UKFIET 2015: Improving the sustainability of teacher in-service training

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

There is broad consensus in the education community that reading is a fundamental skill that children must master to succeed in their academic and professional futures. However, recent national assessments in Tanzania show that 60% of Standard 7 students are not able to read at a Standard 2 level, and 40% of Standard 2 students scored zero in reading comprehension. Although many factors contribute to such assessment scores, these results do suggest inadequacies in teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, particularly in foundational Early Grade Reading (EGR). This paper offers an investigation into the principles that should underpin teacher in-service training to ensure the sustained use and integration of effective EGR instructional practices.

The principles surrounding the Capability Approach and Critical Realism will be used to explore a Theory of Teacher Change that can be facilitated through inservice training. The rationale for using the Capability Approach lies in its ability to provide a precise conceptualisation of well-being, as well as analytical tools to identify constraints on this. When combined with Critical Realism, causal links can be made between constrained well-being and teacher classroom practice and behaviour. I will discuss how addressing constraints offers a new process for sustaining change in teachers’ EGR practice and will draw from qualitative research conducted in Tanzanian primary schools in 2010/2013 for analysis. I will also discuss examples from the DFID-funded Education Quality Improvement Programme in Tanzania to demonstrate how these principles currently underpin EGR training that aims to contribute to sustainable futures for Tanzanian learners.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

1 Introduction

This paper offers an investigation into a Theory of Teacher Practice and Behaviour that is underpinned by the Capability Approach (CA) and Critical Realism (CR). This CA/CR analysis will be applied to a Theory of Teacher Change that can be facilitated by in-service training, particularly as it applies to Early Grade Reading (EGR). The paper will draw from research conducted in primary schools in Tanzania and will discuss how a CA/CR Theory of Teacher Change can be used to underpin the design of a sustainable model of in-service training, as well as training content that ensures sustained use by teachers.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

2 The need for early grade reading teacher training in Tanzania

There is broad consensus in the education community that reading is a fundamental skill that children must master to succeed in their academic and professional careers. However, recent national assessments in Tanzania show that 60% of Standard 7 students are not able to read or count at a Standard 2 level (Uwezo, 2011), and 40% of Standard 2 students scored zero in reading comprehension (USAID, 2014). Although many factors contribute such assessment scores, these results do suggest inadequacies in teachers’ knowledge of instructional practices, particularly with regard to foundational Early Grade Reading. This paper offers an investigation into the principles that should underpin teacher in-service training to ensure the sustained use and integration of effective EGR instructional practices.

The principles surrounding the Capability Approach and Critical Realism will be used to explore a Theory of Teacher Change that can be facilitated through in-service training. The rationale for using the Capability Approach lies in its ability to provide a precise conceptualisation of well-being, as well as analytical tools to identify constraints on this. When combined with Critical Realism, causal links can be made between constrained well-being and teacher classroom practice and behaviour. I will discuss how addressing constraints offers a new process for sustaining change in teachers’ EGR practice and will draw from qualitative research conducted in Tanzanian primary schools in 2010/2013 for analysis. Thus, the next section will offer a brief sketch of these two approaches and how they can be used to deepen understandings of both teacher well-being and the efficacy of teacher in-service training in Tanzania.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

3 The Capability Approach conception of well-being

The Capability Approach (CA), developed by Amartya Sen, emerged as an intellectual response to various approaches traditionally used for the evaluation and measurement of well-being, as it critiqued the ‘information bases’ on which they were predicated (Sen 1999). For example, welfare economics utilised income as the information base for evaluation and although Sen (1992) acknowledged that income was an important resource for well-being, he argued that there were components of well-being that were not directly acquirable with income (such as being healthy, or being able to make choices). He argued that current spaces for evaluation did not account for the fact that different people attained different levels of well-being when given the same income or bundle of goods He suggested that instead of focusing on the means that might facilitate a good life, we should instead focus on the actual living that people manage to achieve; and more importantly, the freedom that people have to achieve the types of lives they want to lead (Sen 1999). This alternative view bore the information base of functionings, which are the ‘beings and doings’ that people have reason to value; and capabilities, which are the opportunities or substantive freedoms that people have for realising these functionings.

Capabilities can be both expanded or constrained by conversion factors, which can be delineated into personal conversion factors (such as intelligence, physical ability and skill sets); environmental conversion factors (such as geographical location, infrastructure and logistics); and social conversion factors (such as social norms and gender relations, roles and identities) (Robeyns 2005). If the conversion factors that block capability freedom can be reconciled, a person would then be judged to have an expanded capability, and her well-being would be evaluated either based on the capabilities she has available to her, or on the functionings that she chooses to realise (Sen 1999). Sen’s preferred view of well-being – as a product of the enhanced or constrained opportunities surrounding the beings and doings that people value – has provided a new way in which to understand well-being and, in particular, teachers’ well-being.

Given this conceptualisation, how can we assess teachers’ well-being in Tanzania? This would first involve understanding the functionings that teachers value most in their lives. Secondly, teachers then help to identify the constraints on their capabilities to achieve their valued functionings via conversion factors (environmental, social and personal). Finally, an evaluation of teachers’ well-being can be made by looking at the enhanced or constrained capabilities teachers have surrounding the functionings that they value. Moreover, a Critical Realist Theory of Causation (Bhaskar, 1978, 1979) can then be used to causally link constrained well-being to teachers’ ‘deficient’ or ‘negative’ practices and behaviours. Tao (2013) has argued that when located within a Critical Realist theory of causation, teachers’ valued functionings can be viewed as the causal mechanisms that generate much of their behaviour, and that various conditions of service (or conversion factors) constrain what teachers value being and doing. Teachers’ reflexive deliberation then determines whether they choose to comply with constraints (thereby not achieving their valued functionings), or whether to contend with them, which often leads to the production of certain ‘deficient’ behaviours, such as absenteeism, rural post avoidance and corporal punishment (Tao, 2013, 2014, 2015).

It should be noted that the aim of this exercise is not to reduce teacher behaviour to linear or simplistic components; rather, the aim is to provide a holistic view of what contributes to teachers’ empirical actions, and to demonstrate how a valued functioning is a major lever for teachers’ actions (as well as potential change). Moreover, locating the concepts of valued functionings, capabilities and conversion factors within CR’s theory of causation has provided explanatory potential to CA, whereby empirical behaviour can be causally linked to people’s valued functionings (or causal mechanisms) and contextual conditions (conversion factors). This can offer a potential counterpoint to the use of positivistic observations of teacher behaviour as proof of deficiency, as this framework problematises such assumptions by locating

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

teachers’ empirical actions within a deeper causal process. In a sense, this CA/CR lens provides a more complete story behind teachers’ criticised practices, which will not contest that these practices occur, but will allow us to see in a holistic and nuanced way why they occur.

The figure below outlines how Capability Approach concepts can be located within a Critical Realist Theory of Causation, as well as the causal links between teachers’ values, constraints and empirical actions.

Valued Functioning is the causal mechanism that guides behaviour Enabling conversion factors (allow valued functioning to be realised)

Decision by actor (to realise valued functioning)

Empirical event 1 Valued functioning is achieved

Empirical event 2 Valued functioning is not achieved

Constraining conversion factors (prevent valued functionings to be realised)

Decision by actor (to comply or contend with constraint)

Empirical event 3 Compliance with constraintfunctioning is not achieved

Empirical event 4 Contend with constraint - a constrained form of functioning is achieved

Figure 4.1 Locating Capability Approach concepts in a Critical Realist theory of causation

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

4 Investigating teachers’ well-being in Tanzania

The findings discussed in this paper are drawn from a larger project, which sought to understand the values, beliefs and lived experiences of Tanzanian teachers (Tao 2013) Data was collected from the Arusha region in Tanzania in 2010 at three government primary schools: a rural school with 1,253 students and 25 staff; an urban school with 1,448 students and 39 staff; and a peri-urban school with 1,867 students and 31 staff. Despite their differing environments, all three schools had similar levels of material deprivation (general lack of textbooks, classrooms, and desks, amongst others), a lack of in-service training for teachers, and student populations from generally low socio-economic backgrounds. The ratio of female to male teachers varied at each school (rural: 68% women; urban: 95% women; peri-urban: 81% women). There were also variations in teachers’ age, levels of experience and ethnic backgrounds, but greater homogeneity was apparent in characteristics such as religious affiliation (Christian), socioeconomic level (low), and qualification (completion of lower secondary and teacher training college).

Since the central focus of the research was to provide nuanced explanations for a variety of teachers’ practices, ethnographic case studies were used. Methods included focus groups, semi-structured and informal interviews, questionnaires and participant observation with teachers, as well as with head teachers, school committees, and District Education Officers. Participant observation as a full-time member of staff (which entailed teaching Standard 3 - English in classes of 65 - 120 students) facilitated close relationships with teachers and students, and provided insights into the daily conditions, pressures and politics that teachers face.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

5 Findings: What Tanzanian teachers value

The table below presents the six most salient functionings gleaned from discussions with teachers and the questionnaires completed at the three schools. These functionings included:

1) Being able to live in a satisfactory home; 2) Being able to take care of family; 3) Being healthy; 4) Being able to help students learn; 5) Being able to participate in training (and upgrade qualifications); and 6) Being respected. The table provides an overall view of how many teachers discussed (without prompting) each of the functionings during focus groups and interviews (which are demarcated with ‘D’), and how many teachers ranked these within the top five (of a list of 53 pre-defined capabilities) on questionnaires (which is demarcated with ‘Q’). It should also be noted that some functionings were constitutive of broader functionings, and were thus included in this broader tally, for example, discussions of ‘being able to live in a safe place’ were included in the overarching functioning of ‘being able to live in a satisfactory home’, and ‘being able to drink clean water’ was considered to be part of ‘being healthy’. That said, although the salience of a functioning was determined by characteristics such as presence and frequency, greater importance was placed on the intensity of discussion because it was found that focusing on frequency was misleading, as many teachers (particularly in focus groups) tacitly agreed with functionings and topics through non-verbal nods and gestures.

D: # of teachers who spontaneously discussed this topic at length in focus groups and interviews

Q: # of teachers who ranked this functioning highly (within the top 5) in a list of 53

In addition to the focus groups and questionnaires that were used to determine valued functionings, followup interviews were conducted to investigate the constraining conversion factors that teachers also experienced. These discussions were also significant as teachers’ empirical behaviours are very much predicated on how and to what extent they decide to comply or contend with these constraints.

Table 5 1: Functionings that teachers valued most by school type

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

6 Causal links between valued functionings and empirical behaviour

As discussed previously, a Critical Realist Theory of Causation can be used to causally link constrained well-being to teachers’ ‘deficient’ or ‘negative’ practices and behaviours. Teachers’ valued functionings can be viewed as the causal mechanisms that generate much of their behaviour, and various conditions of service (conversion factors) constrain what teachers value being and doing. Teachers’ deliberation then determines whether they choose to comply with constraints (thereby not achieving their valued functionings), or whether to contend with them, which often leads to the production of certain ‘deficient’ behaviours, such as absenteeism or corporal punishment.

For example, several teachers articulated with quantity and depth their valuing of being able to take care of their families. This functioning ‘being able to take care of family’ entails the physical act of caring, such as preparing food, as well as the symbolic act of providing, such as paying for private school and clothing. When asked about constraints on their ability to care and provide for family, teachers remarked that a low salary was the greatest impediment to both. Although many teachers saw a lack of funds as a systemic problem that they could not do much about, others seemed determined to contend with such a constraint by seeking other avenues for income. As one peri-urban female teacher commented,

Sometimes you find time to escape and look for work so that you can get money so that you can take your kids to school. I will look, if the head is not there, then I will escape. Or I will lie and say I’m sick so that I can go and find other work. So the result is the bad behaviour of escaping or saying lies (Peri-urban female teacher).

This very candid response demonstrates the instrumentality of income for achieving this valued functioning and how constraint via a low salary prompts some teachers to seek supplementary income elsewhere. Sen (1999: 14) is very sympathetic to the ‘usefulness’ of income, and states, ‘‘we generally have excellent reasons for wanting more income or wealth. This is not because income and wealth are desirable for their own sake, but because, typically, they are admirable general-purpose means for having more freedom to lead the kind of lives we have reason to value.’’

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

Valued Functioning

Being able to take care of family

Enabling conversion factors

Environmental resources, time

Social sharing of responsibility

Personal energy levels

Decision by teacher (to realise valued functioning)

Empirical event 1

Teacher takes care of family

Empirical event 2 Teacher decides not to take care of family

Constraining conversion factors

Environmental work hours, travel distance, low salary

Social unequal gender roles

Personal low energy

Decision by actor (to comply or contend with constraint)

Empirical event 3

Teacher cannot take care of family (distraction, lack of focus in class)

Empirical event 4 Teacher takes second job to take care of family (lack of preparation, absenteeism)

Figure 7.1 outlines the causal links between teachers’ valuing of ‘being able to take care of family’, conversion factors surrounding this functioning, and the empirical outcomes that result.

Figure 7.1 Causal links between a valued functioning and teacher empirical behaviour

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

The CA/CR lens and implications for EGR Teacher Training

Given the previous analysis, a CA/CR Theory of Teacher Practice and Behaviour would posit that teachers’ empirical actions are determined by causal mechanisms (the functionings that teachers value) and how they respond to constraints on these. It thus follows that in order to change teacher practice and behaviour, any intervention should acknowledge teacher’s causal mechanisms that guide behaviour (which are the beings/doings central to the lives teachers wish to lead). In addition to this, interventions must also address constraining conversion factors as they are linked to ‘negative/deficient’ practices and behaviours, such as absenteeism, lack of preparation, distraction, etc. Moreover, addressing constraining conversion factors helps to contextualise interventions, and provides pragmatic solutions.

What then, are the implications for a sustainable Teacher Training intervention in Early Grade Reading? If teacher practice and behaviour is heavily determined by the constraint or expansion on their valued functionings, the content and structure of EGR training should aim to reduce constraint. Thus, the following discussion will look at the occupational functionings that Tanzanian teachers value, the constraints on these, and the implications this has on EGR teacher training.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

8 Occupational valued functioning #1: Being able to participate in training

During focus group discussions, ‘kujiendeleza’ was the Kiswahili term used to describe the concept of upgrading (it means, ‘to develop myself’); however, it was clear that this phrase is used to describe being able to upgrade practice through in-service training courses. One teacher commented on her valuing of this functioning by stating:

To get new teaching methods is important because things are changing now and then. It is important to get trained. For example, we did not have certain technologies when I was training. And in the case of these Maths subjects, pupils are doing very poorly because teachers did not have seminars or short courses in order to be good academically (Rural Male Teacher).

With regard to constraints on teachers being able to upgrade through in-service training, the primary conversion factor is that workshops and short courses are generally not available, or, if they are available, they are not offered to all teachers. For example, intensive cascade workshops allow only a small number of teachers to participate, and those teachers who do participate do not often go on to train colleagues, leaving the weakest teachers overlooked. In addition to this, the costs associated with workshops make them difficult for District Education Offices or Ministries of Education to sustain in the long-run.

Given these problems, what are the implications for a sustainable EGR in-service training intervention? Considering the extent to which a majority of teachers valued being able to participate in training, reducing constraint would entail a modality of training that would allow all teachers to participate. For example, School-Based EGR training is a modality that involves teachers studying EGR modules as a group and engaging in peer observation on application of new skills1 With such a modality, teachers do not have to travel to ward or district workshops (thereby saving money and time), and teachers can very immediately try out new strategies in their classrooms. Training can occur on a consistent basis (every two weeks) so that new content can be digested gradually and the application of new skills can occur on a continuous, sustained basis (which is difficult to achieve with intensive workshops).

However, with such a school-based modality, there are many risks involved, primarily ensuring the understanding of new technical concepts and ideas (as there are no ‘master trainers’ involved), and ensuring teacher engagement and attendance. With regard to the former, risk mitigation occurs during the development of modules whereby EGR content must be designed to be clear, concise, user-friendly, contextual and activity-based. Pre-testing draft modules with teachers allows for a rigorous assessment of these characteristics. With regard to the latter, it is imperative to develop a rigorous monitoring system and support structures that use system actors (such as school-based INSET Co-ordinators, Head Teachers, Ward Education Co-ordinators and District Inspectors) to ensure attendance and application. In addition to this, incentives can also be embedded whereby teachers sign an agreement (that outlines their roles and responsibilities for training) with the proviso that upon successful completion of training, they will receive a certificate of completion issued by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT).

1 This is the modality of in-service training that was introduced in 2014 on the Education Quality Improvement Programme in Tanzania (EQUIP-T). See www.equip-t.org for more details.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

9 Occupational valued functioning #2: Being able to help students learn

A number of teachers discussed this topic at length as well as ranked it highly on questionnaires. As one teacher stated:

I want to see that my pupils understand me. If they don't, I feel as if I cheat people who I came teach. You know, this is my profession, so when I do it, I think it's good to see a good yield. If I don't see it, I feel bad. So in my career, I want to see that students understand what I teach them. Otherwise, if they fail, I feel bad (Peri-urban Male Teacher).

This quote demonstrates how ‘being able to help students learn’ can be motivated through a vocational and ethical injunction. At the urban school, another teacher commented:

You have to make sure every student understands and performs on the exams well. And that they understand what the teacher is teaching in class (Urban Female Teacher).

This extract also shows how there is a temporal element to this functioning, whereby immediate achievement is having students understand concepts in class (which was evidenced through classroom question and answer sessions and daily exercises); and the longer-term achievement is seen through students’ performance in exams. Unfortunately, it might prove difficult to convince teachers that national Standard 7 exam scores will improve due to EGR practices. However, immediate achievement in student understanding (through improved question and answer sessions, increased participation and improvements in formative assessments) is much more plausible.

When teachers were asked about constraints on ‘being able to help students learn’, the general discourse of ‘poor working conditions’ was apparent, with complaints pointing to a variety of constraining environmental conversion factors such as lack of teaching materials, textbooks and over-crowded classrooms. In addition to this, many teachers articulated a lack of confidence in their subjects, as they are often assigned subjects they do not know well, due to a lack of teachers at their schools. Teachers often contended with this constraint by following the textbook page by page, almost as if it were an instruction manual. It appeared that teachers were not trained to be creative with lessons or exercises, so when this was compounded by a lack of confidence or content knowledge, a very routinised, rote method of teaching was used. Thus, we can start to see how ‘being able to help students learn’ was constrained not only in a material sense through environmental conversion factors, but also through the social conversion factors of systems and structures that force teachers to contend with large classes and subjects they did not choose.

Given these constraints, designing EGR training to be sustained by teachers entails reducing constraint through addressing material environmental conversion factors. For example, the provision of requisite resources, such as levelled and decodable readers, as well as the materials needed to make teaching aids such as letter cards, words cards and teachers’ own read-aloud books. With regard to over-crowded classrooms, it is imperative that all EGR strategies introduced in training can be used in and applied to large classes (of over 100+). This also includes explicit instructions on how to group students in a class of 100 if it is necessary to the EGR strategy (such classroom management techniques should not be assumed), because otherwise teachers will think the strategy is not relevant to their large-class context.

With regard to teachers’ lack of confidence in subject knowledge, particularly in EGR instructional practices, EGR modules can offer a great deal of scaffolding through providing practical, explicit strategies

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

and lesson plans (akin to those used in their context) that teachers can follow

2 The EGR strategies that are introduced should also build on what teachers already know and do with regard to the current Standard 1-3 Kiswahili syllabus; and as discussed previously, EGR strategies should also be easily applied in classrooms of up to 100+ students.

2 There is a debate regarding the use of the scripted lesson plan: Scripted, externally developed lesson plans may give some teachers a sense of security but also create tensions between the scripts' perceived relevance and the teachers' desire for autonomy. It has been argued that teacher trainers may want to experiment with offering a choice of different instructional models, and that script developers may want to experiment with giving teachers more explicit autonomy, both in choosing scripts and in modifying them

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

Tanzanian teachers often value ‘being able to control class’ (in order to help students learn), however unfortunately, corporal punishment is often a result of teachers contending with constraint on this functioning. Teachers are resigned to the fact that short periods and large class sizes were systemic problems that they could not change, however noisy children who were constraining their capability ‘to be in control’ was something that teachers felt they could contend with. A teacher attested to this process when noting:

If you punish a pupil and you hurt them very badly, it makes me upset. But that is caused because of the high concentration of pupils in the class. It’s very hard to control them in the class, so sometimes I have to use a stick. It causes me frustration and anxiety…But sometimes the environment forces me to use the stick (Peri-urban Male Teacher).

This view – that caning is a ‘forced’ action – demonstrates that teachers do not often have alternative nonviolent classroom management techniques at hand; so even if a teacher does not like to cane, she often feels that that is the only way to contend with the constraint of a noisy class. It should be noted that it was preventive non-violent classroom management techniques that teachers lacked (those that allow teachers to control class and pre-empt disruption), rather than punitive non-violent techniques (such as making children squat, or do frog jumps and push-ups), which were used a great deal but could still be argued to be violations of students’ physiological and psychological integrity.

Another instance of being ‘forced’ to cane was discussed by a teacher from the peri-urban school who stated, “I don't like caning, but it is necessary. If you don't cane, the students will just keep talking and not learn. You tell them one time, two times, three times, and they do not listen. It makes me angry.” This quote suggests how corporal punishment is used first because students constrain a teacher’s capability to teach, but then this constraint is exacerbated as the repeated ignoring of a teacher’s requests constrains two other valued capabilities – ‘being respected’ and ‘being free from shame’ (or rather, ‘not losing face’). Darwall (1977) delineates two forms of respect that can be related to what teachers valued: recognition respect, which consists of giving appropriate recognition or consideration to an individual by virtue of their role or position; and appraisal respect, which is predicated on a judgment of an individual’s behaviour or achievements. In this teacher’s case, recognition respect was an entitlement to be gleaned by her position as a teacher, and students ignoring her requests constituted constraint on this capability. With regard to appraisal respect, this was contingent upon her meeting various expectations set by broader discourses and codes of conduct (such as having an obedient class). Thus, when students repeatedly ignored the teacher, not only was her recognition respect constrained, so was her appraisal respect, as having control of her class was a common expectation she was assumed to meet.

Given these problems, it seems that implications for EGR training that is sustained by teachers should entail classroom management techniques that are grounded in context and experience, and not imposed by a cultural outsider. Such contextualised alternatives are needed, as legislation alone does not stop teachers from caning, nor do interventions that simply demand the elimination of corporal punishment from a rights-based perspective. As a teacher noted:

...this organisation from Mwanza, they are called Kuleana. They came there with their rules. Children will not do work in the house...they shouldn't be hit. Where do those rules come from? Are these coming from

10 Occupational valued functioning #3: Being able to control class and being respected

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

outsiders? When they introduced these rules, did they come in touch with the culture and see if the culture agrees? (Peri-urban Male Teacher).

Clearly, there is a tension and mistrust of interventions and conventions promoted by outsiders, as there is an explicit imposition of another worldview, an implicit judgement of Tanzanian culture and a lack of sensitivity towards it. Thus, any alternative classroom management strategies introduced for EGR instructional practice must be proven to work in a classroom of 100+. This can be done by collecting classroom management strategies that have been tried and tested by Tanzanian teachers themselves. These strategies can be shared via EGR modules, and introductory modules prior to EGR content could be introduced, which entail content on creating a positive learning environment, such as providing strategies for classroom management, gender responsive pedagogy and increasing participation and inclusion3

3 These were preliminary modules offered in the EQUIP-Tanzania EGR teacher training programme.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

11 Other valued functionings that can affect the sustainability of EGR training

In addition to the occupational functionings that teachers value, it should be noted that there are additional functionings that should be acknowledged by EGR training interventions. For example, teachers are very anxious about the surveillance activities of inspectors and the power they wield in the education hierarchy. This foregrounds the implicit valued functioning of ‘following protocol’, which is valued not because it contributes to the working lives that teachers want, but because their livelihoods are threatened (via transfer or firing) if they don’t. The implications of this with regard to EGR training is that it should be aligned with teacher protocols; more specifically, any new strategies or activities must be aligned with the syllabus that teachers are inspected on. Otherwise, teachers will be reluctant to apply new strategies because they are not connected to the syllabus that they will be held account to.

In addition to this obligatory valued functioning that can affect EGR training, it is also important to note that teachers’ personal valued functionings should also be addressed in a corresponding intervention. For example, constraint on personal valued functionings (such as being able to take care of family, being able to live in a satisfactory home, being healthy and being respected) often leads to lack of focus, lack of preparation and absenteeism, which can indeed affect EGR training. Thus, other interventions should aim to reduce constraints by providing strategies that help teachers achieve these prioritised functionings. Generally speaking, these can include school-based saving groups, community-based solutions for housing, Teachers’ Union advocacy for improved health insurance and head teacher training on people management skills. Such activities can be packaged within broader Teacher Morale Strategies, whereby system actors (such as Head Teachers, School Committees, DEOs and REOs) are trained and mobilised for implementation.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

This paper has presented a CA/CR lens that aims to strengthen the efficacy and sustainability of EGR teacher training. This entails seeking teachers’ participation to identify their valued functionings, the conversion factors that constrain these, and designing in-service training to address constraints. The hypothesis being that designing training that is guided by teachers’ values and reducing constraint, will strengthen the acceptance, adoption and assimilation of EGR practices.

This process of EGR teacher training development is by no means a guaranteed silver bullet solution; what it does do however, is place teachers’ well-being at the forefront of training strategies, and also sees the levers of behaviour change being deeply rooted in their values and lived experiences. Given these benefits, it should be noted that use of the Capability Approach also has its limits. The approach does not account for shifts in individuals’ values and decisions over time. For example, a new teacher may not initially value ‘taking care of family’, but over the course of her career, this may change with the birth of children, as well as recede after her children grow older (which was indeed demonstrated across the age range of teachers in this study). In a similar vein, shifts in conversion factors over time can also occur. Thus, in order to be more responsive to the fluidity of people's values and corresponding conversion factors, it may be necessary to plan for data collection and analysis to be conducted during the course of training implementation, in order to adjust and fine-tune solutions to changing value sets.

It should also be noted that this framework for EGR training development can be generalised – not at an individual level of preference or experience – but at a meta-level with regard to the components that generate behaviour. Clearly, teachers’ values and constraints vary over population and context; however at a theoretical level, it is possible to generalise about the fact that a valued functioning acts as a causal mechanism that guides behaviour, conversion factors can act to constrain it, and the interaction of these can result in certain classroom actions. Given this understanding, it is imperative that an EGR training intervention acknowledges the importance of these meta-level components in order to ensure the efficacy of training.

Overall, this paper has argued that without acknowledgement of these components of behaviour –teachers’ valued functionings and constraints – it is unlikely that new EGR instructional practices will be sustained, as teachers will revert to their ‘old ways’, which are grounded in the valued functionings that consistently generate much of their behaviour. The benefit of reframing teachers’ classroom actions in this manner is that it provides a theoretically grounded account of teacher behaviour that is situated in their values and contexts. Such an account not only fosters detailed explanations of teacher performance, it hopefully engenders more nuanced and creative strategies aimed at improvements.

Using the Capacity Approach to improve the sustainability of teacher inservice training

13 References

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Bhaskar, R. (1979), The Possibility of Naturalism: A Philosophical Critique of the Contemporary Human Sciences. Brighton: The Harvester Press

Darwall, S. (1977), 'Two Kinds of Respect'. Ethics, 88.1, 36-49.

Robeyns, I. (2005b), 'The capability approach: a theoretical survey'. Journal of Human Development, 6.1, 93-114.

Sen, A. (1992) Inequality Re-examined. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Sen, A. (1999) Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Tao, S. (2013) Why are teachers absent? Utilising the Capability Approach and Critical Realism to explain teacher performance in Tanzania. International Journal of Educational Development. 33.1 pp 2–14

Tao, S. (2014) ‘Using the Capability Approach to improve female teacher deployment to rural schools in Nigeria’. International Journal of Educational Development. 39.1 pp 92-99

Tao, S. (2015) ‘Corporal punishment, capabilities and well-being: Tanzanian primary school teachers’ perspectives’. In J. Parkes (ed) Gender Violence and Violations: The Educational Challenge in Poverty Contexts. London: Routledge

USAID (2014) National Baseline Assessment for the 3Rs (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic) Using EGRA, EGMA, and SSME in Tanzania: Headline Findings Report. Dar es Salaam: USAID

Uwezo (2011) Are our children learning? Annual learning assessment report. Dar es Salaam: UWEZO Tanzania