Methodological Design1

Methodological Design

Javiera Cortés

Consuelo Gómez

Lucas Rojas

Romina Villagra

Universidad Andrés Bello

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Methodological Design

Context

In January of 2016, the government implemented a new law (Law 20.903)

called “Sistema de Desarrollo Profesional Docente”. According to this new law,

teachers will face a rising of their non-teaching hours (from 25% to 30% non-

teaching hours this year) in order to spend the time to prepare material, create

instruments of assessment or focus that time on attending either students or

parents. This rising is based on the evidence presented in some researches that

show that the most influential cause for teachers’ attrition is the stress caused by

the time they spend from their personal life to prepare material (Centro de políticas

públicas Elige Educar, 2016). Although this reform aims to obtain a balance

between teaching and non-teaching hours in order to give teachers the time to

prepare material at work instead of their houses (it is supposed that in 2020, the

balance will be 60% of teaching hours and 40% of non-teaching hours), teachers´

opinion and reactions have not been considered as a method to assess whether

this reform has been successful or not.

Chilean school´s contexts

In Chile, there are three different types of school. The first group is the

public schools. Here the minister of education and the government are responsible

of the objectives of the learning process and control all the features that the school

needs in order to achieve the learning aim. In addition, neither parents nor students

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have to pay for being part of this type of school. The second group are called semi-

private schools, in which the school follows the curriculum implemented by

MINEDUC, with the opportunity to modify the curriculum according to their

Proyecto Educativo Institucional (PEI). In these kinds of schools, parents must pay

the half and the government pay the other half. Finally, the third group of schools

are the private schools (also known as “elite schools”) are schools that have the

option to follow the national curriculum, or to create their own curriculum according

to their PEI1. Here, parents have to pay the entire scholarship, and the government

does not give money to them, in comparison to public and semi-private schools.

From a teachers´ perspective, there is a difference among the three types of

schools. On the one hand, teachers in public and semi-private schools work under

Estatuto Docente, which defines the rights and duties of teachers in their jobs. On

the other hand, teachers from private schools do not work under the same view.

These teachers work under Codigo del Trabajo with some adaptations taken from

Estatuto Docente. In relation to this, not all the teachers follow the same regulation

about teaching and non-teaching hours.

Epistemology and objective of the study

The following study aims to collect the impressions and experiences of

teachers after the implementation of the new law modification described above.

Our specific focus is to understand how the increase in the time teachers have to

prepare classes has affected them. In other words, our interest is in the human

impact. For this reason we have decided to adopt a qualitative approach to our

1 Proyecto Educacional Institucional (the educational project of the school)

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research, with open ended questions that better capture teachers’ opinions and

feelings towards the measure. Additionally, and to give a better representation of

Chilean teacher’s context variety, we have decided to use a multiple-case study.

Thus, we will be able to harvest information from within each context and across

contexts (Baxter & Jack, 2008).

Research Question

At the core of this investigation there is one key question: In what ways has

the increase in non-teaching time affected teachers of 3 different schools in Chile?

Participants

We will work with six teachers in total, of any age, gender and area of

expertise. The main requirement is that they must have at least a year of

experience working as teachers in a school. They will be recruited in pairs and in

three different environments. By environment, we mean the different kinds of

school here in Chile: private, semi-private and public.

Before contacting the teachers, we will send an Intent Letter to the principal

of each school, asking permission to talk to the teachers, so we can actually ask

them for their cooperation directly. The composition of the group is eclectic. We

expect that variation in sex, age and work place will impact on the data that we

want to collect. Once we have our volunteers, we will have a meeting with them in

order to confirm their cooperation by asking them to read and sign an Informed

Consent Letter in which they will agree to our requirements. In case any of them

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does not want to continue participating, they can sign out at any point of the

research.

Data collection methods

The inquiry tools that will help us to collect information in this study are

interviews and a focus group session. The tools are going to be applied to the six

participants.

On the one hand, the individual interviews will allow us to explore and

identify the experiences, beliefs and opinions of each one of the participants. Semi-

structured interviews aim to define the area that we want to explore in order to

pursue a response in more detail. Thus, these semi-structured interviews will

provide us with a better and deeper understanding of their perceptions facing this

new working context. The open-ended questions are likely to yield an important

amount of information about the issue in study. These interview settings may also

allow the participants to talk about issues or opinions that might be avoided or

biased in a group environment (Eder & Fingerson, 2002, pp. 192-193).

On the other hand, focus group sessions will help us to generate information

in a collective view. The dynamic that these kinds of groups generate might allow

them to discuss and share their perceptions, beliefs and opinions in a more

extended dialogue by building up on each other’s comments. The purpose of this

interaction is not only with aim to seek data but also to allow them to see different

perspectives of realities in the same area which may facilitate the discussion.

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Procedure

We will begin gathering information with personal interviews, which will be

scheduled on a specific time during a day after the classes are finished. The

interviews will be recorded and notes will be taken throughout it. The interaction

will be face to face and will last from 30 to 60 minutes considering its semi-

structured nature and the flexibility of development required to get substantial

answers. The participants will be asked about their personal opinions concerning

the law 20.903, and which are their expectations.

The second part of the research will consist of a focus group, in which all the

participants will share their ideas also in a semi-structured interview. It will be

scheduled on a day after classes, in a neutral environment. The interviewer will

moderate and give chances to exchange opinions. The focus group will last at least

45 minutes and will be recorded.

Phase Questions Data Sources Examples1) May (2017) - How is the

distribution of Teachers' time?- How do teachers manage their time?

Individual interviews (face to face)

One, semi-structured interview held with each participant. Open ended questions. (30-60 minutes)

2) June (2017) - How do non-teaching hours relate to teachers´ job satisfaction?- What are teachers´ prioritizations of activities in non-teaching time?

Focus Groups (recorded interviews)

One, semi structured group interview held with all the participants together. Open ended questions. (30-60 minutes)

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Therefore, we estimate that the whole data collection process (both phases)

should take 2 months in total.

Data Analysis

During the interview process we expect to obtain personal opinions from

each of the teachers, and group opinions. These opinions could be positive or

negative. Once we have finished gathering all of the opinions we will start with the

analysis process.

Firstly, we are going to “tidy up” the data (LeCompte, 2000, p. 148). This

process includes backing up the data creating all necessary copies (both physical

and / or digital), putting in order the collected data to ensure easier access later,

and making sure that there are no gaps in the data or corrupted segments.

Secondly, we are going to organize and process the information using

computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). Thus we aim to

compare the information provided by the teachers in the interviews and identify

similarities and differences among the experiences across the cases, and to point

out any other relevant information. The comparison process will include comparing

personal interview data across individuals, personal and group data in contrast,

comparison of data per school and across schools, and any other relevant tangent

that may come up in the process.

Finally, in order to make sure that our analysis is as valid and relevant as we

can, we will refine our findings leaving out anything that goes beyond our scope or

strays from our original proposition, triangulate data findings, and cross check our

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analysis among ourselves (researchers) to avoid any personal biases as much as

possible.

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[Escriba texto]Table 1

Table 1 shows in detail the change in school hours that are in effect, and those which are planned to be made effective in the future.

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References

Baxter, P., & Jack, S. (2008, December). Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study Design and Implementation for Novice Researchers. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), pp. 544-559.

Centro de políticas públicas Elige Educar. (2016, Junio). Elige Educar. Retrieved from www.eligeeducar.cl

Eder, D., & Fingerson, L. (2002). Interviewing Children and Adolescents. In Handbook of Interview Research: Context & Method (pp. 327-347). Sage Publications.

LeCompte, M. (2000). Analyzing Qualitative Data. Theory Into Practice, 39(3), pp. 146-154.

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