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Project

Moving it or improving it? How schools deal with underperforming teachers.

Findings from over four decades of school effectiveness research have shown that the quality of teachers outperforms school features and classroom features (such as social composition) in explaining variation in pupils' learning results. This implies that pupil results of ineffective teachers are generally increasing less than those of effective teachers. Cumulative effects of such ineffective teachers are alarming and measurable for at least four years. (Representative) data on the number of underperforming teachers in Flemish education are not available. Moreover, internationally, little is known about the ways schools deal with underperforming teachers. As such, the current scientific knowledge base fails to present conceptual and thorough empirical work on how schools (can) deal with underperforming teachers. Fundamental research and theory building on the topic are urgently needed.Besides describing the features and occurrence of underperforming teachers this study aims at explaining differences in how schools deal with underperforming teachers. To understand which processes are employed it is crucial to understand that the reaction by the school (principal) is context specific and that there is no one-size-fits-all set of activities. To fully capture this variation, we build in different types of underperformance in our framework and a broad range of strategies to deal with it. In addition, we acknowledge that (under-)performing teachers are embedded in a specific social context. Therefore, we distinguish between two sets of influencing (supporting and constraining) factors: school cultural and leadership characteristics. A carefully designed multi method approach is used. The ecological validity of the conceptual framework is guaranteed on the basis of a literature study and a Delphi study. In the quantitative part of the empirical phase, written surveys are organized in a representative sample of 80 Flemish primary schools. Alongside this survey, 6 in-depth case studies provide qualitative data on how schools deal with underperforming teachers. Data are gathered using logbooks and semi-structured in-depth interviews. Additionally, a network perspective will enrich the qualitative understanding of the selected cases.
Date:1 Jan 2015 →  31 Dec 2018
Keywords:HUMAN CAPITAL, LEADERSHIP, UNDERPERFORMING TEACHERS, EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Disciplines:Psychological methods, Mathematical and quantitative methods, Education curriculum, Education systems, General pedagogical and educational sciences, Specialist studies in education, Other pedagogical and educational sciences, Social theory and sociological methods, Political theory and methodology