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Quality Education in Bangladesh: Leadership Roles of School Heads and Teachers to Integrate Technology in Secondary School Classrooms

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Quality Education in Bangladesh: Leadership Roles of School Heads and Teachers to Integrate Technology in Secondary School Classrooms QUALITY EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH: LEADERSHIP ROLES OF SCHOOL HEADS AND TEACHERS TO INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY IN SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASSROOMS Md. Niaz Morshed A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2016 Committee: Bruce Collet, Advisor Hyeyoung Bang Bonnie L. Mitchell ii ABSTRACT Bruce Collet, Advisor This study investigated the quality education components of the technology integrated classrooms in Bangladeshi secondary education, and secondly, the roles played by the school leaders to integrate technology which might support those quality components. Sixteen school leaders were interviewed to determine the quality components and leaders’ roles. Only teachers and head teachers were considered as school leaders for this study. One-on-one in-depth interviews made up the major primary data collection. These interviews were taken to address research questions regarding the quality education components Multimedia Classrooms (MMCs) have in secondary education of Bangladesh, the leadership roles played by head teachers in integrating technology in secondary education MMCs that might support quality education, and the leadership roles played by the non-head teachers in integrating technology in secondary education MMCs. Although qualitative methodology is employed, a mix of qualitative (maximum variation) and quantitative (snowball) sampling is used to select these sixteen participants or cases. This is a case study guided by the instructional leadership model of Weber (Hoy & Miskel, 2004). The findings have two parts. The first part identified some quality education components of MMCs in secondary education. These components help students’ learn easily and enhance teachers’ teaching ability by utilizing educational technology in the MMC. Major national policies and some international declarations and conventions like the national Information Communication Technology (ICT) policy (2009), the National Education Policy (2010), EFA iii (Education for All), and MDG (Millennium Development Goal) influence these quality components. The second part of the findings addressed school leaders’ roles in integrating technology which might promote desired quality components. Thirty-one subthemes of leadership roles were categorized in five broad areas: defining institutional visions, managing curriculum and instruction, teaching and learning, assessment, and attitudes toward technological integration. These roles followed the jobs or responsibilities of Weber’s model. For example, school leaders develop a common vision collaboratively, supervise and monitor classroom practices, provide support for the enhancement of the teaching-learning process and professional development, and possess positive attitudes to promote a positive learning climate for the technological integration. School leaders play their roles in collaboration with other government and non-government actors, where some limitations regarding the infrastructure and resources turned out to be barriers to their leadership roles. iv Dedicated to all my friends, family members, and teachers who have supported me in doing this thesis. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I sincerely thank my advisor, Dr. Bruce Collet, for being receptive and supportive during my two-year master’s study in the area of cross-cultural and international education. All the fundamental ideas, concepts, and theories inside and outside of the area of comparative education I have internalized via his class, which created a strong platform to start and continue doing this thesis. He was also very patient in understanding my point of view, different cultural expectations and limitations while I was working on this thesis. Also, I am grateful to my thesis committee members, Dr. Hyeyoung Bang and Dr. Bonnie L. Mitchell, for their sensible and meaningful suggestions on every section of this thesis. They have always been ready to spend significant amounts of time to help me out and discuss my progress. I managed to complete this thesis with their great support. I have found all my faculty members of MACIE very helpful. Their consistent encouragement always inspired me whenever I was struggling or getting frustrated. I always feel lucky to be a part of such a wonderful environment and the family of MACIE. Finally, I express my gratitude to my family members and friends in Bangladesh and in the USA for their unfailing inspiration and support. Many of them gave efforts to help me in different parts of this study. Special thanks to some officials from Access to Information (A2I) program in Bangladesh, the interviewer and those sixteen respected participants who helped me to accomplish this task. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………… 1 Chapter Overview ……………………………………………………………….. 1 Background of the Study ……………………………………………………......... 2 Rationale of the Study ……………………………………………………………. 5 Research Questions ……………………………………………………………….. 6 Statement of the Problem …………………………………………………………. 7 Literature Review …………………………………………………………………. 7 Methodology ………………………………………………………………………. 8 Theoretical Background ………………………………………………………….. 8 Findings and Discussions …………………………………………………………. 10 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………… 10 CHAPTER II. LIRETURE REVIEW …………………………………………………….. 12 Chapter Overview ……………………………………………………………….. 12 Importance of Educational Technology in Bangladeshi Education ………………. 12 Educational Technology ………………………………………………………….. 14 Educational Technology Projects in Bangladesh ………………………………… 15 Government Initiatives …………………………………………………… 16 Non-government Initiatives …………………………………………......... 20 Quality Education in Bangladesh …………………………………………………. 23 Educational Technology Related Policies in Bangladesh ………………………… 26 Bangladesh National Policies …………………………………………….. 27 vii National ICT Policy 2009 ……………………………………........ 27 National Education Policy 2010 ………………………………….. 28 Master Plan for ICT in Education (2012-2021)…………………… 29 International Policies ……………………………………………………… 30 Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDG)…………………………………………………….… 30 UNESCO Principles ………………………………………………. 31 CEDAW …………………………………………………………… 31 Human Capital Development in Technological Leadership ……………………… 32 Leadership Roles in Bangladeshi Secondary Schools ……………………………. 33 Instructional Leadership and Technology in Schools ……………………………. 35 Conceptual Framework …………………………………………………………… 37 CHAPTER III. METHOD ………………………………………………………………… 39 Chapter Overview ………………………………………………………………… 39 Research Objective and Research Questions ……………………………...………. 39 Analytical Framework …………………………………………………………….. 40 Justification of Case Study ……………………………………………………….. 41 Research Design and Methodology: Case Study ………………………….……… 42 Sampling and Participants ………………………………………………………… 44 Ethical Clearance ………………………………………………………………….. 46 HSRB Approval …………………………………………………………… 46 Confidentiality …………………………………………………………….. 46 Informed Consent …………………………………………………………. 47 viii Data Collection ……………………………………………………………………. 48 Data Collection Tool: Interview Questionnaire …………………………... 49 Interview Protocol ………………………………………………………… 49 Increasing Rigor in Accuracy and Reducing Researchers Bias ……………..……. 51 Data Analysis ……………………………………………………………………... 52 Memoing …………………………………………………………………... 54 Coding ……………………………………………….……………………. 54 Themes ……………………………………………………………………. 55 Frequency Distribution …………………………………………………… 57 Participants’ Demographic ………….……………………………………………. 61 CHAPTER IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ……………………...………………… 63 Chapter Overview…………………………………………………………………. 63 Quality Education Components …………………………..………………………. 64 Theme 1: Quality components of the MMC .…………………………....... 64 Subtheme 1: MMC Materials …………………………………….. 64 Subtheme 2: Number of (Functioning) Computers ……………….. 64 Subtheme 3: Students’ Computer Usage ………………………….. 64 Subtheme 4: The MMC contributes to quality education …………. 65 Discussion ………………….……………………………………………… 65 Theme 2: Students’ performance enhancement ………………….……….. 67 Discussion..………………………………………………………………… 67 Theme 3: Teaching ability enhancement ………….…...………………….. 68 Subtheme 1: The MMC Assists Teachers ………………………… 68 ix Subtheme 2: Computer’s Contribution to the Teaching-Learning Process ………………………………………... 68 Discussion. ………………………………………………………………… 68 Theme 4: Barriers to the technology related quality components ………… 70 Discussion..………………………………………………………………… 70 Theme 5: MMC Related Teachers Training ……………………………… 71 Discussion..………………………………………………………………… 71 Theme 6: Suitable Subjects for the MMC According to Students ………... 72 Discussion..………………………………………………………………… 73 Theme 7: Rate of Multimedia Use in the Classroom ……………………… 73 Discussion..……………………………………………………………….. 73 Theme 8: Attitude towards Using Technology in Classroom ……………. 74 Discussion..………………………………………………………………… 74 School Leaders’ Roles to Integrate Technology that might Support Quality Education ……………………………………………………….……….... 74 Theme 1: Vision and Plan ………………………………………………… 75 Subtheme 1: Schools’ visions of technological integration in classrooms………………............................................................ 75 Discussion .………………………………………………………. 77 Subtheme 2: Achieved vision …………………………………….. 78 Discussion .………………………………………………………… 80 Subtheme 3: How schools’ visions of technological integration might support quality education………………………. 80 x Discussion .………………………………………………………… 82 Subtheme 4: Teachers’ roles to implement the vision of technological implementations
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