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.