What is Happening in the Classroom? A Common–sense Approach to Improving the Quality of Primary Education in Developing Countries

Abstract

Quality is high on the education agendas of developing countries. Much time, effort, and finance have been poured into various initiatives and reforms in an effort to improve quality in these countries. However, so far success has been limited and the quality of education in many developing countries remains poor. Efforts to explore the reasons for limited success tend to take place within a discourse of reform implementation. Much of this discourse is deficient in nature in that it explores and draws lessons from the failures of reforms and interventions. Such discourse could be enriched by also exploring, analysing, and taking lessons from the successes of reforms, even if they are limited and small–scale success stories. This article seeks to make a start in this enrichment process. It explores the usefulness of an approach which achieved some success in improving, though on a small scale, the quality of primary education. The approach emerged from the author's teacher training work in a number of developing countries. Its underlying rationale is that any efforts to improve quality in primary education must place what is happening in the classroom centre–stage. The article illustrates the uses of the approach, the various aspects inherent in it, and the methods within it, particularly lesson observation.