Exploring school-based education stakeholders’ perspectives on quality of education in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the context of the Schools2030 initiative.

• In Event: Co-creating evidence from the bottom up: The Schools2030 approach to understanding what works in raising holistic learning outcomes.

Proposal

This presentation is based on a study which aims to identify and generate classroom and school-based effective, sustainable, culturally relevant, and contextually workable practices and ideas to change the understanding and paradigms of thinking on how sustainable, workable, and replicable solutions can be developed. The study is conducted in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The study’s overarching theme is stakeholder perspectives on quality in education as these inform the entire educational process and the ability of schools and communities to develop school-based initiatives that provide rewarding, educative experiences that support learners’ growth that are satisfying the demands of multiple groups: students themselves, their parents and communities, school leaders and teachers, education administrators and policymakers. The research seeks evidence-based, actionable, and contextually relevant strategies to improve holistic learning outcomes for children and young people within their classroom and school contexts through a mixed-methods approach, gathering both quantitative and qualitative data. This is of great significance in itself but also will reveal understandings among stakeholders of any issues relevant to quality in education, especially stakeholders’ perspectives on equity and inclusion within quality education, and what approaches they see as ensuring equitable, inclusive education. The study takes a school-based focus on identifying local stakeholders’ (teachers, students, school leaders, and parents) perspectives towards quality education, challenges to quality and responses to these challenges, which can be shared with other educators and researchers and inform policy and approaches for improving holistic learning outcomes. The study focuses on youth in key transition years (10 and 15 years), parents, teachers, and school leaders in thirty sites (public primary and secondary schools and youth programs) participating in the Schools2030 project in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Data are gathered through focus groups and interviews, observations, survey questionnaires, and documents. The method is equitable and inclusive, treating all stakeholders as significant partners in the education process and engaging them in reflection and dialogue on their visions for quality in education for their schools and communities. Such multi-stakeholder dialogue on policy and planning is expected to have a transformative impact through its contribution to collaborative deliberation within and across stakeholder groups leading to local empowerment and capacity development at the community and school level. Through local seminars, workshops, and publication of resources produced by the project (texts, audio, and video recordings) and the creation of stakeholder networks, we expect this collaborative multi-stakeholder collaboration to continue in participating schools beyond the term of the project and to extend beyond the schools studied to bring in schools from other communities as networks. This presentation shares preliminary findings of the study, whose broader findings will be made use of nationally, regionally, and internationally as resources for communities and schools facing similar challenges.

Author

• Stephen A Bahry, OISE - University of Toronto