Quality assessment of higher secondary education at schools using Nvivo

By Divya Dhuria & Priya Chetty on July 26, 2017

Having explained the background to NVivo, including types of data processing, data importing and others, this section will explain briefly about the case project. It will enable readers to understand data manipulation, processing, presentation and visualization processes.

Problem statement

Over the last decade, education has undergone a metamorphosis. It experienced a transformation from being confined to curriculum-based to interactive teaching-learning process, as well as extra-curricular activities and adoption of digitalization. All these changes are a response to the changing socio-economic order and cultural impact of modernization. However, with the mushrooming of modern schools,  there is intense competition among education providers. Nevertheless, schools seldom manage the amenities well through well-defined and constructive approach. Hence, this compromises the all-round development of students even after leaving school.  Today, schools need to have a constructive approach, new teaching methods, reasoning, and skills of expression. Thus, exploring teachers’ perception on the same is the need of hour.

Aim

This study aims to assess the quality of education in modern schools for both social development and progress. The case was designed to evaluate teachers’ opinion on the quality of education and contribution with respect to different components.

Method

Eight post-graduate teachers (PGT)  (IX-XII) from various private and public schools of Delhi were interviewed face-to-face and it took 3 weeks. Permission from school authorities were obtained as well as voluntary consent of the interviewees through personal visit to the schools.  The teachers were interviewed using different sets of questions on the provision of basic skills at different levels of teaching.

Parameters covered in the interview

Higher student participation points to the efficiency of new teaching-learning methodologies gauged through teachers’ feedback. India is gradually moving towards interactive classrooms with infusion of game enhanced learning and simulation. So, what approach has the participants adopted and how does teacher training help in ensuring the same?

Demographic parameters

Location of school All schools targeted and approached for the study have been selected from different regions of Delhi.
Experience in teaching Experience of the sampled teachers ranged from 2 years to 20 years, to capture the varying perception related to the issue.
Classroom strength RTE Act of 2009 specifies the strength of each classroom at 1:30. But what was the reality and how did strength impact on the quality?
Total number of classes taken Aimed to understand the burden on teachers and its impact of quality of education provided.
Number of classes attended by students Total number of classes a student is required to attend across different schools.
Total number of subjects Total number of subjects students have to study including all the languages and technical courses The purpose was to show the difference in number & type of subjects across schools.
Inferential parameters
Student’s performance Evaluating academic performance of students provides a crude measure of his or her skill development. Academic performance indicates student’s awareness about the content and his or her ability to channel knowledge in examination (Hijazi & Naqvi 2006). The study questioned the teachers about student performance, ranging from below average, average, above average to good.
Curriculum quality In the context of concerns over uneven learning among students across different schools, this case has investigated teachers perception of curriculum quality, its appropriateness for students, its exposure to skills and language learning and its revision schedule over time.
Co-curricular activities Schools have the ability to expose students to various co-curricular activities to boost their physical efforts, strengthen their competitiveness and rejuvenation from academic pressure. Therefore, presence of co-curricular activity and  availability of secondary level  education is a necessary component of quality education.
Role of school management School management must ensure proper facilities such as good infrastructure, competent environment, maximum exposure to skills (of both teachers and students) and a transparent system of evaluation.
Stress and pressure Schools’ emphasis on increased level of difficulty, pressure to score well, competitiveness contribute to high stress among students (Akande & Olowonirejuaro 2014). Thus, pressure makes students less efficient and makes them lose interest in education. This  was evident according to the teachers’ feedback.
Student’s participation Student’s participation in the present case is taken as an indicator of his or her willingness for extra-curricular activities and in-class interaction.
Teacher’s ability & interests Emphasis on understanding interest of teachers in classroom teaching-learning environment via the following questions: How do they address the quality of education and its role in shaping the future of the students? How is their professional and personal aspirations met?
Pedagogic approach Pedagogic approach emerges as most important when quality of education is examined.

With the above listed demographic and inferential parameters, we would like to start the analysis of this case through Nvivo, by:

  • Managing Imported Data
  • Issues of Validity & Reliability
  • Approaches to Data Processing
  • Data Analysis- Queries
  • Data Visualisation, and,
  • Results Summarisation

References

  • Akande, J.A. & Olowonirejuaro, A.O., 2014. A Study of Level and Sources of Stress among Secondary School Students. Journal of Research & Method in Education, 4(5), pp.32–36.
  • Hijazi, S.T. & Naqvi, S.M.M.R., 2006. Factors Affecting Students’ Performance: A Case of Private College. Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology, 3(1), pp.1–10.

Discuss