Improving education through collective action; Development and implementation of a supervision model with the Ministry of Education in Mozambique

• In Event: The power to disrupt: making data accessible to empower local decision-makers

Proposal

This abstract explores the power of collective action to improve education within the context of the USAID/SABER program in Mozambique. SABER is implemented by World Education, (WE), local partners and the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH). SABER raised awareness on high teacher and student absenteeism; a lack of accurate data on teaching and learning, and the gap between analyzing education data and planning for action. Together with MINEDH, SABER works to inform relevant stakeholders about the situation on the (school)ground. And this situation is not where it should be. Recent outcry in Mozambique about the shortage and quality of learning material, high absenteeism and poor learning outcomes has created a broad social consciousness about the need for reform.
WE is working since 2015 with MINEDH to develop and implement supervision guidelines. An online data collection platform is tailored to MINEDHs education indicators and real time data informs all stakeholders on central, provincial and district level of issues around the quality of education. Supervision and data collection is conducted by provincial and district officials with oversight from central level staff. All data is entered into the online platform; cleaned, analyzed and presented by MINEDH staff, supported by SABER.
District supervision guidelines underwent further revisions this year and school director, teacher and student attendance will now be collected as is student learning data and other establish indicators around coaching and school management.The revised supervision guidelines and the online platform are approved for national scale up. The next phase of the project aims to improve the dashboard functionality and roll out the intervention in other provinces and districts. WE continuous to work with the Department of Technology and Information Communication to transfer the management of the online platform to MINEDH.
Sustained change began with gradually building awareness about quality of education from within; a country, a system, an individual or a group of people representing a cause. Informed by data and knowledge, it created an understanding evolving into a joint aspiration for change. This takes time, sometimes more time than we have or want. It is necessary though, to ensure the right approach and sufficient data and knowledge to drive agency.
This presentation will highlight how this process has started and what was needed to effectively collaborate with relevant stakeholders. We will further present evidence from the data to show the impact of the approach and to discuss potential challenges and solutions.

Author

• Lurdes Nakala, Government of Mozambique Ministry of Education and Human Development