What makes a ‘good teacher’ and constitutes ‘quality teaching’: practitioner perspectives from Rwandan secondary schools

This policy brief represents an attempt to bridge a gap in the literature regarding what makes a good teacher and quality teaching processes in Rwanda by bringing educators’ voices into the conversation on what is meant by this construct. In this brief, we summarise findings from focus group discussions conducted with secondary school teachers in Rwanda as part of learning partner role in the Mastercard Foundation’s Leaders in Teaching initiative. To date, the perspectives of secondary school educators have largely been missing from the literature on teaching quality, yielding a research-to-practice gap. The aims of this policy brief are to present emerging findings on stakeholder perceptions of what makes a good teacher and quality teaching processes in Rwandan secondary schools and to highlight lessons from this data to inform policymakers.