ESRC-DFID Accountability Studentship Research Proposal, reference JR13538
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Faculty of Education
Abstract
The ESRC-DFID funded project "Can schools' accountability for learning be strengthened from the grassroots?" which will be collaborated effort by The Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre and ASER Centre and the Pratham Education Foundation in India, aims to strengthen the school-community relationship in terms of sharing accountability to achieve the goal of increasing learning outcomes of children. In order to address this objective, it takes the case of a community-based intervention in rural India, which aims to engage with local school actors (teachers, head
teachers, administrators and school management committees) and provide them with knowledge and resources to implement activities in line with the goal of improving children's foundational learning in the classroom. Given the project, my research will focus on identifying main actor(s) and channels through which such a community engagement initiative can make more impact. My argument is that unless the main actors and the channels of spread of community engagement are identified, it is difficult to sustain the impact (if any) of such an initiative. The objective is to find out the 'roots' and 'routes' of community engagement, given the intervention in India. The identification of actor(s) will help in creating deeper impacts while identification of channels through which the engagement spreads to schools will help in understanding the effective mechanisms in engaging with the community
teachers, administrators and school management committees) and provide them with knowledge and resources to implement activities in line with the goal of improving children's foundational learning in the classroom. Given the project, my research will focus on identifying main actor(s) and channels through which such a community engagement initiative can make more impact. My argument is that unless the main actors and the channels of spread of community engagement are identified, it is difficult to sustain the impact (if any) of such an initiative. The objective is to find out the 'roots' and 'routes' of community engagement, given the intervention in India. The identification of actor(s) will help in creating deeper impacts while identification of channels through which the engagement spreads to schools will help in understanding the effective mechanisms in engaging with the community
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Mansi Nanda (Student) |
Publications
Wadmare P
(2022)
Understanding the accuracy of teachers' perceptions about low achieving learners in primary schools in rural India: An empirical analysis of alignments and misalignments
in International Journal of Educational Research Open
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000738/1 | 30/09/2017 | 29/09/2028 | |||
| 2489789 | Studentship | ES/P000738/1 | 16/04/2018 | 15/10/2021 | Mansi Nanda |
| Description | The studentship led to an in-depth exploration of teachers' perspectives on interactions with the parents in rural Sitapur, India. The findings from the PhD thesis established how gaining insights into the perspectives of teachers on their interactions with the parents can help in understanding the relationship between them. By recognizing the significance of this relationship, the findings emphasize the need to understand the micro context and unpack the causal chain within social accountability mechanisms (Joshi, 2014). Second, the thesis addresses a gap in the existing literature by emphasizing the importance of partnerships and interactions between teachers and parents within social accountability initiatives. While previous studies have acknowledged the significance of creating spaces within social accountability mechanisms, the immediate relationship between teachers and parents has often been overlooked. Understanding this relationship underscores the need to create an enabling environment for social accountability initiatives and recognizes the specific dynamics between teachers and parents (Fox, 2015, Grandvoinnet et al., 2015). Overall, the thesis enhances our understanding of social accountability by examining the perspectives of teachers in rural Sitapur, India, regarding their interactions with parents. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this funding have been produced in the form of a thesis. These outcomes can be used by programs that aim to bring together schools and communities to work collectively. In addition, it can be used to build on the idea of collaborative governance and accountability that encourages collaboration instead of confrontation. |
| Sectors | Education |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.102174 |
| Title | Qualitative methods to understand perceptions, involvement and experiences of school and community actors in the intervention and children's learning |
| Description | The study employs qualitative methodology. Within this, semi structured interviews and focused group discussions were used with teachers, parents, volunteers and any other influential person in the village. The interviews are spread over the course of three to four months, starting November 2019 to March 2020. Teachers- Questions related to background and experience in teaching, types of and views on interactions with community and teachers, views on children's learning, involvement in the intervention were asked. Parents- Questions related to educational history; child and her/his education, views and interactions with school; involvement as well as expectation from the intervention programme were asked. Volunteers- Question related to questions related to educational history; reasons for joining the intervention and work with child; interactions with school and general involvement as well as expectation from the intervention programme. Influential Person- Questions related to ask questions related to educational history and that of the larger village; views on education and motivations for joining, involvement in as well as expectation from the intervention programme. Field teams- Questions related to the receptivity and uptake of the intervention in order to shortlist villages/locations for the qualitative study as well as understand the overall response from the stakeholders towards the intervention activities. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The semi structured interviews helped gain an understanding into the educational history of community , their views and opinions on interaction with the school, their understanding of children's learning as well as provided insights into how different stakeholders are getting involved in the intervention which couldn't be captured through the quantitative survey. The focused group discussions helped in understanding the different dimensions of responsiveness of actors to the intervention programme. |
| Description | School Community interactions and children's learning in rural Sitapur - Mansi Nanda |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | About 15 people from different universities and organisations attended the talk. The session was around re-thinking the education workforce post COVID-19. The purpose of the presentation was to share the initial findings from the on going PhD study. The presentation highlighted the contrasts between teachers intended outcomes from interactions with parents vs the practices they follow. The presentation highlighted a need to focus on how policy messages are interpreted by the teachers and sparked discussions around teacher motivations and building teacher networks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | UKFIET 2021: Contrasting teachers' expectation and practices of interaction with parents in Rural India-Mansi Nanda |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The blog was written post presenting at the UKFIET conference in September 2021 to rach a wider audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ukfiet.org/2021/contrasting-teachers-expectation-and-practices-of-interactions-with-pare... |
| Description | Understanding teachers' perceptions of children's learning and interaction with the families |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Global evidence pointing to the advantages of a strong school-community linkage leading to better school achievement (Epstein, 2011). Research on school community partnerships in India has been limited to community mobilisation within the institutional structures such as the School Management Committee. Intervention studies have targeted the members of these committees, especially from the side of the community in raising awareness about their roles and responsibilities through information campaigns (Banerjee et al, 2008; Pandey et al., 2008), empowering them to ensure monitoring of the schools (Gowda et al., 2014) and encouraging them to actively participate in dialogue with the school teachers (Galab et al., 2013). However, an important aspect of teachers' views, their perceptions and challenges around interacting with the surrounding community, in particular parents has received less attention. To utilise the strengths of institutional arrangements that aim to build school community partnerships, to ensure buy-in and at the same time minimise opposition from the school actors, it is important to understand how they perceive the role of communities in children's learning and how such interactions affect them. Drawing on semi-structured in- depth interviews with 17 primary school teachers including head masters, regular teachers and contract teachers across 6 study sites, this paper unpacks the experiences of teachers in the context of government primary schools in rural Sitapur district in India. Specifically, it will discuss the purpose and intent behind teachers' interactions with the community and parents of children they teach. Alongside this, it will reflect on how teachers think about their as well as community/parents' role in children's learning. The key questions raised by this work are: a) What are the various ways in which teachers interact with the parents? What are the intended and actual outcomes from the interactions? b) What do teachers identify as the key points of tension between schools and the surrounding community? c) How do teachers perceive community, parents and their own role in children's learning? The results highlight attendance and regularity of children, parental involvement with their children at home and "understanding the children better" as the areas that were affected positively due to interactions. Although teachers perceive these interactions to be useful in some ways, they often find themselves demotivated to continue due to resource and time constraints as well as lack of participation of parents. The system driven reasons for interactions are mostly for fulfilling official paperwork, while the self- driven reasons are mostly carried out to ensure cordial relations between the teachers and parents. Crucially, interactions for the purpose of providing or coordinating support for children's learning are rarely mentioned. Overall, an understanding of teacher's perspectives on interactions between schools and the community is very relevant at a time when schools have been closed for more than 6 months due to the global pandemic. While understanding the benefits teachers derived from interactions can help in keeping them motivated, highlighting the challenges faced by teachers could be helpful in supporting them better when the school reopen. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |