For teacher professional development to truly impact the classroom, it needs to effectively change teacher behaviors. This is a significant challenge, as it requires educators to adopt new practices, sometimes alongside new curricula, materials, and teaching methods like hybrid or remote learning. To effectively support teachers in their ever-evolving roles, what is a teaching guide and how can it simplify classroom decision-making?
Turning new behaviors into habits requires prompting and easy adaptation. Teachers navigate complex cognitive and socio-emotional interactions daily. Supporting them means aiding their classroom decision-making, ultimately streamlining their work.
Teaching Guides: Supporting Classroom Decisions
Teaching Guides (TGs), sometimes referred to as scripted or structured lesson plans, offer a framework for teachers. They elevate the foundational quality of classroom instruction by supporting teachers in curriculum implementation. Instead of solely focusing on what to teach, TGs emphasize how to teach. Well-designed TGs free up teachers’ time to focus on socio-emotional aspects and personalize learning, without compromising the potential for high-quality instruction.
The Effectiveness and Efficiency of Teaching Guides
TGs are a proven, cost-effective way to improve learning outcomes. Research indicates that using an effective TG:
- Increases the rate of correct student responses during class time.
- Increases student time on task.
- Improves overall student learning outcomes.
The Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel, a joint initiative by the World Bank and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), designated TGs with structured lesson plans as a “Good Buy,” signifying strong evidence of their cost-effectiveness across various contexts. They can be particularly impactful in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where teachers often have less training and fewer academic qualifications. While TGs aren’t meant as a permanent solution, the long-term goal should be to lessen their dependence as teacher expertise develops.
Quality Matters: Not All Teaching Guides are Created Equal
The World Bank’s Coach program developed the TG Diagnostic Tool to evaluate the quality of TGs for primary grades 1-4. This tool assesses ease of use (how well the guide helps teachers deliver content) and the quality of pedagogical practices within each lesson. The checklist format of the Diagnostic Tool helps identify the presence or absence of essential and desirable components in TGs. The Diagnostic Tool assesses TGs based on two sets of criteria:
- Guide Criteria: Focuses on overall organization, structure, and level of scripting.
- Lesson Criteria: Assesses layout, structure, and general pedagogical practices within individual lessons.
Examples of Good and Not-So-Good Teaching Guide Practices
Effective TGs often differentiate between the teacher’s internal instructions and what they should say aloud to students. This example from Grade 1 TGs in Liberia demonstrates how clear signposting, using “Say” and “Ask,” can simplify implementation.
Source: USAID and Liberia MOE. 2019. Accelerated Quality Education Teacher Guides and Learner Workbooks Series, Literacy, Level 1, Semester 1. Monrovia: USAID & MOE License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 IGO
Conversely, poor TG practice mixes instructions for teachers with questions directed at students. In the example below, the activities combine teacher-facing instructions (“Demonstrate to students how to measure the length of a teacher’s table using a pencil“) and student-facing questions (“How many pencils in length are the students’ tables?”). The absence of clear signposting forces teachers to improvise, which can negatively impact instructional quality.
Another beneficial practice is gradually reducing the level of scripting throughout the academic year. This allows teachers to build a solid foundation early on with precisely scripted content and then adjust as they gain confidence. This example from Grade 1 TGs in Kenya shows how a TG can become more open-ended as the year progresses.
Source: Department of Education, Kenya. 2016. Tusome Early Grade Reading Activity: Grade 1 English Teacher’s Guide. Prepared by RTI International and produced with support from USAID and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The Diversity of Teaching Guides: A Need for Standards
A 2018 RTI study examining TGs in 19 programs across 13 countries revealed significant variations across different indicators. The average number of words per lesson ranged from 154 to over 3,600; the average number of pages per lesson ranged from 1 to 11; and the average number of activities from 1.25 to 15.5. This highlights a need for clear guidelines on what constitutes a quality TG.
Leveraging the TG Diagnostic Tool for Quality Assurance
The TG Diagnostic Tool helps assess existing TGs and guides the development of new ones. It offers evaluative criteria based on implementation and research evidence to suggest improvements. The tool demonstrates that its criteria are achievable standards of excellence using examples from existing public-domain TGs in LMICs. It also provides supporting literature and research for each defined criterion. Policymakers, program designers, and other educational stakeholders can use the Tool to ensure that TGs provide adequate and necessary guidance to teachers for improved student outcomes.
Addressing the Learning Crisis Post-COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the learning crisis, necessitating accelerated learning and potential curriculum restructuring. The Diagnostic Tool considers these needs, particularly accelerated education requirements. For example, recommendations for average lesson length address catch-up needs post-COVID-19. It also offers guidance on embedding explicit pedagogical guidance, which is crucial for teachers whose professional development was affected by the pandemic. Both habits and content require revisiting, and TGs can play a significant role in improving and accelerating learning in the aftermath.
The TG Diagnostic Tool reflects a wide range of perspectives on best practices for TGs globally. To share your thoughts and engage with our work, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Access the TG Diagnostic Tool and accompanying Scoresheet at these links.
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