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ROBERT A. CANNON
Abstract -- Structured group interviews with Thai and Indonesian educators indicate
that expatriate experts require a wide range of personal and professional qualities to
be effective: they must have expertise, be able to estabfish and maintain good
relationships with people, be well organised and effective teachers, and transfer
information and skills that are applicable and of benefit to the nation. None of these
qualities is simple or uni-dimensional. The study shows, for example, that 'expertise'
has several elements including technical expertise, cultural knowledge, language
ability and expertise in education. Practical implications of the findings are in
overseas project design, management and placement of personnel, professional
development of experts, and in the design, implementation and evaluation of teaching
and training.
Zusammenfassung -- Strukturierte Gruppeninterviews mit thail/indischen und indo-
nesischen Erziehern zeigen, dab augebiirgerte Experten weitreichende pers6nliche
und berufliche F/ihigkeiten ben6tigen, urn wirksam arbeiten zu k6nnen: Sie miissen
Fachwissen besitzen, gute Beziehungen zu Menschen kn/ipfen mad aufrechterhalten,
gut vorbereitete und effektive Lehrer sein und Informationen und F/ihigkeiten ver-
mittein, die anwendbar und von Nutzen fiir die Nation sind. Keine dieser Qualit/iten
ist einfach oder einseitig. Die Studie zeigt zum Beispiel, dab Fachwissen mehrere
Bereiche umfagt, wie z.B. technisches Fachwissen, Kulturkenntnisse, Sprachf/ihig-
keiten und Fachwissen auf dem Gebiet der Erziehung. Praktische Folgerungen aus
diesen Feststellungen finden sich in Projektentwiiffen in lJbersee, Management und
Personaleinsatz, beruflicher Entwicklung yon Experten sowie Entwurf, Durchffihrung
mad Evaluierung von Lehren und Fortbildung.
R6sum6 -- Des interviews structurdes de groupes avec des 6dncateurs tha'fs et
indongsiens indiquent que les experts expatri6s ndcessitent mac large gamme de
qualit6s personnelles et professionnelles pour 6tre efficaces: ils doivent 6tre expdri-
mentgs, 6tre capables d'gtablir et de malntenir de bolmes relations avec les gens, 6tre
des enseiguants bien organisds et efficaces, ils doivent transmettre des informations et
des comp6tences qui sont applicables et profitables /t la nation. Aucune de ces
qualitgs n'est simple ou unidimensionnelle. Cette gtude montre, par exemple, que la
"comp6tence" englobe plusieurs 616ments, tels que la compdtence technique, la
connaissance culturelle, l'aptitude linguistique et la comp6tence pgdagogique. Les
rgsultats obtenus ont des implications pratiques dans la conception des projets
d'outre met, l'administration et le recrutement du personnel, le ddveloppment profes-
sionnel des experts, au nivean de la conception, de la raise en oeuvre et de l'gvalua-
tion de l'enseignement et de la formation.
The Context
Approach
The paper has, as one of its purposes, the development of advice on good
teaching practice. It assumes that one particularly valid source of advice will
be from practising educators. Accordingly, thirteen 'structured-group inter-
views' were conducted in 1989 with 168 Indonesian and 36 Thai academics
and teachers from six different educational institutions to gather descriptive
information about their views on experts: see Table 1.
The groups, comprising volunteer respondents from each institution,
included women and men from a very broad range of disciplines and spe-
cialities. University and IKIP staff were from the disciplines of Mathematics,
Science, Engineering, Medicine, Law, Dentistry, Economics, Education and
455
Analysis
All items listed on the whiteboards were recorded in English and translations
cross-checked with counterparts and English-speaking respondents from the
groups. Votes were recorded for each item and subsequently converted by
linear scaling to a 'score' with a range of 0: -- no votes recorded at all, to
100: -- the most highly rated item from a particular country group. All items
were then assigned by two judges to five broad categories of professional and
personal qualities appropriate for experts conducting teaching activities.
Categories were developed from earlier work on teacher effectiveness
(Cohen, Trent and Rose 1973; Marsh 1987). The qualities were categorised
as follows:
-- O r g a n i s a t i o n : this refers to the ways in which teaching has been organised
and prepared for.
-- Instruction: this refers to all matters directly concerning the act of
teaching and learning, and to the assessment of learning and feedback to
students.
-- Relationships: this refers to the ways in which teachers relate to their
students. Personal qualities are an important aspect of this category
because of their fundamental importance in any relationship.
Two further categories were indicated by the information provided by the
groups in Thailand and Indonesia and by interviewees. These two categories,
which reflect aspects of teaching and general professional competency, are:
457
The qualities listed by the respondents in the structured groups generally fall
into the categories specified above, although inevitably there are the few that
could reasonably be assigned to more than one category. Considered
together, in their categories, the qualities describe aspects of professional and
personal conduct considered to be important and relevant in the eyes of the
people with whom the expert must interact. Considered comparatively, the
categories give a general picture of the relative importance of different
personal and professional qualities. For example, a simple count of the
number of qualities listed by respondents in the five different categories gives
the distribution shown in Table 2.
Relationship 59 32 41 60
Expertise 64 35 20 29
Instruction 40 22 5 8
Course content 11 6 2 3
Organisation 10 5 -- --
Total 184 100 68 100
Rating of professional and personal qualifies of experts Category Institution and group
(1 = highest rating, 2 = second highest rating, etc. etc.)
separately from the author. The most highly rated qualities listed in Table 3
are reported in the words used by respondents and have not been edited.
Table 4 presents professional and personal qualities of experts rated most
highly by the nine groups of Indonesian educators. The full inventory of the
184 items describing the qualities is available separately from the author. The
qualifies listed in Table 4 are reported in the words used by respondents and
have not been edited.
The following discussion seeks to explain and to describe each of the cate-
gories both in the terms of the qualifies identified by respondents to the
459
Rating of professional and personal qualities of experts Category Institution and group
(1 ~ highest rating, 2 ~ second highest rating, etc. etc.)
Table 4 (Continued)
Expertise
Language Ability
One route to greater cultural understanding is through language learning.
However, this kind of expertise was seen as important in this study only by
Indonesian respondents (although one Thai interviewee thought it might be
helpful to learn a few key words and phrases of Thai). For Indonesians,
language ability has two dimensions. The first is an appreciation of the
expert's ability to be able to speak Bahasa Indonesia. This ability is seen as a
means of enhancing communication and as an indication of cultural interest
and understanding. The second dimension of language ability is the capacity
to speak clear English. This dimension was raised only in Indonesia.
Expertise in Education
Here, competence in an understanding of teaching, curriculum, the national
education system, research methods and student learning characteristics are
seen as important. Technical expertise is essential in establishing credibility.
Interviews in both Thailand and Indonesia indicate that local professionals
have concerns that some experts are less qualified and experienced than
some of their own colleagues. Credibility suffers in these cases.
Finally, it is not sufficient just to be expert in the diverse areas named
above. It is vital to discharge this expertise through a willingness to work
hard. According to several interviewees, this requires more than a solid
9-to-5 day. It can involve evening preparation and marking, putting effort
into establishing and developing relationships, (both on-the-job and off-the-
job through social activities), and the ability to seek out areas where addi-
tional professional contribution can be usefully made, particularly as contexts
and needs change.
Relationships
Attitude
Closely connected to the personal qualities of the expert is the matter of
attitude -- to the people with whom they work, the work itself, and to the
country generally. Respondents listed the following attitudes, among others,
as having importance: goodwill, the acceptance of participants as they are,
respect for people from developing countries, a concern for the human
environment, not being paternalistic and being positive and optimistic.
Leadership
Leadership refers to a distinctive way in which the expert relates to others
and has been identified here as a separate characteristic. Experts' leadership
463
has been a topic of study in its own right. Schwarz, quoted in van den Bor
(1983:164) identified eleven dimensions of project leadership. Many of these
elements are strikingly similar to the qualities described in this study. The
elements of leadership Schwarz identified are: technical qualification, admin-
istrative ability, interpersonal relations, motivation, acceptance of constraints,
stability, poise, 'backbone', security and political finesse.
Organisation
Careful organisation, planning, and preparation are acknowledged hallmarks
of good teaching and management. There are three major 'players' in
organisational matters: the aid-provider, the expert and the host institution in
the developing country. There are two related, but distinguishable, aspects of
organisation: educational planning and preparation, and administrative
planning and preparation. Table 5 lists components of organisation identified
in experts' reports held by IDP -- the International Development Program of
Australian Universities and Colleges. The list is not intended to be exhaus-
464
By Expert By Expert
Establishing reliable communication with Timetabling
host
Clarifyingroles and purposes Content, approach, materials, and
methods of instruction
Prior site inspection Prior discussion with participants about
educational context and needs
Preparation for work in a different culture
By Overseas Host Institution By Overseas Host Institution
Photocopying/printing facilities Selection of appropriate staff:
Rooms and equipment (a) as counterparts for experts
Transportation (b) as participants
Release of and support for staff to attend
activity
Location of course
and follow-up
- Focus on the development and application of problem-solving strategies
-
Instruction
Lack of skill in the language of the host country is a difficult problem, but, in
theory at least, partly resolved by moving away from formal presentations
toward interactive problem-based learning -- indicated as desirable by
experts and respondents alike. Such a move has the additional benefit of
reducing the 'risk' of creating and transferring packages of Western tech-
nology.
Experts' reports reveal a variety of instructional approaches. Some indi-
cate a reliance on the traditional lecture method, possibly reflecting a
reported expectation by participants to be 'lectured', whereas others describe
interactive approaches. A few describe approaches designed to address quite
specific instructional concerns. For example, Hore describes contract learn-
ing as a means of establishing personal commitment and relevance of course
work to local needs and practice. Hore describes contract learning as that
" . . . where the participants, with assistance from the consultants, specified
what they would do and actually signed a contract with the team agreeing
that they would complete the requirements by a specified date. We reasoned
that the question of 'relevance' could not be denied if this technique were
successful" (Hore 1982:2).
According to Hore, the approach was positively received: "The thing that
the participants seemed to appreciate most was the time that had been
allowed in the workshop to practise some of the skills and ideas that had
been communicated. An important element of this was the Personal Project
module (Hore 1982:2). (This module provided the opportunity for partici-
pants to complete something of interest to them which could be used in their
teaching. Thus, desirable Course Content characteristics of applicability,
practicality and relevance were achieved.)
The Instructional process -- according to responses from the group inter-
views -- should have the following further characteristics:
- Motivation of students. Contract learning is one instructional approach to
-
Course Content
Philosophical Criteria
These criteria focus on theoretical, methodological and value positions. For
example:
- - Content should emphasise the practical rather than the theoretical.
- - Content should provide participants with resources to critically assess the
ethics of development issues, and the relevance, applicability and impact
of new ideas.
Psychological Criteria
These criteria relate to the application of psychological principles -- espe-
cially of learning theory -- to teaching:
-- Content should be carefully integrated to avoid fragmentation and con-
sequential loss of opportunities for participants to develop 'deep' ap-
proaches to learning.
Content selection must provide opportunities to emphasize and to
- -
Professional Criteria
These criteria recognize that courses for the professions may have explicit
legal and professional requirements:
- Content must provide the kinds of theoretical and practical experiences
-
Practical Criteria
These criteria concern the feasibility of teaching something and may relate to
resource considerations:
468
Participants' Criteria
These criteria relate to the characteristics of the participants on a course. The
Participants' criterion is an important one. It was raised in several interviews.
An issue here relates particularly to the level at which material is presented.
'Knowing the background' of the participants will help avoid embarrassment
when the expert's expectations are placed at the wrong level, when the level
of rigour is not appropriate, and when the pace of teaching leads to frustra-
tion or failure. Some experts, in the interviews, advocated timetabling flexi-
bility, in addition to careful preparation and course design, as strategies to
minimise the risks of teaching at the wrong level.
Alatas has drawn attention to a special problem when Southeast Asians
study abroad or when they participate in educational development activities.
He uses the terms 'captive' and 'captor minds' to describe the problem: "A
captive mind i s . . . a product of higher institutions of learning either at home
or abroad, whose way of thinking.., is dominated by Western thought in an
imitative and uncritical manner" (Alatas 1975:39). A captor mind is " . . . the
Western scholar or his Asian disciple who imparts knowledge through books
or lectures in a manner which does not promote consciousness of the funda-
mentals of scientific thinking and reasoning . . . it [knowledge] is not con-
textual, is not philosophical, is not relational, and is not intercultural" (Alatas
1975:44).
Alatas proposes that the problem can be overcome by awareness of the
potential problem, by learner assimilation in a selective and constructive
manner, and by teachers drawing attention to the problems of uncritical
imitation of knowledge. This process may involve the expert in drawing on
his or her experience in developing countries to provide relevant examples,
or the use of locally available case studies. We have already seen that
previous professional experience in developing countries is one characteristic
of Expertise considered important by respondents. Respondents also report
that the material taught by experts should be practical, relevant, beneficial
and applicable to local conditions and needs. If these criteria are adhered to,
they may also act as effective antidotes to the problem described by Alatas.
Conclusion
When they had completed their listing and review of qualities expected of
469
advisers, members of the groups smiled knowingly: "We have described the
perfect person," they said. Indeed, a great number and variety of qualities
had been identified. It is unlikely that any one person would have all of them.
Even if he or she did, it would be no guarantee of successful teaching in
development work. So much can depend on other complex factors, some of
which may be beyond the reach of the expert. Hennis, quoted in van den Bor
(1983:163), proposed the following factors of this kind: the social context of
the developing country; the expert's spouse and family; the characteristics of
the assigning organisation, and factors in the social context of the expert's
own country.
The qualities thought to be important for effective teaching have been
assigned to five categories: Expertise, Relationships, Instruction, Organisation
and Course Content. A problem with categorisation like this is that it is
potentially sterile and static -- when in fact the work of the expert is rich and
dynamic.
A sense of this richness and dynamism comes from looking at the lists of
qualities in a different way. First, we can see that there are certain funda-
mental qualities and qualifications that an expert is expected to possess.
These are described under the headings of 'Expertise' and 'Relationships' --
such qualities as technical expertise, cultural knowledge, personal qualities
and attitudes reflect the richness of an individual's education and personality.
To a large extent, however, these qualities describe a static dimension of the
expert -- the givens -- or what the expert is as a person. Second, there is the
dynamic dimension; this dimension, according to the respondents in this
study, is about what the expert does. What the expert does is part of his or
her working and social relationships, of the qualities of leadership, organisa-
tional skill, instructional processes, communication, and of the material
taught. When we examine what is taught -- Course Content -- we see that it
is dynamic in that it has direction and it has consequences. Indonesian
respondents, particularly, pointed to this aspect of Course Content. It is
directional and consequential in the sense that the material taught should 'be
applicable to Indonesian settings', that it should 'relate to needs' and
emphasise 'benefit for Indonesian conditions'. In other words, an outcome of
what is taught is a sense of positive relevance to the development of the
country.
The expatriate expert who is effective as a teacher or consultant in
Thailand and Indonesia should be in possession of a complex and wide range
of professional and personal qualities and skills, according to respondents in
this study. Professional behaviour, which is the most 'public' characteristic of
the expert in the developing country, evolves from a core of fundamental
personal and professional qualities that supports the expert's interaction with
others. Hopefully, it is this interaction which leads to constructive solutions
to problems, to meeting the needs of the people and the country, and to
providing the benefits which foreign aid is meant to deliver.
Understanding the perceived importance of professional and personal
470
Notes
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