Do We Know as Much as We Think? Aligning Teachers’ Lived Realities with Ecosystem Perceptions

BY: Alexei McGregor, MEL & Research Head

There are several areas of broad agreement within the education innovation ecosystem. One of these is the importance of ensuring that all learners are supported and have access to EdTech, and avoiding a reality where only those in private schools or wealthier households benefit from EdTech solutions.

In practice, this becomes particularly challenging in rural and peri-urban communities, which typically have limited access to resources, face more frequent staffing shortages, and are served by teachers who often have fewer opportunities for professional development. For these and other reasons, learning outcomes in rural and peri-urban areas tend to be lower than those of learners in urban settings.

This leads to a second point of agreement within the EdTech ecosystem: if EdTech is going to meaningfully support these learners, it must be grounded in the lived realities of educators, especially those working in under-resourced contexts.

Our Approach

For EdTech to be grounded in these realities, we must assume that those designing EdTech solutions truly understand this context. But is that actually the case? 

To explore this, we conducted a rapid, dipstick study examining the motivational factors and challenges facing public school teachers in peri-urban and rural areas, and comparing these with the perceptions held by South African EdTech Week attendees—a proxy for the South African EdTech ecosystem. The survey included 217 teachers and 50 ecosystem stakeholders and innovators.

We acknowledge that the sample size for rural teachers could be larger, and that a larger sample of ecosystem stakeholders would strengthen the findings. It is also important to note that, because the data was collected through an online survey, the teachers who participated are likely to be relatively digitally literate and already more digitally engaged than average. However, despite these limitations, we believe the findings still offer valuable insights worth discussing and learning from.

Teacher Motivations

Teachers were asked to identify their four most important motivational factors. We presented thirteen possible factors, grouped into four themes: Institutional Support and Recognition, Professional Fulfilment, Student Impact, and Financial Incentives. From this list, teachers identified the following as their most important motivations:

• Opportunities for professional growth and development (60% of teachers)
• Access to quality teaching resources and tools (55% of teachers)
• Improved student performance (54% of teachers)
• Improved student engagement (41% of teachers)

When we asked the ecosystem proxy what they believed rural and peri-urban teachers’ most important motivations were, we were encouraged to see a very high level of alignment. Ten of the thirteen areas showed no statistically significant difference between teachers’ perceived importance and the ecosystem proxy. However, three areas did show meaningful differences:

• Improved student performance – rated more important by teachers than by the ecosystem proxy
• Increased salaries – rated more important by the ecosystem proxy than by teachers
• Recognition and appreciation from school leadership – rated more important by the ecosystem proxy than by teachers

Teacher Challenges

Teachers were also asked to identify the four challenges that most affected them. We presented fifteen possible challenges, grouped into five themes: Resource and Infrastructure Constraints, Workforce and Workload Pressures, Institutional and Leadership Challenges, Classroom and Learner Diversity, and External and Community Factors. Teachers identified the following as their most significant challenges:

• Overcrowded classrooms (61% of teachers)
• Limited access to learning resources (books, materials, EdTech, etc.) (47% of teachers)
• Heavy workload and administrative burden (41% of teachers)
• Poor classroom facilities (furniture, lighting, etc.) (37%of teachers)

Again, a strong pattern of alignment emerged; 11 of the 15 challenge areas showed no statistically significant difference between teachers and the ecosystem proxy. The areas that did show significant differences were:

• Limited access to learning resources – rated far more important by the ecosystem proxy than teachers
• Heavy workload – rated as more important by teachers than the ecosystem proxy
• Limited parental involvement – rated more important by teachers than the ecosystem proxy
• Socioeconomic factors – rated more important by the ecosystem proxy than teachers

It is important to note that two of the misaligned areas were also among the top four challenges identified by teachers, highlighting the need for closer alignment in these high-priority areas.

Integration & Closing Thoughts

While we acknowledge that further research with larger sample sizes would strengthen these findings, the early indications are encouraging. The ecosystem appears to have a generally accurate understanding of rural and peri-urban teachers’ motivations and challenges. However, there are still important areas of misalignment, particularly those teachers rate as highly important, that present opportunities for deeper engagement and listening to ensure solutions are grounded in the realities of educators working in under-resourced contexts.

And so, to EdTech innovators: remember that you already know a great deal, and that is valuable. But don’t become complacent. There is always more to learn if we are truly to serve these learners well.

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