INDIVIDUAL PROPOSAL
Submitted To

INSTRUCTOR: Prof. Ernesto Noronha ACADEMIC ASSOCIATE: Ms. Avantika Gautam

In partial fulfilment of requirements of the course

Qualitative Methods (Term III) (2014)

By P K V Kishan (FPM, Economics) Date: 20th February 2014

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, AHMEDABAD

"What drives school teachers towards better performance? - Findings from Qualitative interviews"
Motivation
Teachers are the focal point of knowledge dissemination anywhere in the world. A teacher discharges various roles in a society besides assisting learning in the classroom – that of a motivator, nurturer, critic, life coach, leader and a continual learner herself. During the course of her lifetime, a teacher touches multiple lives and engenders positive externalities in the community through her students and herself. Her role becomes all the more important in the context of primary and secondary education as development of a child’s personality takes place during her early years and a great deal of that development is built on learning that happens at school. It is the teacher who creates an environment conducive for learning. Learning takes place by constant engagement of both student and teacher. While the student’s engagement is for her own good, the teacher needs to engage in the heterogeneous learning needs of students she teaches, has taught or is connected to. That requires constant, untiring efforts on the part of the teacher. Edwards, Gandini and Forman (1998) describes optimal teaching to be a complex, delicate, multifaceted task, involving many levels and calling for much expertise and continuous self-examination. Given the pivotal role a teacher plays in the society it is imperative to understand the factors that drives her to keep her motivation levels high and continue serving the society in direct and indirect ways.

Research Focus
Who – Primary and secondary school teachers with varying levels of experience employed at private and government run schools would be my elements of population. Retired school teachers would also be a part of my sampling frame. I would keep those teachers out of focus who supplement their income by conducting tuitions or through any other occupation. What – The main focus of my study would be to learn and understand the experiences of both primary and secondary school teachers, their views, their difficulties on the job and

beyond it (if relevant), their expectations (from various stakeholders), their practices, their feelings and their perceptions about various aspects of learning and education. When – This study would be conducted over a time period of 10 – 12 months starting January, 2015. Where – The data would be collected from private and government schools situated in villages in and around Gujarat, tier-2 cities like Faridabad, Chandigarh, Rajkot etc. and tier-1 cities like Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune etc. Why – Ganguly (2013) points to a discernible backward movement in terms of learning skills and teacher performance. He goes on to mention that teachers have gradually lost their sense of initiative and have become mere executors of textbooks. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2012, observed that it was better to ‘adhere to a policy of achieving basic learning outcomes’ rather than solely focus on ‘completing the syllabus.’ The report highlights a major concern that in private schools, less than 40% of standard 5 children ‘could solve a simple division sum in 2012.’ As the report notes there is a national crisis in learning. Since teachers are one of the biggest stakeholders in the process of learning it is essential to understand the factors that drives them to perform better and subsequently design policies which in turn ensures that they remain motivated and empowered. How – The research method to be used to collect requisite data would be that of active interviewing. The teachers to be interviewed would be selected by purposive sampling.

Review of Literature
Most of the literature on factors that affect teacher performance and teacher effectiveness is replete with elements related to monetary incentives and positive working conditions. Kingdon and Teal (2007) tread with caution as they reason that salaries proxy for teacher quality. They cite efficient wage theory under which higher wages increase teacher effort at any given level of teacher quality which in turn improves student achievement. They go on to conclude that relative pay is effective at eliciting greater effort in private schools in India. Muralidharan and Sudararaman (2011) affirms this in their findings as they report,

based on their interview based study, that 80% of teachers had a favourable opinion about the idea of linking component of pay to measures of performance. Subsequently, on the basis of experiments conducted in Andhra Pradesh, they also furnished evidence regarding the extent of teachers’ stated ex ante support for performance-linked pay (over a series of mean preserving spreads of pay) to be positively correlated with their ex post performance as measured by estimates of teacher value addition. From this they go on to suggest that teachers are aware of their own effectiveness and a PLP program could play a dual role of motivating the present crop of teachers while also playing a part in attracting more effective teachers into the teaching profession. There have been further studies on teacher labor market and linking of teacher performance and productivity to pay. However, Belfield and Heywood (2008) contend that performance may not be accurately measured: either performance has simply too many dimensions or the wrong dimensions are the most easily observable. Hence, performance related pay and its effect on teacher performance stands as a conjecture. Belfield and Heywood (2008) suggest that workers may either exert low effort preceding the introduction of performance related pay or simply ‘work to rate’ after its introduction. They also conclude that performance pay tends not to be associated with higher levels of job satisfaction. Fehr and Falk (2002) even argue that monetary incentives may backfire and reduce the performance of agents. They suggest that such economic incentives may crowd out intrinsic motivators. Nevertheless, economic incentives such as additional compensation can offset unattractive job characteristics associated with teaching or working in a particular district or school and entice teachers to assume positions they might otherwise not accept (Milanowski et al., 2009). In the wake of these reasons it is essential to exercise caution while attributing economic factors to teacher effort, motivation and performance. Existing literature points towards intrinsic motivators/rewards as the main drivers for teachers to join the profession and do a good job. Ashieder and Scott-Ladd (2012) note that both serving and retired teachers viewed extrinsic rewards in the form of pay, the school environment and working conditions as important. However, according to their findings, intrinsic motivation had the most influence on intention to stay in the profession. The authors suggest non-monetary personal preferences like joy and desire associated with working with children, intellectual fulfilment, perception of teachers having a positive impact as role models as some of the intrinsic factors that explain as to why people are attracted to teaching. Further, job satisfaction is maintained through realistic work-loads; manageable class sizes and flexibility in compensation facilitate retention (Preston, 2000; Hunt, 2002;

Skilbeck & Connel, 2003; Webster, Wooden & Marks, 2004, as cited in Ashieder & ScottLadd, 2012). Often, a person’s desire to teach stems from his or her personal philosophy of education (Ornstein, Levine, Gutek, & Vocke, 2013). Ornstein et al (2013) also document desire to impart knowledge, interest and excitement about teaching and desire to perform a valuable service to the society as essential motivating factors that drive teachers in their profession. In addition to the intrinsic rewards there exist extrinsic factors that drive some towards teaching namely job security and perceived benefits like length of holidays, promotion prospects and/or the opinion of others (Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000; Reid & Caudwell, 1997). On the flipside, Buckingham (2008) suggests lack of diverse opportunities in work and disadvantages in earnings and promotions tend to contribute to teachers quitting the profession (as cited in Ashieder & Scott-Ladd, 2012). Lack of autonomy is yet another demotivating factor. This is corroborated by Ingersoll (2001) as he indicates limited faculty input into school decision making and inadequate support from school administration as reason for teacher attrition. De and Dreze (1999), in their landmark Public report on Basic Education in India (PROBE) highlight the issue of teacher absenteeism and its reasons. The authors suggest the gradual attrition of motivation in teachers as the primary matter of concern. Further, the causal factors behind depreciating motivation levels range from patriarchal environment and difficult working conditions for female teachers, rampant corruption in appointment processes and subsequent promotions, alternative sources of income for some teachers to factors such as a school environment that provides no scope for a teacher to advance his/her skills and flourish, poor infrastructure, parental apathy, difficult pupils, paralysing curriculum, unwanted postings and other accountability issues. De and Dreze (1999) note that:

Indeed, among recently appointed teachers we often met people with genuine enthusiasm. The honeymoon, however, is usually short-lived, as the morale of young teachers is battered day after day. (pp. 57-58)

Mullainathan (2006) attributes this psychological battering to perceived failure of reciprocity. Teachers, who are motivated early on in their career to give much more than they need to go on to grapple with factors as cited earlier and end up feeling that the government

and the authorities are not reciprocating their “gifts”. Consequently, a sense of apathy creeps in. Thus, a lack of external reinforcement in driving performance ends up eroding intrinsic motivation and teacher satisfaction. In addition, absence of a system that does not differentiate among high and low performing teachers may also prove to be demotivating for teachers and result in reduction of efforts if higher efforts and effectiveness are not rewarded in any way. In the wake of all that has been stated above, it is essential to investigate and discover the optimum mix of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that stimulate teachers to discharge their roles in a more effective way and also attract better people into the profession of teaching. The current study is a step in that direction in the context of school teachers.

Research Questions and Objectives
What drives school teachers towards better performance? Following are delineated sets of objectives that that this study attempts to fulfil.    To understand the role and mix of economic incentives that affect teacher motivation and performance. To interrogate various non-monetary factors that spur teachers to perform better. To investigate whether there is a trade-off between monetary and non-monetary factors.

Research Method
It is deemed essential to understand what factors really impact and inspire teachers to perform. An inductive and explorative view is needed to gauge their interpretations, attain a deeper understanding of their experiences and in the process generate rich insights. Moreover, a view of social reality needs to be captured here and the linkages that construct it are as important to be understood as the reality itself. Hence, for the purpose of my current study I have chosen the medium of active interviewing to understand better the independent variables in the form of monetary and non-monetary factors and the intervening processes that are ever-evolving and go on to affect the dependent variable here i.e. motivation and drive of the school teachers. I have based my methodology on the post-positivist view to understand the unmeasurable and in turn the world better through constructivism. In short, a

grounded theory approach would be adopted. I understand that the post-positivist measures are fallible and prone to misinterpretations and biases; hence I will make use of validation measures to lend credibility to my findings. Sampling and Procedures – Principles of purposive sampling would be put to use here. Also called judgemental sampling, the sample of teachers would be chosen for interviewing by gaining the knowledge of the population and according to the judgement and convenience of the interviewer. The case of retired teachers would also be considered here as perceptions and opinions on various issues go through a change over time as do the external conditions and policies. It is essential to capture any progressive or regressive trends to understand if they had any telling impact on factors that affect teacher motivation. Moreover, it is expected that retired teachers would offer more candid viewpoints and greater insights into the subject by the sheer virtue of them having spent longer time in the profession. Active, semi-structured method of interviewing would be followed to gather data from the sample. Predominantly open-ended questions would be administered to tap the respondents’ perspectives. Analysis and development of theory would take place on the run. As mentioned before, the goal of such interviewing would be to explore the linkages and ‘hows’ of the meaning-making process and not merely the ‘whats’ of what is asked and conveyed about the issues of the interview. True to grounded theory approach new concepts would be developed; existing ones would be refined and relationships between concepts shall be established by following a sequential process of data analysis in the form of open, axial and then selective coding. I propose to conduct close to 60 interviews in waves of 12-15 interviews each. Each wave of interviewing would be followed by coding. Thus, the exact number of interviews would be contingent upon attainment of saturation in data so as to prevent repetition of themes and conserve resources.

Validation Methods
To tread clear of charges of lack of rigor and discipline, of sloppiness, of engaging in “merely subjective” observations, it is essential to shore up and demonstrate trustworthiness of data (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Analogous to conventional paradigm of internal validity, external validity, reliability and objectivity in Quantitative methodology, the validation

methods in Qualitative research follow the naturalistic paradigm consisting of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability respectively. It is of deep essence for the research design to take care of majority of these criteria if not all of them to make a valid case for the research to get noticed. Hence, the following procedures shall be followed in an attempt to fulfil the requisite criteria for trustworthiness. Triangulation – Triangulation addresses the criterion of credibility. For the purpose of this study triangulation of sources and analyst triangulation shall be done. All transcripts from the interviews shall be compared for data integrity to take care of triangulation of sources. As for analyst triangulation, it shall be ensured that at least four interviewers are part of the team that conducts interviews. The findings from each analyst would then be collated to generate insights and ensure credibility. Member Checking – This too adds to credibility of research. Once the conceptual framework emerges post the coding activities, the same shall be sent to select respondents along with an explanation of various concepts and their relationships. This would be done to elicit their views to check if the proposed depiction matches their views on the subject.

Referential Adequacy - Certain transcripts shall be kept aside against which the interpretations and conceptual frameworks would be tested for adequacy. This would conclude our testing of credibility. Audit Trail – To cater to the criterion of Confirmability a detailed audit trail would be maintained throughout the analysis, including coding frameworks, analytic memos, field notes, process notes and iterations of emergent conceptual models.

Purposive sampling and Thick descriptions (including detailed quotes of participants and descriptive frameworks) would take care of the Transferability measure. Thick descriptions would enable readers to evaluate relatedness to their individual contexts.

References
ASER. (2013). Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2012. Retrieved from http://www.pratham.org/file/ASER-2012report.pdf.

Ashiedu, J.A., & Scott-Ladd, B.D. (2012). Understanding Teacher Attraction and Retention Drivers: Addressing Teacher Shortages. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37 (11), 17-35.

Belfield, C.R., & Heywood, J.S. (2008). Performance pay for teachers: Determinants and consequences. Economics of Education Review, 27 (3), 243-252.

De, A., & Dreze, J. (1999). Public Report on Basic Education in India. Oxford University Press, USA.

Edwards, C.P. (Ed.), Gandini, Lella (Ed.), Forman, George E. (Ed.). (1998). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach – Advanced Reflections. Greenwich.

Fehr, E., & Falk, A. (2002). Psychological Foundations of Incentives. European Economic Review, 46, 687–724. Ganguly, A. (2013). Status of Indian Education – Present Trends and Past Systems: Some Reflections. Retrieved from the Vivekananda International Foundation website: http://www.vifindia.org/article/2013/january/29/status-of-indian-education-presenttrends-and-past-systems-some-reflections.

Ingersoll, R.M. (2001). Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages: An Organizational Analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38 (3), 499-534.

Kingdon, G.G., & Teal, F. (2007). Does performance related pay for teachers improve student performance? Some evidence from India. Economics of Education Review, 26 (4), 473-486.

Kyriacou, C. & Coulthard, M. (2000). Undergraduates' views of teaching as a career choice. Journal of Education for Teaching, 26 (2), 117-126.

Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Milanowski, A., Longwell-Grice, H., Safold, F., Jones, J., Schomisch, K., & Odden, A. (2009). Recruiting new teachers to urban school districts: What incentives will work? International Journal of Policy & Leadership, 4 (8), 1-13.

Mullainathan, S. (2006). Development economics through the lens of psychology. Harvard University.

Muralidharan, K., & Sundararaman, V. (2011). Teacher opinions on performance pay: Evidence from India. Economics of Education Review, 30, 394-403.

Ornstein, A., Levine, D.U., Gutek, G., & Vocke, D. (2013). Foundations of Education. California, United States of America, Cengage Learning.

Reid, I. & Caudwell, J. (1997). Why did secondary PGCE students choose teaching as a career? Research in Education, 58, 46-58.