Behavioural Science for Pedagogical Change in South Africa

• In Event: Using Applied Behavioral Science to improve Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and India

Proposal

Funda Wande’s goal is for all children in South Africa to be able to read for meaning and calculate with confidence by the age of 10 by 2030. We do this by creating high-quality materials and experimenting with different teacher training approaches with an eye for scale. Our materials and training are created in the home languages that children speak and understand and are freely available for anyone to download and use. Our programmes and materials are all evidence-based, independently evaluated, policy-aligned and cost-effective.

A series of Funda Wande interventions and accompanying evaluations have shown that Funda Wande is effective in shifting foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) learner outcomes. Nevertheless, there is considerable variability in programme fidelity and concerns remain around the extent of teacher pedagogical change. We are implementing a behavioral science research project (2022-2024) that aims to improve teachers’ use of the high-quality Funda Wande teacher and learner support materials. Our underlying hypothesis is that if teachers use the Funda Wande materials more and on a sustained basis, it will lead to an improvement in learners’ foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes.

Early qualitative research with teachers in schools implementing the Funda Wande program identified that there was variable and select use of the teacher guide and that there was variation in use and completion of the learner activity book. We are in the process of analyzing further qualitative research to identify the behavioral barriers and contextual features that are driving the variable use of the teacher guides and completion of the student booklet.

Based on our findings, we will design solutions that aim to improve teachers’ use of the Funda Wande teacher guide and students’ use of the learner booklets. We have currently envisioned the following solutions, but they may change slightly based on what findings come out the qualitative analysis:
(1)An instructional coach who provides in-classroom support
(2) Regular school-based structured professional learning communities (PLCs)

We will evaluate the effectiveness of our behaviorally informed designs using a three-arm randomized control trial of 40 schools each which compares (1) teachers who get the Funda Wande literacy and numeracy teacher support and learner support materials + termly training + the behavioral interventions (2) teachers who get the Funda Wande literacy and numeracy teacher support and learner support materials + termly training (3) a control arm. This study will be conducted in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

Author

• Nwabisa Makaluza, Funda Wande