Methods in Education - Research Proposal Example

? Proposal of Research Project: Research Methods in Education Proposal of Research Project: Research Methods in Education Introduction Educators play a significant role in shaping society through the students they teach. With such an important role, it is vital that we ensure educators are well-equipped and capable of handling the tremendous responsibility they bear as teachers. In the constantly changing society we live in, with complex technological innovations regularly emerging, it remains a necessity for in-service teachers to receive current training so that they are able to teach relevant material to their students. An additional problematic trend is the high turnover rates that are a factor of the teaching profession, which may be directly related to the degree and extent of the pedagogical training the teachers receive. This discourse seeks to investigate whether and to what extent the provisioning education incentives to further the pedagogical knowledge of teachers would help reduce the incidences of turnovers in a commercial international language school in Thailand. Context background The teacher is the most vital aspect of any educational program and the quality of the teacher is dependent upon their qualifications, which includes the extent and duration of their pre-service field experiences and the characteristics of their ongoing professional development (Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knopf, 2009). In addition, teachers’ beliefs have an influential role in determining their professional behaviour and affect not only their teaching, but also filter new information and suggest major implications for the functioning of educational innovations and teacher development (Mohamed, 2006). The role of teachers in providing quality basic education for all children becomes increasingly pivotal in regards to developing nations seeking to achieve, consolidate and sustain progress towards economic growth and it is estimated that 18 million additional teachers are required by 2015 in order for all children to have access to a high quality education (Mpokosa and Ndaruhutse, 2008). Furthermore, the qualification, training and motivation of teachers ensure that the system is staffed with competent and dedicated professionals (Mpokosa and Ndaruhutse, 2008). These elements have a significant impact on the program’s quality and are an important factor in determining the likelihood that the curriculum will contribute to children’s growth and development as well as their success in school and beyond (Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knopf, 2009). Labour is the most expensive aspect of any educational programs and, in a high-quality program, approximately 70% of the budget is comprised of teachers salaries and benefits (Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knopf, 2009). For financially challenged programs, low wages result in less qualified employees at the point of entry, less incentive for employees to increase skills because of the lack of significant monetary compensation, and greater employee turnover rates (Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knopf, 2009). Without adequate staff compensation linked to training and experience, early childhood programs will continue to be of mediocre quality and experience high staff turnover rates and the trade-off for low salaries and benefits is typically a low-quality program (Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knopf, 2009). However, research indicates that there is a positive relationship between program quality and budget allocations for teacher salaries and benefits in that programs that spent approximately two thirds of their budgets on salaries and staff benefits tended to be of high quality, and quality diminished considerably in programs spending less than one half of their budgets on salaries and staff benefits (Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knopf, 2009). Providing professional development and technical assistance to all staff members as a means to increase their level of performance, professional standards, performance management, ongoing continuing professional development (CPD) and newly qualified teacher (NQT) induction (Walker, Jeffes, Hart, Lord, and Kinder, 2010). statement of problems The international language school (School X) in Thailand has 16 branches within metropolitan Bangkok and one branch in a regional city. The school also has a corporate training department. Each branch and the corporate training department have a head teacher (HT). The head teachers are responsible to both their Branch Manager (administrative) as well as to the Director of Studies (curriculum). There is only one Director of Studies within the company. Employment trends over several years have revealed a trend regarding the large turn over rates of head teachers, which has been problematic, and there has been great difficulty in filling vacant HT positions with appropriately qualified and experienced people. Whilst the company currently offers in service courses in Teaching English as a Second or Other Language (TESOL), Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) and Teaching Business English (TBE) at no cost to the teachers, they are contracted to teach for the company for 6 months and/or 400 teaching periods. Should they fail to comply with their contractual agreement; the teachers do not receive the qualification certificate. Other courses are also available such as Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) for which the teachers are required to pay and would need to take one month off work to complete the certificate successfully. This would mean losing income for one month on top of the cost of the course. Research Question To what extent would offering incentives of further training to educational professionals and head teachers reduce turnover rates and increase the number of appropriate applicants for vacant HT positions within the context of a commercial international language school in Thailand? Research Strategy The research strategy for this dissertation will assume a qualitative approach to determine whether offering incentives of additional training to educational professionals would lead to the provisioning of qualified applicants and diminish turnover rates. Yin (2003, p.13) defines the case study as follows: A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. This enquiry will predominantly be empirical. However, I will be referring to the extensive literature in this area, throughout the world and if possible, more specifically in Thailand. Since the research will be primarily empirical, much data will be collected through observations, self-administered questionnaires, interviews, and discussions with willing participants. The questionnaire instructions will be explicit and the interview details will be thoroughly explained in short order to establish the rapport necessary to conduct a smooth interview. Additional information will be collected through data analysis of correlating studies and the trends observed therein. For the purpose of this examination, the following definitions will apply: Incentives shall be defined as pedagogical training for teachers and principals in the most current methods applicable to the field of education. Educational professionals will include teachers, administrative personnel, and principals. Turnover rates will apply to educational professionals that remain in their position less than two years. Appropriate applicants will apply to any probable candidates properly educated and trained according to the position they are applying for. Data will consist of survey results completed in accordance with the instructions provided as well as relevant information associated with the research question acquired from an exhaustive literature review. This is an appropriate method to answer the research question because the qualitative approach allows I to determine the underlying meanings behind the analysis results. This method will also reveal the relational patterns that may exist between the trends apparent in the examination and impressions of the respondents. Since the basic objective of the research is to determine the extent of the efficacy of supportive training measures on job retention, qualitatively analysing the feelings and experiences of the respondents can supply valuable details relevant to the study. Research design The research strategy for this dissertation will assume a qualitative approach to determine whether offering incentives of additional training to educational professionals would lead to the provisioning of qualified applicants and diminish turnover rates. Yin (2003, p.13) defines the case study as follows: A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. This enquiry will predominantly be empirical. However, I will be referring to the extensive literature in this area, throughout the world and if possible, more specifically in Thailand. Since the research will be primarily empirical, much data will be collected through observations, self-administered questionnaires, interviews, and discussions with willing participants. In compilation of the data, I will remain the objective researcher and resign my opinions according to the inferences presented in the data. Details regarding the performance of education personnel that receive supportive training as opposed to those that do not partake of supportive training will be collected through interviews and analysed in accordance with the methods indicated. The research will encompass the design of a case study since only respondents from one school will be considered for inclusion. The surveys will contain open-ended and closed-ended questions that will be coded into categories for analysis (Babbie, 2007). Double-barrelled questions will be meticulously avoided and all the questions will have direct relevance to the specifics of the study (Babbie, 2007). Negative and biased terminology will also be excluded from the questionnaire to avoid misinterpretations or biased results (Babbie, 2007). The questionnaire will assume a general format and be constructed using easily interpreted coding for the closed-ended questions and matrix questions for the open-ended questions. In addition to the self-administered questionnaires, the respondents will also be qualitatively interviewed by a proxy examiner to allow the interviews to be as objective as possible. Qualitative interviews are typically based on a group of established topics that I wished to analyse in greater depth (Babbie, 2007). The interviews will contain contingency questions based on the length of consistent employment at the target school with the brunt of questioning aimed at extracting employment details from longevity employees (Babbie, 2007). The qualitative use of surveys and interviews will be used to gain an in-depth understanding regarding the perspective of the participants. The subjects for the study will be selected from the pool of HTs at the international language school since this is part of the focus of the study. This will limit the maximum possible sample size to 16 respondents, assuming that all the HTs elect to participate in the analysis. The narrow sampling frame will potentially limit the number of respondents and will impact the degree with which the sample group is representative of the population of educational professionals. Using proxies to conduct the interviews will enhance my attempts to keep the research as unobtrusive as possible and keep I objective. The determinations will be compared to results drawn from existing literature relative to the subject matter to provide additional reliability to the research conducted. The responses of the surveys and interviews will be charted and graphed to easily reveal indicators and dimensions that will indicate correlations between the categorical values (Babbie, 2007). This will also allow the responses to be organised to create conceptual order and establish variable ranges for the factorial examination (Babbie, 2007). Since quantitative analysis deals primarily with statistical analysis, quantitative methods can be employed for the data analysis and these methods will be implemented in the codification of the data to be analysed. The key variables will be relative to indicators that denote reduction of turnover rates, the value of supportive training incentives, and perceived benefits of such training. The purpose of the analyses of the data will be to find correlations between the research variables: supportive training, increase in qualified HT applicants, and reduction in turnover rates. Responses from the participant’s interviews and questionnaires will be coded to represent these three primary variables to reach conclusive determinations that will provide coherent answers to the research question. The specifications of the questions asked through the surveys and proxy discussions will give direct indication of the actual perceptions of the participant HTs in School X and will allow for real time relational inferences to be measured. The measurements ascertained through the case study will be compared to the determinations quantified in similar studies designed to make the same determinations. Peer reviewed and scholastic studies will be reviewed to extrapolate empirical data that will support or refute the findings of this examination. Performing quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data gives the research additional reliability despite the small sample size through redundancy in the comparisons drawn from my own data and the information gathered from the available literature. The surveys would be made available so that the respondents could take and return the surveys anonymously and the interviews would be distinguished by numbers to maintain this anonymity. Using empirical methods to conduct this research as well as literary study presents a more complete inquiry regarding the determination of the research question. Stringent identification of the research variables allows I to detect patterns in the responses of the participants which presents a concise picture of the relationships between the variables. Although an ethnographic study (Babbie, 2007) would also be an appropriate method for conducting this analysis, it is more explicitly detailed than is necessary and the focus is rather limited in scope, which would necessitate the elimination of a variable. However, surveys are more appropriate since they allow me to collect various forms of data through an assortment of questions. The analytical depth of the survey is dependent upon the type and number of questions asked and whether they are open- or closed-ended questions. Since the research question requires the examination of numerous variables and the determination of their impact on each other, the survey and interviews lets a critical view be taken of each variable independently and associatively to determine the variable interactivity. Literature Review The current consensus is that the status of teachers in most countries, both developed and developing, has declined substantially within recent decades. However, the forces that are resulting in the ‘de-professionalization’ of teachers are probably more pronounced in (low-income developing countries) (LICs) and many countries still do not have enough teachers. These include protracted economic and social crisis in many LICs, increasing diversification of the teaching force with increasing reliance on less well-educated and qualified teachers with lower job security, generally lower standards of teaching, feminisation, and dramatic declines in declines in the standard of living of teachers. Work motivation refers to the psychological processes that influence individual behaviour with respect to the attainment of workplace goals and tasks. The received wisdom among occupational psychologists is that ‘pay on its own does not increase motivation’. However, pecuniary motives are likely to be dominant among teachers in those LICs where pay and other material benefits are too low for individual and household survival needs to be met. Incentives for schools and teachers in the public education system to perform well are frequently weak due to ineffective incentives and sanctions. Very low pay forces large proportions of teachers to earn secondary income from private tutoring and other activities. Poor human resource management also seriously de-motivates employees. Teacher management at the national and sub-national levels is nothing short of chaotic in many countries. Where teachers pay large bribes to secure employment and desired postings, this may impact on job commitment and overall motivation. In these situations, teaching positions are little more than sinecures, which means that teachers do not feel accountable to school managements, parents or the wider community. Being posted to a rural school is likely to de-motivating for most teachers. Increasing hours of work, larger class sizes, more subjects, and constantly changing curricula are cited as major de-motivators in many countries. What is expected from teachers (the ‘social contract’) is not pitched at a realistic level in many countries given material rewards, workloads, and work and living environments. In many countries, teachers are being asked to take on more responsibilities, including HIV/AIDS education, counselling, and community development (Bennell, 2004). In some, the expansion needed in the teaching force is far beyond the capacity of traditional colleges. The supply of teachers is also adversely affected in countries where retention rates are low for newly trained teachers or where significant numbers of teachers are being lost through HIV-AIDS or in rural areas which have difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers. Teacher quality is an issue in most countries. Many teachers are untrained or underqualified or teaching subjects in which they are not qualified or trained. In addition, teachers face a widening range of demands and roles. National governments, international organisations and specific circumstances continually set new goals: gender parity by 2005 and universal basic education by 2015; inclusive education; education for democracy, peace and social cohesion; multi-grade teaching; increased accountability for achieving learning targets; the development of learners who are self-managing and independent, skilled in critical thinking and problem solving, equipped with life-skills; the preparation of learners who are competent for knowledge-based economies, capable in the use of information technology; and the expansion of teachers’ roles to include social work in communities where child-headed households and orphans are common as a result of HIV-AIDS (Perraton, Robinson, and Creed, 2001). In 2003, the Chinese Ministry of Education introduced a new syllabus for English language teaching aimed at encouraging greater use of communicative methods in the classroom (Wang, 2005). HFIS is an international school in Belgium. It has approximately 480 students on roll, aged 5-18 years. English is the medium of instruction. In a study of teachers’ perspectives of effective school leadership, Harris, Day and Hadfield (2003) identified four main aspects. The study investigated the views of various stakeholders. However, it is important to note that the evidence is based on a sample of 12 case study schools. This study sets out to find whether the findings hold in a different school setting. Some centres provide comprehensive care and education services that might include access to on-site health care professionals (medical, dental, counselling); transportation to and from the centre; extended hours of care; after-school programming for elementary aged children; family (adult) education programming; child care staff professional development training; academic tutoring; or developmental screening for children with special needs. School leaders remain of crucial importance for continued improvement of education. Given this importance, the paper then focuses on school leader recruitment and development and retention (or professional development). Major approaches employed by governments to ensure ongoing educational reforms were identified as old public administration (OPA), new public management (NPM) and organisational learning (OL). Inconsistencies within and between these approaches were shown create their own pressures on schools and their leaders. The worry is that the cumulative demands and resulting fragmentation and incoherence could undermine the capacity of schools. When considered en masse rather than separately, these myriad views may create unintended consequences that fuel the current problems of supply and quality in the principalship. In order to meet the heightened, multiple expectations now placed on schools, as well as to have engaged teachers, it is argued that schools need to become learning organisations, consciously and continuously pursuing quality improvement. Within schools that are learning organisations evolve new types of relationship between students, teachers and leaders based around a reasonably common set of characteristics that include a trusting and collaborative climate, a shared and monitored mission, taking initiatives and risks, and ongoing, relevant professional development. The key relationships in the ways school leaders strengthen teacher recruitment, development and retention were shown to include factors such as teacher satisfaction, school effectiveness, improvement, capacity, teacher leadership, distributive leadership, organisational learning, and development. School leaders can be a major influence on these school-level factors as well as help buffer against the excesses of the mounting and sometimes contradictory external pressures. A skilled and well-supported leadership team in schools can help foster a sense of ownership and purpose in the way that teachers approach their job. Conferring professional autonomy to teachers will enhance the attractiveness of the profession as a career choice and will improve the quality of the classroom teaching practice. Teachers who work together in a meaningful and purposeful way have been found to be more likely to remain in the profession because they feel valued and supported in their work (Mulford, 2003). Methods of data collection For this enquiry, I have decided that the majority of the research will be based on a questionnaire for existing head teachers within the school as well as a separate questionnaire for existing teachers that have been working within the company in excess of 5 years and interviews with the current Director of Studies as well as the General Manager. Interviews will also be conducted for each participant that returns a valid questionnaire to gather additional data. A literature review will be undertaken to look at the results of previous studies in related areas and appropriate chapters in relevant textbooks will also be consulted to provide an assortment of relevant, current information. The questions for the surveys will be composed with the intent to extract the most objective answers without leading the response of the participant in any specific direction. The questions for the interview will be specific to respondents that have long and short tenure with more in-depth questions regarding the value of incentives. Methods of data analysis The data collected from questionnaires and interviews within this enquiry will be critically analysed and correlations between this and other studies will be evaluated. The basic principles of the research question will be scrutinised with specific care to remain objectively non-judgmental and present only the facts as they are gathered through the research. This will allow the research to be ethically conscientious and ensure that it will not detrimentally affect any participants. All participants will be included in the study under the terms that they are partaking in the exercise on the basis of voluntary informed consent without being coerced. Since there are only 16 existing head teachers, which is not a large sample for a questionnaire-based case study, inferential statistical tests, like chi-squares, will not be used to analyse the data because the sample size is too small. However, testing methods like graphing and drawing charts will be used to present the gathered information in a manner that is easier to decipher and quantify. In addition to the questionnaires, qualitative interviews with other head teachers will also be used to gather pertinent details from the sample group. Since I am also a head teacher, I will use a proxy to conduct the interviews in my stead so as not to taint the information gathered. I will make sure to keep an open mind when collecting and deciphering the data gathered to allow for correct interpretation, even one that negates my hypothesis that providing incentives of further professional development would solve the recruitment and retention problems, that it is not going to be enough on its own, or any number of contradictory outcomes. For qualitative research, the usual method for analysis is to code the raw information, like interview transcripts, field notes from observations, and the questionnaires, by identifying occurrences of similar phenomena and grouping them into initial codes under thematic headings which will organise the evidence in relation to the research question (Kane, 2008). Validity and reliability Throughout the course of the research, steps will be taken to ensure that readers can have confidence that the findings of this study are accurate, and not the product of prejudice or bias. All questionnaires and interviews will contain the same questions worded in the same manner to maintain construct validity and ensure the methods are repeatable. The small sample group may prevent the determinations from being generalisable in that the sample group may or may not be representative of the wider population of educators. The size of the sample group will warrant further research. Although the substantive data collected through the literature review may support the initial hypothesis and present findings that can be repeated and whether there were any additional questionnaires and follow-up interviews administered. Although this is not primarily an observational study, observations will collected through field notes and coded into the data stream for interpretation in conjunction with the responses gathered from the empirical data to present a more accurate illustration of the information to increase the dependability of the findings. Primarily, the concept of reliability usually applies to quantitative methods and refers to whether an instrument gives accurate readings on repeated measurements under similar conditions although some investigators refer use terms ‘confirmability’ and ‘trustworthiness’ when referring to the findings of qualitative studies. Ethics Ethical considerations will be central throughout the research process. The planned enquiry will be conducted in accordance with all ethical standards. This includes everything from the purpose of the research and how the research will benefit those that are being researched to issues of confidentiality and anonymity during the writing up process. The questionnaires and interviews will be conducted via proxy and no names or personal information will appear on the transcripts. For the interviews conducted according to tenure, a simple gauge will be used, like ‘five years plus’ or ‘less than five years’ to make sure the tenure is noted when relevant. This will ensure anonymity is maintained. Only subjects willing to participate on their own will be interviewed or given a questionnaire to answer to make sure no coercion is used to obtain results. In addition, matters drawn from other sources, such as the literature review, will be incorporated in a factual manner, without drawing any inferences or conclusions from the data and reporting just the facts. Timetable Once the official proposal is approved, the entire research will be conducted within the span of twelve months. The first two months of the work will be spent reviewing and collecting the literatures using on line data bases to gather educational reviews, inter-library services, and personal contacts with colleagues in the field. The search and analysis will be used to sort out the useful results of our research. This may take approximately two additional months. Known and new results ascertained through the study will provide the utilities of work and this process may take approximately four months. During the final stages, empirical data will be presented to give a realistic perspective, which may require one month. Transcribing the material and composing the dissertation may take one month. The additional time will remain as a cushion to ensure that all segments of the study remain within their allotted timeframes. Significance of the study The Relevance and Importance of the Enquiry to my Professional Context: The primary relevance of this enquiry is to retain experienced and competent head teachers within this school. Secondary relevance lies with raising the academic qualifications of those in head teacher positions from which would flow the increasing level of professionalism and skill within the teacher pool through dissemination of information and in-service training. In-service training is already a part of the role of head teachers within the organization; however, many head teachers neither are qualified, experienced, and confident nor motivated to carry out this task. This would also flow onto the student’s educational needs being met far more effectively and efficiently. In turn the school’s reputation within the Thai market could be expected to improve dramatically. The school development plan for School X identifies the introduction of regular peer observation of teaching as a target for 2010. The action research study described above fits well with this planned development. Establishing an environment of collaboration is optimal to creating a supportive environment for staff members. A teacher looking to focus their skills will need support in the form of advice from colleagues, access to specialists, and available assistance on the premises to help the teacher through programs designed to facilitate active learning, reflective practice, and individualized activities (Decker, Decker, Freeman, & Knorpf, 2009). Seasoned teachers should attend professional conferences and seek additional training by furthering their education and learning new techniques and methods for educating children. Hosting workshops at the facility that provide supplementary training, new techniques, and ideas for curriculum and classroom activities will help a seasoned teacher stay up-to-date on their techniques. As a program director, it is important to try to encourage your staff members and make sure that supportive services are available. Attending seminars, workshops, and other types of informative venues will keep the teacher's skills honed and make sure they are aware of the most up-to-date techniques and available services so they can bring the best educational experience to the classroom. When teachers seek to specialize their services, further education and seminars will help them to focus on their selected category and it is also the duty of the director to help teachers seeking to focus their expertise gain access tot he supportive services that will allow them to do this. Excessively high employee turnover rates are a major concern for many companies, detrimentally so in a large majority of service related industries. As indicated by Fahey and Lack (2006), employee retention has historically been a major concern within numerous markets and, as indicated by Owens (2006), is still an issue that confounds human resources personnel. References Anthony, G. and Grevholm, B., 2010. Teachers of Mathematics: Recruitment and Retention, Professional Development and Identity. SMDF Swedish Society for Research in Mathematics Education. Babbie, E., 2007. The Practice of Social Research (11th ed.). California: The Thomas Wadsworth Corporation. Basic Education Development Committee (BEDC), 2006. Primary Education Development Programme II (2007 – 2011). The United Republic of Tanzania: Education and Training Sector Development Programme (ESDP). Bennell, P., 2004. Teacher Motivation and Incentives in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Brighton: Knowledge and Skills for Development. Chapman, J.D., 2005. Recruitment, retention, and development of school principals. Belgium: The International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), The International Academy of Education (IAE). Danaher, P.A. and Umar, A. (editors), 2010. Teacher Education through Open and Distance Learning. Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning. Decker, C., Decker, J., Freeman, N., and Knopf, H. (2009). Planning and administering early childhood programs (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. House of Commons Education and Skills Committee, 2004. Secondary Education: Teacher Retention and Recruitment. Fahey, C. and Lack, J., 2006. Working at sunshine: A case study of the recruitment, retention and management of labour in a Melbourne Manufacturing Enterprise, 1946-63. Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, May, 90, pp. 95-117, [online]. Available at . [Accessed October 30, 2011]. Kane, R.G., 2008. Perceptions of Teachers and Teaching: A Focus on Early Childhood Education. New Zealand: Report to the Ministry of Education MacBeath, J., Oduro, G., Jacka, J., and Hobby, R., 2006. Leading appointments: The selection and appointment of headteachers and senior leaders: a review of the literature. Mohamed, N., 2006. An Exploratory Study of the Interplay between Teachers’ Beliefs, Instructional Practices & Professional Development A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Language Teaching and Learning, The University of Auckland. Mpokosa, C. and Ndaruhutse, S., 2008. Managing Teachers [online]. CfBT and VSO. Available at: www.cfbt.com/evidenceforeducation and www.vsointernational.org Mulford, B., 2003. School Leaders: Changing Roles and Impact on Teacher and School Effectiveness. Education and Training Policy Division, OECD, for the Activity Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers. Owens, P.L. Jr., 2006. One more reason not to cut your training budget: The relationship between training and organizational outcomes. Public Personnel Management, 35(2), pp.163-171, [online]. Available at . [Accessed October 30, 2011]. Perraton, H., Robinson, B., and Creed, C., 2001. Teacher Education through Distance Learning. UNESCO. Philippine Education For All 2015: Implementation and Challenges, n.d. [online] Available at: . [Accessed October 19, 2011]. Purdon, A., n.d. new Teacher’s Perspectives on Continuing Professional Development: Accountability of professional Growth? Van den Brule, J.,2008. Good Practices and International Trends of Teacher Accreditation and Certification with Analysis and Recommendations for Pakistan under the Strengthening Teacher Education in Pakistan (STEP) Programme. US AID From the American People and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). VSO, 2002. What Makes Teachers Tick? A policy research report on teachers’ motivation in developing countries. Walker, M., Jeffes, J., Hart, R., Lord, P., and Kinder, K., 2010. Making the Links between Teachers' Professional Standards, Induction, Performance Management and Continuing Professional Development. National Foundation for Educational Research. Read More