On-the-job improvements in teacher competence : policy options and their effects on teaching and learning in Thailand

Teachers must hone their teaching skills on the job if the quality of primary education is to improve in developing countries. The authors of this paper use a multi-level modeling procedure to examine two policy options for improving the competence of teachers already in the system: providing inservice training and encouraging regular classroom supervision. After examining a nationwide sample of small rural primary schools in Thailand, they found that a teacher's experience in inservice training courses predicts neither instructional quality nor student achievement. In sharp contrast, intensity of supervision within a school significantly predicts both instructional quality and student achievement, after controlling for a variety of school, teacher, and classroom variables. The effect of supervision is significant - roughly the same as the effect of preservice education. Intensive field work in carefully selected rural schools suggests that supervision by effective principals is a critical component in a larger strategy to create and sustain an"ethos of improvement"in school teaching and learning.