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A scalable model for teacher pedagogical mentorship: Evidence from Madagascar

Wed, April 17, 1:30 to 3:00pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Pacific Concourse (Level -1), Pacific F

Proposal

Scalable and sustainable teacher pedagogical mentorship depends on a well-defined structure and support system at a country-wide level. In Madagascar’s recently launched Education Sector Plan (2018-2022), principal objectives include ensuring a teacher training model that is coherent with the curriculum reform and revitalizing the role of the school director as “encadreur pédagogique de proximité” or pedagogical mentors to teachers and the role of the district/zone supervisor (Chef ZAP) in their support to school directors as pedagogical mentors. The USAID-funded and FHI 360-implemented Mahay Mamaky Teny (MMT) or “I know how to read” program in Madagascar partnered with the Ministry of National Education (MEN) in Madagascar and the World Bank to define school leadership and pedagogical mentorship standards and to develop and pilot a model, training, and support tools for pedagogical mentors. The pilot was implemented with Grade 1 teachers, their pedagogical mentors (school directors), and their district/zone supervisor in 60 schools in two districts of Madagascar and included several components which included a teacher pedagogical mentorship model. The approach to piloting involved formative evaluation on an ongoing basis so that the model, training, and support tools could be adjusted to address challenges as it was implemented.

Results from the pilot identified several promising avenues and lessons learned, namely: 1) the benefit of including mentors in the teacher training so they could effectively mentor teachers in the successful application of new strategies; 2) the importance of alignment and coherence of mentorship training modules with the strategies and content embedded in the teaching and learning materials; 3) the importance of maintaining a balance between theory and practice in the trainings and modeling the coaching approach in the training; and 4) the possibility of extending mentorship training to interested teachers within a school in order to address the issue of school directors’ multiple responsibilities. This presentation will discuss the context for teacher pedagogical mentorship in Madagascar, the process MMT and the MEN undertook to pilot, evaluate, and learn lessons along the way, and how the MEN has used the results of the pilot to identify a scalable and sustainable model for pedagogical teacher mentorship in Madagascar.

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