Strengthening Teacher Mentoring and Monitoring Systems : Evidence from India
Over the last 10 years, a special cadre of middle-level management known as Resource Persons (RPs) was specifically created in India for carrying out teacher mentoring and monitoring activities. Despite being allocated almost one-third of the educa...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/245071615264400573/Strengthening-Teacher-Mentoring-and-Monitoring-Systems-Evidence-from-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35314 |
| Summary: | Over the last 10 years, a special cadre
of middle-level management known as Resource Persons (RPs)
was specifically created in India for carrying out teacher
mentoring and monitoring activities. Despite being allocated
almost one-third of the education budget targeted at
improving learning outcomes, the RPs are a poorly understood
cadre with little known about their roles, responsibilities
and effectiveness. In this paper, drawing on detailed data
collected from school audits, unannounced classroom
observations, student, teacher and RP surveys in
approximately 350 primary and upper primary schools in
Jharkhand, India, authors assess RPs’ mentoring and
monitoring activities. This assessment points to several
interesting findings. First, most children are behind their
grade level in terms of achieving proficiency in reading and
math. Second, teacher absenteeism remains a significant
problem. Third, despite high levels of self-reported effort
by RPs, these efforts do not translate into effective
teaching activities. We postulate that asymmetries in
contractual arrangements and demographic and social
attributes between RPs and teachers limit RP mentoring
efforts. Fourth, student responses on teaching methods are
more consistent with independent classroom observations than
teacher or RP reports on teaching activities. Our findings
have three important policy recommendations: a) for
improving teacher mentoring, more educated and qualified RPs
must be hired and re-trained who are then entrusted with the
sole responsibility of mentoring teachers; b) for improving
teacher monitoring, governments should pilot student
assessments of teaching activities along with independent
school monitoring that eventually builds a culture of
feedback based on accurate data to improve teaching and
teacher mentoring; c) for improving both teacher monitoring
and mentoring, the state should invest in holistically
improving the use of enabler technology systems through
technologies that work in constrained environments, a robust
EMIS with strong data management capabilities, and a
workforce with digital competence. |
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