An exploration of preferred teacher characteristics and hiring tools in Belize

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to answer the following research questions: what characteristics do key Belizean educational leaders value in teacher applicants and why? What hiring tools do they use to ascertain whether teacher applicants have the characteristics they prefer? Design/methodology/approach The authors utilized a mixed-methods approach drawing upon three data sources – face-to-face interviews with Belizean educational leaders, field notes, and government documents. A card sorting activity of applicant characteristics and tools was embedded into the interview. Findings Informants preferred motivation, caring, subject matter knowledge, and teaching skills. Intelligence was perceived as a potentially negative characteristic unless coupled with other characteristics, such as strong teaching skills, motivation, and caring or the umbrella of other characteristics, such as content knowledge or university training/credentialing. Professional characteristics, such as where one went for teacher training and academic performance, were perceived as having less relative importance than personal characteristics. Least important were applicant demographics. Consistent with the extant literature, Belizean informants perceived the interview, evidence of prior experience, and certification as the most important tools in vetting and hiring applicants. Research limitations/implications The exploratory study is limited by the small sample of informants, but provides insights into preferences for applicant characteristics and hiring tools in an understudied international context. This study informs future research that may seek to survey representative samples of various stakeholder groups (i.e. general managers and principals) for their preferences in applicant characteristics and hiring tools from across Belizean schools and educational providers. Originality/value The study adds to limited research on preferred teacher characteristics among educational leaders responsible for hiring and/or working with teachers and to the limited international educational leadership research.

School Principals' Informal Criteria in Assessing Their Teachers: A Comparative Study

“…Due to their close relations and acquaintance with teachers (Jacob & Lefgren, 2008), principals are probably the most knowledgeable persons to evaluate their staff. They assess their teachers' performance according to many aspects, such as professionalism, creativity, demographics -race, gender, religion, and the like (Harris et al, 2010;Engel, 2013;Ingle et al, 2018;West et al, 2018). However, their ability to rate staff members' effectiveness accurately was questioned in many studies (Orphanos, 2014).…”

“…For example, Israeli elementary school principals mostly appreciated their motivated and caring teachers (Yariv, 2009). School leaders in Belize, according to Ingle, Thompson, and Abla's (2018), preferred highly motivated and compassionate teachers who have a good command of subject matter knowledge and good teaching skills. Motivated teachers are also sought among Indian principals, who face the common problem of lack of accountability and poor motivation (Ramachandran et al, 2006).…”

“…These traits are also ranked last in Yariv's (2009) study. Ingle, Thompson, and Abla (2018) found that Belizean school principals considered that intelligence and ability for knowledge are potentially negative characteristics of teachers unless coupled with other characteristics such as strong teaching skills, motivation, caring, or content knowledge, university training/credentialing. It appears that the old image of teachers as wise and educated persons in the community (Lortie, 1975) no longer exists.…”

School leaders' preferences for teacher applicant characteristics in a large urban school district

“…Researchers have identified a number of personal characteristics. These include: communication skills (Braun et al, 1987;Cain-Caston, 1999;Ralph et al, 1998), enthusiasm (Broberg, 1987), caring, interpersonal skills (Engel, 2013;Ingle et al, 2011;Ralph et al, 1998), motivation (Ingle et al, 2018), willingness to give extra/bring something extra (Engel, 2013), and a passion for teaching/working with students (Bigham et al, 2014;DeArmond et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2016;Mason and Schroeder, 2010). Surprisingly, few studies on teacher hiring draw upon existing human resource theories, industrial-organizational theories, or otherwise (Perrone and Meyers, 2019).…”

Homeward Bound: Educational Leaders’ Perceptions of Hiring Repatriating International Teachers

“…Also, across various hiring contexts, personal fit includes qualities necessary to succeed in the job. In a study of educational leaders' hiring preferences in Belize, for example, teacher applicants who demonstrated motivation and a caring disposition in addition to expertise and teaching ability dominated study participants' preferences (Ingle, Thompson, & Abla, 2018). Lindsay Diamond, MaryAnn Demchak, and Tammy Abernathy (2020) found that rural elementary school principals in the United States preferred applicants who are recognized in the community or through their teaching evaluations.…”