| As education is integrated as an international,intercultural and global dimension,it is a growing and competitive area for teachers worldwide,particularly in reform countries.Consequently,how the teachers are implementing their teaching approaches and participating in the education reform process has emerged a pivotal role in shaping civilizations to achieve the desired common objectives.In recent years,the significant advances in decentralized curriculum and learning-by-doing teaching,and giving more freedom to students have been examined in Myanmar.During the Reform period,the Ministry of Education in Myanmar programmed the National Education Strategic Plan,NESP(2016-2021),which committed to improving the basic education curriculum to make it more relevant to the lives of students by focusing on 21st-century skills,soft skills(including personal development and employability skills),and higher-order thinking skills.This has been of interest for a considerable period ranging from the early 2015 period starting the significant reforming process of Myanmar,especially the education sector.Basic Education Reform is a highly emphasized and politicized change from teacher-directed practices to child-centered practices by giving the necessary support that mainly plays the teachers' autonomy in the classroom.However,there are still the teachers who used the teacher-directed practices in the classroom,although the education reform guidelines emphasize implementing the child-centered practices because they deeply rooted the lecture method to relay the concepts and knowledge.Starting from the 2016-2017 academic year when the KG curriculum changed,in the 2019-2020 academic year,KG,Grade 1,Grade 2,and Grade 3 have been changed and implemented.Therefore,it was found the practical gap that education reform should be examined,especially in Myanmar's classroom of reformed grades.And also,the literature also highlighted that there were no prior studies of the effect of autonomy features on teachers' practices in the classroom and the mediating roles.So this study emphasizes to study the teachers who are teaching KG,Grade 1,Grade 2,and Grade 3.Firstly,the researcher targeted to study the differences in the dimensions of child-centered practices and teacher-directed practices according to teachers' gender and teaching grades.Secondly,it aimed to study the effect of the teachers' autonomy on child-centered practices in the classroom.According to the third research objective,it was to investigate the effect of the teachers' autonomy on teacher-directed practices in the classroom.Next,the researcher intended to explore the mediation of principal autonomy support and autonomous motivation towards the effect of the teachers' autonomy on child-centered practices.Additionally,the researcher attempted to examine the mediation of principal autonomy support and controlled motivation towards the effect of the teachers' autonomy on teacher-directed practices in the classroom.After those,the qualitative research aim was to explore the other factors that supported or hindered the teachers' practices due to autonomy features.This study is a mixed-methods explanatory research design to gain practical knowledge through the collection of diverse types of data that provide the best understanding of the research problem(John W Creswell&Creswell,2017)and indicate how the findings might find applied in practice.These include procedures for collecting,analyzing,interpreting,reporting data in research studies.In this study,the researcher used QUAN-qual research design.As the quantitative phase,the researcher used the questionnaires by convenient sampling method to distribute via Qualtrics Survey to the teachers who are teaching in Primary Reformed Grades(KG,Grade 1,Grade 2,and Grade 3).There were 1265 participants who completely answered in this study.The research instrument for the quantitative study included five parts:demographics characteristics,principal autonomy support,motivational regulation(intrinsic motivation and identified motivation as autonomous motivation and introjected motivation and external motivation as controlled motivation),teachers' autonomy(general teaching autonomy,curricula autonomy and assessment autonomy),and the teachers' practices(child-centered management,child-centered climate and child-centered instruction as child-centered practices,and teacher-directed management,teacher-directed climate and teacher-directed instruction as teacher-directed practices).The scales are five-point Likert scale.It included as participants from Kachin(50),Kayah(40),Kayin(30),Chin(15),Mon(31),Rakhine(10),Shan(72),Mandalay(119),Sagaing(110),Magway(189),Bago(122),Yangon(100),Ayeyarwaddy(125),Thanintharyi(88)and Naypyidaw(164).Rakhine State and Chin State have no full access to the internet,and so the response rate is low.In the qualitative phase,the researcher follows up semi-structured interviews with the participants who wish to participate in exploring the other factors for implementing the teachers' practices in the classroom successfully due to autonomy features.They are three from Upper Myanmar and two from Lower Myanmar(each State and each Region).I interviewed 5 participants in-person and firstly got informed consent with the seven main questions.After the expert review to discuss the equivalence of the instrument,the researcher firstly surveyed as a pilot study with participants 226 in one township.The responses from the pilot study were examined by the reliability coefficient and exploratory factor analysis.After extracting the factors to determine the appropriate number of factors through Principal Component Analysis(PCA)and Varimax Rotation,it determined the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin(KMO),Barlett's Test of Sphericity(BTS),and factor loadings.In the main survey,there were 1265 primary teachers teaching in Reformed Grades who participated in the online survey.The responses from the main study were firstly tested the confirmatory factor analysis,and the preliminary analysis for the research questions.In examining confirmatory factor analysis,p-value,factor loading,Average Variance Extracted(AVE),discriminant validity,and composite reliability were considered.The p value associated with each loading should be significant.Hair,Black,Babin,and Anderson(2019)stated that standardized regression weights should be above 0.6.According to Hair et al.(2019),AVE should be above 0.5 to be adequate convergent validity.Discriminant validity is supported if the fit of the two construct models is significantly different from that of the one-construct model.In discriminant validity,it was shown that the diagonal line is larger than the correlation of the construct model.The rule of thumb for this study was Chi-square(?2/df)(between 2 and 5).Some common fit indices the Normed Fit Index(NFI),Tucker Lewis Index(TLI),Incremental Fit Index(IFI),the Comparative Fit Index(CFI)should be between 0 and 1,and the index of Root Mean Square Error of Approximation(RMSEA)should be between 0.05 and 0.10(Blunch,2008).Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Principal Autonomy SupportThe measurement model of the principal autonomy support is that one item(AS6),which was less than 0.6 of standardized regression weight,was removed.The model fit values are CMIN/df=4.718,NFI=.980.RFI=.976,IFI=.984,TLI=.981,CFI=.984,and RMSEA=.054.The instrument's Cronbach's reliability(0.970),composite reliability(0.971),and average variance extracted value(0.708)showed having and reliability and validity.EFA and CFA of Motivational RegulationBecause of the motivational regulation,the teachers' autonomy,and the teachers' practices are modified to some extent;the researcher verified the factor structure using principal component analysis with Varimax Rotation.The Exploratory Factor Analysis showed that the model is four-factor model structure of motivational regulation by considering KMO(0.87),BTS(0.000),eigenvalues(greater than 1),and factor loadings(greater than 0.4).The Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the required model fit indices were achieved,although the value of CMIN/df was not within the range that can be ignored in large samples(CMIN/df=8.939,NFI=.931,RFI=.917,IFI=.938,TLI=.925,CFI=.938,and RMSEA=.079.The instrument's Cronbach(.880,.885,.895 and.843),Composite Reliability(.881,.887,.899 and.845),Average Variance Extracted(.650,.666,.692 and.58)and Discriminant Validity(.806,.81 6,.832 and.761)showed that the instrument is a reliable and valid one to use in this research.EFA and CFA for Teachers' AutonomyIt consisted of three sub-scales:general teaching autonomy,curricula autonomy,and assessment autonomy.Exploratory Factor Analysis results confirmed that the model is three-factor structure model with the values of KMO(0.91),BTS(0.000),eigenvalues(greater than 1),and the factor loadings(0.4).Confirmatory Factor Analysis provided a good fit for the data with CMIN/df=7.675,NFI=.964,RFI=.957,IFI=.969,TLI=.962,CFI=.969 and RMSEA=.073.This model is after removing the items lower than 0.6 in standardized regression weights and connecting the seven maximum covariances.The teachers' autonomy instrument can be used in the research,which indicates Cronbach Alpha(.975,.887 and.955),Composite Reliability(.974,.889 and.957),Average Variance Extracted(.793,.672,.904)and Discriminant Validity(.890,.819 and.904).EFA and CFA of the Teachers' PracticesIn teachers' practices,there included two distinct constructs(child-centered and teacher-directed)and so applied separately in factor analysis.For child-centered practices,it confirmed three-factor structure model,and for teacher-directed practices also,the model is three-factor structure model with the results of exploratory factor analysis.Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the model fit values are CMIN/df=9.866,NFI=.959,RFI=.949,IFI=.963,TLI=.954,CFI=.963 and RMSEA=.084 and can be assumed that it a good model for child-centered practices.This model is acquired after removing one item that is lower than 0.6 of standardized regression weights.Cronbach(.835,.861 and.965),Composite Reliability(.837,.868 and.964),Average Variance Extracted(.566,.690 and.818)and Discriminant Validity(.752,.830 and.905).For teacher-directed practices as a three-factor model,the model fit values are CMIN/df=8.537,NFI=.965,RFI=.957,IFI=.969,TLI=.962,CFI=.969 and RMSEA=.077.Cronbach(.862,.879 and.970),Composite Reliability(.866,.886 and.969),Average Variance Extracted(.620,.666 and.843)and Discriminant Validity(.788,.815 and.918)showed that it is the reliable and valid instrument.Preliminary Analysis-The researcher screened the data before the analysis of the findings.The data were normally distributed with the acceptable range of Skewness and Kurtosis.There were no multicollinearity problems according to the values of Tolerance and VIF.And the researcher removed 139 observations from the 1265 participants because of multivariate outliers,and it remained 1126 participants to examine the research questions.Descriptive Statistics,MANOVA,SEM,and SEM mediation were run to find the research questions.According to the descriptive results,the teachers perceived the principal autonomy support to a great extent.In motivational regulation,the teachers' intrinsic motivation is the highest,the identified motivation is high,the introjected motivation is low,and the external motivation is the lowest with their teaching in the classroom.The teachers also get their autonomy in general teaching,curricula,and assessment to a fairly great extent.The teachers also implement their teaching strategies highly by using child-centered practices in the classroom.In contrast,the teachers rarely use teacher-directed approaches showing the low mean score.MANOVA also examined the differences in child-centered practices and teacher-directed practices according to gender,teaching grades,and the interaction between gender and teaching grades.It was found that there were no significant differences according to the gender and the interaction between gender and teaching grades on both child-centered practices and teacher-directed practices in the classroom.But there were significant differences in both child-centered practices and teacher-directed practices according to the teachers' teaching grades.Games-Howell test revealed that the Grade 2 teachers are likely to use more child-centered in management and climate than Grade 3 teachers,and KG and Grade 2 teachers are likely to use more child-centered instruction than Grade 3 teachers.For teacher-directed practices,Grade 3 teachers tend to teach more teacher-directed in management and instruction than Grade 2 teachers and climate than KG and Grade 2 teachers do.It can be interpreted that the teachers in lower grades have more probability to use child-centered approach.To find the second research question,it can be seen that SEM results revealed that general teaching autonomy(?=0.117,p-value<0.001),curricula autonomy(?=0.137,p-value<0.001),and assessment autonomy(?=0.478,p-value<0.001)have a significant positive impact on child-centered management practices.Among the teacher autonomy dimensions,the assessment autonomy is the greatest positive significant predictor to child-centered management practices.The general teaching autonomy(?=.312,p-value<0.001,curricula autonomy(?=.098,p-value<0.001)and assessment autonomy(?=.270,p-value<0.001)have a significant impact on child-centered climate practices.In these regression paths,it can be found that the general teaching autonomy is the greatest positive significant influence on child-centered climate practices.The general teaching autonomy(?=.204,p-value<0.001),curricula autonomy(?=.148,p-value<0.001)and assessment autonomy(?=.370,p-value<0.001)have a significant impact on child-centered instruction practices.It can be interpreted that 43.6%of the variance in child-centered management practices,37.3%in child-centered climate practices,and 41.1%in child-centered instruction practices are explained by teachers' autonomy in the classroom(general teaching autonomy,climate autonomy,and assessment autonomy).SEM results were investigated to examine the third research question.It was found that general teaching autonomy(?=-.138,p-value<0.001),curricula autonomy(?=-.167,p-value<0.001),and assessment autonomy(?=-.437,p-value<0.001)have a significant negative impact on teacher-directed management practices.The assessment autonomy is the greatest negative significant effect on child-centered management practices among three independent variables.The general teaching autonomy(?=-.283,p-value<0.001,curricula autonomy(?=-.123,p-value<0.001)and assessment autonomy(?=-.254,p-value<0.001)have a significant negative impact on teacher-directed climate practices.In this regression path,the general teaching autonomy is the greatest negative significant impact on teacher-directed practices.The general teaching autonomy(?=-.140,p-value<0.001),curricula autonomy(?=-.165,p-value<0.001)and assessment autonomy(?=-.487,p-value<0.001)have a significant negative impact on teacher-directed instruction practices.In this regression path,the assessment autonomy is the greatest negative significant impact on teacher-directed instruction practices.And it was also found that 43.7%of the variance in teacher-directed management practices,34.3%in teacher-directed climate practices,and 50.3%in teacher-directed instruction practices are explained by teachers' autonomy in the classroom(general teaching autonomy,climate autonomy,and assessment autonomy).The fourth research question answered that the results of direct,indirect,and total effects on child-centered practices are found to be non-zero and significant,so the possibility of the value becoming zero in the population parameters is ruled out at 95%confidence interval of both percentile method and correlated biased method on curricula autonomy and assessment autonomy,but in general teaching autonomy,the indirect effect is not significant.The effect of curricula autonomy(?=.166 to.13)and assessment autonomy(?=.485 to.40)on child-centered practices becomes decreases after entering the mediation variable.The principal autonomy support and autonomous motivation partially mediate the effect of curricula autonomy with indirect effect of 0.040 and assessment autonomy with the indirect effect of 0.92 on child-centered practices but do not mediate the effect of the general teaching autonomy on child-centered practices according to SEM mediation with Bootstrapping method.It was also found in the fourth research question that the results of direct,indirect,and total effects of curricula autonomy and assessment autonomy on teacher-directed practices are found to be non-zero and significant,at 95%confidence interval of both percentile method and biased correlated method but in general teaching autonomy,the indirect effect is not significant.The effect of curricula autonomy(?=-.19 to-.14)and assessment autonomy(?=-.51 to-.37)on teacher-directed practices becomes decreases after entering the mediation variable.Therefore,the principal autonomy support and autonomous motivation partially mediate the effect of curricula autonomy with indirect effect of-0.046 and assessment autonomy with the indirect effect of-0.147 on teacher-centered practices but do not mediate the effect of the general teaching autonomy on child-centered practices according to SEM mediation with Bootstrapping method.Finally,the qualitative follow-up part of this study explored how beyond what the teachers implement their practices due to autonomy features in the sample of five teachers who reported the high child-directed practices in the quantitative survey based on SEM mediation with Bootstrapping method.The data obtained from interviews explored that multiple themes including children's collaboration and cooperation,multi-media and too many activities,the difference in intelligence,student-teacher ratio,parents' unacceptance,insufficient time,salary,playground,grade transition,homework,training,and inspection cause child-centered or teacher-directed due to autonomy features as dominant areas of importance based on qualitative analysis of survey responders.This study highlights the importance of supporting the teachers' autonomy to implement child-centered practices.This study suggests the need to change into the child-centered practices with teacher-directed practices to meet the Ministry of Education guidelines to establish a coherent framework for change initiatives by supporting the autonomy features in the classroom to the teachers.Overall,this study strengthens the idea that although the teachers are implementing the child-centered practices more if they have autonomy in the classroom,it highlighted that some other factors are also mediating the effect of teacher autonomy on teaching practices partially.Further,results from this study can lead the field of education to a more accurate and systematic understanding of the extent to which the importance of getting autonomy in the classroom can affect their actions in the classroom.In addition,the results of this study reveal that in the real world,the teachers have to cope with several important constraints such as teaching aids,limited instructional time,and the acceptance of parents.Thus,according to the teachers in this study,the child-centered teaching principles should take these constraints into account The insights gained from this study may be of assistance to policymakers and school principals on how to provide autonomy and some of the factors when the teachers are in the classroom at the reforming time and make reduction like that time insufficiency and fulfill the needs such as teaching aids and co-teachers to mandate the expansion of instructional time. |
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