Uncovering the technical and policy factors conducive to the regionalisation of learning assessments: the case of CONFEMEN's PASEC

• In Event: Space, Scale and System Learning and Outcomes

Proposal

The demand to measure foundational learning attainment, monitor education system performance, benchmark national achievements and improve national assessment structures in the Global South has been increasing since the 1990 Jomtien conference and its call for improved learning for all. Though less consistent and wide-ranging than elsewhere, Africa has built a track record of using regional, citizen-led and national large-scale assessments. Nonetheless, education policy change and the collaboration required to develop and administer a standardised cross-national test across Africa remains a complex challenge. One aspect is political: there are many countries, financial constraints and significant national and regional political and linguistic diversity (Bruns et al., 2019). Another is technical, given the complexities of developing and utilising assessments, which involves elaborate technical processes and comprehensive input from policy and technical stakeholders (Author, 2023). Overcoming these challenges is vital for Africa-owned benchmarked tests to encompass more countries and sustain themselves in the long run, which can be understood as empowerment and, at times, resistance against the international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) that are perceived to be more Global North-centred.

Our research takes the PASEC (Programme d’Analyse des Systèmes Éducatifs) assessment, which used to be Francophone only, as a case study to explore the key factors driving its transformation as it expands beyond Francophone countries in Africa. The goal is to uncover the policy and technical aspects that need to be considered for PASEC to become a ‘true’ regional assessment, a vision that this research will feed into. Our choice of PASEC stems from its consistent geographic and technical development. It was launched in 1991 by the Conference of Ministers of Education of French-Speaking Countries (CONFEMEN) to help individual countries assess the literacy and numeracy of students in the second and sixth grades of primary school. Regional assessments have been administered every five years since 2014, when ten countries took part. In 2025, with more than 20 countries expected to participate, the programme will assess students not only in grades 2 and 6 but also 9/10, and tests will be offered in French, Arabic, English, Hausa, Kirundi, Malagasy, Portuguese and Zarma.

We have opted for an exploratory, adaptive approach that allows us to build our understanding of the programme and refine the research questions and data collection tools as the research progresses. The study is qualitative and takes place between mid-2023 and early 2024. We are reviewing academic and grey literature and policy documents, and collecting primary data through remote semi-structured interviews with national and cross-national PASEC stakeholders working across technical, operational and strategic aspects. The data will be analysed thematically using a coding framework. The reporting phase will involve inputs from selected stakeholders.

Our emerging findings show that PASEC is praised by participant countries, especially those that have been actively using PASEC results more diagnostically to inform critical improvements in their education systems in areas like teacher recruitment and the development of national assessment systems. However, challenges do exist for participant countries and the implementing and supporting organisations over the years, as well as in the preparation for the next round of PASEC. These include financial and other resource constraints as participation fees and operational costs significantly increase with PASEC’s expansion, and the technical demand of incorporating additional languages, grade levels and participant countries. Our data suggests that ownership and leadership of the assessment’s design and implementation are key for PASEC stakeholders, even if the programme involves several foreign-based technical and financial partners. Similarly, capacity building and close collaboration involving PASEC’s Dakar central office staff and PASEC country teams are regarded highly. The research is ongoing, and these findings will be further substantiated and complemented as data collection continues.

By giving voice to a range of national, regional and foreign-based PASEC stakeholders and taking a retrospective and forward look at the programme, our study will provide a helpful synthesis of aspects like: short and long-term visions for PASEC; how countries organise individually and collectively to prepare for and deliver on the programme; how the programme is used to improve education systems; views on its new language policy and regionalisation roadmap; and the barriers and enablers for successful participation in, implementation and utilisation of PASEC in 2025 and more generally. The evidence collected so far stresses the importance of listening to different levels of stakeholders and being able to share and discuss emerging constraints and concerns more transparently in order for funding and technical support to be better channelled to facilitate the implementing organisations/countries and the process as a whole. The insights generated by this research will be of interest to different audiences, particularly technical and financial partners who collaborate – or consider collaborating – with PASEC and need to tailor the support they offer. Those involved in other regional assessments in the Global South will also benefit from this research.

Authors

• Pei-tseng Jenny Hsieh, National Foundation for Educational Research

• Gustavo Henndel Lopes, National Foundation for Educational Research