Low-quality Teachers Research Articles

The role of technology in the development of higher education in Ukraine in the context of global challenges

The article examines the role of technology in the evolution of higher education in Ukraine, with a particular focus on the challenges posed by global change. The author analyses the impact of digitalisation on the learning process, the organisation of educational activities and the interaction between students and teachers. The article discusses both the positive aspects of the introduction of digital tools, such as increased student engagement, curriculum flexibility and effective management of educational resources, and potential problems, such as technical difficulties, the need to improve the digital literacy of teachers and students, and the possible decline in the quality of education due to the use of low-quality teaching materials. The article is based on an empirical study of the introduction of digital technologies in higher education institutions, as well as on the results obtained in EU countries in 2022. The practical and theoretical implications of the study are discussed separately. This includes the development of recommendations for the integration of digital technologies into the educational process, as well as the development of educational theory in the context of digitalisation.

Higher Education in Pakistan: Challenges, Opportunities, Suggestions

Higher education provides opportunities to censoriously reveal the cultural, moral, socio-economic, and spiritual issues faced by the human race. Pakistan's higher education system has many institutional drawbacks includes a lack of quality management, institutional structure, and knowledge gaps between cross-culture educations systems to improve the efficiency of the current higher education system in Pakistan. To make Pakistan an educational center, Pakistan must strengthen the education system by developing modern technology and higher education. This study focuses on low enrolment and dropout gaps, quality and quantity of higher education standards, infrastructure, facilities, and low-quality teaching methods. This study summarizes these problems with suggestions to improve higher education standards and quality through cross-culture developments, performance standards, teaching methods, and examination reforms in Pakistan's higher education system.

The Value of a Peer

This paper introduces peer value-added, a new approach to quantify the total contribution of an individual peer to student performance. Peer value-added captures social spillovers irrespective of whether they are generated by observable or unobservable peer characteristics. Using data with repeated random assignment to university sections, we find that students significantly differ in their peer value-added. Peer value-added is a good out-of-sample predictor of performance spillovers in newly assigned student-peer pairs. Yet, students’ own past performance and other observable characteristics are poor predictors of peer value-added. Peer value-added increases after exposure to better peers, and valuable peers are substitutes for low-quality teachers.

The Myth of Unions’ Overprotection of Bad Teachers: Evidence from the District–Teacher Matched Data on Teacher Turnover

This article examines the relationship between teachers’ unions and teacher turnover in U.S. public schools. The trade‐off between teacher pay and employment predicts that unions raise the dismissal rate of underperforming teachers but reduce the attrition of high‐quality teachers, as the higher wages unions negotiate provide districts strong incentives to scrutinize teacher performance during a probationary period while encouraging high‐quality teachers to remain in teaching. Using the district–teacher matched data and a natural experiment, I find that, compared to less‐unionized districts, highly unionized districts dismiss more low‐quality teachers and retain more high‐quality teachers, raising average teacher quality and educational outcomes.

High-quality vs low-quality teaching

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine student sentiments regarding high-quality vs low-quality teaching.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a text mining technique to identify the positive and negative patterns of student sentiments from student evaluations of teaching (SET) provided on Ratemyprofessors.com. After identifying the key positive and negative sentiments, this study performs generalized linear regressions and calculates cumulative logits to analyze the impact of key sentiments on high- and low-quality teaching.FindingsResults from 6,705 SET provided on Ratemyprofessors.com indicated that students express different sets of sentiments regarding high- vs low-quality teaching. In particular, the authors found positive sentiments such as passionate, straightforward, accessible, hilarious, sweet, inspiring and clear to be predictive of high-quality teaching. Additionally, negative sentiments such as disorganized, rude, difficult, confusing and boring were significantly related to low-quality teaching.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first few studies confirming that high- and low-quality teaching are not completely opposite to each other from the student’s perspective. That is, the presence of high-quality teaching does not necessarily mean the absence of low-quality teaching. As such, this study provides an important theoretical base for future researchers who wish to explore approaches for improving faculty teaching in the higher education setting. Additionally, this study offers educators some recommendations that may help students experience positive sentiments while minimizing negative sentiments.

A Multiple-Indicator Latent Growth Mixture Model to Track Courses with Low-Quality Teaching

This paper describes a multi-indicator latent growth mixture model built on the data collected by a large Italian university to track students’ satisfaction over time. The analysis of the data involves two steps: first, a pre-processing of data selects the items to be part of the synthetic indicator that measures students’ satisfaction; the second step then retrieves heterogeneity that allows the identification of a clustering structure with a group of university courses (outliers) which underperform in terms of students’ satisfaction over time. Regression components of the model identify courses in need of further improvement and that are prone to receiving low classifications from students. Results show that it is possible to identify a large group of didactic activities with a high satisfaction level that stays constant over time; there is also a small group of problematic didactic activities with low satisfaction that decreases over the period under analysis.

Teacher Observation and Reliability: Additional Insights Gathered from Inter-rater Reliability Analyses

Using a newly created teacher evaluation instrument, Inter-rater Reliability (IRR) analyses were conducted on four teacher videos as a means to establish instrument reliability. Raters included 42 principals and assistant principals in a southern US school district. The videos used spanned the teacher quality spectrum and the IRR findings across these levels varied. Key findings suggest that while the overall IRR coefficient may be adequate to assess the validity of a classroom observation instrument, the overall coefficient may be unstable across the various teacher performance levels. Findings also strongly suggest that raters are much more likely to agree when they see high-quality teaching when compared to levels of agreement regarding low-quality teaching.

‘Good job!’: unpacking praise practices of high- and low-quality early childhood teachers in China

ABSTRACT Aiming to inform teaching practices and understand cultural differences, we examined praise practices of high- and low-quality preschool teachers in China. As part of a broader project, we purposefully selected three high-quality and three low-quality teachers based upon their Pre-K CLASS ratings and self-reports, and conducted qualitative analysis of their class videos. The two groups gave similar amount of praise, but extremely high or low numbers were observed among the low-quality teachers. The high-quality teachers applied specific praise more while the low-quality teachers used general praise more. Although both groups used praise heavily in whole group activities, the high-quality teachers utilized praise more in small group activities, while the low-quality teachers used praise more in transitions. Additionally, the high-quality teachers used praise more effectively to provide emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Finally, the Chinese teachers praised their students substantially less than American or Australian teachers in other published studies.

Separate and Unequal – Title I and Teacher Quality

Research has shown that Title I’s “comparability” provision causes gaps in noncategorical per pupil teacher funding. Using a unique dataset that merges 2009-2010 New York City (NYC) Department of Education value-added scores, school finance data, and school demographic data, this study not only confirms that NYC Title I elementary schools received less noncategorical per pupil teacher funding than non-Title I elementary schools, but these schools also had lower quality teachers. This paper provides the first evidence of a negative relationship between noncategorical per pupil teacher funding and the percentage of below average teachers even when controlling for certain school demographics. If Title I elementary public schools in New York City have lower quality teachers, then the students that are served by these schools are not receiving the same quality of education as their peers. Changing the comparability provision in Title I funding would result in more equitable funding.

Identifying effective teachers: The relation between teaching profiles and students’ development in achievement and enjoyment

Teaching effectiveness has often been described from a variable-centered perspective according to instructional, organizational, and emotional teaching characteristics and their prediction of students’ outcomes. Adopting a person-centered approach, the present study analyzed how multiple variables of teaching quality co-occur simultaneously within teachers and how these teaching profiles are related to students’ development in achievement and enjoyment. Data from 3483 secondary students and their 155 mathematics teachers were analyzed at two measurement points. A latent profile analysis identified high-, medium-, and low-quality teaching profiles. Multilevel analyses revealed that the high-quality profile—as compared to the medium-quality profile—was positively related to achievement gains, whereas no significant difference was found for students’ development in enjoyment. The findings reveal quantitative instead of qualitative teaching profiles and challenge the implicit assumption the higher the better. In particular, effective teachers may not need to display the highest levels in all teaching aspects. Instead, different thresholds for teaching effectiveness may apply for students’ achievement gains and emotional development, respectively.

Do pupils from low-income families get low-quality teachers? Indirect evidence from English schools

Gaps between the educational attainment of pupils from higher and lower income families are widespread and persistent. Teacher quality is amongst the most important school-based determinants of pupil attainment, making the allocation of teachers to pupils a potentially important reason for this attainment gap. We use a range of well-evidenced indicators of teacher quality from the School Workforce Census and the Teaching and Learning International Survey to investigate the extent of social inequalities in access to teacher quality in England. Looking at the allocation of teachers between schools, we find that disadvantaged pupils are more likely to have unqualified, inexperienced or out-of-subject teachers. We present evidence that this reflects both demand from early-career teachers to work in such schools and a greater supply of vacant positions in these schools, due to poor staff retention. We find some evidence of an inequitable allocation of teacher quality to classes within schools, though this is limited to our teacher experience indicator. This is in part due to teachers with more experience at a specific school being better able to influence their allocation to less disadvantaged classes. Implications for policy are discussed.

Medical education units: A necessity for quality assurance in health professions education in Nigeria

In recent years, curricula and pedagogical methods in medical education have undergone rapid and unprecedented changes globally. The emphasis has shifted from traditional, teacher-centred learning, characterised by the accumulation of non-integrated volumes of knowledge, to active, student-centred learning. The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) reports that there are 31 fully accredited and 6 partially accredited medical schools in Nigeria. The majority of these medical schools still offer undergraduate medical training based on a curriculum characterised by a distinct separation of preclinical and clinical training, with minimal or no integration. This approach is coupled with low-quality teaching by medical educators, as many medical colleges in Nigeria presently use specialists as lecturers who have little or no training in higher education practices; their only exposure to teaching is that obtained during their postgraduate specialty training. Similarly, very few medical schools in Nigeria have established medical education units (MEUs), as recommended by the World Health Organization and the World Federation for Medical Education. We discuss the shortcomings of the present medical education system in Nigeria and suggest ways to improve the quality of pedagogy among Nigerian medical educators, such as the establishment of clinical-skills centres and MEUs at Nigerian medical schools. In addition, this review highlights the role and importance of MEUs in facilitating quality assurance in health professions education, and the urgent need for more medical schools in Nigeria to establish MEUs to promote, co-ordinate and evaluate medical education reforms based on needs assessments and within the confines of MDCN standards.

Retirement Age Effects of Pension and Salary Reforms: Evidence from Wisconsin Teachers

Many US workers receive a large portion of their lifetime compensation in the form of retirement pensions. How do changes in pensions vis a vis salaries affect labor supply and retirement? This paper examines the retirement responses to a reform that changed salaries and pensions of public school teachers in a staggered fashion. On one hand, the reform lowered older teachers' gross salaries and, in turn, their future pension benefits; on the other it increased employees' contributions to the pension fund, lowering net salaries but leaving pensions unchanged. I use the staggered timing of implementation of these two provisions to estimate bounds to the income and substitution effects of salaries and pensions. These estimates suggest large substitution effects and more moderate income effects. They also indicate that workers are more responsive to changes in salaries than to equally sized changes in pensions. I find support for three possible explanations for this finding: a) a lack of salience/information on pensions, and b) credit constraints. I use the estimated elasticities to evaluate the effect of an alternative budget-saving policy that reduces pensions instead of net salaries. This alternative policy would lead to fewer, older, and lower-quality teachers retiring compared with the actual reform.

Using DEA for measuring teachers’ performance and the impact on students’ outcomes: evidence for Spain

This research contributes to the ongoing debate about differences in teachers’ performance. We introduce a new methodology that combines production frontier and impact evaluation insights that allows using DEA as an identification strategy of a treatment with high and low quality teachers within schools to assess their performance. We use a unique database of primary schools in Spain that, for every school, supplies information on two classrooms at 4th grade where students and teachers were randomly assigned into the two classrooms. We find considerable differences in teachers’ efficiency across schools with significant effects on students’ achievement. In line with previous findings, we find that neither teacher experience nor academic training explains teachers’ efficiency. Conversely, being a female teacher, having worked five or more years in the same school or having smaller class sizes positively affects the performance of teachers.

The Vicious Circle of Quality in Ethiopian Higher Education

While Ethiopian higher education is hailed for its expansion in the past years, its quality remains seriously challenged. The supply of low quality teachers and ill-prepared students, along with the high demand for new teachers forcing the government to massively recruit mediocre graduates, continues the vicious circle.

The Vicious Circle of Quality in Ethiopian Higher Education

While Ethiopian higher education is hailed for its expansion in the past years, its quality remains seriously challenged. The supply of low quality teachers and ill-prepared students, along with the high demand for new teachers forcing the government to massively recruit mediocre graduates, continues the vicious circle.

Profiles of teacher-child interaction quality in preschool classrooms and teachers’ professional competence features

This paper investigates early childhood education (ECE) teachers’ self-reported and observed teacher-child interaction quality (TIQ) and the associated teachers’ professional competence features using a latent profile analysis (LPA) approach to identify the variations in the quality of classroom experiences in Chinese preschools. A total of 164 female preschool teachers aged 20–58 participated in this study. The analysis and discussions focus on four identified profiles of teachers: low-quality teachers (n = 9) characterised by lowest scores in both observational and self-reported TIQ; self-overestimated teachers (n = 59) with relatively low observed CLASS scores but high self-reported TIQ; self-underestimated teachers (n = 76) scoring relatively high in observed TIQ but low in self-assessed TIQ and low-level self-efficacy; and genuine high-quality teachers (n = 20) rated highest in both observational and self-reported TIQ. Findings on specific educational and psychological characteristics of the four profiles of teachers that we have identified through an LPA provide insights into teacher training in China.

Accountability and control in American schools

One of the most controversial and significant of contemporary education reforms has been the teacher accountability movement. From this perspective, low-quality teachers and teaching are a major factor behind inadequate school performance, and a lack of accountability and control in schools is a major factor behind the problem of low-quality teachers and teaching. In turn, to advocates of this reform movement, the solution is to centralize control of schools and hold teachers more accountable. Utilizing a sociology of organizations, occupations and work perspective, the objective of this article was to offer a critique of the teacher accountability perspective and movement. This article draws from, and summarizes, the results of a series of empirical research projects on the levels, distribution and effects of accountability and control in American schools. The argument of the article is that the teacher accountability perspective overlooks some of the most important sources and forms of organizational accountability and control that exist in schools and overlooks the ways schools themselves, and in particular the ways they are managed and organized, contribute to the teacher quality problem. As a result, teacher accountability reforms often do not succeed and can have a negative impact on teacher quality and school performance.

PARENTS’ EXPECTATIONS OF THE TEACHING AND LEARNING ISLAMIC EDUCATION

The focuses of this research is on parents’ expectation of the teaching and learning Islamic Education among students of SDLB N Ungaran. The subject is Islamic Education teachers and the parents of students in SDLB N Ungaran. The methods of data collections are observation, interview and documentation. The technique of data analysis is inductive analysis. The result shows that the teaching and learning Islamic Education among students of SDLB N Ungaran is generally almost the same with the teaching and learning Islamic Education among students of general school. The difference is only in the psychological aspect. The majority of parents’ expectation of the teaching and learning Islamic Education is the same: in order the students can understand and apply the subject of Islamic Education in their everyday life so that they can become the righteous children. The factors that support the teaching and learning Islamic Education among students of SDLB N Ungaran are the Islamic Education teachers’ patients and meticulous, cooperation between parents, teachers and the school, the extracurricular subjects which are suitable with the students’ talent and ability, and teachers’ creativity in teaching and learning. The factors that hinder the teaching and learning Islamic Education are inefficient and ineffective time (not suitable with the students with physical disabilities), using the same curriculum with the curriculum in the general school, the low quality teachers, and the lack of teaching and learning facilities.

Class-size reduction policies and the quality of entering teachers

Class-size reduction (CSR) policies have typically failed to produce large achievement gains. One common explanation is that CSR forces schools to hire low-quality teachers. Prior studies of this hypothesis have been hindered by poor data. Using different data, we find that hiring quality did fall with state-wide CSR. However, this drop was temporary due to attrition by the lowest performers. Furthermore, the drop was similar for schools classified as treated and control for prior evaluations of CSR. Therefore, differences in the quality of incoming teachers cannot explain the estimated performance of CSR. This is consistent with hiring spillovers in connected markets.