DEFINING OUR TERMS

Efficiency, Effectiveness and Efficacy

Effectiveness

The extent to which something achieves pre-specified goals

‘Does it work?’To understand teacher effectiveness, we need

to know what goals effective teachers should be meeting

Spend a few minutes with those around you trying to create a list of ‘appropriate goals for teachers/teaching’

Effectiveness

To know whether teachers are effective, we would need to have some means of measuring the extent to which these goals are met

What kind of evidence would be appropriate for measuring teacher effectiveness in relation to each of these goals?

Efficiency

Efficiency is a measure of the amount of resources required in order to meet the goals

Something that can achieve the same goals using fewer resources is more efficient

If we have already specified the goals of teachers/teaching, we can think about what resources are used to meet those goals

Spend a few moments with those around you specifying the resources that go into classroom teaching

Enhancing Efficiency

Move to a new group – ideally with someone you haven’t spoken to before – and spend a few minutes discussing ways to enhance the efficiency of classroom teaching

How could you achieve the same goals – not inferior goals – with fewer resources?

Efficacy

Term has many meanings in different fieldsIn education it relates to a teacher or

student’s confidence in his/her own ability to be effective

Sometimes described as ‘self-efficacy’, and distinguished from other people’s views about a person’s ability to be effective

We will use a device-based polling system to allow you to share anonymous information about your self-efficacy