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Analyze your context for TPD@Scale

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Course: TPD@Scale: Analyze your context
Book: Analyze your context for TPD@Scale
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Date: Monday, 20 May 2024, 12:07 AM

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Table of contents

3.1 TPD@Scale from the equity perspective

The following reading is adapted from sections of the Briefing Paper (2022) The evaluation of ‘equity’ within TPD@scale (PDF document992.0 KB) , which you can find in the Resources section.

If the purpose of education is to have equal access and equity across all social groups, then we must understand and ensure equality of access and equity for educational achievement across the diversity of learners at school.

This same understanding, and actions, should shape TPD programmes. TPD itself must demonstrate understanding of teacher learning, just as teachers must understand student learning. The way that TPD regards teachers should reflect the ways we would like teachers to regard their own students. TPD should demonstrate equity by being participative, with agency accorded to teachers themselves.

To improve teacher practice in diverse circumstances – including circumstances which are not ideal – the following ideas are important:

The traditional ‘cascade’ model of TPD that is ‘expert-led’ can perpetuate power hierarchies and not shift established practices. Teachers should have the opportunity to identify, and respond to, their own needs. Teachers should also be able to challenge assumed practices, with specialist support and mentoring as needed. There is evidence that ‘learning by participation’, rather than by didactic instruction, makes a greater impact on teacher practice, because teachers learn to do things in more than one way.

From this it follows that professional development should include not only formal opportunities but also, and importantly, informal opportunities - such as reading groups, and teacher-led discussion groups, where teachers can work together around a shared interest and take charge of their own agenda.  Such spaces are increasingly possible via ICTs.

In the next reading and activity, you will explore your TPD context from an equity perspective.

The activity can be applied to any situation in which TPD occurs, regardless of varying economic or political factors, as it is merely a ‘frame’, and leaves the specification and focus of the professional development-related activity to be determined by those involved in the practice.

3.2 Analysis of TPD on three planes

TPD@Scale is designing a model of teacher professional development for scale and then localizing the model for inclusion by taking account of different local circumstances. This approach is necessary, because local TPD is affected by different factors. These factors can be identified by using three analytical planes and considering how these planes interact (Rogoff 1995):

  • the intrapersonal – the individual’s learning. ‘Intrapersonal’ can be at the level of the school or the classroom or even a small group of students or teachers.
  • the interpersonal – interactions between stakeholders in TPD. ‘Interpersonal’ can be the learning of both teachers and students.
  • the institutional – values, beliefs and requirements of the wider context that impact on TPD. ‘Institutional’ factors can be national, regional or school based.

Differences will arise in different localities and in different planes. This is the rationale for the TPD@Scale paradigm of models that are adapted to local needs.

The three planes are tools for analysis. The planes interact. A change in one plane will affect the other planes. This is the rationale for TPD@Scale principles, which take account equity, quality and efficiency in TPD for each local area where a TPD model is in use.

In order adapt a TPD model to local circumstances, those circumstances must first be understood. Watch the short presentation from Honduras, where an analysis of teachers’ access to ICTs in different locations was used to plan and deliver equitable TPD:


Disclaimer: This video has been uploaded for testing purposes only. Not for quotation or circulation.

In the following activity, you will work through a set of questions to begin an analysis of equity in your TPD context.

3.3 Starting a TPD equity analysis

1 hour

These questions are a starting point for analysis and, later, for evaluation. These questions are designed to help all stakeholders involved in TPD (providers/facilitators and receivers/participants) to examine their TPD practice in relation to equity in their particular context. All participants in TPD can use these questions – they are not just for administrators, leaders or managers. Teachers might not be used to using questions such as these, but the questions can help teachers to feel empowered and motivated as professionals to engage in their professional learning and take action for change.   

The questions do not necessarily all apply to all contexts. They are not a definitive list – they are prompts..  As you read, there will probably be additional, different questions you would ask about your specific context for TPD. You may find some of the questions are more relevant to your context than others. 

Uncertain or negative responses to the questions may indicate absent TPD, neglected opportunities, or ineffective TPD. Positive responses may indicate that development in that area is sound and effective.

If you are working through this course on your own, you might find it useful to discuss the questions with a colleague. 

If you are working through the course in a group, share out the questions, then come back together to discuss your responses.  

Given the interconnectivity of the interpersonal, intrapersonal and institution planes, you will see that effective and scalable TPD requires collaborative thinking and team-working.


TPD analysis

This set of questions is adapted from the Briefing Paper (2022) The evaluation of ‘equity’ within TPD@scale (PDF document992.0 KB) which you can find in the Resources section. 

As you work through these questions, you can, draw on your knowledge of a school or schools in your context. You can think about teachers and schools in different geographical areas,  of different sizes, and in different types of communities, and in contexts where there may be conflict, or health and safety issues. 

When you have completed these questions, review your notes. What are your key findings or insights? Write the most important things you feel you learned from this exercise, and what this means in terms of TPD in your context. You can use your Personal Blog to record your ideas. 

As you work through the questions, can you spot which questions are intrapersonal, which are interpersonal, and which are institutional?

  1. Is TPD available to all teachers regardless of position/status/seniority in the school? If not, why is this, and how can this be overcome?
  2. Are these opportunities represented by a range of formal and informal, top-down and bottom-up activities?  If not, what is the justification for a narrow range of opportunities?
  3. Are teachers consulted about their own TPD needs?  If they are not, why is this and is there a means for their voice to be heard and acted on? 
  4. Is TPD differentiated, or are all teachers expected to take the same TPD regardless of their years of experience, their languages, their students and community contexts?
  5. Does TPD involve any uses of ICTs? If so, what are these and how are they used? Are the ICTs familiar to teachers in their personal or professional lives? 
  6. Do teachers identify what they would like to change in their  practice and share this with colleagues?  If not, is this because collaboration is not an expectation?
  7. How do senior leaders in school, districts, and communities learn about what teachers do in TPD activities? 
  8. How do education leaders identify what changes are needed and how do they support TPD to improve practice?
  9. Is there a common understanding of what characterises effective TPD?  If not, can school staff and also municipal/national policy-makers, arrive at a shared understanding and definition?
  10. How inclusive are the TPD data? Are there data relating to all teachers, including those with disabilities, language or ethnic minority groups, or migrant groups? 
  11. How does teachers’ learning from professional development manifest itself in their beliefs and actions? 
  12. How do teachers evaluate their own practice and what criteria do they use?

Click to reveal a discussion.

3.4 Choosing ICTs for equity, scale, and active learning

30 mins

Earlier you read that TPD should include informal learning opportunities, such as teacher-led discussion groups and reading circles, where teachers can talk and work together around a shared interest. Such spaces are increasingly possible via ICTs.

We know that lack of technology and energy infrastructure, and poor connectivity, are barriers to using ICTs for TPD. But this situation is improving all the time, particularly for mobile phone technologies.

Answer these questions. You can use your Personal Blog to record your thoughts. If you are working with others, do this activity as a pair or in a small group.

  • What ICTs are currently used by teachers in your context, either personally or professionally? Does this differ from area to area, or from urban to rural? What ICTs are viable in TPD in your context?

Now use your answers to think about teachers, or sub-groups of teachers, that you would need to pay attention to in designing TPD that is mediated by ICT. For instance, these might be teachers who live in rural areas with no connectivity, or teachers who have their own personal mobile phones. Present a brief scenario for ICT-mediated TPD in this context. Describe how the teachers will use ICT in an active and self-directed way, to share, interact, and learn together.

3.5 Your TPD data

30 minutes

Now read this adapted extract from Section 4 of the Briefing Paper (2022) ‘The evaluation of ‘equity’ within TPD@scale’ (PDF document992.0 KB) . The full version is in the Resources section. This section is about quantitative data, qualitative data, and the complementarity of quantitative and qualitative data. As you read, think about data on ICTs, as well as data about schools and teachers. 

Methods for data production and collection

A range of methods need to be used for producing the data necessary to address some of the questions delineated above. Variously, data: will need to be created, may exist and be sufficient, or may exist but be insufficient.

Quantitative data 

Quantitative data will probably already be available for a range of education-related areas at a national or international level - for example, the data and associated databases generated by International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement  (IEA) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and within national government reports and records. It will also exist at the institutional level where it will have emerged from standard record-keeping procedures.  

The wider the scope of the data base, the greater the danger of it having been established for purposes other than that of evaluating the reach of TPD or considering matters of equity.  Thus data bases need to be interrogated for their efficacy in addressing questions of equity relevant to context.  For example, are relevant data about specific minority or vulnerable groups separated out?  Do they give overall figures or show distribution? How much is relevant for TPD and teaching related activities - eg data which have implications for equity in relation to accessing the curriculum, assessment outcomes, school achievement and/or appropriate pedagogies and practices.

Data bases at the classroom level, on the other hand, are likely to be of more use to individual teachers but are often not used to best effect and the messages about issues of equity not extracted.  For example, such data might yield evidence that some teachers had been able to raise standards of achievement by implementation of a particular teaching technique but that others had not because they had not implemented this technique.  Staff need to have both the ability and the time to interpret data, identify the questions that emerge from them, consider how these questions are best answered and by whom (ie at what level) and what subsequent action needs to be taken.

Qualitative data

These will mostly deal with processes, perceptions and lived experiences around professional development and engaging with learners.  They will emerge in the interpersonal plane and will depend on personal narratives offered in interviews/focus groups/feedback sessions – any space in which participants in professional development can comment on the way in which the initiatives have, or have not, changed their behaviour or beliefs with regard to their pedagogy.  Data collection needs to include the voice of all those involved both in the TPD activity (the teachers, event facilitators), any support staff whose work will be affected by any changes in teacher action (eg classroom assistants), and those who are experiencing changes in teaching approach (eg students, other professional colleagues).

Complementarity of qualitative and quantitative data

While there is some distinction between these two types of data, they can be regarded as complementary rather than producing discrete bases for decision-making.  Any measurement (quantitative data) needs to be interpreted, and this interpretation will be influenced by context, which will render interpretation complex.  Any inference from quantitative data will be affected by psychometric, sociocultural and situated approaches (Ercikan and Roth, 2006).  Qualitative data can problematise quantitative data by interrogating it and seeking evidence about cause of consequence.  It is, thus, critical that a collaborative approach is taken to the evaluation of TPD so that policy-makers, legislators and practitioners can work together both to identify strong practices and ameliorate weaker practices.

Now answer these questions. You can use your Personal Blog to record your ideas.

  • How reliable is the TPD data that you currently have? Is your data mainly quantitative, or qualitative? What kinds of quantitative and qualitative data do you have?
  • What data do you think you need, in order to fully understand TPD needs in your context? What would be a manageable way to collect this data? 

As well as data on teachers’ current TPD experience and needs, and access and use of ICTs, it is important to consider the wider policy context.  Make notes or consider how you would gather data on these points:

  • Who are the key TPD stakeholders in your context? 
  • What are current government priorities for TPD, including use of ICT in TPD?
  • Is there a government/ national stakeholder vision for what TPD will look like in the next years? Does this include utilizing ICTs for TPD?
  • Over the next 2-3 years what developments are planned around ICTs in school education, for example, infrastructure developments, ICT training etc?
  • What is the potential for different ways of organizing TPD that is mediated by ICT in your context?

In the next section, you will learn about principles for scaling impact and their relevance to your context.

3.6 Principles for scaling impact

1 hour

This section utilizes the IDRC Scaling Playbook, which you can find in the Resources section of this course. 

Open the Scaling Playbook. Read Section 1 (pages 2-5) on scaling science and the four guiding principles of scaling impact. As you read about these concepts, keep your TPD context in mind.

After you read, click to compare your ideas with some of ours.

Now answer these questions. If you are working in a group, discuss the questions together. You can use your Personal Blog to record your ideas.

  • Think of a successful TPD programme that integrates ICT, or a TPD innovation or intervention that has utilized ICTs, in your context. What role did ICT play in this programme?

If there isn’t such a programme that you can think of, can you think of a TPD programme which could be scaled using ICTs? How would an ICT add equity, quality, or efficiency to this programme?

Then consider:

  • Is there a justification for scaling this TPD programme?
  • What would be the optimal scale for this TPD programme, and why would it be optimal?
  • Who are some of the initiators, enablers, and competitors?
  • Who are some of the affected or impacted teachers – what are their contexts and needs?
  • How would you adapt the model to address the needs of specific groups of teachers? What would make this adaptation be sustainable?
  • How would you evaluate the impact of scaling the ICT-mediated TPD programme, as it is being implemented, using quantitative and qualitative data collection methods?

Click to see a discussion.

Congratulations, you have completed Course 3. You have undertaken an interpersonal needs analysis of TPD in your context, including the potential for ICTs. You began to consider the information that you already have, and what additional information you need to complete this analysis. You explored principles for scaling impact in your TPD context. 

In Course 4, you will use your analysis to begin to take steps to implement TPD@Scale in your context. Take the quiz when you are ready. Good luck!

Quiz