‘A good teacher should…’: exploring student perceptions of teaching quality in Rwandan secondary education

ABSTRACT

There have been significant efforts to enhance teaching quality in Rwandan secondary schools. Despite this focus, there has been little attention to understanding this construct, and especially what it means for students who are most affected by it. To address this gap, this study explored with students comprehensively what they valued in a ‘good’ teacher. Data drew upon 75 group discussions involving 419 students across 12 schools from six Rwandan districts. Through thematic analysis, findings revealed an understanding of ‘good’ teachers via multiple dimensions. Students highlighted the importance of teacher disposition and responsible behaviors. Teacher–student relationships were also strongly valued as was holistic learning including positive values and being influenced cognitively and affectively. These results provide important implications for teacher professional development and policies in response to the contextualized preferences.

KEYWORDS:

• Teaching quality
• good teachers
• student perspectives
• Rwanda

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all students who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contribution

Pui Ki Patricia Kwok and Emma Carter took the lead in writing this manuscript under the direction of Nidhi Singal. Lydie Shima provided support and feedback on the drafting of the paper.

Notes

1. In Kinyarwanda, the language used by most students in their responses, the personal and reflexive pronouns do not distinguish between male and female subjects. Hence in translation, we were unable to identify the gender of the teacher(s) referred to.

Additional information

Funding

This work was carried out with funding from the Mastercard Foundation as part of the Leaders in Teaching initiative. The REAL Centre and Laterite are learning partners for the Leaders in Teaching initiative and are responsible for generating evidence on improved teacher performance and student learning. Views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect views of the Mastercard Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Emma Carter

Emma Carter is a Senior Research Associate at the Research for Equitable Access and Learning Centre at the University of Cambridge, with interests in the impacts of disadvantage on cognitive and social-emotional development. Following completion of her PhD in 2017, her roles have involved developing research instruments for the Speed Schools project in Ethiopia and undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of Complementary Basic Education in Ghana. Currently, Emma is working for the Mastercard Foundation’s Leaders in Teaching initiative, which works closely with local and national stakeholders in Rwanda to support secondary teachers and school leaders in delivering quality instruction.

Pui Ki Patricia Kwok

Pui Ki Patricia Kwok is an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the implementation of pedagogical reforms across low-resource contexts and their potentials in enhancing quality educational provision. Patricia is particularly committed to pushing the narrative beyond a deficit-discourse around teachers, to a nuanced appreciation of how varied stakeholders navigate myriad complexities in classroom practices alongside contextual constraints to bring about meaningful changes.

Lydie Shima

Lydie Shima is a Program Associate at Laterite in Rwanda, with over 6 years of experience managing research projects. She specializes in the management of a portfolio of medium- and large-scale research projects with a focus on education and gender as her sectors of interest. She is currently overseeing a multi-year study on teaching quality and student learning outcomes in numeracy for secondary education as well as an evaluation of academic and 21st century skills at tertiary level. She also led a number of studies to assess students’ learning outcomes in literacy for primary education. Lydie leads stakeholder engagements with Government officials in the education sector and implementers of education projects. She holds a Bachelor's Degree with Honours from the University of Rwanda in Agribusiness and Rural Development.

Nidhi Singal

Nidhi Singal scholarship addresses issues of educational inequity among marginalized groups in Southern contexts, with a particular focus on young people with disabilities in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. More details about her work are available at: https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/people/staff/singal/