Strengthening remedial education to mitigate learning losses

• In Event: Improving education outcomes and mitigating shocks through an integrated literacy and school feeding program

Proposal

While remedial education is a fundamental strategy to support students to recover from crisis-induced learning losses, it is often neither a requirement nor a funded mandate for teachers. In Timor-Leste, the use of formative assessments and the provision of remedial learning were already part of the national curricular guidelines prior to the COVID-19 crisis. The need for remedial support has become even more important following COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020-21, with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports issuing a circular to teachers in late 2020 requiring the provision of remedial classes on Saturdays. Nonetheless, as of October 2020, only 23 percent of sampled rural and remote schools were providing remedial classes (Consilient, 2021). This proportion has since increased to 53 percent of the assessed project-supported schools in 2022. Among the schools implementing remedial classes during the second term in 2022, 40 percent have conducted at least five remedial sessions per term (Author, 2022). In parallel, the proportion of project-supported teachers seeking to engage non-participating students during class has consistently increased – from 60 percent at the baseline to 73 percent in 2022 (Author, 2022). This presentation will discuss the factors affecting the provision of remedial support to early grade students and its impact on education outcomes in rural and remote areas.

Author

• Brittany Davis, CARE USA