Methods in Education - Research Proposal Example

Download file to see previous pages 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 ...Download file to see next pagesRead More