Bangladesh needs highly skilled pool of teachers for assessing students better, research suggests

As there are complaints about delivery of engaging lessons in Bangladeshi schools, research shows, very few teachers in the country are skilled in teaching in accordance with each student's learning pace and style.

However, in the research paper on "Teacher Effectiveness" presented at a recent global conference in South Africa, Principal of DPS STS School Dhaka Dr Shivananda CS noted that schools can offer actionable feedback promoting teachers' fast-paced development with objective lesson observation criteria.

"More highly skilled and trained teachers are needed in Bangladesh. Many schools often complain about needing a pool of trained and skilled teachers to deliver engaging lessons," he stated. "I hope the research findings will help my fellow peers discover more about teacher effectiveness and help augment teaching quality."

Dr Shivananda is the sole educator from the country to present a paper at the "Schools Now!" conference, organised by the British Council, in Cape Town, to promote innovations in teaching and learning and share experience among its partner schools.

Highlighting the need for what is called "learning differentiation" to achieve high learning outcomes, the research has observed that very few teachers are accustomed to the customised teaching-learning methods that allow each student to learn and grow uniquely.

It has further provided evidence of rapid skills development when schools set measurable goals for each teacher, if they receive customised training support.

In this context, Dr Shivananda pointed out that among their peers, there are teachers whose lesson delivery level exceeds a score of 4.5 out of 5.0 and who can also train their fellow teachers.

The research project, involving teachers from kindergarten to grade 12, commenced in November 2020 and is reviewed annually considering the data gathered after more than 2,500 lesson observations.