Effects of school closures during COVID-19 on Rwandan teachers and school leaders

• In Event: Adapting secondary schooling in Rwanda to the context of COVID-19: Lessons from the Leaders in Teaching Initiative

Proposal

As with many countries and educational initiatives worldwide, Rwanda and the Leaders in Teaching initiative have been profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, all schools were closed on March 14th following a Ministry of Health directive and all students in boarding schools were sent back to their homes. At the time of writing, schools remain closed in Rwanda and the timing of reopening is yet to be announced. The COVID-19 pandemic has been met with an unprecedented preventive reaction by the Rwandan government. Following students’ return to their homes, initiatives were put in place to enable studies to be pursued online. In this vein, the Rwanda Education Board availed a substantial amount of resources online via its website and YouTube platform for both primary and secondary students. In order to enable access to learning content for the most economically disadvantaged, education authorities started delivering lessons by leveraging several airtime slots on the national radio station.

In order to understand the effects of COVID-19 on teachers’ and school leaders’ ability to support learning during school closures, and their views on measures that would need to be in place for re-opening, in August 2020 we conducted phone surveys with school headteachers and STEM teachers at 298 secondary schools to assess their experience with supporting students during school closures, and issues to consider when schools re-open. Specifically, the phone surveys explored the effects of school closures on continuation of schooling (including via distance teaching and learning); and continuation of teacher and school leadership training. With respect to re-opening, they addressed issues of school preparedness with respect to resuming in-school classes, with adaptations that will be needed, and mitigating potential future health outbreaks.

Results from our surveys revealed that most STEM teachers had some form of technology needed to support students, although there was a wide gap between school leaders and teachers in access to computers. Only a minority of teachers reported that they were actively able to support students at the time of the survey. Part of the explanation might be due to the low levels of experience of the teachers with online teaching prior to the pandemic, and less than one half receiving guidance on how to keep education going during the closures. Around one third of teachers were able to access some form of continuous professional development during the school closure period. With respect to schools re-opening, headteachers assessed their schools as being moderately prepared for reopening in terms of their ability to meet COVID Standard Operating Procedures. Worryingly, for example, less than one half believed that handwashing facilities would be adequate. Of concern also is that many teachers thought it likely that the poorest, weakest learners, and those who were over-age would not return to school. These results have implications both for preparations for schools when they re-open and for informing our understanding of the priorities for the Leaders in Teaching programme in going forward.

Authors

• Philip Leonard, Laterite

• Emma Carter, University of Cambridge

• Sam Nzaramba, Laterite

• Pauline Rose, University of Cambridge