How resilient and flexible are education system research methods during a pandemic? The case of RISE Ethiopia

• In Event: Innovations in research methods to study education systems

Proposal

COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruption to education systems. We aimed to understand how resilient and flexible education research methods are in the face of this disruption, using the research undertaken by the Research in Improving Systems of Education (RISE) in Ethiopia. The RISE Ethiopia team has been implementing a programme of research to understand more deeply the General Education Quality Improvement Programme (GEQIP-E) with specific focus on equitable access to quality education. In particular, our evidence is based on the common RISE Framework and on the knowledge gathered via our research on the political economy of Ethiopia, which helps to address more deeply issues of reform implementation and nature of the interventions (Iyer and Rossiter, 2018). We initiated a study to understand the extent to which the GEQIP-E reform affects learning outcomes in primary school as well as why, how and for whom this reform is working. This longitudinal study aims to track the learning progress of children in selected primary schools over time (Hoddinott et al., 2019). Additionally, specific schools were selected as cases to understand more deeply with observations and interviews with key school actors as well as parents and other educational officials, the nature of the implementation.
We anticipated that school closure following the COVID 19 pandemic is going to affect different group of children differently, exacerbating the inequality that already exist among children of different group. Hence it was important to obtain evidence on this inequality so that policy makers can try to correct it in advance. Different aspects of the programme of research have allowed us to provide rapid evidence during the pandemic. First, we provided evidence on regional variation in learning as well as availability of educational resources at home. Second, we were able to rapidly undertake a phone survey with key stakeholders which enable us to present evidence for educational challenges and opportunities during the pandemic. The phone research also allowed to include multiple voices and perspectives on school reopening plans and the challenges faced by school leaders and teachers. Third, the longitudinal study allowed us to provide the basis for estimating learning loss, school readiness and dropout which can be directly linked to the pandemic. Our forward-looking study has also provided us with the opportunity to measure learning over time, which is likely to take place during the new social distancing rules. Such a broad evidence-base has been possible due to the combination of research methods utilised in the original RISE Ethiopia research design. By originally focusing on different levels of understanding for the system (from national to local school level), from diverse perspectives (from government and donor to school actors, parents and children), and continuous engagement over time, we have been able to continuously provide relevant evidence during the pandemic.

Hoddinott, J., Iyer, P., Sabates. R, and Woldehanna T. (2019) Evaluating large-scale education reforms in Ethiopia. RISE Working Paper No 19/034. RISE Programme: Oxford Policy Management.
Iyer, P. and Rossiter, J. (2018) RISE, Coherent for Equitable Learning? Understanding the Ethiopian Education System [online]

Authors

• Ricardo Sabates, University of Cambridge

• Pauline Rose, University of Cambridge

• Tassew Woldehanna, Addis Ababa University