Exploring Educational Quality through Classroom Practices : A Study in Selected Primary School Classes in Burkina Faso

The paper reports on an exploratory study on the quality of education which attempts to identify and analyse classroom practices in a few Grade 5 (CM1) classes in Burkina Faso primary schools. The study is grounded on a model of the teaching-learning encounter and a framework for summarising the characteristics of a “good" teacher and an ideal classroom that underline the central place of classroom processes in a definition of quality education. The findings from the questionnaires and interviews summarize the views expressed by the various key actors of the educational system about the definition of quality education, some indicators that can be used to measure it, what one can expect to observe in an ideal classroom and the characteristics of a good teacher. The classroom observations revealed many of these “good" features of classroom practices. Some of the most important ones relate to a lively anxiety-free atmosphere and warm teacher-learner relations, and the special attention and initiative given to the pupils. These results as well as the feedback from the participants show that despite a certain number of methodological issues and practical diffi culties raised by this type of research, it can be further refi ned and used for monitoring quality and designing tools for school-based teacher development schemes.