and institutions have now become unbearable for parents especially the poor. Children of the well to do including senior public servants are preferably enrolled in private schools abroad where the educational standard is high and elitist (Sani, 2014). This is not to say that the idea of setting up private school is not good, but if this present trend is sustained, the education of the common people may be hindered as there could be no equal access to education standard. Government must therefore be committed in providing quality education. The parents and other stakeholders should assist and cooperate with the relevant authorities to ensure quality control in the standard of education which must be sustained for the attainment of disciplined, just and egalitarian society.

Conclusion and Recommendations The policy on education at the national level should be revisited as a matter of urgency. Experts from the ministries of education should explore all possibilities with a view to put in place workable mechanisms that could provide remedial measures in order to enhance and sustain education standards in Nigeria. There is urgent need to re-design the school curricula to meet the local needs of Nigerian society. The teachers at all levels of the nation’s

educational system should be made to undergo training and re-training programmes for improved instructional delivery in the classrooms. The publicprivate partnership should be encouraged to improve better funding of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s educational system, while the budgetary allocation by the government to the education sector should also be increased. The educational systems of other countries like Ghana, United States of America, United Kingdom and South Africa could be understudied for comparative analysis and adaptation of methods and principles that best suit Nigerian situation. The curriculum planners in the Federal Ministry of Education could be charged with this responsibility. These experts in the field of curriculum planning should closely understudy the school curricula at all levels in these various countries and study the pattern of funding their educational systems. These countries have been selected because of the urgent drive of affluent parents in Nigeria to send their children/wards to study in some of these countries, not minding the financial cost that this could place on them. The schools curricula and syllabuses that are tested, trusted and found effective should be adopted for teaching in schools, colleges and universities in order to provide functional education for rapid national growth and development. Greater attention should be placed on primary and secondary schools curricula as these levels of education are very crucial to sustainable development in the education industry. What the children learn at their tender age must be of paramount interest to education policy makers. Students must be encouraged to develop reading habit while special attention must be devoted to communication ability and skills in the language of instruction. The promotion of students to higher classes should strictly be based on their performance while teachers should be encouraged to display better commitment in the discharge of their duties. Good virtues such as hard work, diligence, punctuality, enhanced productivity and creativity by the teachers should be adequately rewarded.

References Adebakin, A. B. & Ajadi, O. T. (2014). Issues and nexus between funding and quality university education in Nigeria. In B. O. Emunemu & F. S. Akinwumi (Eds), Educational management in Africa: Papers in honour of Professor John Iheukwumere Nwankwo, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. 177–186. Adebanjo, O. (2013). Falling educational standards in Nigeria. Available online at ngex.com/news/public/article.php? Retrieved 16th July, 2015. Ajayi, I. A. (1999). Analysis of teachers’ job performance and secondary school academic achievement and their relationship. African Journal of Educational Research; 5(2): 85-90. Ajayi, I. A. (2014). Managing the education system in a poverty-ridden economy: The Unhealthy rivalry between efficiency and effectiveness. 38th University Inaugural Lecture. Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti. Ajayi, T. & Adegbesan, S. O. (2007). Quality assurance in the teaching profession. Paper presented at a forum on emerging issues in teaching professionalism in Nigeria. (14-16, March), Akure, Ondo State. Amannah, P. I. & Ahiakwo, M. J. (2013). Systematic approach to the improving standard of Nigeria educational system. African Research Review: An International Multidisciplinary Journal; 7(4): 252-264. Atanda, A. I. (2014). Quality education for sustainable development: A task for every stakeholder. In B. O. Emunemu & F. S. Akinwumi (Eds), Educational management in Africa: Papers in honour of Professor John Iheukwumere Nwankwo, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. 336-344. Ayodele, J. B. & Oyewole, B. K. (2012). Repositioning the teaching profession to meet developmental challenges in Nigeria. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences; 3(3): 47-51. Ayodele, J. B. & Oyewole, B. K. (2014). Clinical instructional supervision and sustaining education quality in secondary schools in Ekiti State. In B. O. Emunemu & F. S. Akinwumi (Eds), Educational management in Africa: Papers in honour of Professor John Iheukwumere Nwankwo, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. 389-396. Chinelo, O. D. (2011). Falling standards of education in Nigeria: An empirical evidence in Delta State of Nigeria. A Journal of Contemporary Research; 8(3): 1-12. Eguavo, O. E. (2013). Falling standard of education in Nigeria and the way out. Available online at www.information.ng.com. Federal Government of Nigeria (2004). National policy on education (Revised). 4th edition. Lagos: NERDC Press. Ibukun, W. O. & Oyewole, B. K. (2011). Examination malpractices in Nigerian schools: Environmental influences and management strategies. International Journal of Business and Management Tomorrow; 1(2), 138 – 147. Igwe, S. O. (2001). Supervision, evaluation and quality control in education. In N. A. Nwagwu, E. T. Ehiametalor, M. A. Ogunnu & M.O.N. Nwadiani (eds), Current Issues in Educational Management in Nigeria. Benin City: NAEAP Publication. Ijeoma, M. E. (1997). Maintaining excellence in higher education under conditions of economic depression. Studies in Educational Planning and Administration (SEPA); 1(1): 41-47.

Kayoom, K. A. (2015). Nigerian education policy and practice: Reform needs. International Journal of Educational Foundations and Management; 9(1): 93—101. Nwaogu, J. I. (1980). A guide to effective supervision of instruction in Nigerian schools. Enugu: Fourth Dimensions Publishing Co. Ltd. Ochuba, V. O. (2008). Improving the quality of education in Nigeria through effective inspection of schools. http://www.questia.com/library/journal/IGI. Oladunni, O. (2013). Why educational standard is falling? Vanguard News 2013. Omoregie, N. (2008). Quality assurance in Nigerian university education and credentialing. Education Winter. http://findarticles.com Oyewole, B. K. (2008). Instructional supervision and secondary school teachers’ job performance in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba- Akoko. Oyewole, B. K. (2015). Towards improving record keeping for effective school administration in Ekiti State, Nigeria. International Journal of Educational Foundations and Management; 9(1): 93—101. Sani, B. M. (2014). Improving standard of education. www.dailytrust.com.ng/ dailyindex. Retrieved 16th July, 2015. UNICEF (2000). Defining quality in education. A paper presented at the meeting of the International Working Group on Education, Florence, Italy. United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. United Nations. Retrieved on 23rd December, 2007.

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 55-70, August 2016

Policy of Carrying Capacity and Access to University Education in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward Dr (Mrs.) Chinyere Amini-Philips and Mukoro, Samuel Akpoyowaire “Department of Educational Management” “University of Port Harcourt”

Abstract. Education is considered by many people as the panacea for national development. This explains the reasons many nations emphasize the need for educational policy in designing their plan for accelerated development. Thus, various programmes have been launched in Nigeria aimed at universalizing access and promoting equity in educational opportunity for the citizenry. Access to education is equally given a place in the National Policy in education. Furthermore, also enshrined in the Nigeria constitution is equity, as contained in section 18 of 1999. However, the demand for education especially at the university level has grown higher than supply, making the university system to outgrow the resources available to it to continue offering high quality education. In an effort to maintain quality and standard, the National Universities Commission (NUC) adopted the policy of carrying capacity. Unfortunately this policy poses an impediment to access. Therefore, this paper examined the meaning of carrying capacity and having university education. The work under consideration also highlight the quest and availability of education at the tertiary level in Nigeria, matters carried in the policy that directs carrying capacity and its impediments vis-à-vis having university education in our country. Finally, the paper provides the way forward to enhance university carrying capacity and make having university education expensive. Suggestions include improved funding, facilities/infrastructure, dual mode universities, amongst others. Keywords: Policy of carrying capacity, access, demand and supply of university education, issues and challenges.

Introduction Universities are major forces “for the growth and development of individuals and the nation. This is because through universities, skilled competent and high quality manpower are trained to meet the need of the society at large. Thus, universities are the highest citadel of learning where human beings are trained to discover new knowledge and pass it on in order to produce quality

professionals in all facets of human endeavours. As noted by Ibiam and Okunnamiri (2007) investment in this level of tertiary education is a sine qua non of an appreciable level of human power development. As viewed by them, such investment becomes high priority as countries all over the world both developed and developing alike, steer in the direction of a knowledge society. The awareness of the importance of university education as “knowledge industry” for individual and national growth and development has made the demand for university education to grow higher than supply. Ehiametalor (2005) affirmed that the demand for university education will not only continue but may even accelerate and twice more than what is obtainable now will be needed to suitably tackle the current demand for university education. In fact students’ enrolment in 141 licensed universities in Nigeria is over 1.7 million (The Nation, 2015). As at October 2015, out of the 141 universities, 40 are Federal Universities, 40 are state universities, and the remaining 61 are private universities. Admittedly, the high rate of demand for university education has over-stretched the limited resources available thereby affecting the quality of programmes in the universities. Hence, Okebukola (2008) described the Nigerian university education as being at disequilibrium, matching student enrolment against available resources, which are now obsolete and inappropriate. The problem is further compounded by the low ranking of Nigerian Universities among the first fifty universities in Africa. In 2015, it was revealed by online rating that five Nigerian universities obtained the 20th, 23rd, 38th, 41st and 43rd positions among the fifty universities in Africa. These include the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile–Ife, University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin and Covenant University respectively (Channels Television May 18, 2015). In order to maintain quality and standard of university education, the NUC in 2004 officially introduced and adopted the policy of carrying capacity. The policy states the total number of students a university should admit in a year on the basis of available facilities, staff and other resources. This is to ensure that the universities offer high-quality education. However, the sections (1) (4c) and (5c) of the NPE emphatically states that there should be equal right to education by all children in the country without exception (FRN, 2004). The policy further emphasized the need for equal access to educational touch of the entire citizenry at all levels irrespective of level of education, within and outside to formal system. Successive governments in Nigeria are ensuring that the policy of education for all is implemented. These efforts among others include increasing the establishment of higher institutions, formulation of admission guidelines as well as issuance of certificate of participation to private individuals and the establishment of Open and Distance University in Nigeria. In spite of these steps taken by the government to expand the provision of university education in the country, it is still obvious that many do not still have access to it. Okebukola in Agboola (2011) remarked that social pressure for expanded access are strong with only about 13 percent of qualified candidates obtaining admission to university to study in spite of the establishment of more universities. With this in mind, although the policy of carrying capacity is to ensure quality but it seems to impact negatively on the

level of access to university education in Nigeria, knowing quite well that all effort geared towards the expansion of access through increased supply appears not to have yielded the desired level of access. This is probably why Emenalo (2009) averred that although the principle of carrying capacity is meant to enhance the quality and standards of university education in Nigeria so as to measure up with the world standard, but we must not lose sight of access to university education considering its enormous benefits. It is, against this back drop that this paper focuses on the terms: carrying capacity and undertaking university education. In addition, the paper stressed the quest for university education and its provision in Nigeria. It also treats the issues in the policy of carrying capacity, challenges to carrying capacity vis-Ă -vis access to university education in Nigeria and the way forward.

Concept of Carrying Capacity The policy of carrying capacity means the highest number of learners that a particular institution will be able to effectively manage for qualitative education, considering the human and material resources at our disposal as a nation (NUC, 2004; Kanyip, 2013) This suggests that the admission of learners at this level is in accordance with the facilities available and human resource on ground in each university in Nigeria. These facilities comprise good staff/student ratio, accommodation, required number of lecture rooms, libraries stocked with the appropriate books, renowned national and international journals among others and the human resource includes quality and qualified teaching and nonteaching staff in the right number and mix. According to Adewale (2014:321) the policy of carrying capacity introduced by NUC tell us how many students each and every university can take based on available facilities. In this respect, Nigerian universities have limits to their intake their respective carrying capacities in relation to available resources and staff strength. The model below depicts the criteria for deciding a university carrying capacity: Facilities and equipment Laboratory, studios, offices, Hostels, playfield

Facilities

Equipment

Academic and non-academic Staff (staff student ratio, mix by rank and number in all discipline

Staff Carrying Capacity

Class Room

Material

Classroom facilities, Lecture halls and theatres Library, International journals, books, chemicals, ICT/Computers, learning resources

Figure 1: University carrying capacity model Source: Adapted from Imogie A. I. & Imogie, O.A. (2008) Learning System as Correlate of effective teaching and learning in Nigerian Universities.

From the model, it means that each of the components is crucial to deciding the carrying capacity quotas for a university. As such all the components must be taken care of in the required quantity and quality. This influence the number of students NUC approves for each faculty in the universities in Nigeria. Table 1 below shows the enrolment and carrying capacity of Nigeria universities. Table 1: Enrolment and Carrying Capacities

System

Enrolment

Universities 1,096,312 National Open University 35,000 of Nigeria (NOUN)

Carrying Capacity 715,000 100,000

Over Enrolment 381,312 -65,000

Source: Okojie, J.A. (2015) Innovative funding in the Nigeria university system

Concept of Having University Education Generally, having education refers to the right or ability to gain entrance into a learning institution (Anumnu, Babalola & Taiwo in Zwalchir, 2007). According to them in the Nigerian context, it means enrolment in or entrance into any educational level. It also implies participating in education, whether formal or otherwise (Ehiametalor, 2005) and the mandate, privilege or avenue of putting education in place for all in a nation (Enaowho, 2009). Thus, getting in touch with education suggests that education should be within the reach of every individual in a nation irrespective of gender and age. Hence (FGN, 2004) presented access as ensuring that everyone who is entitled to education receives it. Furthermore, UNESCO in Moti (2010) advanced that obtaining university education means making sure that university education is a function of performance, capacity, hard work and persistence. Okeke, (2009) views obtaining university education from a broad spectrum denoting free education at this level and encompassing all to achieve the curriculum content at this level, which will immensely enhance societal development. In this regard, there should be no form of discrimination or negative attitude towards education in the fulfillment of the right to university education. Depriving any person or group of persons covertly or overtly of access to education in any form is a violation of the right of the individual to education and against the declaration of human rights (Anho & Onojetah, 2007).

The Demand and Supply of University Education In Nigeria, the quest for university admission far outweighs the provision of same. The data in table 2 clearly confirms this claim.

Table 2: Demand and Supply of University Education in Nigeria 1999-2009

Academic Session

Number of Applicants

Number Admitted

% Admitted

1999/2000 2000/2001 2001/2002 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009

418,292 416,381 714,548 994,380 1,046,950 841,878 916,371 803,472 911,653 1,054,060

64,368 45,766 90,769 51,845 105,157 122,492 65,609 123,626 119,195 127,082

15.39 10.99 12.7 5.21 10.04 14.54 7.16 15 13 12

Number of Unplaced Applicants 353,924 370,615 623,779 942,535 941,793 719,386 850,762 679,846 792,458 926,978

Source: Okeke, E.A.C. (2009). Access in Nigerian Education

The above table shows that there is continuous craving for education at the level of education under consideration. It also shows that about 84.7% to 94.8% of qualified students who apply to be admitted into Nigerian universities were denied admission on yearly basis. Atanda (2013), claims that the opening of more institutions of this magnitude was a direct reaction to the increased craving of same. He averred that although there was growth in the number of universities established, the figure for students admitted annually is quite low in comparison with the demand for university education. This situation has partly been implicated in the policy of carrying capacity.

Issues in Policy of carrying Capacity in Universities Denial of Admission: The policy of carrying capacity pose constraints to university admission because universities have their upper limits in terms of admission and failure to comply may attract sanctions from the National University Commission (Abdulkareem & Muraina, 2014). According to Statisense (2014) although most universities exceed approved carrying capacity quotas, students still denied admission yearly clock 70%, despite the fact that most of them meet the requirements. In this respect, the Nation (2015) reported that in the 2010/2011 academic session, cumulatively, Nigeria had 112 universities and 1,493,611 applicants. Out of this number, the carrying capacity was only 450,000 or 30.13 percent of applicants. We should note that most of the applicants that were rejected have the necessary entry qualification to gain admission. The report further indicated that for the 2011/2012 session, Nigeria had a total of 117 universities with 1,503,933 applicants, carrying capacity rose marginally to 500,000 translating to 33.25 percent. For the 2012/2013 session the figure stood at 128 universities, 1,735,729 applicants with 520,000 carrying capacity. Continuing, the report showed that for the 520,000 chances for admission, 1.7 million candidates applied. This implies that about 1.2 million candidates were denied admission in 2012/2013 academic sessions. As noted by Emenalo (2009) the worry is, if this insignificant percentage of very high JAMB applicants into universities are given admission in accordance with the carrying

capacity, what happens to the greater percentage of candidates not admitted? Of course those candidates denied admission will be frustrated and discouraged about the admission process in Nigeria universities. This portends danger for a country trying to attain economic growth, technological and scientific advancement. The consequence of this is that those who cannot secure admission roam the streets frustrated and because they are idle constitute nuisance to the society. Table 2 below shows university, applicants and carrying capacity in Nigerian Universities.

Table 3: University, Applicants and Carrying Capacity

Year 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13

University Cumulative 112 117 128

Applicants 1,493,611 1,503,933 1,735,729

Carrying Capacity 450,000 500,000 520,000

Capacity: Applicants 30.13% 33.25% 29.96%

Source: StatiSense (2014) Carrying Capacity of Nigeria Tertiary Institutions

As evident from the above table, although there was yearly increase in the carrying capacity quotas of universities, unfortunately, candidates who want to gain admission into universities each year increased geometrically, thereby making the increase in the carrying capacity quotas of each university not to be felt.

Inadequate Provision of University Education in Nigeria: Adewale (2014) stated categorically that “Carrying capacity affects access to university education in that not all the candidates sent by JAMB to a University for admission can be offered admission because of inadequate facilities” in her own view Emenalo (2009) stated that: Bearing in mind that Nigeria has a very high population density with inadequate land mass for expansion and the continual cultivation of these sparse lands due to heavy population density leads to infertility of the soil, which makes meaningful agricultural production for both consumption and commercialization difficult, access to university education in Nigeria should not be toyed with but addressed without delay (p.209). The implication of this according to her is that Nigeria relies heavily on her human resources for productivity. The human capacity requires proper and adequate development and refinement of the potentialities and capabilities through university education to be able to make effective, functional and positive contributions to the advancement of the society. It is the human resource in Nigeria that is being toyed with by not being given the opportunities of university education vis-à-vis the principle of carrying capacity. Since university education is a key contributor to economic, technological and scientific growth and advancement as noted by Mohammed and Gbenu (2007), how possible is it for our country Nigeria to realize that with this low or poor access to university education? This situation portends poverty among the

youths, which may stimulate belligerent nationalism and crime such as kidnapping, terrorism, militancy and organized crime. Competitive Admission: Due to the policy of carrying capacity which states that the total number of students each faculty in a university admits should be based on available human and material resources, admission into universities has become very cumbersome and competitive because of inadequate carrying capacity quota. One significant outcome of this competitive admission into Nigeria universities is increase in number of students studying abroad. Currently, according to Osinowo (2006) it is estimated that about 71,000 Nigerian students are studying in universities in Ghana, 30,000 in Great Britain and 7,000 in the USA. As a result of this, parents are now prepared to pay huge amount of money to ensure that their children are admitted to any university in Nigeria. It has equally resulted in examination malpractice during UTME and post-UTME entrance examination which may have adverse effect on quality of graduates. Deviation from Carrying Capacity: This is a major and common issue in carrying capacity in Nigeria universities. It is obvious that majority of universities do not stick to the carrying capacity quotas (meaning that most universities exceed their admission quotas). This is why students in most cases stand outside lecture halls to receive lectures. This may negate the quality issues for the adoption of the policy of carrying capacity by the NUC. However, the reason for over enrollment may be due to large number of applicants that apply for admission and equally qualified. Table 4 shows instances of deviation from carrying capacity. Table 4: Deviation from Carrying Capacity

Institution NUC Quota Afe Babalola 1,200 KWASU 725 Redeemers 800 FUA, Makurdi 2,133 Babcock 2,337 UNN 5,970 UNILORIN 5,514 UMYU 1,600 NSU 2,500 UNILAG 6,500 KASU 1,400 CRUTECH 2,500 ABU 6,688 UNIMAID 5,600

Admission 2,372 1,257 1,290 3,350 3,561 8,267 7,098 1,996 3,113 7,527 1,591 2,778 7,397 5,699

Difference 1,172 532 490 1,217 1,224 2,297 1,584 396 613 1,027 191 278 709 99

Deviation 97.67% 73.38% 61.25% 57.06% 52.37% 38.48% 28.73% 24.75% 24.52% 15.80% 13.64% 11.12% 10.60% 1.77%

Source: StatiSense (2014) Carrying Capacity of Nigeria Tertiary Institution.

The table below shows some universities and their carrying capacity (admission quotas) during the 2011/2012 academic session that was released by NUC, but

many of the universities gave admission to students above their approved quotas. Table 5: Some Universities and their Carrying Capacity for 2011/2012 Academic Session

OWNERSHIP OF INSTITUTIO N Federal ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” State ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” Private ” ” ” ” ” ”

INSTITUTIO N

NUC QUOT A

ADMISSIO N

DIFFERENC E

ABU UNILAG UNN UI UNIMAID UNIPORT UNILORIN FUA,MAKUR DI UMYU FULOKOJA FUEBONYI FUBAYELSA FU OYE-EKITI LASU EKSI ANSU CRUTECH NSU KASU AISU OSUSTECH KWASU TASUED COVENANT BABCOCK BENSON IDAHOSA AFE BABALOLA AJAYI CROWTHER REDEEMERS

6,688 6,500 5,970 5,720 5,600 5,522 5,514 2,133

7,397 7,527 8,267 2,989 5,699 3,820 7,098 3,350

-709 -1,027 -2,297 2,731 -99 1,702 -1,584 -1,217

1,600 500 500 500 500 5,294 3,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 1,400 800 800 725 3,500 2,500 2,337 1,260

1,996 443 150 498 384 1,103 1,300 1,408 2,778 3,113 1,591 484 397 1,257 2,898 2,162 3,561 867

-396 57 350 2 116 4,191 2,200 1,092 -278 -613 -191 316 403 -532 602 338 -1,224 393

1,200

2,372

-1,172

1,000

474

526

800

1,290

-490

Source: StatiSense (2014) Carrying Capacity of Nigeria Tertiary Institutions.

From the above table it is obvious that most universities exceed their recommended carrying capacity. However, it is very glaring that over 70% candidates were not given admission, despite the fact that they were qualified. Inability of Private Universities to meet their Quotas: Available evidence indicates that there is so much pressure on the public universities which obviously affected their carrying capacity. This has been attributed to the inability of private universities to meet their carrying capacity quotas. As disclosed by the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, the private universities admitted 19,254 candidates as against 67,009 allocated quotas in 2013 (The Nation, 2015). One of the cogent reasons responsible for this may be inability of parents to provide the financial resource to sustain their children in private universities in Nigeria given the expensive fees charged by these institutions. As noted by Osinowo (2006) the high fees being charged by private universities put them beyond the reach of most students.

Challenges to Carrying Capacity Vis-à-vis Access to University Education Poor funding: Poor funding is a major challenge that affect carrying capacity and in turn access to university education in Nigeria. This is probably why Ajayi and Adeniyi (2009) argued that the challenge of poor funding is common to all universities in Nigeria. The phenomenon of low level of financial allocation to education which is below the recommended UNESCO’s 26% of the total budget pose challenges to the implementation of the policy of carrying capacity vis-à-vis access. This is because the introduction of the policy of carrying capacity without proper funding had brought about poor and decaying resources, facilities and shortage of human resources. Table 8 below shows government allocation to education from 1999-2014. Table 6: Government Annual Budgeting Allocation to Education 1999-2014

Year

Allocation (Billion)

Percentage (%)

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

23 44.2 39.9 100.2 64.8 72.2 92.6 166.6 137.5 210 183.4

11.2 8.3 7 5.1 11.8 7.8 8.3 8.7 6.1 13 7.2

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

249.1 356.49 – 426.53 -

6.4 7.5 8.4 8.7 10.7

Sources: Adapted from Ebisine, S.S. (2014). Quality Education in Nigeria and Ezeanya, S.A. (2015). Democratization of Education in Nigeria.

Table 6 indicate clearly that Nigeria have never met the UNESCO recommended 26% of annual budgetary allocation to education in developing nations. A comparison of some African countries with Nigeria’s spending on education as a percentage of Gross National Product (GNP) brings out clearly the picture of Nigeria’s poor financing of education as indicated in table 7 below: Table 7: Spending on Education (% GNP) for Some African Countries in Comparison to Nigeria

Country

% GNP

Angola Cote D’Ivoire Ghana

4.90 5.00

Ration in Nigeria 7.00 7.14

4.20

6.00

Kenya

6.50

9.29

Malawi

5.40

7.71

South Africa

7.90

11.29

Tanzania

3.40

4.86

Uganda 2.60 Mozambique 0.76 Nigeria 4.10

3.71 5.86 1.00

Source: The African Debt Report by Jubilee 2000 in Ede (2010) University Education improvement and commensurate distribution in Nigeria.

Table 7 shows that Nigeria spends the lowest percentage of its GNP on education compared to other nine African countries. The implication is that education in Nigeria is not appropriately and adequately funded and the universities are no exception. An evidence of this is the trends in funding for Federal Universities in Nigeria where the focus is more on recurrent expenditure as against capital expenditure as shown in Table 8 below:

Table 8: Trends in Funding of Federal Universities in Nigeria 1999-2011

Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

AMOUNT RECEIVED (₦) Recurrent Capital 10,362,430,271 1,469,500,000 28,206,218,865 1,936,785,632 28,419,719,502 4,226,691,359 30,351,483,193 0.00 34,203,050,936 0.00 41,840,735,050 9,462,455,178 47,290,489,886 9,397,660,000 73,161,996,247 5,760,105,402 78,482,540,961 7,184,637,934 94,552,983,733 13,197,505,486 103,008,978,422 9,995,998,748 163,729,239,325 20,429,524,422 167,667,580,574 15,956,588,967

Source: Adapted from Shu’ara, J. (2010) Nigerian Higher Education Data and Uvah, I.I. (2015). Academic Planning and Orderly Development.

From table 8 above it is very clear that Federal government provides a budget cap based on projected earnings and not on the needs of the universities. In this way many universities have budget provisions well below their needs (Uvah, 2015).These funding patterns of universities have implications for the policy of carrying capacity and access to university education due to lack of qualified staff, incentives, dilapidated facilities and other material resources (Akpochafo, 2006) and inability to expand facilities and equipment, thus increasing lecturerstudents ratio. In effect the poor funding of universities has resulted in slow physical growth and the required number of facilities to encourage the introduction of new departments in line with societal need. In this way only small percentage of the qualified thousands of students are given admission in relations to the material and human resources in all the licensed conventional universities. Infrastructure/Facilities: Poor and outdated infrastructure, equipment and library facilities had been critical challenges to the implementation of the policy of carrying capacity and access to university education. In much the same way, the Federal Ministry of Education, (2009) reported that about 15-30% of the books, facilities, materials and equipment are outdated. Furthermore, Okebukola (2008) revealed that the general environment, laboratory and the lecture rooms of all public universities are far below the standard that will ensure optimal teaching and learning and conduct of quality research. With regard to infrastructure, the committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities (NANPU) in Nwachukwu and Okoli (2015) revealed that public universities were bereft of teaching and learning facilities and that the ones provided were getting dilapidated or improvised. It also discovered that many Nigerian universities suffered inadequate facilities such as old laboratories, workshops in addition to lack of proper furnishing and erratic power and water supply among others. According to the report, no Nigerian university has any

place among the first 1000 universities in the world. This is quite worrisome. The implication is that university education in Nigeria is facing serious challenges. This is what informs the criteria stipulation with regards to carrying capacity. Academic Staff Inadequacies: The shortage of teaching staff in Nigerian universities is a major factor in increasing carrying capacity to enhance access. UNESCO in Okebukola (2008) reported that there are evidences that among the so many school variables, teachers quality and encouragement are worthy of note aside enrolment, students participation and achievements in the university. This is consistent with the Nation (2015) that we are facing enormous challenges as there is a dearth of qualified lecturers. Federal Ministry of Education (FME) in Aluede, Idogho and Imonikhe (2012) revealed that the university system in Nigeria as at 2006 needed 50,000 academic staff strength but only had 27,394 academic staff. This situation meant ineffectiveness in course delivery in all the disciplines. According to Nwana and Babatope in Kanyip (2013) there are universities where only one lecturer teaches between 1000 to 1500 students. In some cases, such lecturers are without any public address system. Sometimes some of the lecture halls are smaller than the number of students to be taught. Therefore, some students stay outside the classroom to listen to the lecturer. These shortages of academic staff affect the carrying capacity quotas vis-Ă -vis access to university education in Nigeria. Lack of Proper Maintenance of Available Facilities: Nigerian universities do not only lack the required facilities but have not equally developed the culture of maintaining the existing ones. This has resulted in the deterioration of facilities which have impacted negatively on the quality of teaching and learning, as well as, reduced admission capacity due to insufficient facilities to accommodate students. In effect government failure to appropriately fund university education for efficiency and effectiveness and maintain existing structure for improved quality and standard equally have multiplier effects as regards expansion to accommodate the millions of candidates seeking admission yearly in Nigeria.

The Way Forward Improved Funding: The minimum expenditure of 26% of annual budget recommended by UNESCO for developing nations should be our base line. To do otherwise will be contrary for our avowed statement as found in the national document directing all issues concerning education in Nigeria, in which education is deemed paramount for national development and as tool for change. Therefore, the government should endeavour to make available at least 26% of its annual budget to education. Also, Nigeria universities should look up to other non-statutory sources of funding such as corporations, dividends from investments, foundations, alumni, endowment for funds. After all, Nigerian universities by law are to generate up to 10% of the annual budget while in Ghanaian universities it is 30% for infrastructural development and expansion. In this way, the institutional managers have to be prudent in management of funds to avoid wastage. This is because available data indicated that financial budgetary allocations to universities in Nigeria are inadequate. For instance, the

Federal Ministry of Education in Aluede, Idogho and Imonikhe (2012) reported that in 2004, the sum of ₦216, 622, 706, 206 (216 billion naira) was requested by the federally funded universities. According to the Federal Ministry of Education report, the Federal government however released the sum of 53, 466, 287, 848.61 (54 billion naira) representing the budget request from the universities. In effect the improved funding of the existing conventional universities will enable the building of new structures/facilities, renovation of old ones in order to increase their carrying capacity. When this happens, more students’ will have access to university education in Nigeria. After all it was due to dearth of facilities/structures that the NUC introduced the policy of carrying capacity that eventually impeded access. National Open University of Nigeria: There is the need to expand the activities of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to accommodate more candidates. This will solve the problem of high cost of establishing more universities in Nigeria. Besides the cost and long gestation interval required in getting a university properly established, it might take about ten years or more for the impact to be felt. But allowing NOUN to promote online study programmes in affiliation with some international institutions, many students will avail themselves the opportunities provided to access highly reputable foreign universities. In this way, universities in Nigeria will have the number of candidates seeking admission not too far exceeding their carrying capacity. Operation of 24 Hours Campus Model: All Nigerian universities should be allowed to operate 24 hours campus model where there will be the normal day study and night study mode. This will increase the carrying capacity of the universities vis-à-vis improved access. As noted by Osinowo (2006) virtually all Nigerian universities at present operate for only eight to ten hours daily. The facilities remain idle for the rest of each day. According to him, the introduction of night study on these campuses has the potential of increasing enrollment by 50% to 100) with minimal additional investment in solar panels or diesel generators, pending improvement in power supply through the national grid. Improved Facilities/Infrastructure: All the licensed conventional universities should be expanded with the required facilities and infrastructure commensurate with the number of students approved by NUC. There should be adequate provision of classrooms, laboratories, expansion of libraries, and other relevant materials in the existing conventional universities to ensure that more students access university education. Improved Human Resource: Adequate staff and facilities are crucial in the management of the university/educational institutions and admitting fresh candidates. In order to increase the carrying capacity level and access capacity for qualified and competent applicants in universities in Nigeria, universities need to employ more lecturers. Dual Mode Universities: The government should allow universities (especially older universities) to operate dual mode to accommodate students for both regular and part-time or open and distance learning programmes. This is to create room to admit more students. This is in line with what is obtainable in the

University of India in New Dalhi, where the excess of up to 10 million students are admitted into a virtual university (Adesulu in Vanguard, 2014).

Conclusion Education is the fulcrum for societal progress and development of individual for survival and sustainable economic development. Through university education, one is prepared to develop his full capacities to live and work, improve the quality of one’s live and one’s taste and attitudes are fine-tuned. In this way everyone that is qualified should be given equal access to high quality education at this level in Nigeria. In order to achieve quality, every university has to admit candidates based on their carrying capacity. However, in implementing the policy of carrying capacity there are some challenges that were identified. Until we appreciate and overcome the challenges to carrying capacity vis-à-vis access, more qualified candidates shall continue to be denied the privilege of having university education in Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that the challenges militating against carrying capacity vis-à-vis access should be handled properly through improved funding, facilities, dual mode universities, and so on to enhance universities carrying capacity and increase access to university education in Nigeria.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 71-83, August 2016

Who am I? Where am I Going? And which Path should I Choose? Developing the Personal and Professional Identity of Student-Teachers Batia Riechman Kaye Academic College of Education Israel

Abstract. The formation of a professional identity is an important stage in the teacher‟s professional development. The process of professional identity construction begins with teacher training studies. As part of the learning program in the first year of an academic college training process, the college offered a course entitled “Personal Professional Identity”. The present study investigated student-teachers‟ attitudes, at different training stages, concerning the contribution of their occupation with “personal professional identity” to the construction of their professional identity as future teachers. The study employed mixed methods research, using both quantitative and qualitative datacollection tools. Findings indicated that in the first and second years student-teachers gave greater weight to the contribution of different aspects in the course for the construction of their identity, in comparison to students at the end of their training who tended to minimize the contribution of the course. The paper suggests possible explanations for the emergent findings and recommends possible ways to enable the process of personal professional identity building of the trainee teacher over the years of training. Keywords: constructing personal/professional identity; professional identity, teacher-training; student-teachers.

teachers‟

Introduction The concept of an “identity” is based on three W questions - responses that a person gives to three substantive questions: Who am I? Where am I going? And which path should I choose? These three W questions elicit information concerning an individual‟s goals, values and beliefs and their assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses and their self-image (Vignoles, 2011). Scholars have proposed various definitions of “identity”. One popular definition is “an organized summary of information, rooted in observable facts concerning oneself, which includes such aspects as traits of character, values, social roles, interests, physical characteristics and personal history” (Bergner & Holmes, 2000). The anthropologist Margaret Mead (Mead 1934, in Korthagen, 2004) and the psychologist Erik Erikson (1968) both saw personal identity as something

that develops over the years in socio-cultural contexts and is influenced by those contexts. It is founded on interaction with the environment and internalization of social roles.Given the understanding that the individual lives and acts in a social environment and that this environment provides meaning for their actions, the construction of such an identity is seen as a continuous process involving interpretation and reinterpretation of experiences (Kerby, 1991). Professional identity constitutes one dimension of an individual‟s personal identity and answers the question: Who am I as a professional? In the context of teaching, teachers ask themselves: Who am I as a teacher? What sort of teacher do I want to be? How do I envisage my role as a teacher? (Korthagen, 2004). Teachers may experience tension between the different components of their identity since they are exposed to the expectations of varied stakeholders: students, parents, colleagues, school leaders and superintendents (Warin et al., 2006). The tension between personal and professional identities may mean that the teachers have a sense of dissonance as they try to navigate between the different objects of their work (Boyd & Tibke, 2012). The term “teachers‟ professional identity” has been studied in different theoretical conceptualizations, and through different research methods. Although there is no agreed definition of this term, Beijard et al. (2004) pointed to four characteristics of teachers‟ professional identity: 1. An individual‟s identity development processes are not universal, rather they are particular and they are structured through a context-dependent continuous, dynamic process as a response to experiences while providing interpretation to those experiences. 2. A professional identity is an element that should be intentionally developed. The personal knowledge that teachers bring with them to their teaching posts, their beliefs and values alter through their experiences as teachers in the school culture. 3. .Identity is not a matter that awaits exposure rather it is the result of a process of providing meaning and the individual takes an active part in the construction of their professional identity. 4. The development of a professional identity is not a linear process, for example from the state of a student to the state of being a teacher rather it is an interpretative process that is continually being re-examined. At least at the inception of their teaching career, teachers‟ professional identity is composed of sub-identities linked to different contexts within which they act (for example, the identity of a learner, the identity of a teacher). It is important that these sub-identities should co-exist in harmony and not be in conflict. Research has shown that the behavior of the teacher in the classroom and the pedagogic decisions that they make depend on their self-awareness. In other words, they depend on the teacher‟s perceptions, basic assumptions, beliefs and values by which the teacher is guided (Stenberg, 2011). The teacher‟s consideration of questions of identity creates self-understanding, allowing them to make decisions and to perform conscious choices (Kelchtermans & Vanderberghe, 1994). Moreover, professional identity constitutes a major

component in the teacher‟s professional development. It advances the teacher‟s philosophical perception (Mockler, 2011) and constitutes a fundamental element in the teacher‟s commitment to their profession, their efficacy and abilities and improves the teacher‟s willingness to cope with change and reforms and to implement innovations in teaching and even enhances their satisfaction with the profession (Day et al., 2006). The process of professional identity construction already begins during teachertraining (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). During this period the teacher‟s professional identity grows and develops from the student-teacher‟s initial beliefs and covert theories concerning teaching. Student-teachers beginning their training usually arrive with clear beliefs and perceptions concerning teaching and learning, and the teacher‟s role and they have a clear image of the ideal teacher (Feinman-Nemser & Remillard, 1996; Beltan, et al., 2015). These perceptions stem from their own experiences as school pupils over several years and from their observations of teachers from the perspective of a pupil (Schempp, Sparkes & Templin, 1999). In the main, these beliefs do not fit present day perceptions of teaching and learning. Research has also shown that student-teachers tend to see teaching from a pupil‟s viewpoint, in the context of their own understanding as learners and not from the viewpoint of the teacher (Sutherland, Howard & Markauskaite, 2010). Pete Boyd indicates that one of the challenges in teacher training arises due to the uniqueness of student-teachers‟ identity. They develop their identity simultaneously as both “learners” and as “teachers” and the students are committed at the same time to learning-to-teach and teaching-to-learn (Loughran, 2006). He suggests that training programs should be seen as an “interplay”, combining knowledge, identity development and practical wisdom (Boyd & Bloxham, 2014). Fuller & Bown (1975) proposed a model of teacher development based on analysis of subjects that concern the teacher (Three-Stage Concerns-based Theory) in which they describe the development of motivation from “insideout”; meaning first the teachers are concerned about subjects associated with themselves, at the next stage they become concerned about subjects relating to the teaching task, and finally they deal with subjects relating to the pupils. This professional identity, which Flores and Day (2006) call “pre-teaching identity” is polished and refined through reflection and the student-teachers develop more complex and sophisticated understanding of their work as teachers through their experiences in formal learning and through their practical work in schools and classrooms (Beijaard et al., 2004). Some scholars argue that professional identity is constructed through interaction with the environment and as part of the individual‟s experience in the profession. In the construction of professional identity, actions, experimentation and work in the field with the target community and with the professional community all play central roles (Kirpal, 2004).

Some researchers argue that, in their first year in teaching, teachers do not have sufficient opportunities to develop a robust professional identity that would allow them to cope with the challenges they face. They therefore argue that a personal professional identity should be prepared in advance during teachertraining (Korthagen, 2004). Helping student-teachers to acquire a professional identity during their training could allow them to examine to what extent the teaching profession is appropriate for them (Schempp, Sparkes & Templin, 1999). One of the challenges in the construction of identity is to deal with exposure to subconscious aspects so that they become overt and conscious (Webb, 2005). Different researchers have suggested a variety of ways to assist this process, including involving student-teachers in dialogs, use of metaphors, imagination and reflection (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009), writing autobiographies, representation through paintings (Beltman et al., 2015), and structured discussions concerning contradictions that exist in the field (Olsen, 2008) etc. In light of these insights, the Academic College of Education and Teachertraining introduced a learning program for student-teachers in their freshman year. This program includes several core courses, including a course entitled “Personal-Professional Identity” that provides an opportunity to challenge the perceptions that student-teachers brought with them to the college and expose them to different teaching methods than those that they experienced as pupils. Additionally the program employs a Gradual Experience Model (GEM), gradually familiarizing the student-teachers with different teaching components based on the student-teacher‟s encounters in the field: observations, peer teaching, individual teaching sessions and teaching in small groups (Reichman, 2016). The “Personal-Professional Identity” course establishes the subject of the student‟s professional identity development as a planned and intentional process and it includes intensive work on the substance of the teaching profession, on the concept of “being a teacher”, on the inner, personalprofessional identity of the teacher (the “why”), and the characteristics of the teacher and their role and deals less with the behaviors and skills of the teacher (the “what”). The “personal professional identity” course was conducted as a workshop, was taught once a week in a regular learning group including up to 23 students, and involved active participation and experiences in the sessions, the students read learning materials and presented written assignments. The introductory sessions involved activities intended to create a safe space in which to nurture trust and a sense of affiliation to the group in order to facilitate non-judgmental discourse, free from stereotypes and willingness to become acquainted with others. During the course, the students write personal narratives that allow them to conduct personal learning about the reasons for their choice of the teaching profession, and to examine the links between their childhood, youth and education and the manner in which they perceive the teacher‟s role. The personal narratives that emerged from shared discussion in the group, open new broader horizons for

observation of the student‟s personal profile and the profiles of others. The characteristics of a meaningful teacher figure that influenced the students can be understood from the student-teachers‟ stories of their personal memories, research texts and films dealing with the image of teachers that influence their students. The different activities in the course offer the students a space in which they look inwards on themselves, examining the strategies they use to cope with various situations, while developing their awareness of their strengths and weaknesses and examining the implications of these characteristics on their teaching.

Methodology The research examined student-teachers‟ attitudes at different stages of their teacher-training studies, concerning the contribution of their participation in the “Personal-professional identity” course during their freshman year of studies in an academic teacher-training college to the construction of their professional identity as future teachers. The research used mixed methods, employing qualitative and quantitative data-gathering and evaluation tools (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2010). Integration and cross-checking of the data from the different tools permits profound understanding and describes a comprehensive picture of the student-teachers‟ attitudes at different points over the training period, regarding their work on personal-professional identity. Student-teachers (N=183, including 154 women and 29 men) responded to questionnaires that included both open and closed questions. The structured questionnaires were administered to all student-teachers in Year 1 at the beginning and end of the academic year. At the beginning of the year, the questionnaires examined the student‟s background details, motivation for the choice of teaching and perceptions of learning-teaching. At the end of the year in addition to these fields, the questionnaires examined the student‟s attitudes concerning the contribution of the “Personal-Professional Identity” course and different aspects of the course to the construction of their personal and professional identities. The questionnaire included 15 closed questions and 4 open questions relating to their view of the importance of the course and another part of the questionnaire contained statements relating to the achievement of the course‟s goals. The students‟ responses were marked on a Likert scale of 1-5, where 1=strong disagreement and 5=strong agreement. Additionally individual in-depth interviews were held with students at different training stages (Year 1, Year 2 and end of the training). In order to attain a representative sample of the student-teacher population for the interviews, a random stratified sample was selected, including approximately 10% at each stage of the training: 18 students from Year 1, 12 students from Year 2 and 18 students at the end of the training period. The researcher maintained ethical rules throughout the research (maintaining participants‟ rights, receiving their informed consent to participation in the research and maintaining confidentiality).

Research questions 1. What attitudes do freshman student-teachers hold regarding the course dealing with the subject “Personal-professional identity” taught in Year 1 of a teacher-training course? 2. What attitudes do Year 2 student-teachers hold regarding the consideration of the subject of personal-professional identity at the beginning of their training process? 3. What attitudes do student-teachers hold at the end of their training period regarding the consideration of the subject of personal-professional identity at the beginning of their training process?

Findings Attitudes held by Year 1 student-teachers regarding the consideration of personal-professional identity at the beginning of their training Graph 1: Responses to the question: “Why was the Personal-Professional Identity course significant for you?” The graph shows the students‟ reasons why the “Personal-professional identity” course was significant for them. The reasons mentioned at the highest frequency were „learning about myself‟ (60%) and the “opportunities given by the course to clarify the suitability of teaching and consolidation of a professional identity” (35%). “Dealing with personal issues” was also mentioned (25%) (including: “opportunity to express myself”, “thinking about coping strategies for different situations”, and “ development of ability to reflect, familiarity with the „other‟”). In addition, the student-teachers noted the encounter with an alternative and interesting teaching method as a reason for the course‟s significance for them.

Figure 1: The importance of the course components in percentages 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

INTERESTING TEACHING

DEALING WITH PERSONAL ISSUES

CLARIFY CHOICE OF TEACHING

LEARNING ABOUT "SELF"

Figure 1: The importance of the course components in percentages

Table 1: Percentage of student-teachers who agreed to a strong extent –very strong extent with statements relating to the course’s goals Statement I had an opportunity to clarify my attitudes concerning my choice of teaching I had an opportunity to clarify my strengths and weaknesses After the course I know myself better As a result of the course I understand the reasons that I came to study teaching The course contributed to my understanding of the link between my perceptions concerning teaching and my past experiences

% of student-teachers who agreed to a strong extent – very strong extent 49 61 61 54 58

Table 1 shows that the student-teachers tended to agree to a strong – very strong extent that the course allowed them to clarify their strengths and weaknesses and to get to know themselves better. It also emerged that a large proportion of the student-teachers agreed to a strong – very strong extent that the course allowed them an opportunity to clarify their attitudes concerning their choice of teaching and helped them to understand the reasons for their decision to study teaching. It was clear that the course contributed to their understanding regarding the link between their past experiences and their present perception of teaching.

The responses of freshman student-teachers in the interviews supported these quantitative findings. The interviewees reported that the “Personalprofessional identity” course contributed for them in the following fields: Approximately 55% of the students related to the development of their selfawareness. In their words: In the personal identity course I learnt to look at myself in the mirror, I saw things of which I had previously been unaware. I also dealt with things that I was aware of and tried to understand them. The course is important for people who work in education, who communicate with other people and can sometimes be hurt by them. When you know yourself and are aware of your different parts, there is a chance that it will be easier to work with children, perhaps you will be hurt less (Source 4). In the personal identity course I learnt who I am and learnt to accept myself … sometimes I feel that it is difficult to talk about myself, but I studied in a setting that required my self-examination and I even spoke about myself, something that I usually could not do easily. Also, when you speak with others about yourself, it’s an opportunity for others to get acquainted with you and come closer to you; and it’s also an opportunity for me to get to know others and come closer to them (Source 12).

There were some respondents who felt that clarification of their choice of the teaching profession (approximately 40% of the student-teachers) was the contribution provided by the course: [I] see the relevance, It’s a preliminary process, where each one digs within their inner self and decides whether they have made the right choice. I am most satisfied with my decision (Source 1). I received the answers to those questions for myself in the course, whether I am fitting for teaching, I was able to organize things in my mind, to understand why I had gone for teaching (Source 7). Other students (approximately 40%) mentioned the clarification of attitudes concerning “what sort of teacher do I want to be?”: The course on personal identity activates thought as a future teacher: what do I want to do and how do I want to do it. You see the importance in practice, you enter into the mind of the teacher, each lesson on identity is really meaningful. It develops your thinking, each lesson we learn and think about things in different ways and connect the activities to teaching, and that is amazing (Source 5). The course on personal professional identity is excellent. It contributes to your professionalism as a teacher. Relating to yourself for example, examining which teachers were significant for you … and that advances your ability to act as the model for imitation that you would like to be for your pupils” (Source 4). The student-teachers also noted the attentiveness and empathy for others in the course (approximately 25% of the students): I reached very deep insights about myself in the course. For example, the matter of attentiveness: I look back retrospectively on cases in my life where I listened in a not so good way. It led me to change. I am now happy with the way that I pay attention and I am changing it … we learnt about empathy, the correct and incorrect way to empathize. It’s a course that influenced me most because I learnt how to pay attention to what is happening around me, to the pupils; to be more alert, and when there is some sort of difficulty, to take care of it (Source 16). In the interviews some of the interviewees related to the development of pride in the teaching profession (approximately 25%): In the program in Year 1, I received something very important – I received myself. In the personal identity course I understood that I felt embarrassed to be learning to become a kindergarten teacher, I was ashamed of myself and before my environment, and at first my studies were very difficult for me. I wrote about this and talked about it … and over the year I began to understand that I was actually working with children in early childhood, that I would influence their future and so this is actually a very wise and important profession … Today at the end of the year I am happy with these studies … now I

am proud to be a kindergarten teacher, something that I was ashamed to admit at the beginning of the year (Source 13]. Attitudes held by Year 2 student-teachers regarding the consideration of personal-professional identity The Year 2 students tended to note that the “Personal-Professional Identity” course was a significant and relevant course for the continuation of their studies and their work in teaching, and related to the following fields in which they felt that the course had contributed to them (1) The development of self-awareness (50% of the students): I especially remember how the matters that I was exposed to in the personal-professional identity course occupied me all day and even all week, those things made me think for a long time about myself (Source 5). I especially remember the personal identity course; I really liked that course. It made me ask myself questions that I would not have considered, to put myself at the center and to think what I had brought with me. It led me to think, even after the lessons, and also in relation to things that were not mentioned in the lesson – for example about myself as a mother – why was I doing particular things, what did I think motivated me to take particular directions? (Source 7 Considering your personal and professional identity is important and most meaningful, it helped me to understand the substance of my choice and myself and that allows me to do better and more complete work (Source 11) [Having an] identity helps me to shape my personality as a teacher (Source 3). (2) Developing self-confidence and shaping personality (25% of the students): The course was excellent. It strengthened my self-confidence, showed me how to construct my personality (Source 3) In that course, I worked on my self-confidence. I feel now that my self-confidence has increased due to the course, today two years later I feel confident, I was not like that at the beginning of my studies (Source 8) (3) Understanding aspects of the teacher’s role (25% of the students): In the professional identity course I understood that as a teacher, and in general as a human being, there are limits to my ability to solve problems. I learnt to distinguish between identification and empathy, I can understand someone who has a difficulty, to try to help them but I understand that the work itself should be done by the pupils or persons who are having difficulty by themselves, I cannot do it instead of them and I am not supposed to identify with them. I am not supposed to solve the problem for them, they must want to do so themselves, and they must do the work to solve the problem alone. I

can suggest a way, a method and from there the person must continue to progress. This is new learning of which I was not aware before (Source 10) (4) Awareness of attentiveness (25% of the students): I took the matter of attentiveness – how to react to the pupils, how to show them that what they say is OK and important (Source 1) It [the course] shaped my personality as a kindergarten teacher. I know what it is to listen and not to hear, I will take this with me to the kindergarten (Source 16). Attitudes held by student-teachers at the end of the training process regarding the consideration of personal-professional identity at the beginning of their training (Rafaeli, 2011) At this stage, very few of the students talked about the advantages of the Personal-Professional Identity course. They felt that the course had contributed to them by offering them a place where it was possible to share and receive support from the group: The professional identity workshop encouraged us to talk about feelings, fears, things with which we are less comfortable. It really helped us. We all arrived as new, it was a sort of support group where we saw that things were difficult for all of us and we were all afraid, it helped us to cope with the fears. This was the way in which we got to know girls from other streams (Source 15) Most of the students noted the problematic nature of the discussion of professional identity at an early stage of their training, for example: [I] don’t remember a lot about the program. It was not really relevant for me. I think that these courses should be performed in Year 4, during the practicum. It would speak more to me today, because my personal identity is being formed now, when I am a teacher in the field and I have ideas and opinions … In year 1 you don’t really know what your identity is (Source 7). Your professional identity doesn’t really crystallize if you are not actually exposed to the field. Identity is formed when you are in the field. [In Year 1] it is more theoretical, for example discussing what is professionalism in my opinion, in theory. [I] don’t see the contribution of professional identity as a theoretical course, it does not contribute (Source 2). Discussion and Conclusion Student-teachers at the beginning and middle of their training indicated that they saw the consideration of the issues of personal and professional identities at the beginning of their training was significant and it was something that contributed to their professional identity. It seems that the course allowed the student-teachers to conduct dialog with themselves and to reconsider aspects of

their identity. Student-teachers in Years 1 and 2 noted that learning about their “self” through a continuous process over the course helped them to become more aware of themselves and offered an opportunity to clarify their weaknesses and strengths. In this way they were able to know themselves better (Vignoles, 2011). In addition, clarification of attitudes regarding the choice of a teaching career developed their awareness of the considerations involved in their choices (Kelchtermans & Vanderberghe, 1994). Discussion during the course about the image of the “ideal teacher” led to exposure of covert beliefs and perceptions that the student-teachers had brought with them to the teacher-training program, and this helped them to understand the connection between their considerations as learners in the past with their growing perceptions of teaching in the present (Sutherland, Howard & Markauskaite, 2010). It also emerged that the student-teachers who learned in a group with their peers, experienced a dynamic group process and the group interaction helped them to recognize the “other”. It therefore seems that assisting the students in their construction of their personal-professional identity through a “PersonalProfessional Identity” course achieved its goals. Among the student-teachers studying in Years 1 and 2, dealing with the issues of personal and professional identity was experienced as something that prompted inner observation and awareness. The reflective skills that the student-teachers developed at the beginning of their training influenced the process of the formation of their professional identity as teachers for the future (Korthagen, 2004). However, student-teachers who were at the end of their training indicated the problematic nature of putting such studies concerning identity at the beginning of the training. They felt that the lack of real practical experience in the classroom at the beginning of their training reduced their ability at that stage to experience the course as something relevant for their teaching work. They argued that at later stages of teacher-training, practical experience becomes more continuous with intensive encounters with pupils and at that stage their behavior in class surfaced their beliefs regarding teaching. They had to make pedagogic decisions and these processes challenged the beliefs and values that guided them. In their opinions, it would perversely be advisable to examine aspects of personal and professional identities, when the student-teacher is engaged intensively in the education and teaching field and in light of the practical and theoretical knowledge that was built up during the training. This attitude is in line with research in this field that indicated that professional identity is constructed through interaction with the environment and in professional experience (Kirpal, 2004). In the construction of a professional identity, practical work, experience and work in the field with a target population and with the professional community play an important part. While student-teachers in Years 1 and 2 felt that the contribution of different aspects discussed in the course for identity construction in Year 1 had a strong impact, student-teachers at the end of their training tended to think that the

cycle of influence of the course and its contribution to them as restricted. It seems that, over time, they forgot details that they discussed in the course and as part of their training process, new layers of experience and activity in the education field were added that set new challenges and dilemmas before them (Fuller & Brown, 1975). It is therefore recommended that work on the subject of personal-professional identity should be conducted continuously throughout all the years of the student-teacher‟s training. Integration of the “Personal-Professional Identity” course over all the years of the training should ensure continuous and coherent development of what is learnt in Year 1. At the end of the training process and until their induction as novice teachers, a course of this kind can constitute a process of closure, to evaluate the process that the student-teachers underwent in training.

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Mockler, N. (2011). Beyond ‟what works‟: understanding teacher identity as a practical and political tool. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 17(5), 517-528. Olsen, B. (2008). How reasons for entry into the profession illuminate teacher identity development. Teacher Education Quarterly, 23-40. Rafaeli, V. (2011). First year program in retrospect – Perceptions and opinions of fourth year students. Unpublished evaluation report. [Hebrew] Reichman. B. (2016). Evaluation of the Gradual Experience Model (G.E.M) at an academic college of education. The International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation, Volume 23, Issue 2, pp.39-47. Schempp, P. G., Sparkes, A. C., & Templin, T. 1. (1999). Identity and induction: Establishing the self in the first years of teaching. In R. P. Lipka & T. M. Brinthaupt (Eds.), The role of self in teacher development (pp. 142-161). Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Stenberg, K. (2011). Working with identities promoting student teachers professional development. Ph.D. diss. University of Oulu, Finland. Sutherland, L., Howard, S., & Markauskaite, L. (2010). Professional identity creation: Examining the development of beginning preservice teachers' understanding of their work as teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(3), 455-465. Vignoles, V. L. (2011). Identity motives. In S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, V. L., Vignoles (Eds.). Handbook of identity theory and research, Vol. 1 (pp. 403-432). New York: Springer. Warin, J., Maddock, M., Pell, A., Hargreaves, L. (2006) Resolving identity dissonance through reflective and reflexive practice in teaching. Reflective Practice 7(2): 233– 245. Webb, M. (2005). Becoming a secondary-school teacher: The challenges of making teacher identity formation a conscious, informed process. Issues in Educational Research, 15(2), 206-224.

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 84-98, August 2016

Secondary Mathematics Teachers: What they Know and Don't Know about Dyscalculia Anastasia Chideridou–Mandari1, Susana Padeliadu1, Angeliki Karamatsouki2, Angelos Sandravelis3, Charalampos Karagiannidis4 1 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) 2American College of Thessaloniki (Greece) 3 2nd Special Education Diagnostic Centre of Thessaloniki (KEDDY) (Greece) 4 University of Thessaly (Greece) Abstract. Although much research on teachers’ knowledge and attitudes towards their students with dyslexia has been accumulated, students with dyscalculia have not gained the same attention. Teachers’ knowledge about the nature and characteristics of students with dyscalculia seems to be limited and this has a strong impact on their instructional decisions. In secondary education, where teachers’ preservice educational programs are more focused on the scientific subject instead of appropriate instructional methods, teachers’ knowledge about dyscalculia has not yet been taken into account. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which mathematics teachers know what dyscalculia is, and what its features are. Possible differences that may occur between teachers with and without special education training were also examined, as well as differences that may occur as a result of their working experience. One hundred and fourteen secondary mathematics teachers, with an average service time of twelve years, completed an electronic questionnaire in which they had to respond to 19 questions about the definition, the content and the major characteristics of dyscalculia. Although they seemed to understand the innate profile of dyscalculia, 31% of them attributed dyscalculia to learning gaps resulted by student absence from school while 67% of the teachers felt that mistakes of students with dyscalculia in solving algorithms may be reduced if more time is provided to the students. Furthermore, confusion prevailed regarding skills of students with dyscalculia to solve word problems. The findings in this study contribute to the ongoing discussion on the appropriate education and training of secondary mathematics teachers, which should not neglect the special characteristics and difficulties of students with dyscalculia. The teachers’ knowledge about dyscalculia is suggested as the base for the design of appropriate teaching practices to address specific learning disabilities in math. Keywords: dyscalculia; learning disabilities; views; beliefs; secondary teachers

Introduction The definition of Dyscalculia has gained significant interest by the scientific world in the last four decades. A variety of terms, such as “mathematics disorder, learning disabilities in mathematics, specific learning disabilities in mathematics, e.tc.” have been used to describe the dyscalculia phenomenon. In 1970, Kosc was the first to highlight the developmental nature of the disorder and define dyscalculia as an innate disorder with genetic base, that exists without a simultaneous disorder of general mental functions (Kosc, 1974). Currently, the term dyscalculia refers to the specific learning disabilities in mathematics presented with difficulties in areas such as: number knowledge and processing, learning and memorizing arithmetic facts, executing arithmetic calculations fluently and accurately, as well as mathematic reasoning (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The prevalence rates of dyscalculia seem to be of the same size with those of dyslexia’s. Several publications have appeared documenting dyscalculia percentages of 5,6% (Dirks, Spyer, van Lieshout, & de Sonneville, 2008), 6,1% (Landerl & Moll, 2010), 10,5% (Mogasale & Patil, 2012), 3,4% (Reigosa-Crespo, et al., 2011), 4,5% (Jovanovic, et al., 2013) and 2% (Dhanda & Jagawat, 2013). As in any other disorder prevalence rates vary depending on the age group, the screening measures applied and the discrepancy criteria selected in each study. However, the above rates are in line with Geary (2004), according to whom 5% to 8 % of the students have some kind of dyscalculia. Although the strong presence of dyscalculia in the student population has led to increased scientific interest about the study of the phenomenon and its characteristics, dyslexia has still a dominant position in research. The fact that dyslexia is a language disorder, manifested when students enter school, makes teachers’ role highly important for its screening and future progress. This central role of teachers in the academic and social inclusion of students with dyslexia has been documented in a plethora of studies focusing specifically on either the knowledge of the educators (Kerr, 1998; Moats, 2014; Ness & Southall, 2010; Regan & Woods, 2000; Soriano-Ferrer & Echegaray-Bengoa, 2014; Soriano-Ferrer, Echegaray-Bengoa, & Joshi, 2016; Wadlington & Wadlington, 2005; Washburn, 2009; Washburn, Joshi, & Binks Cantrell, 2011; Williams, 2012) or their attitudes towards dyslexia (Gwernan-Jones & Burden, 2010; Hornstra, Denessen, Bakker, van den Bergh, & Voeten, 2010; Kerr, 2001; Tsovili, 2004; Woolfson, Grant, & Campbell, 2007). Unfortunately, researchers have not shown the same interest about teachers’ knowledge of and attitudes towards dyscalculia. Relevant research interest has been expressed mostly by studying teachers’ beliefs of the nature and meaning of mathematics and the instructional methods they use (Cady & Rearden, 2007; Handal, 2003; Stipek, Givvin, Salmon, & MacGyvers, 2001). Educators’ perceptions about the difficulty of the mathematics as a subject and about their ability to teach (Cady & Rearden, 2007), their perspectives about the knowledge they have or should have on the subject itself (Mosvold & Fauskanger, 2013), as well as the assessment tools needed in order to fully evaluate students’ performace (Adams & Yang Hsu, 1998; Watt, 2005) have been widely investigated.

Research about the knowledge of teachers has focused on their background knowledge on the subject of mathematics (Even & Tirosh, 1995), mathematics instruction (Ernest, 1989) and the different ways of assessing students’ reasoning (Ernest, 1989; Even & Tirosh, 1995). Teachers’ knowledge about all the above areas has gained the attention in recent years, especially within pressure for instructional effectiveness and teacher accountability (Tickle, 2000 in Zakaria & Musiran, 2010) and high academic performance of students (Hill, Rowan, & Loewenberg Ball, 2005). Only recently, considerable attention has been paid also to the phenomenon of dyscalculia. The relevant research has focused on clarification of the definition and the nature of the difficulties (i.e. Geary, 2004; Jiménez González & Garcia Espínel, 1999; Mazzocco & Myers, 2003; Martin, et al., 2012; Silver, Pennett, Black, Fair, & Balise, 1999), the characteristics and the specific errors of students in mathematics (i.e. Andersson, 2008; Bryant, Bryant, & Hammill, 2000; Compton, Fuchs, Fuchs, Lambert, & Hamlett, 2012; Fuchs & Fuchs, 2002; Geary, 1990), the prediction, early identification and assessement of these difficulties (i.e. Desoete, 2008; Desoete, Ceulemans, De Weerdt, & Pieters, 2012; Geary, 2011; Geary, Bailey, Littlefield, Wood, Hoard, & Nugent, 2009; Gersten, Jordan, & Flojo, 2005; Gilbertson Schulte, Elliot, & Kratochwill, 2001; Kling & BayWilliams, 2014; Morgan, Farkas, & Wu, 2009; Stock, Desoete, & Roeyers, 2009) and the effective teaching practices that should be used (Gallagher Landi, 2001; Gonsalves & Krawec, 2014; Ives, 2007; Leh & Jitendra, 2012; Montague, Warger, & Morgan, 2000; Powell & Fuchs, 2015). However, despite the large amount of academic knowledge available, very few publications are available in the literature, to the authors’ best knowledge, that address the issue of teacher knowledge of dyscalculia. The relationship between secondary mathematics teachers’ beliefs and learning disabilities in mathematics was examined by DeSimone & Parmar (2006) in a study with 226 middle school mathematics inclusion teachers. Most of them had a Master’s Degree and had taken part in limited inclusion-or Learning Disabilities-related workshops. Teachers were asked to answer a questionnaire about their beliefs regarding the academic profile of students with learning disabilities in mathematics, as well as their readiness beliefs to teach in inclusion classrooms. Although they stated feeling “quite comfortable” or “very comfortable” in their abilities to adapt instruction for students with learning disabilities, their comfort relied especially to their general beliefs about their strategy knowledge they use to succesfully adapt instruction. Based on the results reported, it was evident that they had an unclear picture of students with learning disabilities in mathematics and the majority of the teachers believed that there was no distinction between a student with learning disabilities and a low-performing student. The indistinct picture of students’ with dyscalculia characteristics is consistent with results from another study by the same authors (DeSimone & Parmar, 2006), in which in-depth interviews, surveys and classroom observations were conducted with seven general education mathematics teachers. According to those teachers, students with learning disabilities in mathematics are very slow in understanding and

processing teachers’ instructions, they find it difficult to focus and concentrate and they also need constant reinforcement for their efforts. Teachers believed that students’ difficulties in reading lead to additional problems in understanding and solving word problems. The explanation and presentation of a concept with various ways was regarded as an effective practice, but unrealistic, given the limited available time for teaching during the school day. In 2010, Saravanabhavan & Saravanabhavan conducted a survey in India investigating the knowledge of regular high school, special school and preservice teachers about specific learning disabilities. Regular education teachers’ knowledge was higher than the two other groups, but still quite below the desired level, a fact which was explained by the researchers by the inadequate training and the small number of workshops available regarding the specific learning disabilities. As Kamala & Ramganesh (2013) revealed three years later in a study focusing on the knowledge of 94 teacher educators about dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and behavioral problems of students with specific learning disabilities, even teacher educators had low level of relevant knowledge. In conclusion, it appears that very little is known about teachers’ knowledge and their skills to efficiently teach students with dyscalculia, although currently the presence of students with dyscalculia in school classrooms is increasing. On one hand, instruction of these students is certainly challenging, especially for the secondary mathematics teachers, since their academic training is focused mostly on the subject of mathematics itself. On the other hand, while many efforts for implementing interventions for students with dyscalculia in secondary education are made (Graham, Bellert, & Pegg, 2007; Ives, 2007; Krawec & Montague, 2014), the background knowledge of the teachers about the special characteristics and difficulties of these students is not taken into account. Our goal in the present study was to investigate the knowledge of secondary mathematics teachers about dyscalculia. In particular, we focused on examining their knowledge about: a) the nature and definition of dyscalculia and b) the content of dyscalculia and the characteristics of students with dyscalculia. Furthermore, possible relationships between teachers’ knowledge and their teaching experience, as well as their relevant training were examined.

Methodology Participants One hundred and fourteen secondary mathematics teachers participated in the survey, 47 of them male and 67 female. The majority of the teachers (n=48) worked as private math tutors, 41 of them taught in public middle and high schools and the rest of the participants taught in private afternoon tutoring centres (phrontistiria). As far as their teaching experience, 42% worked six to 15 years, 31% worked up to five years, whereas the smallest part of them (27%) had 16 to 35 years of teaching experience. The percentage of the participants who did not have any training in special education was 58%.

Instrumentation A questionnaire designed by the authors was distributed to the participants through the Internet, and data selection lasted three weeks. The questionnaire consisted of 19 questions about teachers’ knowledge and teachers had to respond by choosing between “True” or “False”. In particular, the first five questions (A1 - A5) concerned the nature and definition of dyscalculia (e.g. Dyscalculia isn’t due to insufficient teaching) and the other 14 questions (A6 A19) referred to specific characteristics of students with dyscalculia (e.g. They

respond to word problems impulsively.) Results The analysis of the results indicated that less than half of the teachers (40.4%) answered correctly to all of the questions about the definition and nature of dyscalculia (A1 – A5). Only two teachers gave the correct answers to questions A6 to A19 and it was just one, who didn’t give a single wrong answer to all 19 questions. As presented in Figure 1, the descriptive analysis of the answers revealed that the majority of the participants (86%) knew about the innate nature of the disorder and were correct about the prevalence rates of dyscalculia, which are more than 1%. Participants who felt that inappropriate teaching is not responsible for the appearance of dyscalculia reached the percentage of 83%. Nevertheless, fewer (74%) knew that dyscalculia is not a result of low I.Q. and 69% of the teachers were aware of the fact that long student’s school absence is not the cause for dyscalculia.

Questionnaire items

Figure 1. Definition and Nature of Dyscalculia A5

86%

69%

74%

83%

Percentage of correct responses Figure 1: Percentage of correct responses regarding the definition and nature of Dyscalculia. Description of questions: A1. Dyscalculia isn’t due to insufficient teaching, A2. Dyscalculia isn’t due to low I.Q., A3. Dyscalculia doesn’t stem from learning gaps due to long student’s school absence, A4. Dyscalculia is an innate learning disorder, A5. Dyscalculia is present in more than 1% of student population.

Regarding the content of dyscalculia (Figure 2), data analysis indicated that almost all of the participants (99%) knew that linking arithmetic terms to their symbols is an area of difficulty for these students. A large number of the participants (95%) were aware of the fact that students have difficulties in choosing the correct arithmetic operation in order to solve a problem, whereas 93% of the participants knew that students with dyscalculia find it difficult to explain their answers. The comprehension of arithmetic terms (e.g. sum, bigger than, e.tc.) and the retrieval of basic arithmetic facts was considered by 91% of the teachers as a major difficulty of students with dyscalculia. A percentage of 84% of the teachers knew that students with dyscalculia respond to word problems impulsively and 82% of them knew that students have difficulty in manipulating measures of weight and length. Teachers, who knew about students’ difficulties in memorizing multiplication tables, reached the percentage of 73%, while 63% of the teachers knew that students face difficulties in designing and interpreting a diagram and 60% of them were aware of students’ money exchange difficulties. Only 58% of participants knew about students’ difficulties in “telling the time” and 55% were correct about students’ difficulty in translating the word information of the problem into visual representation. Further, only 37% of the teachers recognized that the reason for students’ mistakes in word problem solving is not only their difficulty in reading. Regarding the ability to execute arithmetic algorithms, only one third of the teachers (33%) knew that students’ mistakes weren’t due to the limited time provided to them.

Figure 2: Percentage of correct responses regarding the content of Dyscalculia. Description of questions: A6. They have difficulty in learning the multiplication tables by memorizing them, A7. They make a lot of mistakes in recalling basic arithmetic facts (results by adding and subtracting into the first tens, e.g. 6+4), A8. They have difficulty in understanding the content of arithmetic terms (e.g. sum, bigger than, e.tc.), A9. They have difficulty in making connections between arithmetic terms and their symbolic representations (e.g. +, >, e.tc.), A10. They have difficulty in making money exchanges, A11. They have difficulty in “telling the time”, A12. They manipulate ineffectively the measures of weight and length, A13. They may execute

incorrectly an arithmetic algorithm even if they have plenty of time, A14. Their difficulty in solving word problems isn’t due to their difficulty in reading them, A15. When they solve a word problem, they usually have difficulty in choosing the appropriate arithmetic operation, A16. They can’t translate the word information of a problem into a visual representation (schema, picture, table, and diagram) in order to solve it, A17. They respond to word problems impulsively, A18. They have difficulty in designing and interpreting of diagrams, A19. They have difficulty in explaining the answers they give.

No statistical significance was found between the total responses of the group of teachers with no training courses taken and the one with some kind of training. However, there was statistical significant difference between these two groups in only 2 particular items of the questionnaire. Specifically, there was a statistical significance (t=2.988, df 112, p=.003) between the “no training” group (M=1.53, SD=.503) and the “some kind of training” group (M=1.27, SD=.447) regarding their knowledge about students’ skills in money exchange. Statistically significant was also the difference (t=2.545, df=112, p=.012) between the first (M=1.53, SD=.503) and the second group (M=1.30, SD=.464), when responding about students’ difficulty in “telling the time”. Finally, the one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) performed, for the examination of the relationship between the responses and the teaching experience, revealed no statistically significant correlation.

Discussion Definition and Nature of Dyscalculia In the present study we intended to investigate the knowledge of secondary mathematics teachers about dyscalculia and its characteristics. As far as knowledge about the definition and nature of dyscalculia are concerned, teachers’ answers were contradictory. Teachers seemed to be aware of the fact that dyscalculia phenomenon is real and highly prevalent in student populations, as well as of the innate nature of the disorder. Unfortunately, some of them still seemed to confuse dyscalculia with intellectual disability. Teachers in our study appear to be uncertain about the relationship between general intelligence and dyscalculia, even though teachers are well aware of the fact that dyslexia is not attributed to low I.Q. (Regan & Woods, 2000; Wadlington & Wadlington, 2005). The underlying conception that dyscalculia is related to low intelligence, is a significant finding, which should be taken seriously into account. The connection between learning ability and intelligence and the perception that one’s ability is stable has a strong effect on the expectations and efforts a teacher makes (Dweck, 1986). In the case of students with dyscalculia, who appear to show a low performance in mathematics, the perception of teachers that their difficulties are due to lack of adequate intelligence may lead to limited opportunities for learning, low expectations and less efforts on part of the teachers during instruction. Another interesting finding from the current study refers to the role of schooling. Participants were certain about the low contribution of insufficient instruction to the appearance of dyscalculia, but they did not show the same certainty, when they were asked about the connection between dyscalculia and

students’ school absence for a prolonged time. Although both the above notions are not the cause of dyscalculia, we notice teachers’ tendency to blame student attendance more easily, than their own teaching for any students’ difficulties. On one hand, the misconception that learning gaps due to a prolonged students’ school absence are connected with dyscalculia contradict almost all of the traditional learning disabilities definitions, according to which learning disabilities are not a result of insufficient and inappropriate instruction (Bateman, 1965 in Hammill, 1990; Kass & Myklebust, 1969; Kirk & Kirk, 1983; NJCLD, 1991). On the other hand and most importantly, we have to take into consideration that learning disabilities, as defined by Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA, 2004), are manifested as the lack of student progress and their academic failure despite the presence of early, evidence-based instructional programs and practices. This, immediately, highlights the significant role of the instructional methods teachers use before a student is identified as a student with learning disabilities. Teachers’ knowledge in relationship with teaching experience and training As presented in the results, teaching experience did not appear to affect teacher knowledge about dyscalculia. Whereas experience seems to help teachers in adapting their instruction for students with learning disabilities (DeSimone & Parmar, 2006), the effectiveness of these adaptations is questionable, if teachers are not familiar with students’ learning profile and characteristics. In our study, knowledge about dyscalculia and the special education training courses taken by the participants were not connected. It can be assumed, that their in-service training was either generic or limited and consequently did not lead to an increase of their knowledge of dyscalculia. This assumption relies on earlier findings of a study about teachers’ attitudes towards their training in special education in Greece (Padeliadu & Patsiodimou, 2000), where secondary teachers seemed to prefer a generic training program concerning a variety of special education areas instead of a more specified one. In a study of DeSimone & Parmar (2006) the results also showed that the number of training courses did not affect teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. Content of Dyscalculia and students’ difficulties Secondary mathematics teachers’ knowledge about the origins and general picture of dyscalculia phenomenon seems to be more solid than the knowledge about the specific characteristics, which constitute the learning profile of a student with dyscalculia. However, the knowledge about the nature of dyscalculia itself is inadequate both for a deeper and global understanding of a child with dyscalculia and the implementation of an appropriate and efficient instructional intervention. The majority of the teachers participating in this study knew about students’ difficulty to understand the content of arithmetic terms and their connection with their symbols, as well as to retrieve arithmetic facts. The participants of the study also considered the explanation of the answers students give and the memorization of multiplication tables as main difficulties presented by all students with dyscalculia. Furthermore, they seemed to be aware of the fact that

students with dyscalculia give answers to the word problems without second thought. However, it is important to notice that the question which concentrated the largest number of wrong answers was the one regarding arithmetic algorithms. Teachers falsely tend to believe that the difficulty in executing an arithmetic algorithm (e.g. 459 + 345) is the limited time provided. On the contrary, possible reasons for students’ difficulties are limited procedural knowledge or arithmetic deficits, which consume all of the student’s attention and may prevent them from following the series of steps involved in the algorithm. Further, other reasons for students’ difficulty in computing an algorithm can be their levels of attention, their working memory or phonological processing (Fuchs, et al., 2006), but definitely limited time frames is not the only cause, as teachers assumed. Nevertheless, teachers in this study seemed quite confused with student’s abilities regarding word problem solving, which is a basic area of difficulty for these students. The selection of the right arithmetic operation to solve a word problem was correctly considered as one of the most prevalent difficulties manifested in this area. However, almost half of the teachers believed that students with dyscalculia are able to translate word information of a problem into a visual representation and one third of them thought that it is easy for students to design and interpret a diagram. One possible explanation for this finding may be attributed to the misconception that all of these students have higher abilities in visuo-spatial processing (Mammarella, Lucangeli, & Cornoldi, 2010; Passolunghi & Mammarella, 2011; Schuchardt, Maehler, & Hasselhorn, 2008). The ability to visualize the information of a problem constitutes a significant predictor of problem solving accuracy (Krawec, 2014), meaning that the selection of the right arithmetic operation might be simply the outcome of a deeper difficulty in visualizing the word information. Interestingly, even when students with dyscalculia use visual representations for a problem, they prefer pictorial rather than schematic representations, which is a less advanced and mature way of representing information (van Garderen, 2006). Nevertheless, since the visualization of a problem contributes significantly to its solving, this skill needs to become a discrete part of students’ intervention program. The majority of the participants considered the role of decoding in problem solving as specifically important, attributing the problem solving inaccuracy of students to their diffuculty in reading the word information. In DeSimone & Parmar (2006) teachers also believed that decoding difficulties stand as an obstacle for word problem solving, but in their study the student group, they were referring to, was characterized as generally learning disabled, with no specific reference to dyscalculia. Other studies showed that students with dyscalculia without comorbid reading difficulties perform better in word problems than the students who have comorbid reading difficulties (Andersson, 2008; Fuchs & Fuchs, 2002). Consequently, word problem reading difficulties may stand as an obstacle to its solving, only when student’s reading skills are low.

In addition, it is interesting to have a more careful look in participants’ knowledge about the students’ ability to handle money exchanges, to tell the time and to process the measures of weight and length. Teachers in the study recognized that students with dyscalculia find it difficult to process weight and length measures. Although the number of studies focusing on these skills is limited, school reality proves that students with dyscalculia face severe difficulties in this area and usually fail to transfer the knowledge they get through teaching to their everyday activities (Patton, Cronin, Bassett, & Koppel, 1997). The fact that secondary mathematics teachers knew about this kind of difficulty may be due to the extented appearance of these skills into the curriculum, which makes these difficulties easily identified by teachers. A small number of teachers were aware of students’ dificulties in telling the time and dealing with money exchanges. More than half of them wrongly believed that students with dyscalculia find it easy to “tell the time”. However, “time telling” and especially “digital time telling” is as difficult as the decoding of one and two-digit numbers is for these students, since time and minute values are presented as numbers. In a survey conducted by Andersson (2008), results showed that students with dyscalculia could not easily tell both analogical and digital time. It should be pointed out, that the students in the above study were students of 3rd and 4th grade of primary school, which is a much younger population than the age group that secondary teachers have to teach everyday. Time deficits were noticed in another research, too, in which students with dyscalculia, from 10 to 14 years old, showed a low performance in tasks of accurate time estimation and time production (Hurks & van Loosbroek, 2014). The limited research in this area is the reason why the ability of students with dyscalculia telling the time in middle and high school should be further examined. The ability to tell the time, handle money exchanges and process the measures of weight and length are applied math skills, dominant in every dimension of students’ everyday life, especially as they move towards adulthood. A further investigation of the appearence of these skills in students with dyscalculia should be taken into consideration. In summary, the findings of the present study revealed that although secondary mathematics teachers appear to be certain about the high prevalence rates of dyscalculia, they may be confused about the factors that lead to dyscalculia. Moreover, while they seemed to know more about the manifestation of students’ difficulties, they appeared to know less about the underlying cognitive deficits of these difficulties. Furthermore, the results showed no connection between teachers’ knowledge and their teaching experience, as well as teachers’ knowledge and their relevant training, pointing to the need for more specific and focused on dyscalculia teacher training.

Conclusion and Suggestions To conclude, in this study, we sought to reveal any misconceptions and/or limitations in the knowledge of secondary mathematics teachers about dyscalculia. Furthermore, our goal was to shed some light on the required content of any future training for teachers working with students with

dyscalculia. Our findings lead us to suggest that training of secondary mathematics teachers should focus especially on dyscalculia and should concern specifically two issues: a) the clarification of dyscalculia nature, so teachers can discriminate between general low intellectual functioning and dyscalculia and b) the complete description of the learning problems and manifestations of students with dyscalculia, so teachers can fully understand students’ needs. Specific training courses focused on both dyscalculia and effective practices for students with dyscalculia are required in order for secondary mathematics teachers to meet students’ needs and provide them with the best instruction in general classroom settings (Kamala & Ramganesh, 2013). Further, a training program based on the Response to Intervention model would increase teachers’ sense of responsibility about their students’ academic performance and assist them to play an active role in early identifying students who struggle and adapting their instruction accordingly (Vaughn & Bos, 2012). The design of specific and intense training exclusively on the area of dyscalculia is imperative and it seems that it is a demand of the teachers, too, who feel inadequate to cope with the educational needs of students with disabilities (Avramidis, Bayliss, & Burden, 2000; Easterday & Smith, 1992). Since intact knowledge of students’ characteristics has a positive and strong effect on the instructional effectiveness of teachers (Ernest, 1989), future informed teacher practice may eventually contribute significantly to our scientific knowledge and expand our comprehension of dyscalculia itself.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 99-117, August 2016

Case Study – Results at Primary School Leaving Examination in a Rural District in Rwanda Jan Willem Lackamp1 MSc, MEM

Abstract. The Rwandan system of classifying learners at national examinations in divisions has as a consequence that the performance of schools shows better at first sight than justified. Learners can pass in the lowest division (IV) although their results are very poor. Analysing results in terms of divisions is done quite regularly, but it gives little information about what lays behind the level of performance. In this study the distribution of marks is being introduced as a tool for getting grip The study shows that in Rulindo District at national school leaving examination the majority of learners score the lowest marks (8 and 9). Poor mastery of English is reflected in low results for the other subjects, which are taught and examined in English. However, the number 1 school of the district, which is in no way a privileged school, shows that much better results could be achieved. Quality of leadership, mastery of the medium of instruction and learner-centred methodology seem to be crucial factors for making the difference. Keywords: Primary school leaving examination; divisions; distribution of marks; medium of instruction; learner-centred methodology.

1. Introduction Rwandan primary education has changed a lot in recent years. Net enrolment rate has gone up impressively from about 80% in 1999 to 98,7% in 2012, the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (EFA, 2105 p78, 233). In the same period grade repetition has been brought down from 28% to 12% (EFA, 2015 p86). In 2008 it was decided to replace French as medium of instruction by English in all public schools, initially for all levels of education. In 2011 this decision was overruled: Kinyarwanda would be the medium of instruction in lower primary. However, as most teachers were educated in French and did not master English, this really challenged education (Tolon 2014; Sibomana 2014; Reddick, 2015). From 2006 to 2010 new curricula were introduced for all subjects. The English curriculum of 2010 “has been revised to integrate learner-centred methods and reflect the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) trends in education.“ (Republic of Rwanda, 2010a). Now, in 2016, the implementation of again a new curriculum is on its way (Republic of Rwanda, 2015f). By introducing a competence-based curriculum

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the Rwandan government aims to contribute to the development of a knowledge-based society. This is seen as necessary because of the regional and global competition in the jobs market (Republic of Rwanda, 2015h) Officially the results at primary school leaving examination in Rwanda are considered to be good. “According to Ministry of Education official, the results for 2013 academic year for both primary and ordinary level exams – a pass rate of 84 per cent – was impressive compared with the past four years.” (Rwirahira, 2014). Pass rates were 85 % in 2014 and 2015 (Tashobya, 2016). However, under close scrutiny performance is less impressive. It appears that many learners pass although their results are very poor. The threshold for passing in the lowest division, that is division IV, is very low. Similar observations have been made for Tanzania, which also uses a division system. At school leaving examination 2010 50% of candidates did not pass, 39% passed in division IV (Kassile, 2014). “Strictly speaking, therefore, 88,6% of the candidates failed (…) as they cannot proceed with any further levels of education training”(HakiElimu, 2012). In Rwandan Rulindo District the percentage of learners who failed plus the ones who passed in division IV at primary school leaving examination 2014 add to 66%. Taking into account that the completion rate is low, about 35% in 2010 (EFA, 2015 p82), this means that a large majority of children do not learn very much during their primary school career, as far as exams show. Nevertheless, some schools succeed in performing much better than the average, although their socio-economic context in no way is exceptional. In order to find out what is behind this contrast between successful and average schools a case study has been done for one district: Rulindo District in North Province. The ultimate goal of this study is to provide head teachers and education officers at sector and district level with tools for analysing and improving performance of their schools. This study analyses the results at primary six national school leaving examination. It addresses: distribution over divisions, distribution of marks, differences between subjects, comparison between the number one (#1)2 school and an average school. Suggestions for improving teaching and leadership are given. The examination itself (questions, setting, marking) is taken for granted3 in this study as it is outside the sphere of influence of head teachers and education officers.

2. Research Questions In this case study the results at national examinations of all primary schools of Rulindo district – and so defining the „average‟ school – have been compared to those of a few individual schools. The research questions are: what tells the distribution over divisions about the performance of a school, what reveals the distribution of marks about

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performance, in what respect differs performance of the #1 school from an average school and what factors are crucial for improving performance?

3. Methodology The analysis has been done for schools in Rulindo district, North Province. Several sources were available: Annual school questionnaire. Aggregated data collected by the district education office from head teachers in the annual school questionnaire. The spreadsheet contains data of all schools and calculates the district totals. The format comes from the Ministry of Education. In this study the data of the 2014 questionnaire have been used (Republic of Rwanda, 2014a). They reflect the situation at the end of school year 2013. Ranking of schools. The district education office has provided a spreadsheet that contains the results for national examinations for all schools of the district with numbers and percentages for subjects and divisions, leading to a ranking of schools according to results at national examination. For the ranking of schools the results at national examinations 2013 have been used (Republic of Rwanda, 2014b). Ranking of candidates. Head teachers receive a hard copy for their school of a list with all candidates and their marks for all subjects. Candidates are ranked according to the aggregate of their marks. The lists are produced by Rwanda Education Board (REB), an agency of the Ministry of Education, and distributed by the district office at the beginning of the following year. Aggregated results for the whole district about the marks for each subject were not available. In this study the listings of results at national examination 2014 of a number of schools in Rulindo district have been used (Republic of Rwanda, 2015a, b, c, d). School inspections. Above mentioned sources have been complemented by the author with observations – regarding both teaching and leadership – at school inspections in Rulindo district during his work4 as education leadership advisor for VSO5. During an exchange visit a group of twenty head teachers and sector education officers of three sectors spent a day at the #1 school of a neighbouring district. They observed lessons and discussed their findings with at a meeting with teachers and staff, using a checklist. Participants exchanged their views on what lays behind the success of that school.

4. Findings and Analysis 4.1. Grading system In Rwanda there are five subjects which are examined at the national examinations at the end of primary school: mathematics, science and elementary technology, social studies, English and Kinyarwanda6. The school year runs from January/February till November. School leaving examinations are held in November. Independent teachers do the marking during sessions under

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direction of REB in a few centres at national level. REB collects the marks. In January or February the results become available at district level. For each subject a learner gets a mark between 1 (best) and 9 (worst). Then the aggregate is calculated. This runs from 5 (all subjects scored 1) to 45 (all subjects scored 9). According to their aggregated marks learners are classified in five categories. From the listed results of the schools in Rulindo district at 2014 examinations (Republic of Rwanda, 2015a, b, c, d) one can deduce that the following ordering criteria7 were used: Marks aggregated 5 to 15 16 to 30 31 to 37 38 to 41 42 to 45

Classification Division I Division II Division III Division IV Unclassified

So even with an aggregate of 41, for instance with four 9s and one 5, a learner will pass examination. As an example, this means that a learner who failed completely for math, science and elementary technology, social studies and English, and who has a mediocre result for Kinyarwanda would nevertheless pass. That means that this grading system allows learners to pass examination with extremely poor results. So, when one wants to judge the performance of a particular school it is not sufficient to look at the pass rate. One should also look at the distribution over divisions. 4.2. Divisions Only a very small proportion of learners earn a place in the first division. At national level at 2015 examination no more than 4.04 % of candidates were classified in div I (Tashobya, 2016). Learners who are classified in divisions I and II get an admission letter for secondary boarding school. Now we turn to the schools of Rulindo District. The results at national examination 2013 were used to find the distribution of divisions. The largest group between all candidates of the district (6,021), is that of unclassified learners (37.3%). The second largest category consists of the ones who pass in division IV (28.9%). The smallest group are the ones in division I. The percentages for each category go down from div IV to div I. However, passing in division IV is not at all a satisfactory result, as explained above. See figure 1 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2014a). The pass rate at 2013 school leaving examination in Rulindo District was 62.7%, which is low compared to the nation-wide pass rate of 84% (Rwirahira, 2014). The graph shows that in Rulindo District in 2013, notwithstanding a pass rate of over sixty percent, two out of every three learners left primary school with hardly any knowledge (div IV plus unclassified) as measured at national examinations. The same pattern is seen in many schools in the district. So,

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thanks to the division system presentation of school performance in terms of pass rate is quite embellishing. It is useful for head teachers to draw such a graph for their own school, in order to get a better insight in how the pass rate at their school is built up.

Figure 1: Distribution over divisions at national examination 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all 6,021 learners of the district

However, some schools deviate sharply from this average pattern, for instance the #1 school of Rulindo district8.This is a rural public school, not at all in a privileged socio-economic situation9. It had 41 learners in P6. All of them passed: seventy percent in division II, no one in division IV. See figure 2 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015a). The graph shows a kind of bell shape around an average value: the large majority of learners pass in division II, some perform better, some perform less good. No one fails or leaves school with poor knowledge (div IV).

all learners school B 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% I

III

Figure 2: Distribution over divisions at #1 school of the district

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4.3. Marks As we have seen above (figure 1), the large majority of candidates in Rulindo District are performing poorly. In most schools the average mark for all subjects but Kinyarwanda is somewhere between 8 and 9. So it is quite useless to calculate the average mark for a certain subject if one wants to evaluate the effect of teaching in that subject. Therefore we decided to look at the distribution of marks. As far as we know this has not been done before in Rwanda. As no aggregate results for all schools of the district were available, we calculated the distribution of marks from the listed results of individual schools, in this case at national examination 2014 (Republic of Rwanda, 2015a, b, c, d). We singled out four schools to study the distributions of marks: A. a „groupe scolaire‟ (or GS, combination of primary and secondary) with 73 learners in P610. In many respects this school can be seen as an „average‟ school. B. the #1 school of the district (mentioned above), an „école primaire‟ (or EP, primary school), having 43 learners in P611. C. an EP with 79 learners in P612. In this school, in comparison with the average school, a relative large number of learners earned an admission letter to boarding school. D. a government aided GS, the #1 school of a neighbouring district, having 67 learners in P613. 4.3.1. All subjects The distribution of marks at school A for all five subjects combined and for all learners together is shown in the left graph of figure 3 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015a). More than 40 percent of all marks are 9, which means complete failure. The next largest group is that of 8s etc., with a smaller number of learners for every better mark. Not one learner had an 1 or 2 for any subject. If we define a score of 5 or better (on a scale from 1 to 9) to be „satisfactory‟, only 15% of marks are satisfactory. Nevertheless, the pass rate is 64%. According to pass rate this school is in line with the district average, which was 63% in 2014.

Figure 3: Distribution of marks for all subjects at an ‘average’ school and at the #1 school

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Completely different is the situation at school B, the #1 of the district, which boasts a pass rate of 100% (Republic of Rwanda, 2015b). See right graph of figure 3. Here the distribution of marks shows the typical bell shape one would expect: there is a more or less symmetrical distribution around the average value. The average score lies between 5 and 6, which is just satisfactory. Although being the #1 school of the district, there clearly remains a lot of room for improvement: one would expect such a well performing school to have more learners with high marks. 4.3.2. Kinyarwanda, English, mathematics To investigate whether some subjects are dominant in producing these differences between both schools, the distribution of marks for three subjects has been analysed: Kinyarwanda, English and mathematics. Kinyarwanda was chosen because it is the only subject (from primary four onwards) taught and examined in the mother tongue. So the results for this subject should reflect the intellectual abilities of the learners and the quality of education in general, without interference by mastery of English. English was chosen because it is the medium of instruction and examination in all other subjects. So mastery of English is an important prerequisite for successful participation in the other lessons (except those in the mother tongue) and consequently for success at national exam. Mathematics was chosen because it is by many considered to be the most difficult subject. If learners have problems with understanding the teacher because of the medium of instruction and because of the difficulty of the subject, they will be doubly handicapped when doing exam. Kinyarwanda We juxtapose the results of schools A and B for Kinyarwanda. See figure 4 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015a, b). As could be expected, the results for mother tongue examination are better than the overall picture of all subjects together (figure 3). Both graphs have a similar form: more or less a bell shape. But when looking closer, one sees an important difference. In school B, the #1 school, about eighty percent of the learners have a satisfactory result (5 or better), whereas in school A, the „average‟ GS, only a bit more than thirty percent of the learners have a satisfactory mark for the mother tongue exam.

Kinyarwanda school A

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Kinyarwanda school B

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Figure 4: Distribution of marks for Kinyarwanda at an ‘average’ school and at the #1 school

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As it is unlikely that the intellectual abilities of learners of both schools differ so much, one is tempted to suppose that this reflects the quality of teaching in these schools. English Because for all subjects except Kinyarwanda English is the medium of instruction and also of examination, it is essential that learners have a basic knowledge of this language to be able to perform in other subjects as well. However, a large majority of learners (57%) at school A have a very poor knowledge of English (mark 8 or 9). See figure 5, left graph (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015a). Clearly, learners do have problems to understand and answer the questions at the mathematics, science and social studies exams when their knowledge of English is inadequate. Only 17% of the candidates in this average school show to have good or satisfactory knowledge of English (marks 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5). English school B

English school A. 40%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Figure 5: Distribution of marks for English at an ‘average’ school and at the #1 school

The situation is very different in the #1 school. See right graph in figure 5 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015b). Here 44% of the candidates appear to have satisfactory knowledge of English. Only one learner got an 8 (2%), no one a 9. * mathematics Math is considered to be the most difficult subject. One can expect that learners who have difficulty with English are specially at a disadvantage when doing math exam. Indeed, the results at the „average‟ school A are extremely low: seventy percent of the learners got a 9. See figure 6 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015a, b). A meagre 7% performed satisfactory (mark 5 or better). Although still poor, the results at the #1 school, school B, are clearly better. Here the graph shows the beginning of a bell shape. The percentage of learners who fail completely (mark 9) is not higher than 16%.

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The impact of the results at mathematics on the overall distribution of marks is evident. One can assume the reason for very poor performance by candidates of the average school A at math is to be found in the weak results for English (compare the corresponding graphs in figures 5 and 6).

80%

math school A math school B

60%

40%

20%

0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Figure 6: Distribution of marks for Mathematics at an ‘average’ school and at the #1 school

4.3.3. Partition Now school C comes in. This EP (primary only) was praised rightly by district authorities for having a relatively large number of learners who got an admission letter for boarding school. So in this school talented learners are served well – at least in comparison with the „average‟ school. However, the distribution of marks for Kinyarwanda at this school has a peculiar shape. See figure 7, left graph (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015c). It looks as if two graphs have been superimposed. Although nearly forty percent of candidates score a 9, giving a high peak, the distribution for the other sixty percent is like a bell. Quite a few have a satisfactory result (5 or better), together 41% of the learners. 60%

English school C

Kinyarwanda school C 50%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% 1 3 5 7 9

math school C

0% 1

Figure 7: ‘Partitioned’ distribution of marks at school with many ‘admission letters’

More or less the same applies to English and mathematics. See figure 7 centre and right graphs. Especially the result for mathematics is much better than that

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of „average‟ school A. A higher percentage of learners of school C have been able to pick up enough from their lessons to produce at least some good answers (marks 8 and higher). How this reflects in the distribution of divisions in school C is shown in figure 8 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015c). Compared to the average of all schools of the district (figure 1, above) the difference is striking. Although the percentage of unclassified learners (48%) is much higher than the average of the district (37%), the distribution over divisions of the ones who pass shows much more of a bell shape. The largest group in this partition is in division II. all learners school C 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% I

III

Figure 8: ‘Partitioned’ distribution over divisions at school with many ‘admission letters’

So this school C shows two faces. The graphs suggest that the learners in this P6class have been – unintentionally without doubt - partitioned in two sub groups. One sub group consists of learners who fail for all subjects. They seem to have been lost on the way: not even for Kinyarwanda they succeed. The teaching has not reached them. This regards about half of the learners. In contrast, the second sub group seems to have been really involved in the educational process. For every subject the marks produce a bell shape. And so they deliver a bell shape for divisions. More than forty percent of the learners in this sub group are either in division I or in division II, earning them an admission letter to boarding school. So this is truly a result the school may be proud of, although the overall picture is less bright: the general pass rate (52%) is below the district average (63%). 4.3.4. Two #1 schools In order to get more evidence about factors determining the difference between the #1 school and the average school, the results of two#1 schools, school B of Rulindo district and school D of a neighbouring district, have been studied for comparison. Figure 9 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015b, d) shows the distribution of learners over divisions. Essentially both #1 schools show the same traits: 100% pass rate, largest group in division II, no learners in division

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IV. The only difference is: the percentages of learners in divisions I and II in school D are even higher than in school B. divisions school B

divisions school D 100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

20% 0%

0% I

III

Figure 9: Distribution over divisions at the #1 schools of two districts

Also the underlying distributions of marks for Kinyarwanda, English and math are similar. See figure 10 (by author, based on Republic of Rwanda, 2015d). Still, in both schools there is space enough for improvement, especially with regard to mathematics. Kinyarwanda school B

math school B

English school B

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% 1

1 3 5 7 9

50% Kinyarwanda school D 40%

40%

30%

20%

10%

English school D

math school D

Figure 10: Distribution of marks at #1 schools of two districts

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4.3.5. Pass rate is not enough Concluding, this analysis shows that pass rate in itself doesn‟t tell a lot about performance of a school at national examination. Distribution over divisions adds useful information about how the pass rate is built up, but really valuable information about strengths and weaknesses for any subject is found by looking at the distribution of marks. It would be worthwhile for head teachers and education officers to analyse the distribution of marks when evaluating school performance.

5. Critical Success Factors Based on observations and discussions at an exchange visit14 to school D, the #1 school of a neighbouring district, the following factors were tentatively judged to be pivotal for making these #1 schools – in the rural context of the district more successful than the average school: Ownership. Head teacher and teachers cooperate closely; so do teachers and learners; the head teacher discusses educational policies with parents; the school has strong ties with local community and local authorities. Therefore all stakeholders experience ownership of this school. Medium of instruction. English is used extensively in teaching as well as in daily school life; learners and teachers get accustomed to using English easily; balanced use of English and Kinyarwanda to make sure all learners understand the teaching. Learner centred methodology. All learners are involved in the lesson; they are actively constructing knowledge and skills; progress is assessed continuously at individual level; didactic materials are exposed at the walls; teachers show personal interest in their pupils. Leadership. The head teacher discusses educational policy and performance with teaching staff and stimulates the development of a shared vision; the head teacher sets an example (punctuality, behaviour, visibility); goals and targets are shared by all; the head teacher promotes cooperation between teachers and creates an atmosphere in which everyone is eager to learn from experiences; the head teacher masters a variety of leadership styles according to what is necessary in the specific situation. The result is shared leadership. Incentives. Teachers and learners are praised or awarded for excellent performance; there are competitions to strive for the best. Planning. Strategic plans, action plans and lesson plans are made according to a plan–do–check–act scheme; targets are formulated specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound („SMART‟); bench marks are used to compare school performance with other schools which serve as a reference. These supposed prerequisites for success are in line with research findings. Essential factors for effective teaching and learning include: curriculum, pedagogy, didactic materials, continuous assessment, good teachers, learning

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time. Quality education is dependent on school leadership and students‟ nutrition and health (Hewlett Foundation, 2006). However, different studies lead to different conclusions. Recently there have been several systematic reviews and meta-analyses into the interventions that lead to improved learning outcomes in developing countries (Kremer, 2013). Some reviews show that the use of information technology leads to the greatest improvement in student learning, others find this is done by interventions regarding information about school quality. Sometimes even the availability of basic infrastructure proves to be most effective (Evans, 2015). Although there are strong indications that the above-mentioned factors are critical for success of the #1 schools, they remain to be supported by further research.

6. Conclusion and Discussion The above analysis shows on the one hand that the average results at national examination of the schools of Rulindo District are very weak. The division system for classifying learners, at which learners with very poor results still can pass, conceals this sobering fact. On the other hand the analysis shows that some schools are able to perform much better, although they are not in a socioeconomic privileged situation. So the optimistic conclusion could be that for all schools a considerable improvement in performance is within reach, if lessons to be learned from successful schools are taken into consideration. The main reason behind the poor performance at the average school seems to be that a large proportion of learners did not really particate in the educational process. Their results for all subjects are very weak, even for the mother tongue subject. This is not because they are lacking intellectual abilities, as under similar circumstances their fellow learners at #1 schools perform well. So this suggests it must be a consequence of the way they are taught. The performance of school C indicates what progress can be achieved by better addressing individual learners. Although half of the learners have not been able to produce any good result, the distribution of the marks of the other learners shows a bell shape around a mean value. Such a partition in „haves and havenots‟ is not desirable, of course. But the example of this school suggests that if the proficiency in English is better and the teaching is more learner-centred a larger proportion of learners can get satisfactory results. Concluding, the first crucial factor for improvement seems to be mastery of the medium of instruction by learners. “According to a 2011 USAID study, 62% of Rwandan Primary 6 students were unable to respond correctly to even one comprehension question in a simple English text intended for children in Primary 1 and Primary 2.” (Reddick, 2015). “In a study by Pearson (2014), none of the Rwandan teachers (from both rural and urban schools) reported to have sufficient skills to teach in English”(Sibomana, 2014).

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Our research shows the correlation between poor performance at English and the results in other subjects that are taught and examined in English. Problems with English seem to be at the root of disappointing results. Change of this state of affairs cannot be achieved exclusively by better teaching in the English lessons. Learners should be surrounded by the English language for many hours each day. This can be achieved by a range of activities, such as meetings, debates, competitions, etc. (Sibomana, 2014). The government recognizes the need for addressing the role of English. That is why in 2012 it introduced the English Language School-based Mentors programme, by which over 800 mentors were recruited and distributed across the country, but that programme has been suspended in 2015 to allow for restructuring. The government wants all schools to have a resident mentor (Buhungiro, 2015). It is yet unclear when and how the programme will be resumed. So, schools should not wait for the government. There is a lot which can be done, using the #1 schools as an example. The second crucial factor for success regards pedagogy and didactics in general: learner-centred methodology. Although a lot of effort has been given to promote learner-centred teaching, in most schools teacher-centred methodology is predominant. The implementation of new curricula for primary and secondary schools between 2006 and 2010 in most schools of Rulindo has not done enough to change this situation. In retrospect these curricula are called „knowledge based‟ (Kwibuka, 2015), but in fact they were already explicitly aiming for learner- centred approach (Republic of Rwanda, 2010b). The new curriculum which is being implemented currently is even more explicit: “The curriculum must address learners‟ individual needs, interests, abilities and backgrounds, creating an environment where learning activities are organized in a way that encourages learners to construct the knowledge either individually or in groups in an active way.” In short: a „competence-based‟ approach (Republic of Rwanda, 2015g). However, not necessarily the implementation of new curricula which are based on learner-centred methodology leads to teaching on that basis, as experiences from other developing countries show (Pritchett, 2012). In Uganda teachers told researchers that they did not feel well equipped to implement the new thematic curriculum. The confusion and inadequate information even lead to resentment and opposition, which was not supportive for effective implementation (Altinyelkin, 2010). In Tanzania, for secondary schools, it was found that the majority of interviewed teachers did not grasp what is meant by the concept „competence-based‟ (Komba, 2015). When many teachers do not understand the implications of the new curriculum for their way of teaching, they need to be trained to teach in a more learnercentred way. Leadership will be needed to bring along necessary changes. The quality of teaching and the quality of school leadership are dominant schoolrelated factors for learning results (Peeraer, 2014). The evaluation document of 26 education innovation projects in Rwanda concluded, “Significantly, for

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projects across all the themes, securing the support of head teachers was shown to be crucial in the implementation of any innovation implemented in the school. It became clear that head teachers need to be actively involved in some way with discrete roles that enable them to support innovation. (…) School leaders need to be clear of their given roles so that these are not at odds with their other priorities or responsibilities.” (Innovation for Education, 2016a)

7. Further Research The aim of any school improvement should be: achieving learning outcomes for all. It is clear that this goal is still far away for the average school in Rulindo district. The new curriculum, of which the implementation began in 2016, is supposed to be competence-based. It requires schools to give skills and attitudes a prominent place in their educational programmes. However, any new curriculum will not change the situation for the better as long as there is no change away from traditional teacher-centred methods. That means, the new curriculum could and should be used as a stimulus to strengthen learner-centred methodology. In the Rwandan context it is a precondition that teachers and learners become versed in English. Further research could be action research, connected to the introduction of the new curriculum, into the effects on performance of learner-centred methodology, emphasis on the medium of instruction, and of shared leadership. It would be worth wile to include the points of view of head teachers, teachers and even learners.

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Retrieved August 28, 2016, from http://www.gov.rw/news_detail/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1162&cHash=2eb4 ec079e9cef10a276c58b67074406 Republic of Rwanda (2015g). Ministry of Education. Competence-based Curriculum. Summary of curriculum framework pre-primary to upper secondary. Retrieved August 28, 2016, from https://mudarwan.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/curriculum_framework_final_pr inted-compressed.pdf Republic of Rwanda (2015h). Rwanda Education Board. Competence Based Curriculum. Syllabuses. Foreword. Retrieved August 28, 2016, from http://reb.rw/fileadmin/competence_based_curriculum Rwirahira R. (2014). Reforms, quality education see a higher pass rate in Rwanda. The East African (Jan 25) Retrieved August 28, 2016, from http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/Rwanda/News/Reforms-and-quality-educationsee-a-higher-pass-rate-in-Rwanda/-/1433218/2159918/-/w8k0icz/-/index.html Sibomana, E. (2014). The acquisition of English as a second language in Rwanda: challenges and promises. Rwandan Journal of Education Vol.2 – Iss.2. Retrieved August 28, 2016, from http://www.ajol.info/index.php/rje/article/view/117147/106745 Tashobya, A. (2016). P6, O‟level results out. New Times (Jan 14) Retrieved August 28, 2016, from http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2016-01-14/196102/ Tolon, C. (2014). Teacher Experiences During the Shift in Medium of Instruction in Rwanda: Voices from Kigali Public Schools Retrieved August 28, 2016, from https://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/filefield_paths/teach er_experiences_during_the_shift_in_medium_of_instruction_in_rwanda_v2_0.pdf VSO International (2016). About VSO. Retrieved August 28, 2016, from https://secure.vsointernational.org/about

Notes 1

Retired CEO in secondary education in The Netherlands, independent replacement head teacher and advisor. He worked for over a year for VSO as education leadership advisor in Rulindo district, North Province. Opinions expressed in this article are strictly his own.

As the number one (#1) school is seen the school which performs best according to pass rate.

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That doesn‟t take away that it would be useful to do research on the examination itself. “Are the school children failing the national examinations or vice versa; that is, are the national examinations failing the school children?” (HakiElimu, 2012). “Because the instrument used to measure students‟ achievement is the cornerstone of a national assessment, its quality will affect the use that can be made of findings. (…) The tests used in many national assessments do not meet [the] conditions. They may be limited to measuring lower order levels of knowledge and skills, they may not contain a sufficient number of items, and they may be too difficult, with the result that potential users do not have a reliable basis for policy and decisions.” (Kellaghan and Greaney, 2009).

January 2014 till March 2015, within the Achieving Learning Outcomes for All project, UK Department for International Development (Innovation for Education, 2016a, b).

”VSO is the world‟s leading international development organisation that uses volunteers to fight poverty and reduce inequality” (VSO International, 2016)

The Rwandan system is very similar to the system used in Uganda. Also the subjects are the same. However, in Uganda there are only four subjects in national primary school leaving examinations: there is no national examination in a local language.

For the national examination at the end of lower secondary education, the same division system is being used, with its own criteria for classifying in a certain division.

EP Ruvumba, a public school in Tumba sector

Data about the socio-economic context of the #1 schools compared to the average schools have not been found. The statement is based on oral information given by head teachers and district office.

GS Masoro, a government aided school in Masoro sector

EP Ruvumba, a public school in Tumba sector

EP Sayo, a public school in Kisaro sector

GS Musasa, a government aided school in Gitovu sector, Burera district

Head teachers and sector education officers of three sectors of Rulindo district.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 118-133, August 2016

Teacher Evaluation and Quality of Pedagogical Practices Paul Malunda1, David Onen2, John C. S. Musaazi3 & Joseph Oonyu4 College of Education and External Studies Makerere University, Uganda

Abstract. This study explored the extent to which teacher evaluation influences the quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in Uganda. It was triggered by the persistent criticisms about the deteriorating quality of teaching and learning in secondary schools in the country. The study was approached from the positivist research paradigm. However, a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design was specifically used to conduct the study. Data were collected from 76 head teachers and 960 teachers drawn from 95 public secondary schools and two officials from the Uganda’s Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports (MoESTS) using survey and interview methods. Ordered logistic regression and content analysis methods of data analysis were used to establish the influence of teacher evaluation on the quality of pedagogical practices in the schools. Study findings revealed that both formative (coeff. =5.557; p=0.000<.05) and summative (coeff. =3.056; p=0.000<.05) teacher evaluations significantly influence the quality of pedagogical practices in school. Thus, it was concluded that the way teachers teach, is partly determined by how well and regularly they are evaluated, other factors notwithstanding. Therefore, the researchers recommended that in order to enhance the quality of pedagogical practices, MoESTS needs to develop standard formative evaluation tools that can be used for continuous teacher evaluation as well as train head teachers on how to effectively appraise their staff. Keywords: teacher evaluation; pedagogical practices; quality; teachers; secondary schools.

Introduction The provision of public education is one of the primary duties of any state. This explains why the Government of Uganda, over the last two decades, has been heavily investing in improving access to, and quality of public education. Although access at both primary and secondary levels of education appears to have been widened, the quality of education in the country generally seems to remain a big challenge (Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports [MoESTS], 2014; National Planning Authority [NPA], 2010). For instance, according to the Directorate of Education Standards’ (DES) report of 2012, the pedagogical practices in secondary schools in Uganda were at variance with the expectations of Government and the curriculum planners. In fact, even the

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subsequent annual reports of the Directorate have repeatedly revealed that the way teachers working in the secondary schools in Uganda teach, does not conform to the classroom standards set by the Directorate as well as the National Curriculum Development Centre [NCDC] (Curriculum Assessment and Examination [CURASSE], 2007). According to these reports, most teachers in secondary schools in Uganda do not adequately prepare for lessons, and many still use mainly teacher-centred instead of the desired student-centred pedagogies. Besides, the teachers all seem bent on teaching students to cram subject materials for passing national examinations rather than to equip the students with high order thinking and life skills (Uganda National Examinations Board [UNEB], 2012). All these are happening amidst efforts by Government to introduce performance contracts that involve rigorous evaluations of how public servants - including teachers do their work. This study was conducted to explore the extent to which teacher evaluation influences the quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in Uganda. In this study, two key concepts were considered: teacher evaluation and quality of pedagogical practices. According to Darling-Hammond as cited by Zepeda (2010), teacher evaluation refers to the process of establishing whether teachers are conforming to set standards and procedures in the teaching and learning process or not so that corrective measures can be taken. Phillips, Balan and Manko (2014) meanwhile look at teacher evaluation as the means by which school administrators provide a review of what has been accomplished and what has to be done by teachers in the short and long-run. According to Orenaiya, Adenowo, Aroyeum and Odosoga (2014), teacher evaluation enhances accountability, motivates teachers, facilitates professional development, promotes teaching quality; and above all, it augments students’ learning. In this study, teacher evaluation was looked at in terms of formative and summative evaluations. Formative evaluation - also known as developmental “appraisal, refers to a qualitative…” assessment “on the teacher’s current practice, aimed at identifying strengths and weaknesses and providing adequate professional development opportunities…” to improve on their weaknesses (Isoré, 2009, p.7). It is carried out to determine the teacher’s mastery of his/her subject content, and to identify areas in which a teacher is less competent (Harris, 1986) with the aim of providing support through continuous professional development and practice (Papay, 2012). In this study, formative evaluation was characterised by regular short-visits to classrooms, review of teaching artefacts, and the provision of feedback to teachers by head teachers. Summative teacher evaluation on the other hand, is an overall assessment of the teacher’s performance, often used for accountability and making personnel decisions such as on promotions (or demotions) and salary increments (Elliott, 2015; OECD, 2013). In the case of Uganda, summative evaluation of teachers is often undertaken in form of annual performance appraisal, which according to the Public Service Standing Orders (Ministry of Public Service, 2010), is expected to be conducted at school level by head teachers who are the immediate supervisors of teachers by December 31st of every year. In the case of this study, summative evaluation was looked in terms of the evaluation conducted by respective public school head as prescribed by the Ministry of Public Service of Uganda

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The dependent variable in this study was quality of pedagogical practices. First, pedagogical practices refer to teaching strategies that are used by teachers. Therefore, when we talk about quality of pedagogical practices, Kahsay (2012) says, they are teaching strategies that enhance learning and focus on the quality of learning outcomes. In that case, quality of pedagogical practices is about the effectiveness of teaching strategies used by teachers. For the case of Uganda, NCDC and DES have set standards that define quality pedagogical practices. The standards spell out what the teachers should be able to do in the process of teaching. In this study, these standards were the ones that were used as indicators of quality of pedagogical practices. Contextually, this study was undertaken in public secondary schools in Uganda. It was prompted by the fact that despite Government’s initiatives to improve the quality of education in the country, the quality of pedagogical practices at secondary school level remains poor (MoES, 2013a). The poor quality of pedagogical practices has been manifested in diverse ways. For instance, there have been reportedly poor scheming and lesson planning by teachers; more use of teacher-centred rather than learner-centred pedagogies; and dominant application of theoretical rather than practical approaches to the teaching of sciences (UNEB, 2011; MoES, 2012; Uganda National Council for Science and Technology Report [UNCST], 2012). Furthermore, assessments of students have been geared towards passing national examinations instead focusing at achieving other objectives of the curriculum like the uplifting of moral values, imparting of practical skills and engaging learners in social and cultural activities. In fact, the decline in the conformance to guidelines laid down by NCDC by teachers in secondary schools has been attributed to the weak teacher supervision and evaluation systems (MoES, 2012). Kagolo (2014) earlier revealed that the evaluations of teachers in public secondary schools in Uganda have been badly conducted with very appalling feedback being given to the teachers. This kind of scenario, Teacher Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (TISSA) advised in their 2013 report to be urgently addressed if the quality of Uganda’s education system is to improve (MoES, 2013b). Nagel (2003), in fact, counselled that neglecting the quality of pedagogical practices could have serious repercussions on the country’s quality of education in general, and its development in particular. This study was thus specifically designed to establish the extent to which formative and summative teacher evaluations explained variations in the quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in Uganda.

Literature Review Theoretical Review. This study was underpinned by the Plan‐Do‐Check‐Act (PDCA) model of quality enhancement that was postulated in 1929 by Walter Shewhart (Chaffee & Sherr, 1992). This model was later in the 1950s popularised by the quality guru, Edwards Deming. According to the model, a continuous feedback loop is essential in order to analyse, measure, and identify sources of variation from customer requirements so as to take action for continual quality improvement (Deming, 1986). As a result, the model indicates that any

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improvement should always begin with systematic planning. This, the model adds, should lead affective action, and finally proceed to systematic planning in a cyclical manner. Oakland (1993) refers to this pattern of quality improvement where the completion of one cycle continues with the beginning of the next Deming’s never ending quality cycle. The PDCA cycle is illustrated as in Figure 1:

Plan

Act

check Figure 1: The PDCA cycle Source: Deming (1986) p.134) According to Figure 1, the PDCA cycle goes through four phases. Phase 1, Plan – it involves establishing the objectives and processes required to deliver results in agreement with the expected output. Phase 2, Do – it involves executing the plan or effecting the processes and making the product. Phase 3, Check – it involves studying the actual results and comparing them against the expected results. Finally, Phase 4, Act – it involves using the results to improve further what is being done. According to Phillips, Balan and Manko (2014), the PDCA model is relevant in ensuring quality improvement in different aspects of education, including the quality of pedagogical practices. The researchers agree with this observation. Thus, in this study, the model was opted for because the researchers also concurred with Ayeni (2011) who hypothesised that to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of education, the teaching and learning activities need to be regularly evaluated against the set objectives and standards, and corrective actions need to be taken to produce the desired changes with regard to efficiency, quality, and satisfaction. As a result, it was believed that the quality of pedagogical practices in secondary schools in Uganda would be improved through the process of collecting data for evaluation purposes; making classroom observations, evaluating the teaching practices, analysing data to determine areas that need to be improved, and providing relevant professional development for teachers following the PDCA cycle.

Related Literature. Some earlier scholars have already attempted to investigate the linkage between evaluation and the performance of teachers in different settings. Some of these studies established the existence of a strong relationship between teacher evaluation and the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Milanowski (2011) and Marshall (2009) for instance examined how teacher evaluation influences the quality of pedagogical practices. They discovered that formative evaluation through regular classroom observations, review of classroom artefacts, and checking of learners’ note books by school administrators lead to improved quality of teaching and learning. Pappy (2012)

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did a similar study and concurred with Milanowski and Marshall - except she emphasised the fact that for formative teacher evaluation to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, it must be directly linked to teacher professional growth and development. Meanwhile, a study conducted in three rural districts of Uganda on Teacher supervision practices by Kalule (2014) established that head teachers who are expected to conduct formative teacher evaluation lacked the required training and skills needed for the job. This implies that the benefits of teacher evaluation in Uganda may not be reaped as expected. Furthermore, analysis from a survey carried out in 10 districts of Uganda by DES in 2012 (MoES, 2012) revealed that only 20 percent of the school administrators often conduct classroom observations or review the classroom artefacts that the teachers in secondary schools in Uganda use during teaching. This means that many head teachers in the country do not know what could be happening in the classrooms in their schools. The DES report however, does not give the reasons for the administrators’ failure to conduct formative evaluations as expected. In a study by Donaldson and Peske (2010) in five chartered schools in the USA, they found that failure of the school administrators to conduct formative evaluations, and lack of competencies and skills to effectively appraise and provide quality feedback on the evaluation of teachers that could inform professional growth was responsible for the ineffective teaching of several teachers. This scenario may not be any different from the Uganda’s case. Some studies have also been conducted on the linkage between summative evaluation and the quality of teaching and learning. For instance, Mpokosa and Ndaruhutse (2008) revealed that there is a significant relationship between summative evaluation and the quality of teaching and learning. But while the two authors assert that summative teacher evaluation plays a significant role in enhancing the quality of pedagogical practices, Mielke and Frontier (2012) are of the view that summative evaluations do not support teacher professional growth since the judgmental nature of the evaluation impacts negatively on the self-esteem of the teachers. In fact, they suggest that an evaluation system that allows teachers to appraise themselves and suggest areas for professional development is better than the one carried out at the end of the activity. Shorter (2013) further reiterates that summative evaluation contributes “to the deterioration of collegial relationships, feelings of mistrust, fear, nervousness, and tension…” during the time of “…appraisal” (p.ii). Therefore, such kind of appraisal can be harmful to the staff that are praised if it is not appropriated conducted. Musaazi (2006) then advises that for summative evaluations to be effective, they must be frequently conducted in a cordial and collaborative manner. However, this does not seem to be the case in most secondary schools in Uganda. A report from the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES, 2013a) shows that summative teacher evaluations in Uganda are irregular and inconsistent. In fact, in the Education and Sports Sector Annual Performance Report (ESAPR) of 2014/15, (MoESTS, 2015) indicated that several schools had not conducted annual teacher appraisals for the previous two years. Donald and Peske (2010) in their study of schools in the USA attributed failure of the school

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administrators to conduct regular teacher performance appraisals and provide quality feedback to teachers due to lack of time. They observed that few school administrators had evaluation systems, competencies and skills to effectively appraise and provide quality feedback on the appraisals that could inform professional growth. This may partly explain the Uganda’s scenario where head teachers hardly conduct staff appraisals; yet, they are mandated to do so as part of their responsibilities. In addition, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report (2013) also observes that summative teacher evaluation in the OECD countries influence career and remuneration, and endorsements for under performance. However, in Uganda, teacher performance appraisal contributes only 20 percent in the criteria considered for promoting staff and does not have a direct influence on teacher salaries (World Bank, 2012). This de-link between results of performance appraisal and professional growth and remuneration renders teacher appraisal ineffective in the country.

Methodology The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional sample survey design. The target population was comprised of teachers, head teachers and officials from the Directorate of Education Standards (DES). The study sample consisted of 934 teachers selected through multi-stage sampling technique, 95 head teachers, and two officials from DES who were purposively selected. Data were collected using three different data collection methods, namely: survey, interview and observation methods. Three different instruments were also used to collect data. First, a questionnaire whose items were adopted and modified from the teaching and learning assessment instrument of DES comprised of three sections: A, B and C was used to collect data from the teachers. Section A of the questionnaire had six questions pertaining to respondents’ background information. Section B was composed of seven questions aimed at finding out the respondents’ opinions pertaining to teacher evaluation; and section C had 11 items aimed at collecting respondents’ opinions on quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools. The items in sections B and C were measured on a 5-point Likert scale with the following categories: Strongly Agree (5), Agree (4), Noncommittal (3), Disagree (2) and Strongly Disagree (1). The questionnaire was preferred in this case because the respondents were many but they could also all read and write. This helped to save time and costs during the study. Second, to elicit the opinions of DES inspectors and head teachers of the selected schools on the contribution of teacher evaluation to the quality of pedagogical practices, the interview method and its corresponding interview guide were used. The interview method was opted for because it enabled further probing of the issues that were being investigated. Third, the researchers used the observation method to collect data. An observation check-list was adopted from DES’s teaching and learning quality instrument and used to conduct the observations. This method made it possible to triangulate the information obtained through the use of the other two methods described above. Overall, the instruments used were pre-tested before the actual data collection was carried out. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze quantitative data. Specifically, the logistic regression model was used to establish the extent to

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which teacher evaluation influences the quality of pedagogical practices. The tests of significance were performed at the probability level of p< 0.05. Qualitative data were on the other hand analyzed using content analysis method. In the next part of the paper, the findings of the study are presented.

Results First, the researchers present herein the background characteristics of the respondents in order to portray that data were collected from an authentic group of subjects. The results are presented in Table 1. Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the respondents

Variable Age

Gender

Category Less than 20 years 20 - 40 years 40 years and above Male Female

Highest level of Diploma Bachelors education

Post-Graduate Length of years in Less than 3 years the school 3 to 10 years 10 years above

Frequency 6 664 264

Percentage .6 71.1 28.3

644 290

69.0 31.0

208 577 149 175 554 205

22.3 61.8 15.9 18.7 59.4 21.9

The results in Table 1 show that majority (71.1%) of the teachers were aged between 20 and 40 years, demonstrating that majority were young and energetic to effectively discharge instructional tasks. Results also suggest a gender disparity in employment of teachers in public secondary schools with more male teachers (69.0%) employed compared to their female counterparts (31.0%). The results also show that the majority (83%) of the teachers had the requisite qualification (at least a diploma) to teach at secondary school level, demonstrating that the teachers in the system have the necessary qualifications to offer quality teaching. In relation to numbers of years spent in the schools, findings in Table 1 show that majority (81.3%) of the teachers had spent more than three years in the sampled schools while 18.7 percent had spent less than three years, indicating that teachers had long standing cognate experience in serving as teachers.

Descriptive Results of on Teacher Evaluation The researchers asked the teachers on how well they are evaluated by their head teachers. The results indicating their views are presented in Table 2.

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Table 2: Distribution of teachers’ views on evaluation in public secondary schools in Uganda

Teacher Evaluation

Disagree

Q5.The head of department assesses the way I teach Q6. I agree with my Head of Department on the teaching and learning targets at the beginning of every term. Q7. Evaluations by Heads of Department are based on the targets set and agreed upon at the beginning of the term. Q8. My head teacher annually appraises me. Q9. The head teacher discusses with me the results of the annual appraisal. Q10. Appraisal of my work is fair assessment of my performance as a teacher in this school. Q11. Appraisal of my performance has a great impact on the way I teach in the classroom.

369 (39.5%) 391 (41.8%)

NonAgree committal 51 514 (5.5%) (55%) 37 507 (3.9%) (54.3%)

391 (41.8%)

51 (5.5%)

492 (52.7%)

148 (15.8%) 277 (29.7%) 359 (38.4%) 306 (32.8%)

57 (6.1%) 67 (7.1%) 66 (7.1%) 77 (8.2%)

729 (78.1%) 590 (63.2%) 509 (54.5%) 551 (59.0%)

The results in Table 2 indicate that slightly over 50 percent of the teachers agreed with their subject heads at the beginning of the academic term on the teaching and learning targets and were appraised basing on these targets. Although 78 percent of the teachers agreed that they were annually appraised by the head teachers, a lower percentage (63.2%) indicated that head teachers discussed with them the results of the appraisals. This implied that several teachers did not participate in setting performance targets and some head teachers did not give feedback on the appraisals undertaken. The pattern of the responses was maintained for all other questionnaire items concerning teacher evaluation. Information from the interviews demonstrated that public secondary schools did not have a systematic approach of evaluating teachers. Most schools evaluated teachers basing on the students’ performance reflected in UNEB examination results. The teachers whom the students performed well in their subjects were rated as good performers and recognised with prizes! Furthermore, information from the head teachers demonstrated that annual performance appraisal of teachers in the majority of the selected secondary schools was not frequent despite its being a requirement by the Ministry of Public Service. The inconsistency in the annual appraisal of teachers was more pronounced in the Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools than non-USE schools. Only 32 percent of the interviewed USE school head teachers had conducted staff appraisals the previous year. Further analysis revealed that 42 percent of the head teachers in the Elgon and 38 percent of head teachers in West Nile subregions had not appraised their teachers for the previous two years.

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Further findings showed that some head teachers lacked the competency to effectively appraise the teachers. Head teachers in the districts of Bulambuli, Manafwa and Ntungamo acknowledged failure to determine the key performance indicators and targets that would be used to appraise teachers. According to one head teacher, “the design of the appraisal form was general for all civil servants and tailoring the format to teacher appraisal was our big challenge”. Some head teachers from West Nile Sub-region confessed that they invited “senior head teachers from neighbouring schools towards the end of the year to help in the appraisal of their teachers. However, some of those head teachers were unwilling to help junior ones.” This means that lack of evaluation skills amongst head teachers could be responsible for the irregular teacher evaluation in secondary schools in Uganda. .

Descriptive Results of Teachers’ Opinions on Quality of Pedagogical Practices Information on quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools was sought from teachers and the findings are also presented in Table 3 below. Table 3: Descriptive results of teachers’ perceptions on quality of pedagogical practices

Quality of Pedagogical Practices I make schemes of work at the beginning of every term I make lesson plans for all my lessons I prepare class exercises for students before the lessons. I assess the student's prior knowledge and skills at the start of a lesson. I use a variety of teaching methods to improve the quality of teaching. I find explaining concepts clearly to learners using real life examples a challenge. I mark the class exercises while in class I give homework at the end of each lesson. I go through marked homework exercises with the students at the start of the lesson. I give at least two tests in my subject per term. I return marked scripts in time before the next test. I make corrections when I return marked scripts to students.

Disagree NonAgree committal 154 2 778 (16.5%) (0.2%) (83.3%) 527 40 367 (56.4%) (4.3%) (39.3%) 257 17 660 (27.5%) (1.8%) (70.7%) 82 16 836 (8.8%) (1.7%) (89.5%) 325 5 604 (34.8%) (5%) (64.7%) 374 35 525 (40%) (3.7%) (56.2%) 388 32 514 (41.5%) (3.4%) (55.0%) 89 27 818 (9.5%) (2.9%) (87.6% 353 53 528 (37.8%) (5.7%) (56.5%) 260 31 643 (27.8%) (3.3%) (68.8%) 134 22 778 (14.3%) (2.4%) (83.3%) 111 19 804 (11.9%) (2.0%) (86.1%)

Table 3 shows that whereas 83.3 percent of the teachers agreed that they made schemes of work at the beginning of every term, 56.4 percent perceived making lesson plans a waste of time and 70.7% indicated that they prepared class

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exercises before their lessons. Other than making lesson plans, results indicate that there is an effort made by teachers to prepare for lessons. Concerning the teaching and learning process, 89.5 percent of the teachers indicated that they assessed the students’ prior knowledge and skills at the beginning of the lesson and 64.7 percent agreed that they used a variety of teaching methods to improve the quality of teaching. Results also indicate that 54.8 percent of the teachers gave class exercises while teaching. The majority (56.2%) of the teachers indicated that they had challenges with explaining concepts using real life examples. Regarding evaluation of students, 55.0 percent of the teachers marked class exercises. Whereas 87.6 percent of the respondents agreed that they gave homework, only 56.5 percent agreed that they revised marked homework with the students. While 68.8 percent of the teachers gave at least two tests in the subjects they taught per academic term, 83.3 percent returned marked scripts before giving the next test. The majority (86.1%) of the respondents agreed that they made corrections whenever they returned marked scripts. These results show that teachers put more emphasis on marking tests other than the class exercises and homework. Despite a general pattern of teachers indicating that they were conforming to the set standard, interview with the head teachers, lesson observation, and document review results demonstrated otherwise. This cast doubt on the teachers’ positive responses to items on quality of pedagogical practices. Could it have been that teachers feared to give negative responses to items that examined their conformance to professional standards? Although the majority of the teachers (83.3%) agreed that they made schemes of work at every beginning of the term, document review revealed that most schemes of work lacked evidence of planning for teaching or learning aids and use of learner-based methods of teaching. Scrutiny of the schemes of work revealed that most teachers did not refer to NCDC guidelines that emphasised learner-based approaches of teaching and practical teaching of science subjects. The head teachers explained that teachers found it difficult to go by the guidelines because they would not be able to complete the syllabi in time for the national examinations. Results of lesson observation showed that of the 106 teachers that were observed only 36 (33.9%) used learner-based methods. Of the 33.9 percent teachers who used a variety of teaching methods, 86 percent were science or mathematics teachers. A review of 530 students’ exercise books revealed that only 284 (53.5%) books had class exercises given and marked. These findings were in agreement with descriptive results of the teachers’ responses in Table 3 where 56.5 percent of the teachers indicated that they gave and marked class exercises. Where class exercises or homework were marked, only 196 (36%) of the teachers made constructive comments after marking the students’ work. Overall, these results indicate the existence of poor quality of pedagogical practices in the schools that were studied.

Factor analysis Principal component factor analysis was conducted on the 7 variables related to teacher evaluation to extract factors for regression analysis. The Rotated Component Matrix showing factor loadings for each variable helped to identify

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factors that each variable loaded most strongly on. The factor loading matrix is presented in Table 4 below. Table 4: Factor loadings with communalities based on a principal component analysis with rotated factor loadings

Variable

Factor

Formative Summative evaluation evaluation Q5. The head of department assesses the way I teach 0.710 Q6. I agree with my Head of Department on the 0.853 teaching and learning targets at the beginning of every term. Q7. Evaluations by Heads of Department are based on 0.851 the targets set and agreed upon at the beginning of the term. Q8. My head teacher annually appraises me. 0.443 0.734 Q9. The head teacher discusses with me the results of 0.467 0.700 the annual appraisal. Q10. Appraisal of my work is fair assessment of my 0.819 performance as a teacher in this school. Q11. Appraisal of my performance has a great impact 0.786 on the way I teach in the classroom. Note: factor loadings < 0.3 were suppressed Results in Table 4 indicate that two factors were extracted that were renamed formative evaluation and summative evaluation. Items Q5, Q6, Q7 and Q10 loaded heavily on factor 1 that was renamed formative evaluation. And items Q8, Q9, and Q11 loaded more on factor 2 that was renamed summative evaluation.

Verification of Research Hypotheses The ordered logistic regression was conducted to test the following null hypotheses: i. Formative teacher evaluation does not significantly influence the quality of pedagogical practices; and ii. Summative teacher evaluation does not significantly influence the quality of pedagogical practices. The results of the hypothesis tests are presented in Table 5.

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Table 5: Ordered logistic regression results on quality of pedagogical practices

Quality of pedagogical practices

Coeff.

P>|Z|

95% interval

conf.

Formative evaluation

5.557

0.000

4.78

6.33

Summative evaluation

3.056

0.000

2.60

3.51

Sub-region

0.006

0.947

-0.18

0.19

School status

0.730

0.004

0.23

1.23

Age

-0.045

0.803

-0.40

0.31

Gender

-0.177

0.434

-0.62

0.27

Education level

-0.338

0.068

-0.70

0.03

Duration

-0.213

0.121

-0.52

0.06

Pseudo R2 =0.7001, Number of respondents = 934, LR χ2 (10) = 1403.92, Prob> χ2 = 0.00 Results in Table 5 show that all the 934 observations were used in the analysis. The likelihood ratio chi-square of 1403.92 with a p-value of 0.000(ρ< 0.05) indicated that the model as a whole was statistically significant compared to the null model with no predictors. Pseudo R2 =0.7001 means that the explanatory variables in the model explained 70% variability in quality of pedagogical practices and 30% of the variability was explained by other unknown factors. In the model, formative evaluation, summative evaluation and school status significantly explained variations in quality of pedagogical practices (ρ< 0.05), whereas other demographic variables in the model (age, gender, marital status, level of education and duration of teaching in the school) did not. These results indicate that a unit increase in formative evaluation explained 6 unit increase in quality of pedagogical practices, whereas a unit change in summative evaluation explained 3 unit increase in quality of pedagogical practices. The results in Table 5 also show that a unit shift from USE (coded 1) to non-USE (coded 2) category resulted into a 0.73 unit increase in quality of pedagogical practices. This implies that the quality of pedagogical practices was better in non-USE schools compared to their USE counterpart. Thus, based on the findings in Table 5, the null hypotheses i and ii were rejected implying that: i. Formative teacher evaluation significantly influences the quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in Uganda; and ii. Summative teacher evaluation significantly influences the quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in Uganda.

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Discussion of Findings The findings of this study are in agreement with findings of earlier studies (Phillips, Balan & Manko, 2014; Orenaiye et al., 2014) that reveal that formative teacher evaluation plays a significant role in enhancing the quality of pedagogical practices. Despite the significant contribution of formative teacher evaluation to quality of pedagogical practices, several public secondary schools in Uganda did not have a system of continuous evaluation of teachers’ output as indicated in the ESAPR report of 2013/14 (MoESTS, 2014). There was, in fact, no evidence of formative evaluation systems that focused on classroom activities or specifically pedagogical practices such as teacher preparation, the teaching and learning process, and assessment of learners on a continuous basis. Lack of such systems is detrimental to teacher professional development and quality of teaching (Papay, 2012). Finding of this study also demonstrated that teacher performance was gauged by the students’ performance reflected in UNEB examination results. Use of national examination results may not measure teachers’ conformance to standard pedagogical practices. The study further established that in the few schools where formative evaluations were conducted, the approach was not for the purpose of continuous professional development, but rather for punishing individuals with poor performance. For example, the head teachers’ transfer of teachers to lower classes after establishing their low performance levels without addressing the areas that needed to be improved could be interpreted as punitive by the affected teachers. The OECD (2013) asserts that evaluation feedback that is oriented towards judging and control of teachers rather than professional growth and development cannot improve the quality of pedagogical practices. Teacher evaluation systems should be used to help teachers to know how they are teaching and how they can improve on their teaching (Mpokosa & Ndaruhutse, 2008). The study also established that summative teacher evaluation significantly contributed to increased quality of pedagogical practices. However, findings showed that several secondary schools in Uganda had not conducted annual teacher appraisals for the previous years in agreement with the ESAP report of 2013/14 (MoESTS, 2014). This practice is not in harmony with Uganda’s public service standing orders (Ministry of Public Service, 2010). The failure to conduct regular annual appraisals is attributed to the inability of some head teachers to establish performance indicators, targets and outputs. Even where appraisals were consistent, only a few head teachers offered opportunities for teachers to set key performance indicators and targets that would be used for appraisal, and provided feedback on assessment of their performance. To enhance professional growth, it is imperative that head teachers agree with individual teachers at every beginning of the year on the performance targets (Musaazi, 2006) and then provide the support that the teachers need to achieve the set targets within the evaluation period (Taylor, 2003). And furthermore, the head teachers should give teachers feedback on assessment of their performance so that teachers get to know how well they are meeting the set objectives/targets, get a clear understanding of the quality of their work and what they need to change to improve on their delivery (Musaazi, 2006).

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Conclusion and Recommendations Quality of pedagogical practices is significantly anchored on both formative and summative teacher evaluation; yet the formative evaluation systems are barely in place and summative teacher evaluation is irregular in public secondary schools in Uganda. Head teachers of several public secondary schools lack the competence in teacher performance appraisal. To improve quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools, head teachers and subject heads of department should continuously evaluate teacher performance in the classroom and provide constructive feedback for professional growth and development that will lead to improved quality of pedagogical practice. This implies that if quality of pedagogical practices is to improve, the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports should put in place training programmes for all the newly appointed head teachers specifically in teacher performance appraisal and also provide them with the necessary support to use the appraisal tools more effectively. The Ministry should further develop a standard formative teacher evaluation tool for all secondary schools in Uganda for the continuous assessment of teachers’ performance. References Ayeni, A. J. (2011). Teacher professional development and quality assurance in Nigerian Secondary Schools. World Journal of Education, 20, 143-149. Chaffee, E., & Sherr, L. (1992). Quality: transforming post-secondary education. ASHE‐ERIC Higher Education Report No. 3. Washington: George Washington University School of Education and Human Development. Curriculum Assessment and examination. (1992). Uganda Secondary Education and Training: Curriculum Assessment and Examination Roadmap for Reform, 2007. Dakar Framework for Action 2000. Deming, W. E. (1986). Out of Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Donaldson, M. L. & Peske, H.G. (2010). Supporting Effective Teaching Through Teacher Evaluation. Retrieved August 5, 2016, from http://www.americanprogress.org. Education Standards Agency. (n.d). Handbook for School Inspectors. Ministry of Education and Sports. Kampala: Uganda government Elliot, K. (2015). Teacher Performance Appraisal: More about Performance or Development? Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40 (9): http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2015v4On9.6 Harris, B.M. (1986). Developmental teacher evaluation. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Isoré, M. (2009). Teacher Evaluation: Current Practices in OECD Countries and a Literature Review. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 23, OECD Publishing. Retrieve July 27, 2016 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/223283631428 Kagolo, F. (2014, March 26). School inspectors: Where did they go? The New Vision. Retrieved May 17, 2015 from www.newvision.co.ug Kahsay, N.M. (2012). Quality and quality assurance in Ethiopian Higher Education: Critical issues and practical Implications. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Twente, the Netherlands. Kalule, L. (2014). Perceptions Pratiques de supervision Du Personnel eiseignant en Ouganda. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Laval University Canada Marshall, K. (2009). Rethinking teacher supervision and evaluation: How to work

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smart, build collaboration and close the achievement gap. Retrieved November 20, 2014 from www.TheMainIdea.net Mielke, P., & Frontier, T. (2012). Keeping improvement in mind. Educational Leadership, 70(3), 10-13. Milanowski, A. (2011). Measuring Teacher Performance for Strategic Human Capital Management. In A. Odden (ed). Strategic Management in Education, (pp.67-90). New York, NY: Routledge Ministry of Education and Sports (2012). .Annual report of the Directorate of Education Standards. Kampala: The Government of Uganda. Ministry of Education and Sports (2013a). The Education and Sports Sector Annual Performance Report (ESAPR) (FY 2013/14). Kampala: The Government of Uganda. Ministry of Education and Sports (2013b). Teacher Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (2014). Teacher issues in Uganda. A shared vision for an effective teachers’ policy. Kampala: The Government of Uganda. Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports (2014). The Education and Sports Sector Annual Performance Report (ESAPR) (FY 2014/15). Kampala: The Government of Uganda. Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports (2015). The Education and Sports Sector Annual Performance Report (ESAPR) (FY 2015/16). Kampala: The Government of Uganda. Ministry of Public Service (2010). The Uganda Public Service Standing Orders. Kampala: The Government of Uganda Mpokosa, C. & Ndaruhutse, S. (2008). Managing Teachers. The centrality of teacher management to Quality education. Lessons from developing countries. London/Reading: VSO International CfBT. Musaazi, J.C.S. (2006). Educational Planning. Principles, Tools and Applications in the Developing World. Kampala: Makerere University Printery. Nagel, T. (2003). What is quality of education and why is it important for development?’ Keynote address. International Conference on Quality in Education. 11-13 June 2003. Oslo Norway. National Planning Authority (2010). National Development Plan 2010/11-2014/15). Kampala: The Government of Uganda Oakland J.S. (1993). Total Quality Management: The route to improving performance, (2nd ed.). New York: Nicholas Pub Co. OECD (2013). Teachers for the 21st century using evaluation to improve teaching. Paris: OECD publishing. Orenaiya, S. A., Adenowo, E.A., Aroyeum, F.T., & Odosoga, R. (2014). School Inspection or, and Supervision Effects in Public Secondary Schools in Ogun State, Nigeria: Where are we and where do we go? International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 3 (6), 74-80. Papay, J.P. (2012). Refocusing the debate: Assessing the purpose and tools of teacher evaluation. Harvard Educational Review, 82 (1), 123-141. Phillips, K.F., Balan, R.M., & Manko, T.P (2014). Teacher evaluation. Improving the process. Teaching and learning Journal, 7. Retrieved September 20, 2015 from https://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/files/transformative Shorter, T. (2013).Teacher appraisal - its relationship to motivation, collegial relationships, and pedagogical change in an early childhood context in Aotearoa New Zealand. Unpublished Masters’ degree thesis of University of Waikato, New Zealand. Retrieved August 4, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/ Taylor, R. (2003). An indigenous perspective on evaluations in the intercultural context: how far can one throw a more boomerang? Evaluation Journal of Australasia, 3 (2), 44-52.

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Uganda National Council for Science and Technology. (2012). The quality of Science Education in Uganda. Kampala: The Government of Uganda.01 Uganda National Examination Board. (2011). The Achievement of S2 Students and Teachers in English Language, Mathematics and Biology. Kampala: Uganda National Examination Board Uganda National Examination Board. (2012). The Achievement of S2 Students and Teachers in English Language, Mathematics and Biology. Kampala: Uganda National Examination Board World Bank. (2012). Systems approach for better education results. SABER Country report. Washington D.C Zepeda, S.J. (2010). Instructional supervision: applying tools and concepts (3rd ed.). New York: Eye on Education.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 134-152, August 2016

Investigating Learners’ Performance in TOEFL Prior to their Participation in the TOEFL Enhancement Training Program Ardi Marwan (Corresponding Author), Anggita and Indah Anjar Reski The State Polytechnic of Pontianak, Indonesia

Abstract. This study discussed TOEFL need analysis of students and also identified the TOEFL sub-skills which require improvement and their preferred teaching strategies. Twenty-four students from an Indonesian Polytechnic were involved as participants. To examine students’ TOEFL scores, a paper-based TOEFL test (practice version) excluding writing was used. The test scores were analyzed to identify students’ English proficiency level at the beginning of the project. Then, the results were further analyzed to examine the problematic sub-skills. Next, focus groups were incorporated to examine students’ learning preferences. Test results showed that 20 students achieved scores of less than 400 (i.e. only 4 with scores of above 400 but less than 500). These scores implied that all students in this study required further training to improve their TOEFL scores. Findings from test items analysis revealed that students were only good at few sub-skills and still had problems with many others. Results of focus groups suggested that students preferred to be taught using learner-centered teaching approaches. This study, therefore, recommends the development of module and training plans according to the outcomes of this analysis study. Keywords: Needs analysis, TOEFL, test, performance.

Introduction This study examines the type of training or referred as sub-skills that students need and the preferred teaching strategies in order to help them achieve higher TOEFL (Test of English as A Foreign Language) scores. It is part of a larger study involving a three-year-long project where its first year is aimed at collecting baseline information or data with regard to students’ learning needs and preferred teaching strategies. The second year is used to develop a learning module which is designed according to the information obtained in the needs analysis work. The first cycle of the

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treatment or training lasting for 20 weeks will also be carried out in the second year. If the results of TOEFL scores after the training still show no significant improvement, then the second cycle of training will be carried out in the third year. This article reports the findings attained in the first year of the overall three year project (i.e. analyzing learning needs). This question is worth researching for at least two reasons. Firstly, improving English skills often involves a lengthy process of learning that can even last for many years. It is most unlikely that someone can improve their English proficiency within a short period of time (e.g. in a few months) unless they undergo a very well arranged and effective training program or are exclusively exposed to an English only speaking environment (e.g. undertaking learning in English speaking countries). This research, in its second and third year of implementation, seeks to carry out an intensive training program incorporating teaching strategies that are of studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interest and the module designed according to the results of this current analysis work. We argue that effective training should be accompanied by a welldeveloped module and effective teaching strategies. Through this couple of months training, students are expected to improve their TOEFL scores significantly. Then, research looking into TOEFL test sub-skills requiring improvement and preferred teaching strategies is still underrepresented in the language testing literature. Most previous studies mainly addressed the issues of items difficulty (e.g., Sung, Lin, & Hung, 2015), factors affecting test performance (e.g., Al-Rawashdeh, 2010; Fahim, Bagherkazemi, & Alemi, 2010; Ling, Powers, & Adler, 2014; Mahmud, 2014), test taking strategies (e.g., Heffernan, 2006), the relationship between a certain variable and TOEFL performance (e.g., Fahim et al., 2010). This study, thus, fills in this gap by presenting information about kinds of sub-skills and teaching strategies that should be taken into consideration in the process of module and teaching strategies development prior to the delivery of the TOEFL training program. Context of this Study The polytechnic of this study requires students to demonstrate a certain level of English prior to their graduation and paper-based prediction TOEFL is used as the standard for measuring such performance. To date, various efforts have been undertaken to enable students achieve the required level of English while pursuing their education in this institution. First of all, all new students are obliged to have their English performance assessed and the scores are shown to their English teachers for their record. Teachers are also advised to facilitate learning which enables students achieve better performance in the skills tested in TOEFL.

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Second of all, a language unit provides a fee-based TOEFL training for students interested in improving their English. Since it is not a free program, this unit usually has no more than 3 classes to handle in an academic year. So, not all students can benefit from the service. All students, once again, are provided with another TOEFL test prior to the completion of their three-year diploma study. The training program managed by the language unit is carried out without a process of needs analysis and the use of a well-designed module. Trainers only use TOEFL practice test items found in the commercial books as their teaching handouts. With such a training approach, a success guarantee is difficult to attain and it certainly requires a significant change. This study, therefore, proposes a change through careful work involving the analysis of TOEFL sub-skills that students need Literature Review Needs Analysis Needs analysis or needs assessment is generally defined as activities performed by an individual or a group of individuals aimed to identify areas that require improvement (see Jordan, 1997; Long, 2015; Songhori, 2008; Wai et al., 1999). It “offers value by providing logical and disciplined methods for collecting useful information and making decisions based on that information”. This work is often done before any action has been taken” (Watkins, Meiers, & Visser, 2012, p. 2). According to Akyel and Ozek (2010, p. 969) “the answer to how educators or practitioners develop effective curricula often lies in needs analysis”. Expressed in a similar fashion, Long (2015, p. 1) argues that in the context of foreign and second language learning, a careful needs analysis is important to be done as it is “the prerequisite for effective course design” (see also Berwick, 1996). In other words, teaching a language without knowing students’ learning need will result in inefficient outcome. Grier (2005) mentions needs analysis as a way to identify reliable information about what students need to learn. He suggests that teachers including curriculum developers have to “base their curricular decisions” on the careful process of needs analysis because only through which they can collect valid information about their learners’ learning need (p.65)(see also Brown, 1995; Fultcher, 1999; Songhori, 2008). In the past, within the context of English as a foreign language , needs analysis was mostly done when English was taught for specific purposes (e.g., English for business, Engineering, Science, etc). But today, needs analysis is also crucial for the study of English for general use (Brown, 1995; Songhori, 2008). Songhori argues that “the needs of the learners are

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of paramount importance in any language process” (p.22). Needs analysis is also often associated with efforts to identify areas in which students are still lacking. This analysis process usually results in students’ current language ability and identification of strategies used to reach the expected ability or outcome (Jordan, 1997). Brown (1995) asserts that needs analysis is an integral part of a language education program and it plays a crucial role as it determines the success of this language program implementation. Figure 1 illustrates that needs analysis is performed in order to meet the learning objectives, the design of learning materials and the planning of teaching strategies. The learning activities carried out should be then evaluated for measuring their effectiveness. In short, needs analysis is a process that has to be undertaken to ascertain that if learners can meet their learning needs and improve language learning performance.

EVALUATION

Needs Analysis Objectives Testing Materials Teaching Figure 1: Systematic approach to designing language curriculum (Brown, 1995)

In line with the above theories, this study partly seeks to identify learning areas or sub-skills that students are still lacking. Such information is then used as the means to develop a training module to be used in the upcoming intensive program. Teaching Strategies Duckett and Tatarkowski (2005, p. 5 ) learning from Diamond’s research (1999) argue that in their teaching, teachers of language should apply strategies which can: stimulate learning, provide an atmosphere free from undue pressure and stress, present a series of novel challenges that are neither too hard nor too easy, encourage social interaction for a percentage of activities, promote a broad range of skills and

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interests, and encourage the learner to be an active participant rather than a passive observer. Not less important than the above, teachers should also do whatever they can to help raise students’ motivation, confidence and self-esteem. This can be done in a number of ways to achieve these including “finding something unique and positive about each learner and pointing it out to them, and taking an interest in their outside activities, as well as developing a culture of shared responsibility and emphasizing collective achievements” (Duckett & Tatarkowski, 2005, p. 46 ) According to Duckett and Tatarkowski, students can be more responsible with their own learning if they can demonstrate their feelings of confidence and motivation. In regard to this, teachers play a key role (Rosenshine, 2012). Overview of Paper Based TOEFL The first skill tested in a paper-based TOEFL is listening comprehension. This section of the test contains 50 multiple-test items and should be completed by the participants within 30-40 minutes. Secondly, the second skill measured is structure and written expression. In this second section of the test, participants or test takers are allocated only 25 minutes to complete 40 multiple-test items. Reading is the next skill which participants should complete. It contains 50 multiple-test items with 55 minutes time allocation. In the international version of paper-based TOEFL, participants are also required to write an essay within 30 minutes covering one topic in order to assess their English writing ability. However, in another version of paper-based TOEFL (i.e. ITP TOEFL), the writing test is not included (see ETS, 2015a for further details ). The test results are reported in numeric scores where each skill (except writing) will receive a score from 31 to 68 except for reading where the score range is from 31 to 67. Then, the total scores in which test takers will obtain are from 310 (the lowest possible score) and 677 (the highest score) (refer to ETS, 2015b for more details ).

Methodology To guide this study, the research questions were worded as follows: 1. How do students perform in a paper-based TOEFL test? 2. What sub-skills are commonly tested in a paper-based TOEFL test? 3. What sub-skills of listening, structure, written expression and reading in TOEFL do students find to be least and most difficult? 4. What teaching strategies do students feel would fit well with their learning styles?

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Participants This study involved 24 students (one class) who were in the first semester of their three-year diploma study in information and technology. They were voluntarily and conveniently recruited. They were also informed that their involvement would not affect their study in any way and they could cancel their involvement at any time. To maintain their identity, codes (pseudonyms) were used in replacement of their names. Data Collection and Analysis TOEFL paper-based tests (practice version) covering three skills (listening, structure and written expression, and reading) were used to assess participants’ achievement in TOEFL. Although they were a prediction version, it could so far be used to predict ones’ scores when taking the actual TOEFL test (e.g. ITP version). All the participants of this study had no idea what the test was like before being invited to be part of this research. In short, test items were not familiar to the participants as it was their first experience doing the test. The test was carried out the day in which students did not attend lectures and took place at a language center in a local university. After the conclusion of the test, we calculated their scores and performed item analysis to identify what sub-skills were being measured . To facilitate this process, we adopted the sub-skills’ name(s) formulated by Phillips (2003). Then, the participants’ test results were analyzed to identify the sub-skills that the students found to be problematic. For this reason, the percentage of correct and incorrect answers from each item was displayed to identify the total number of participants who could get it correct or wrong. Next, to identify students’ preferred teaching strategies, focus groups were held with all students participating in this study. Data was recorded and subjected to content analysis (i.e. identification of themes based in the data). Results Students’ Performance in TOEFL The TOEFL test results prior to the intensive preparation program (see table 1) indicated that the majority of students still had a lot of hard work to do in order to improve their English proficiency. As the majority of

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participants scored below 400 (N = 20), this proved that their English was still far below the desired level. Even for work purposes, such scores would not be considered at all since most companies and government offices in the country usually set a minimum TOEFL score of 450. Furthermore, working for companies overseas would not be possible for these students if they graduate with similar scores. Data also showed that there were only a few students (N = 3) who could achieve the scores of equal or above 400 but still below 450. The best score of the current testing event was 490 (N = 1). Overall, findings of this study suggested that a carefully arranged TOEFL training is essential to enable students achieve better scores.

Students’ initials

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

IB HA RE RO LA FI AL TI IN FA DB SY RS MI AO MF QN LR IM TA TN RH MW MT

Table 1: Students’ TOEFL Scores Raw Score Listening Structure 12 11 21 11 13 11 18 14 14 7 13 14 15 12 22 18 18 9 18 13 11 12 21 14 15 24 11 6 23 11 11 16 14 10 21 13 13 6 11 9 10 9 27 27 11 15 16 7

Total Score Reading 15 15 20 18 11 33 17 23 23 19 17 13 24 16 21 12 27 14 18 13 18 33 21 17

353 377 373 390 330 413 373 423 387 390 360 380 433 333 400 357 390 380 347 337 350 490 383 357

Sub-Skills Tested in The Current Test Having administered the test to the research participants, we then underwent an items check to gain information about the sub-skills contained in the current test. Prior to doing so, we also compared this test with several other paper-based ones (including available resources

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online) and came to a conclusion that the sub-skills of the current test also appeared in many other paper-based TOEFL test samples. Therefore, we argued that the sub-skills tested in the current test were the ones commonly measured in the actual paper-based TOEFL test. The table below displays information about the sub-skills and number of items in the test measuring them. Table 2: Sub-skills tested in the current paper-based TOEFL test Listening sub-skill Part A: Focusing on the 2nd line Choosing answers with synonyms Conclusion about who, what, where Listen for who and what with multiple nouns Listen for negative expressions Listen for almost negative expressions Skill with negative with comparatives Expression of agreement Expression of uncertainty and suggestion Emphatic expression of surprise Untrue condition Two and three-part verbs Idioms Part B: Conclusion about what Conclusion about when Conclusion about where Conclusion about why Part C: Conclusion about what Conclusion about why Conclusion about how

No of items 2 1

7 3 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 1 2 3 6 3 3

Structure & written expression sub-skill Part A: Structure Object of preposition Past participle Coordinate connectors Adverb of time and cause connectors Other adverb connectors Reduced adjective clauses Reduced adverb clauses Invert subject and verb with negatives Part B: Written Expression Make verbs agree after prepositional phrases Parallel structure with coordinate conjunctions Using the past with the present Using the correct tense and with time expressions Correct form of the passive Active and passive meaning Singular and plural noun Countable and uncountable nouns Distinguish the person form the thing Pronounce reference for agreement Basic adjectives and adverbs Logical conclusion

No of items 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1

1 3 2 4 3 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 2

Reading sub-skill

Answer the main idea correctly Organization of ideas Answer stated detail questions correctly Find unstated details Pronoun referents Answer implied detail questions correctly Answer transition questions correctly Find definitions from structural clues Determining from word parts Use context to determine meanings of difficult words Use context to determine meanings of simple words

No of items 3 2 12 3 1 10 1 4 2 7 5

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Reported speech Affirmative agreement Question tag Gerund Infinitive Total of items

50 40 Sub-skills’ names were adapted from Phillips (2003, pp. iii-vii)

It could be learnt from the sub-skills’ table that certain sub-skills were allocated more items than other sub-skills. In section 1 of TOEFL, for example, listening for conclusion about who, what, where (part A), listening for negative expressions (part A), and listening for conclusion about what (part C) were allocated 7 and 6 items. Then, in section 2, adverb of time and cause connectors, parallel structure with coordinate conjunctions, correct form of the passive and basic adjectives and adverbs were allocated 3 items each while using the correct tense and with time expressions had 4 items. In section 3, answering stated detail questions correctly, answering implied detail questions correctly, using context to determine meanings of difficult words and using context to determine meanings of simple words were allocated from 7 to 12 items. All these sub-skills should be given more time proportion in the upcoming intensive training program since their good understanding could influence TOEFL score quite significantly. The Least and Most Difficult Sub-Skills Listening

Having seen students’ abilities in the listening section of TOEFL (see table 3 for the details), it could be argued that most of them still had difficulty coping with some of the sub-skills tested. Areas or sub-skills that students found most difficult were mostly located in Part A (i.e. listening for short dialogues). For example, items related to the sub-skills of listening for negative expressions and comparative expressions were answered correctly by only 8% of students while the rest (82%) were incorrect. The next most difficult sub-skills were listening for idioms and listening for negative expressions of surprise where there were only around 21% who chose the correct response and more than two third (79%) selected the wrong ones. Conclusion drawings were the next sub-skills that students found to be difficult to cope with. Results indicated that there were less than 25% of them who could respond effectively to the items. Then, listening for two and three part verbs and listening for who and what with multiple nouns were found to be less difficult by just around 30% participants and the rest (70%) considered the items rather difficult. Another sub-skill that

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students had to struggle with was listening for expression of uncertainty and suggestion where there were only 8 students (30%) answered the items correctly. Then, the test results proved that the sub-skills that were found to be least difficult were listening for expression of agreement and listening for untrue condition since more than half of the participants could choose the correct answers.

Sub-skills

Table 3: Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance in each of the listening sub-skills No of participants with No of participants correct answer (in percent) with wrong answer (in percent)

Part A: Focusing on the 2nd line Choosing answers with synonyms Conclusion about who, what, where Listen for who and what with multiple nouns Listen for negative expressions Listen for almost negative expressions Skill with negative with comparatives Expression of agreement Expression of uncertainty and suggestion Emphatic expression of surprise Untrue condition Two and three-part verbs Idioms Part B: Conclusion about what Conclusion about when Conclusion about where Conclusion about why Part C: Conclusion about what Conclusion about why Conclusion about how

21 46

79 54

22 8

78 92

50 33

50 67

21 54 29 17

79 46 71 83

42 25 48 22

68 75 52 78

31 54 31

69 46 69

Structure and Written Expression

In this section of the test, there was only one sub-skill which was considered least difficult by the majority of students. That skill was pronoun reference for agreement. Results showed that items related to this skill could be dealt with easily by more than two third (71%) of the participants. Then, other sub-skills found to be less difficult by more than

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half of the participants were countable and uncountable nouns, adverb clauses, and adverb connectors. The participants of this study found the sub-skill of subject and verb with negatives to be the most difficult as there were over 90% of them who could not answer the items correctly. Using the correct coordinate connectors was also viewed as the second most difficult sub-skill by majority of the participants. Items associated with this sub-skill could only be well answered by 17% of the study participants. Details of the sub-skills which were considered by more than half of the participants could be viewed in table 4. Table 4: Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance in each of the structure & WE sub-skills Sub-skills No of participants No of participants with with correct answer wrong answer (in (in percent) percent) Part A: Structure Object of preposition 46 54 Past participle 33 67 Coordinate connectors 17 83 Adverb of time and cause connectors 36 64 Other adverb connectors 58 42 Reduced adjective clauses 25 75 Reduced adverb clauses 54 46 Invert subject and verb with negatives 8 92 Part B: Written Expression Make verbs agree after prepositional 21 79 phrases Parallel structure with coordinate 26 74 conjunctions Using the past with the present 27 73 Using the correct tense and 30 70 with time expressions Correct form of the passive 28 72 Active and passive meaning 21 79 Singular and plural noun 25 75 Countable and uncountable nouns 50 50 Distinguish the person form the thing 21 79 Pronounce reference for agreement 71 29 Basic adjectives and adverbs 31 69 Logical conclusion 38 62 Reported speech 25 75 Affirmative agreement 21 79 Question tag 33 67 Gerund 25 75 Infinitive 31 69

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Reading

Reading skill was also still under the desired level where most of the students still experienced difficulty responding to the questions measuring their ability in identifying main ideas (22%); recognizing the organization of Ideas (23%); answering stated detail questions (38%); finding unstated details (29%); answering implied detail questions (35%); answering transition questions (46%); finding definitions from structural clues (49%); and using context to determine meanings of difficult words (32%). Then, the items measuring the sub-skills of determining meaning from word parts, using context to determine meanings of simple words, and pronoun referents were considered the least difficult sub-skills since they could be answered by half or more than half of the students (67%, 51%, and 50% respectively). Details of students’ performance could be viewed in table 5 below: Table 5: Students’ performance in each of the reading sub-skills Sub-skills

No of participants with correct answer (in percent) 22 23 38

No of participants with wrong answer (in percent) 78 77 62

29 50 35

71 50 65

67 32

33 68

Students’ Preference of Teaching Strategies All the participants preferred a stress-free training atmosphere. They seemed to have such a good understanding as to how a foreign language should be learnt. For example, most argued that language learning should be fun and filled with joyful activities. Such activities should be integrated with the targeted learning activities. Two students believed that even for the context of TOEFL training where although many of the activities

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would be dealing with test items discussions, joyful learning activities were still a possibility. Several participants also expressed their interest in learning from their peers and they wanted teachers to give them with such an opportunity. Having said this, a few of them then mentioned some possible learning activities including small group discussion, pair work and peer coaching. According to them, learning from peers through the said activities would make them acquire effective learning outcome. Overall, focus group discussions with the participants resulted an understanding that they preferred teaching strategies which focused on students (student-centered learning) rather than on teachers (teachercentered learning).

Discussion The main aims of this study were to identify sub-skills in the sections of listening, structure and written expression, and reading of the paperbased TOEFL which were still found to be problematic and examine teaching strategies preferred by students. This information is necessary since the next part of this research would be the development of training module and teaching strategies which was to be developed following the outcomes of this needs analysis stage. Results of the paper-based test, overall, showed that majority of the participants attained low scores (≤ 400) with only 3 persons gaining the score of over 400. Mahmud (2014) points out that one of the main reasons affecting the Indonesian university students’ poor performance in TOEFL is due to their poor English mastery. These findings also imply that students of this study did not learn English effectively during their 6-year-secondary education study. It was also identified in the study performed by Mahmud that university students majoring in non-English study programs were not motivated to acquire English. Thus, the current study argues that the upcoming intensive training program (i.e. to be carried out in the 2nd and 3rd year of this project) should also consider the inclusion of teaching strategies which can arouse students’ learning interest. In other words, a well-designed module should be accompanied with attractive teaching approaches (Duckett & Tatarkowski, 2005). Rosenshine (2012, p. 17) argues that optimal learning outcome can be best reached if teachers perform attractive teaching (e.g. through hands-on activities) and “spend more time in guided practice, more time asking questions, more time checking for understanding, and more time correcting errors”.

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The findings of this study regarding the preferred teaching strategies also confirmed the concept of attractive learning proposed by Rosenshine and Duckett & Tatarkowski where students put a high expectation that the upcoming training would pay more attention to their learning preferences, that is, for example though peer coaching activities. Next, analysis of listening test items revealed that part A of this section of TOEFL could not be coped with well by the participants. The reason that might account for this matter was because the students of this study were not used to listening to conversations performed by native users of English. They might argue that the two speakers spoke too fast. In fact, the dialogues were spoken at a normal speed like in their actual setting. Thus, the future developed training module should provide more weights, both in terms of time allocation and materials covered, for part A. Figure 2 illustrates the proportion of time and materials which should be considered in the module. Figure 2: Proportion of time and materials [PERCENTA GE]

Part A Part B

[PERCENTA GE] [PERCENTA GE]

[PERCENTA GE]

Part C Sub-skills with more items

The above chart shows that part A of listening section should be given a higher proportion than the two other parts. This study also suggests that at least 30% of the time and materials to be allocated for part A should be for the sub-skills of listening for negative expressions, comparative expressions, idioms, and negative expressions of surprise, the sub-skills which found to be most problematic my majority of students. Then, 10% of the proportion should also be directed to deal with sub-skills which are allocated more items in this section of the test. The results of items analysis of section 2 of the test indicate that most of the sub-skills excluding pronounce reference for agreement, reduced adverb clauses, other adverb connectors, countable and uncountable

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nouns should receive priority in the training module. More weights certainly go to the sub-skills which students found most difficult including, for example, inverting subject and verb with negatives and coordinate connectors. The proportion of time and materials to be covered in the module might be shared according to the following figure. Figure 3: Proportion of time and materials for structure and written expression Less than 20% correct answers 10% 10% 50% 30%

Above 20% but less than 50% correct answers Above 50% correct answers Sub-skills with more items

Figure 3 explains that sub-skills with less than 20% of correct answers should be given a higher proportion or 50% from the total time and materials proportion while the ones with above 50% but less than 65% correct answers should receive around 30% of time and materials proportion. Then, other sub-skills gaining above 50% correct answers should be given the third priority or 10% from the total time and materials proportion. An additional 10% of proportion should be for subskills with more items in the test. Finally, data from reading items analysis proved that there was only one sub-skill (i.e. determining from word parts) in which students of this research were quite good at while most others were found to be rather difficult. Therefore, majority of sub-skills in reading section needs to be given priority in the training module. The proportion of time and materials to be covered in the module might be shared according to the following figure.

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Figure 4: Proportion of time and materials for reading

less than 50% correct answers

10% 10% 50% 30%

Equal to or above 50% but below 65% Above 65% Sub-skills with more items

The figure indicates that sub-skills which attain less than 50% of correct answers should be given a higher proportion while the ones with above 50% and less than 65% must receive the second priority or 30%. One subskill considered the least difficult one might receive 10% of the total amount of training time and materials. Then, another 10% should be allocated for sub-skills with more items. Overall, results of the current needs analysis work can then be used for the development of TOEFL training module and teaching strategies. Referring to language curriculum model proposed by Brown (1995), the effectiveness of the module and teaching strategies resulting from the current needs analysis research will be examined after the conclusion of the first cycle and second cycle of the upcoming intensive preparation programs. Limitations The present study has several limitations. Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning needs in terms of the sub-skills that students had particular problems with and their preferred teaching strategies were investigated. Other needs were not observed in this study. The second limitation is concerning the use of multiple choice test items. This type of test, to some extent, may provide incorrect information about the actual sub-skills that participants are still not good at since they can simply guess the answer by ticking one of the responses without knowing the reason why they choose this particular answer. However, guessing one response from four selections can give only a small chance or 25% that students can come up with the correct answer. But of course, there is such a probability. Another limitation of this research is concerning the participating students. Since there were only 24 students from one study program involved in this research, results are not applicable to a larger population such as all students undertaking learning at this particular higher

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institution. Thus, further research can be conducted involving more students coming from all study programs existing in the institution. Involving students from other similar polytechnic will also provide a better picture about students’ ability in each of the TOEFL sub-skills. The present research does not include writing component in its needs analysis work. As such, a further research can be directed to also include writing in addition to listening, structure and written expression and reading. This future study may also involve various approaches such as interview and observation in collecting information about students’ learning need since this research only used information from students’ test results to arrive at a conclusion about their TOEFL learning needs. The use of additional instruments may give better information about students’ current language background, motivation level or learning interest and teaching strategy preference.

Conclusion and Implications In conclusion, the results reveal that the identification of students TOEFL learning need can be done through the assessment of sub-skills that they are good or not good at and the examination of their preferred teaching approaches. Such an identification work will result in information about learning areas that TOEFL trainers can concern more when designing or developing a TOEFL training module and program. As Jordan (1997) pointed out, analysis or identification of skills that students are still lacking can be an effective way for developing language learning curriculum or module. This study could also observe results which suggest that the upcoming intensive training program lasting for 20 weeks should be handled with care since students still demonstrated weaknesses in many of TOEFL subskills. Such weaknesses have to be dealt carefully, for example, by creating a friendly classroom atmosphere and by always praising students for their excellent work during the training sessions. Data from students’ preferred teaching strategies also confirm the case where they are in need of a stress-free learning atmosphere. This also indicates that teachers or TOEFL trainers should come to the class with fun learning activities enabling students to acquire English skills more effectively. Next, correcting students’ mistakes is also necessary but it has to be undertaken properly (e.g. through personal approach with an individual student rather than correcting him/her before their classmates). It is important that this be undertaken to ensure that students will not feel uneasy when corrected.

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Acknowledgement The authors wish to thank the reviewers for helpful comments to improve the article.

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