Musharraf Hossain Tansen is working as the Head of Schools, Education Programme with British Council Bangladesh. Tansen has over 18 years of work experience in the field of education, working with some international and national development organisations including Plan, World Vision, SDC, World Bank, BBC World Service Trust, Save the Children, IOM and DFID. He has presented his research papers in different national and international conferences including CIES conference in USA.

Literacy Coach: A Necessity for Improving Early Grade Reading Instruction in Bangladesh

This is a quality research reflecting on the global practices of using literacy coaching as a continuous professional development approach for the literacy teachers. Along with analysing global information it also has collected the views and ideas from the literacy practitioners of Bangladesh. Teachers of Bangladesh who have been involved in teaching literacy in early grades are consulted along with the literacy coaches who have been extending onsite professional support to the teachers.

Although substantial gains have been made in primary school enrolment, the completion rate of primary school students in Bangladesh is much lower. Consequently, learning levels are extremely low, and many students leave school without the foundational skills needed to read successfully. Reading has been identified as the spark that ignites learning for foundational skills as well as for high-level comprehension skills. Quality teaching is a key factor for improving educational experiences of students and increasing students’ reading attainment. Onsite coaching along with the training and workshops is an important tool for improving the quality of teaching. Means, more emphasis must be given to preparing teachers and providing them with the professional development (PD) they need. Coaching can be defined as providing onsite, job-embedded, sustained professional development approach for teachers. Coaches have specific expertise and can assist individual and groups of teachers in gaining the knowledge and skills needed to improve instruction. Searching of various data sources focusing especially on empirical studies and searching specifically for reports of coaching studies conducted in developing countries or reports describing coaching in these countries were done as part of the literature review and data collection to conduct this study. Moreover, interviews with protocol were also conducted with individuals involved in literacy coaching in Bangladesh. Substantial evidence in the global literature supports coaching as an effective approach for enhancing implementation of a literacy program by improving teaching practices and reading performance of beginning readers. Though there are many challenges in implementing coaching support to the practicing teachers, however, Literacy Coaches can play an important role in improving reading skills of the students of primary schools in Bangladesh and thus, contribute in the achievement of SDG – 4.

Source: World Literacy Summit

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