Language of instruction and the Girls' Education Challenge (GEC) – An overview

• In Event: Putting language of instruction on the girls' education agenda

Proposal

The Girls' Education Challenge (GEC) works with 41 projects across 17 countries, focusing on girls' access, inclusion and learning. The GEC is funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and has enabled 1.52 million girls to access learning opportunities. During the initial stages of implementation between 2012 and 2017, many GEC projects were struck by the challenges that language-in-education presented, both for the girls included in interventions and for project delivery and evaluation. As a result, GEC projects have delivered many interventions, including local language materials and dedicated support for the 69% of GEC girls who came to school unable to speak the official LoI. As a result, many projects have collected more data relating to language and have carefully considered the implications of these findings for their continuing work. This overview brings together findings and reflections from across the GEC portfolio.

In the different contexts in which the GEC works, LoI policies and practices take different forms, depending on the structure of national and regional education systems and the local language environments. Most of the countries are multilingual, and schools often bring together students and teachers from more than one home language community. Despite differences in context, language is a widespread challenge, and large numbers of girls across GEC projects are being educated through one (or more) language(s) with which they are unfamiliar. Projects regularly identify LoI as a barrier for girls that impacts their opportunities for accessing, continuing, and thriving in education.

Note: For many GEC countries, there are multiple languages used by larger (majority) populations and smaller (minority) groups. When referencing mother tongue above, more often than not, the LoI is the mother tongue of the majority in a community, and less often, it includes the mother tongue of minority groups.

While difficulty with the LoI continues to constrain girls' learning in countries where GEC projects operate, the GEC projects are working with teachers, schools, communities and education authorities to implement strategies to reduce this barrier. Though there are limitations created by educational policies that have been resistant to systemic change, projects have innovated in response to their local contexts and challenges. Projects have chosen a wide range of approaches to the problem, from remedial lessons and catch-up classes to address girls' foundational gaps in the LoI to training teachers to integrate flexible language use during lessons. When deployed as part of a broader approach to girls' education that attends to the multiple constraints girls face, many projects have seen improved learning outcomes in the LoI. This presentation will highlight cross-cutting themes concerning girls' education and LoI, drawing from observations from various GEC projects in different countries.

Authors

• Emma Sarton, Cambridge Education

• Alicia Mills, Girls' Education Challenge