Ek Tara
As part of the Behavioural Economics & Social Impact elective at London Business School, I collaborated with Ek-Tara, an NGO based in Kolkata, India, to address key challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers. The project involved analyzing the journey of potential hires, identifying behavioral barriers, and designing randomized experiments to test hypotheses. Leveraging insights from behavioral economics, I proposed solutions to improve recruitment strategies and developed final design recommendations to enhance teacher engagement and retention.
Info
Role and Resposibility
Research: Persona Mapping, Journey Mapping, Behavioral Analysis
Experiment Design: RCTs, Hypothesis Testing, Behavioral Nudges
Design Solutions: Prototyping, Design Recommendations, Recruitment Strategies
Collaboration: Stakeholder Presentations, Team Coordination
Project Context
Jan 2024 - May 2024
At:London Business School
Partner: Ek Tara
Tools
Team
Figma
Qualtrics
MTurk
Shravani Shinde,Venkat Rao, Yen-yi Chiang, Komal Pahwa, Jiangyue Wu
Story
What is EkTara's story?
Ek Tara is a registered charitable trust committed to improving the quality of life for girls and women in urban slum communities near Kolkata.
Ek-Tara’s Mission :
Facilitating holistic education for girls. Change in mindsets to elevate the position of girls. Create community leaders. Focus on collaborative networks to scale impact. Holistic education in a safe and nurturing environment through Improving communication skills. Encouraging logical thinking and reasoning. Facilitating employment opportunities. Enabling informed life choices. Changing mindsets towards position of girls in society.Empowering communities.
Challenge
Ek Tara is currently struggling with the following challenges -
🔄 Analysing and improving on internal processes to ensure teacher retention and growth.
📝 Need of parameters to look into to ensure effective process oriented deliverables from teachers.
📈 Analysing non-academic data to maximise potential of students.
💻 Leveraging technology to integrate student learning with staff deliverables to track student growth.
🎯 we narrowed down our scope to focus on one problem to help deliver higher impact
therefore,
addressing behavioral barriers to lower retention of qualified applicants can help recruit teachers who are committed to the organization's mission, leading to improved teaching processes and more efficient management within the system.
Strategy and approach
We aim to attract the right candidates aligned with Ek-Tara’s values from the start, improving teacher recruitment and retention. Our research involved literature reviews, web analysis, and interviews to uncover key pain points behind teacher dropouts.
Research
(primary +
secondary)
Observation
+
Insights
Behavorial
assesment
Prototyping
testing
Proposed
solution
Stakeholder Analysis
At the core of this map lies the relationship between management and teachers, the staff, and the collaboration with recruitment agencies for new teachers.We recognise that external factors such as the influence of teachers' families and personal lives, as well as considerations like commute time, can significantly impact their satisfaction and retention within Ek Tara. Understanding and addressing these factors are crucial for identifying bridges for intervention.
Primary research overview
Through three rounds of research, including in-depth interviews with two Ek-Tara teachers, we uncovered key challenges affecting teacher retention.
High Turnover Among Young Teachers:
Over 60% of teachers at Ek-Tara are young, but many leave within 6 months due to:
Commuting difficulties 🚶♀️🚌
Minimal holidays 📅
Long working hours ⏳
Young teachers often pursue further education while working, adding to the turnover challenge.
Career Transitions After Gaining Experience:
Many applicants lack a Bachelor’s in Education (B.Ed.) degree 🎓.
After gaining experience at Ek-Tara, they transition to mainstream school jobs 🏫, leaving a talent gap.
"Most of them join Ektara while pursuing their degree or start their degree after joining Ektara."
"It's more than a job—teachers manage back-to-back classes, stay engaged during lunch, and require immense patience to support children from diverse backgrounds."
meet Nia!
Goals:
Nia aims to excel in teaching, gain hands-on experience, and pursue a Ph.D. She is focused on long-term growth and open to exams to advance her career.
For Nia, Ek-Tara is more than a workplace—it's a supportive family where she feels connected and motivated. Pursuing her B.Ed through the organization drives her growth in teaching, a profession she’s deeply passionate about. Moments like receiving heartfelt teacher's day cards bring her immense fulfillment. While she values Ek-Tara, Nia hopes for greater recognition of teachers to boost morale and elevate the profession's status.
Gender : Female
Age : 22
Occupation: Teacher Experience : 1yr
Key Attributes: Motivated, Career Oriented, Active, Passionate, Energetic
meet Mani!
Goals:
Mani aspires to continue her journey at Ek-Tara as she loves to teach and see children grow. Wants to contribute and help other teachers
Mani left the corporate sector for Ek-Tara, motivated by her connection with the children she teaches. She values education for marginalized communities but believes teachers' efforts deserve more recognition and rewards. Concerned about teacher retention, she highlights issues like low salaries and work-life balance, stressing the need to address these challenges to sustain Ek-Tara’s mission.
Gender : Female
Age : 42
Occupation : Teacher transitioned to a manager
Experience : 6+ yrs Key Attributes : Patient, Motivated, Experienced
Upon analyzing the journey maps for our personas, we realized that young aspiring teachers could stay more motivated and committed to their roles by receiving support through a B.Ed. provided by Ek-Tara. This support would help them remain longer and contribute more effectively. 📚✨
How might we help Ek-Tara recruit new teachers who can be retained for a few years while staying committed to the organisation?
persona focus: Nia!
Based on our research and interviews, we hypothesize that Nia represents our targeted persona.Recent graduates looking to start their teaching careers would be motivated by the opportunity to learn and grow while pursuing a B.Ed. through Ek-Tara.
Nia's decision-making process for applying to Ek-Tara is divided into five phases: self-assessment, job search, job evaluation, document preparation, and job application.
By analyzing the first three phases, we identified three potential opportunities for behavioral intervention and finalised working on the job evaluation step.
Behavioral Experiment Design:
Our experiment primarily focuses on redesigning recruitment advertisements based on Ek Tara's existing documents and behavioral intervention opportunities. Our potential target may encounter through social media or other shared channels during the job hunting phase.
Behavorial Assessment
Poster A (control group)
We created a standard poster as a control group based on the organization's current job description document:
“Here, you will have freedom to grow in a world of opportunity.”
Our Culture: Connected, Fun, Collaborative, Transparent, Inclusive, Friendly
ATara, is a registered trust located in Kolkata, India working towards facilitating the integration of urban marginalised communities focused on the girl child through education and comprehensive development.
Poster B
Highlighting the positive aspects of teaching at Ek Tara, such as the opportunity to gain approval, acceptance, recognition, and contribute to a greater good, can make the role more appealing to potential applicants. This emphasis on a hopeful and rewarding future will resonate with those seeking a fulfilling career.
Related Behavioural theories: Social reward, Optimism Bias
Graphics: using emotional appeal to emphasise the connection and impact this job can make on young students.
Motivation: Social impact, Build connection with kids
Poster C
Constructing a message that not only addresses immediate needs but also involves building a future career image that resonates over time. “Apply now for a opportunity...” expecting to see if the applicants will prioritise their action over inaction.
Related Behavioural theories: Long-term bias, Action bias
Motivation: Future Growth
Barriers: Without well-planned career tenure in Ek Tara.
Uncertain about the career path they want to choose
Hard to find teaching jobs without degree or relevant experience
Poster D
Enhancing the perception of Ek Tara’s robust social impact and credibility, by listing related organisational partnership and verified certification.
Related Behavioural theories: Halo Effect
Motivation: Social impact, ORG Credibility
Poster E
Leveraging the positive stories of senior teachers to signal to potential applicants that teaching at Ek Tara is a successful path, encouraging them to follow suit.
Related Behavioural theories: Long-term, Social Norm, Framing
Motivation: Future Growth
Barriers: Without well-planned career tenure in Ek Tara. Uncertain
about the career path they want to choose
The experiment
Key Conditions for the experiment
To test our behavioral nudges, we conducted a Randomized Control Trial using Qualtrics and Mturk, receiving 484 responses.
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Respondents were Indian nationals for relevant data.
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The survey targeted those without a teaching degree, based on our research.
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The charity's name and logo were altered for confidentiality.
Test QuestionScenario: Imagine you don't have a Bachelor's degree in Education but want to pursue a career in teaching.
Control Group
B
C
D
E
The survey also collected basic demographics of age and gender of the users. However, it did not collect any information that could lead to them being identified or contacted later.
Data Anaylsis
The survey received an overall response of 484 users. The above chart demonstrated it’s distribution amongst various posters.From the 484 responses only 273 responses were taken forward for analysis based on the Age group 18-34. The selection was done as this age set was best suited for the teachers to work for EKTARA as found in our research.
Responses received for each poster:
Poster A: 92 responses
Poster B: 94 responses
Poster C: 106 responses
Poster D: 97 responses
Poster E: 95 responses
Responses for age group 18-24 & 25-34:
Poster A: 45 responses
Poster B: 56 responses
Poster C: 61 responses
Poster D: 55 responses
Poster E: 56 responses
Probably Yes (coded 4)
Probably Yes + Definitely Yes(coded 4 and 5)
Definitely Yes (coded 5)
Average Response
Observations: Gender-based data analysis revealed significant variation in responses. While Poster-C was the most popular among men, it performed poorly among women. This underscores the importance of experimentation in designing nudges, as responses can vary across demographics. Such experiments are crucial to validate interventions and ensure nudges are effective without unintended consequences.
Proposed Solution
Current text language used by Ek-Tara for job postings
Applying emotional appeal through drawings done by children
Enhancing Ek-Tara’s perception through credibility
Using framing in the form of communal mindset
Applying emotional appeal through drawings done by children
Ethical Considerations
Nudging New Teachers:
🤔 Is it ethical to nudge early-career teachers to stay longer? While we acknowledged their potential unpreparedness, we concluded that our approach creates a win-win: teachers gain experience and a degree 🎓, Ek-Tara retains reliable educators 💼, and underprivileged students receive quality education 📚.
Impact on Education Quality:
🔍 Research showed that young teachers, though less experienced, bring passion, hard work, and dedication ❤️🔥. This reassured us that the strategy will positively benefit Ek-Tara and its students in the long run 🌱.
Data Interpretation:
📊 Our analysis shows the data can be interpreted in different ways—are we confident in our findings? While no single poster stood out, a clear trend emerged. We recommend evaluating real-world responses based on earlier criteria to drive further improvements 🔍📈.
Impact Metrics
Here are some key metrics we believe can measure the impact of our proposed solution on teacher retention at Ek-Tara:
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Application Rate 📄
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Shortlisted Candidates ✅
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Reduction in Drop-out Rate 📉
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Improvement in Employment Tenure 📆
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Overall Motivation & Connection with Students 🤝👩🏫
The fun stuff
