University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses November 2017 “Going the Extra Mile”: Perspectives and Experiences of Coaches Supporting Primary School Teachers in Sierra Leone Ashley Clayton Hertz University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the International and Comparative Education Commons, and the Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons Recommended Citation Hertz, Ashley Clayton, "“Going the Extra Mile”: Perspectives and Experiences of Coaches Supporting Primary School Teachers in Sierra Leone" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations. 1040. https://doi.org/10.7275/10667209.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1040 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. 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For more information, please contact [email protected]. ―Going the Extra Mile‖: Perspectives and Experiences of Coaches Supporting Primary School Teachers in Sierra Leone A Dissertation Presented by ASHLEY CLAYTON HERTZ Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION September 2017 College of Education Educational Policy, Research and Administration (EPRA) International Education © Copyright by Ashley Clayton Hertz 2017 All Rights Reserved ―Going the Extra Mile‖: Perspectives and Experiences of Coaches Supporting Primary School Teachers in Sierra Leone A Dissertation Presented by ASHLEY CLAYTON HERTZ Approved as to style and content by: ________________________________ Cristine Smith, Chair ________________________________ Bjorn Nordtveit, Member _________________________________ Daniel Gerber, Member ___________________________________ Cynthia Gerstl-Pepin, Dean College of Education ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thrilled and grateful to be at this point in my journey to thank the important people in my life that have inspired and encouraged me throughout this process. First, I would like to thank Cristine Smith, Ed.D, my Committee Chair who provided critical support to me throughout the dissertation process despite the fact we lived oceans apart. Thank you, Cris, for chairing this process and being my mentor, encourager, critical friend, and accountability partner. It is because of your continued support that I was able to arrive to this point of completion. Thank you! I would like to also thank my other Committee members, Bjorn Nordtveit, Ph.D.and Daniel Gerber, Ed.D. for your participation, support and feedback as well as other faculty members from the Center for International Education, Gretchen Rossman, Ph.D. and David Evans, Ph.D. who both were significant to my experiences and learning while on-campus in the earlier stages of my degree program. My research would not have been possible without the support from colleagues and participants from the Education Consortium, particularly from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Concern Worldwide. Special thanks and appreciation go to Alicia Fitzpatrick, Deputy Director of Consortia at IRC in Sierra Leone for providing me with the exciting opportunity to return to Sierra Leone to work with the RaISES initiative and conduct my research with the Education Consortium and to Saffea Sennessie, IRC Country Director, for supporting the vision. Without both of your interest and support, this particular research on coaching as a component of teacher professional development in Sierra Leone would not have been possible. Special acknowledgement and thanks to technical team members, Dr. Nancy Clair and Dr. Johanna Kuyvenhoven, specialists who iv led the development of the literacy and coaching components of the RaISES teacher professional development and Dr. Julia Frazier, former Technical Advisor from IRC Headquarters who provided feedback to our work. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be part of the team and learn from all of your professional expertise. Many thanks extend to other staff from IRC and Concern Worldwide in Sierra Leone who helped schedule and coordinate my data collection visits to field offices including Yilkal Chalachew (EdCo Consortium Coordinator), Aminata Jalloh (EdCO Project Manager), Martin Canter (IRC Education Coordinator), Amy Folan (Concern Worldwide Education Coordinator) and Patricia Ansumana (IRC RaISES Education Manager). Thank you! Special recognition and gratitude goes to all the EdCo Consortium Learning Coaches for all of your hard work, enthusiasm, and commitment to the job despite its many challenges. Thanks to the select Learning Coaches who were willing to participate in this research and share your experiences with me. If it were not for all of you, there would be no story here to share. I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with and learning from each one of you. Finally, I would to thank my dear friends and family both in the United States and in Sierra Leone who have consistently encouraged and supported me along the way. I am particularly grateful for my husband, Darren. You have always been authentically supportive, interested, and engaged at every stage. Thank you for always believing in me, encouraging me, and supporting me to take time off from work so I could focus on this full-time. v ABSTRACT ―GOING THE EXTRA MILE‖: PERSPECTIVES AND EXPERIENCES OF COACHES SUPPORTING PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN SIERRA LEONE SEPTEMBER 2017 ASHLEY CLAYTON HERTZ B.Ed., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL M.Ed., FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY Ed.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Cristine Smith Limited research exists that explores instructional coaching as a component of teacher professional development in low-income, developing countries. In response to this gap in the literature, I used an intrinsic case study design to explore the experiences and learning of a cohort of coaches supporting primary school teachers in a whole school development/ early grade reading initiative in Sierra Leone. Using an adaptation of Valsiner‘s (1997) Zone Theory as a conceptual framework and analytical lens, I explored coaches‘ perspectives of their knowledge and beliefs; coaching actions and experiences; constraints within their context; and professional learning and support needs. By examining these aspects, I hoped to identify possibilities for improving their preparation and support to maximize coaches‘ learning and ability to enact their roles more effectively. vi Findings of this study suggest that newly hired coaches in Sierra Leone required a significant amount of responsive and focused on-going professional development to enable conceptual shifts in their beliefs and understanding of child-centered pedagogy, foundational skills and strategies for literacy instruction, and working with adults as learners. Coaches learned through a combination of 1) formal professional learning opportunities provided by the program on an on-going basis, and 2) informal on-the-job learning with support from others. Important positive influences on their learning included: competency-driven content; routine training; opportunities for peer collaboration both in training and on-the job; tools, models and frameworks; resources and materials; and feedback from their manager. Though coaches perceived shifts in their learning and increasingly became confident in their abilities over time, findings of this study exposed the various systemic constraints coaches confront in their work, which minimized coaches‘ sustained contact time with teachers. Irregular attendance and movement of unsalaried teachers were most significant, thus limiting any potential for coaching to have an impact on teacher change. Overall findings from this intrinsic case study provide insight into the professional experiences, growth and needs of a specific cohort of coaches. I conclude the study with recommendations for strengthening programming to better prepare and support newly hired coaches working in similar initiatives in this context. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF ACRONYMS .................................................................................................... xv 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 Background ............................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................... 4 Purpose of the Research ............................................................................................ 5 Significance of the Research ..................................................................................... 6 Research Questions ..................................................................................................