TEACHING AS THE DECISION MAKING

 

Teaching is noble career which requires highly organised thinking prior to decision-making. High Performing teachers plan effectively, use critical thinking and problem-solving techniques, and collect and analyse data for continuous school improvement. “Teaching is defined as the process of making and implementing decision, before, during and after instruction to increase the probability of learning”, (Hunter, 1979. P. 62). In terms of analysis of decisions made in teaching, most researchers indicate that decision making is clustered in three categories namely, “content, style of the learner and behaviour of the teacher” (P. 63).

Decision-making has been defined as “the discursive process of constructing and interpreting the social world” (Gephart, 1993, p. 1485). In a case study by Hasan and Gould (2001, p. 78), decision-making is variously referred to as “understanding the situation”, “being informed”, “knowing where the organisation is going” and “getting the picture”. In the context of strategic change, decision-making has been illustrated as being concerned with meaning construction and reconstruction by the parties involved in the change.

According to Owens & Valesky, (2007) decision-making based on the historical perspective, has been believed to be a scientific process that is orderly, rational, logical, and sequential. Decision-making involves giving consideration to a matter, identifying the desired end result, determining the options to get to the end result, and then selecting the most suitable option to achieve the desired purpose. Teachers’ decisions about the issues just mentioned ultimately will influence student learning.

To a large extent, effective teaching involves making good decisions to help students learn. Even before instruction takes place, teachers think about and make decisions concerning content, instructional strategies, the use of instructional materials and technology, delivery techniques, classroom management and discipline, assessment of student learning, and a host of other related issues. During instruction, teachers must implement these decisions as they interact with students in a dynamic way.

Decisions must be based on advantages

Teaching professional relies mostly on a certain principle which gives directions on how teaching should flow for example the principle of fundamental rule of sound decision-making. In the teaching arena Gioia and Chittipeddi, (1991) gives a piece of advice by indicating that, it is advantageous to skillfully apply the fundamental rule of sound decision making when making all types of decisions. Here are three reasons:

-          First, although many people say that decision methods do not matter, they do matter. Unsound methods, far more often than sound methods, i.e., produce unsound decisions. And unsound decisions, far more often than sound decisions, i.e., produce human conflicts and miseries. As this shows, the use of unsound methods is a root cause of many human conflicts and miseries.

-          Second, many schools, colleges, universities, and other organisations, and many individuals, when teaching or giving advice sometimes resort to unsound methods knowingly or unknowingly. In the future, it is advisable that through learning, using, and teaching the methods that apply the fundamental rule, they would be changing their methods from making unsound decisions to sound ones.

-          Third, sound methods base decisions on the importance of the differences among the alternatives. The fundamental rule prescribes the correct way to base decisions on the importance of differences.

The fundamental rule is surprising simple but it is counter–intuitive. Therefore, we have to carefully explain it, step by step. And a good way to start is with an example. Our favourite example is the choice between the current controversies on condom distributions in school in Zambia with the view of educating girl children. (Patton, 2003).  (This example has been paraphrased for better understanding) the question is, “should schools go for it or not” When presenting this example, we start by listing two of the attributes of the two, advantages and disadvantages. The factor that contains these attributes is prevention of teenage pregnancy in schools in order to educate more girl children. Here are the two attributes in weight: distributing condoms will prevent pregnancies and distributing condoms will encourage or boost early engagement in illicit sex.

Next, we say that we prefer condom distribution. (This is one of the criteria that will guide this decision. It is a want-criterion, not a must-criterion.) Although we prefer the condom distribution, we don’t necessarily prefer the act that will be involved (Having protected sex). This is because the attributes in other factors will need to be taken into account.

Next, we ask a question where the answer is obvious: “Which strategy has the advantage in terms of school pregnancy curbing, distribution or not distribution. Of course, the ministry of education (MOE) everyone gives the same answer: distribution. 

-          Next, we ask another question that has an obvious answer on the part MOE: “How worth is the advantage of distribution, compared with not Distribution?” And MOE say that distribution has more advantage, for example in educating of girl children.

-          This demonstrates an on-the-street definition of the word advantage. An advantage is a difference. It is a difference between the attributes of two alternatives.

-          Next, we ask, “Which attribute has the disadvantage in the educating girl children?” And they always choose not distributing condoms. Then, we ask, “How worth is the disadvantage of not distributing, compared with distributing?” And they say that not distributing has more disadvantages in educating girl children.

-          This demonstrates an on-the-street definition of the word disadvantage. A disadvantage is also a difference. It is a difference between the attributes of two alternatives. 

This takes us to the next question: “What are the differences between an advantage and a disadvantage?” And here is the answer: There are no actual differences. There are differences only in the ways we view them and name them:

Here is the one view: distributing condoms is better than not distributing. 

Under this view, the “better than” difference is called an advantage.

Here is the other view: not distributing condoms hinders girl child education than distributing.

Under this view, the “hindrance” difference is called a disadvantage (Patton, 2003). 

Basing on the above example it is seen that, any difference between two alternatives can be viewed as positive or negative as an advantage of the one alternative, or as a disadvantage of the other alternative. When we have listed and taken into account all the advantages of each alternative, we have listed and taken into account all the disadvantages. Surprisingly, advantages are disadvantages. So if we count all the differences as advantages and count them again as disadvantages, we are double–counting the differences. And double–counting is a critical mistake. What does this mean? It means that Choosing by Advantages and Disadvantages is not a sound method for making decisions. 

Now we know the correct way to base decisions on the differences among the alternatives. And fortunately, it greatly simplifies sound decision-making. It is vital to call it the fundamental rule of sound decision-making. Decisions must be based on the importance of advantages.

Decisions about basic teaching functions

According to Simon (1987), teachers make countless decisions all day long in an effort to promote student learning. Simon further indicated that, when you break the decisions down, they fall into three categories: planning, implementing, and assessing. Some decisions are made at the desk when preparing lesson or unit plans, designing an instructional activity, or grading papers. Other decisions are made on the spot during the dynamic interactions with students when delivering a lesson. Let’s briefly examine these three basic teaching functions according to Redekop (2009),

 

Planning

Planning involves teacher decisions about student needs, the most appropriate goals and objectives, the content to be taught, instructional strategies, lesson delivery techniques, instructional media, classroom climate, and student assessment. These decisions are made before actual instruction takes place. The goal of planning is to ensure student learning. Planning occurs when teachers are alone and have time to reflect and consider issues such as short‐range and long‐range plans, student progress, time available, and instructional materials. Planning helps arrange the appropriate flow and sequence of instructional content and events ( Redekop, 2009).

Implementing

 Implementing involves decision making on the actual enactment of the instructional plans concerning lesson delivery and assessment. Implementation occurs when interacting with students. Teaching skills that support implementation include presenting and explaining, questioning, listening, monitoring, giving feedback, and demonstrating. As you can see, a multitude of skills in decision making are required for implementation of the instructional plans, and teachers make decisions constantly during the delivery of instruction to enact those plans and to promote student learning ( Redekop, 2009).

Assessing

Assessing involves determining the level of student learning. Actually, many aspects of assessment are determined during the planning phase when instructional goals and content are identified. The means to measure student learning include paper-and-pencil tests, portfolios, work samples, projects, reports, journals, models, presentations, demonstrations, and various other types of product and performance assessments. Once assessment data has been gathered, the information is recorded and judgments are made.

As attempts are made to improve schools and increase student achievement, one constant has remained: Teachers are the most important factor in improving schools. Attempts to reform or improve education depend on the knowledge, skills, and commitment of teachers.

 

Teaching as decision-making based on research

The aim of research in educational psychology is to test the various theories that guide the actions of teachers and others involved in education. Here is another example of how a teacher might use educational psychology as illustrated by Slavin (2006).

Mr. Harris teaches an eighth-grade social studies class. He has a problem with Tom, who frequently misbehaves. Today, Tom makes a paper airplane and flies it across the room when Mr. Harris turns his back, to the delight of the entire class.

What should Mr. Harris do?

As an intentional teacher, Mr. Harris considers a range of options for solving this problem; each of which comes from a theory about why Tom is misbehaving and what will motivate him to behave more appropriately. Some actions Mr. Harris might take, and the theories on which they are based, are as follows:

Action

Theory

1.       Reprimand Tom.   2.       Ignore Tom.     3.       Send Tom to the office.     4.       Tell the class that it is everyone's responsibility to maintain a good learning environment and that if any student misbehaves, 5 minutes will be subtracted from recess. 5.       Explain to the class that Tom's behaviour is interfering with lessons that all students need to know and that his behaviour goes against the rules the class set for itself at the beginning of the year.

1.       A reprimand is a form of punishment. Tom will behave to avoid punishment. 2.       Attention may be rewarding to Tom. Ignoring him would deprive him of this reward.   3.       Being sent to the office is punishing. It also deprives Tom of the (apparent) support of his classmates.   4.       Tom is misbehaving to get his classmates' attention. If the whole class loses out when he misbehaves, the class will keep him in line.     5.       The class holds standards of behaviour that conflict with both Tom's behaviour in class and the class's reaction to it. By reminding the class of its own needs (to learn the lesson) and its own rules set at the beginning of the year, the teacher might make Tom see that the class does not really support his behaviour.

Adopted from: Slavin (2006: 11)        

Each of these actions is a common response to misbehaviour. But which theory (and therefore which action) is correct?

The key might be in the fact that his classmates laugh when Tom misbehaves. This response is a clue that Tom is seeking their attention. If Mr. Harris scolds Tom, this might increase Tom's status in the eyes of his peers and may reward his behaviour.

Ignoring misbehaviour might be a good idea if a student was acting up to get the teacher's attention, but in this case it is apparently the class's attention that Tom is seeking. Sending Tom to the office does deprive him of his classmates' attention and therefore may be effective. But what if Tom is looking for a way to get out of class to avoid work? What if he struts out to confront the powers that be, to the obvious approval of his classmates? 

Making the entire class responsible for each student's behaviour is likely to deprive Tom of his classmates' support and to improve his behaviour; but some students may think that it is unfair to punish them for another student's misbehaviour. Finally, reminding the class (and Tom) of its own interest in learning and its usual standards of behaviour might work if the class does, in fact, value academic achievement and good behaviour.

Researchin education and psychology bears directly on the decision Mr. Harris must make. Developmental research indicates that as students enter adolescence, the peer group becomes all-important to them, and they try to establish their independence