Does Teacher’s Educational Qualification Matter in Primary Classroom?

Abstract

It has been assumed that teacher’s pay and educational qualification are two of the key factors behind a teacher’s good performance in the classroom. Therefore, it is commonly believed that a highly paid and highly qualified teacher has greater chances of securing high achievement in his or her classroom than a low income teacher with less educational qualification. The aim of the research was to find out what percentage of difference can be made in the students’ achievement through putting a better qualified teacher with high payment in a low income primary classroom setting. Hence, the research explores and compares between the classroom achievements of two different teachers with opposite educational qualification and pay scale. The research took place at an underprivileged primary school in Urban Dhaka. 16 third grade students of the two different teachers, equally divided by their merit position sat for an English literacy standardized test. The results are being compared between two classrooms in which, one has a highly paid teacher with high educational qualification, who teaches the class with various educational materials and additional books along with the existing government textbooks whereas, the other less privileged teacher teaches with only government curriculum textbooks in his class. The finding of the research gives an interesting aspect of how achievement in both of the classrooms differed with a substantial percentage. In addition, the research also finds the importance of a set of variables such as teacher training, student and teacher’s personal motivation, teacher-student relationship and family support, behind the achievement of a student.