Publication: Rethinking Teaching Quality: The Role of Engagement in the Teaching and Learning Process
Loading...
Date
2025-03-24
ISSN
Published
2025-03-24
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Engaging teaching has emerged as a key approach to fostering children’s socio-emotional and cognitive skills. This policy note draws on findings of a recent comparative study on the LEGO Foundation’s Engage, formerly known as Playful Learning Across the Years (PLAY)1, classroom observation tool, and the World Bank’s Teach Primary instrument. The study highlights how these tools complement each other and underscore the importance of actionable strategies to integrate and monitor engaging teaching practices in primary schools, including across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they tend to be less common. By leveraging these tools to monitor teaching practices, policymakers can signal the importance of compelling, engaging, and inclusive teaching approaches that enhance educational outcomes.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Bazaldua, Diego Luna; Carter, Emma. 2025. Rethinking Teaching Quality: The Role of Engagement in the Teaching and Learning Process. Education Note; No. 6. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42983 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Validating Teaching Observation Tools(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-24)This study compares two tools used to observe and assess how teachers support student learning: the LEGO Foundation’s Engage tool, formerly PLAY, and the World Bank’s Teach Primary tool. The goal was to evaluate their similarities and overlaps in their measurement of teaching practices. Nine experts reviewed both tools in detail, carefully matching items from PLAY to those in Teach Primary. Results indicate that about one-third of the items are closely matched, showing that PLAY is built on a solid framework to capture engaging teaching practices. Another third of the items did not have a precise match, meaning each tool separately captures unique aspects of teaching that the other does not. The study also looked at how well the scores of the two tools aligned using accurate classroom data from Ethiopia, Peru, and Sierra Leone. The results showed a small positive relationship between the two tools, meaning they measure related but different aspects of teaching. The study also found that how PLAY is structured may need some adjustments to reflect better the skills it is designed to measure. By combining expert opinions with data analysis, this study provides strong evidence that both tools are valuable but serve different purposes. The findings highlight the importance of using multiple approaches to assess teaching quality. The study also offers recommendations for improving tool improvement and suggests the following steps on how classroom observation tools can help support improved teaching and learning worldwide.Publication Guiding Questions for Choosing the Right Tools to Measure Early Childhood Outcomes(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-02-18)A growing understanding of the importance of children’s earliest years has led to an increasing desire to measure early childhood development (ECD) outcomes. There are now nearly 150 tools for measuring ECD outcomes internationally, which can make it challenging to choose an appropriate measurement tool for a given measurement effort. This document guides the user through the why, who, what, and how questions that must be considered prior to selecting tools for measuring ECD outcomes. Users should document their responses at each step to collate the information needed to identify and select an appropriate ECD measurement tool.Publication Guidance Note on Phone-based Formative Assessment(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)Phone-Based Formative Assessment refers to the use of mobile phone technology to engage students outside the classroom, assess their learning in real time, and provide timely, constructive feedback. Such assessment is particularly critical to promote learning continuity in the context of COVID-19-related school closures, which have led to the expansion and availability of remote teaching and learning resources.Publication How Do We Know Teacher Professional Development Is Working?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-10)The teaching that students receive in the classroom is the most important school-based determinant of student learning. The objective of this note is to provide guidance on how to: (1) establish a numerical indicator to measure changes in teaching practices through the use of classroom observation tools for use in education projects, and (2) produce a benchmark to compare changes in teaching practices through this indicator. The way that teachers interact with their students in the classroom makes all the difference in ensuring students’ academic and socioemotional learning. For this reason, education projects that seek to improve student learning frequently include components focused on improving teaching practices through interventions such as modifying the curriculum, improving pre-service or in-service teacher training, and integrating additional instructional support to the classroom through the use of structured instructional material or technology. This note provides guidance on how to establish a numerical indicator to measure teaching practices through classroom observation tools, and how to benchmark this indicator to track changes in teaching practices over time for use in educational interventions. This guidance is structured through a three-step process: step 1, selecting an appropriate classroom observation tool; step 2, selecting an indicator to track teaching practices using that tool; and step 3, establishing a reasonable benchmarking target for the chosen indicator.Publication Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-04-26)To improve their education systems, countries around the world have increasingly initiated national largescale assessment programs or participated in international or regional large-scale assessment studies for the first time. Well-constructed large-scale assessments can provide credible information on student achievement levels, which, in turn, can promote better resource allocation to schools, stronger education service delivery, and improved learning outcomes. The World Bank developed this Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement as a firststop resource for those wanting to understand how to design, administer, analyze, and use the results from these assessments of student achievement. The book addresses frequently asked questions from people working on large-scale assessment projects and those interested in making informed decisions about them. Each chapter introduces a stage in the assessment process and offers advice, guidelines, and country examples. This book also reports on emerging trends in large-scale assessment and provides updated information on regional and international large-scale assessment programs.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Zambia Poverty and Equity Assessment 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-02-25)Zambia is simultaneously amongst the poorest and the most unequal countries in the world. In 2022, 64.3 percent of the population - about 12.6 million individuals - was living on less than US$2.15 a day. This level is not only the 6th highest in the world but it is also misaligned with the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita level. In four of the five poorer countries, GDP per capita is between one-quarter and one-half of Zambia’s GDP per capita. The remaining country is South Sudan, which is immersed in a protracted fragility and conflict situation. At the same time, consumption inequality is high, even when compared with the sub-group of highly unequal resource-rich countries. In 2022, the Gini index stood at 51.5 - significantly above the World Bank’s newly adopted high-inequality threshold of 40. This places Zambia as the country with the 4th highest inequality in the region and the 6th highest globally. Resource-rich countries with similar or higher inequality have substantially lower poverty levels.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.Publication Equatorial Guinea Country Economic Memorandum(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-12)The focus of this Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) is to review key policy and reform options for Equatorial Guinea to build the foundations for renewed, diversified, and more inclusive growth. The CEM thus aims to contribute to the government’s economic development and diversification agendas. The first chapter of the report examines the drivers of past growth, and the country’s asset portfolio, and discusses possible long-term growth trajectories. The second chapter examines fiscal policy as the main instrument for efficient transformation of natural capital into physical and human capital, and outlines the fiscal challenges associated with the reliance on the volatile oil and gas markets. It identifies the key gaps in public financial management, including the challenges posed by climate change and provides reform options for implementing an effective fiscal policy. The third chapter explores the present state of education, health, and social protection and discusses priority options to boost human capital. The fourth chapter then turns to the private sector and the main cross-cutting issues that need to be addressed to encourage higher investment, innovation, and productivity. The final chapter drills down into some key sectors which are likely to play a prominent role in any new growth strategy. These include digitalization in both the public and private sectors, and integration into the world economy through trade and ecotourism.