Breaking the policy barriers: lessons from foundational literacy and numeracy assessment and influence on policy and practice in East Africa

• In Event: Using assessment and research evidence to challenge the education status quo: lessons from Africa, Asia and Latin America

Proposal

Sub-Saharan African countries appear to be at the tail end of managing the ever-increasing demands of education provision in spaces where challenges have persisted globally and countries continue to struggle to deliver an education that is of quality. In an effort to deliver basic education for all, often faced with multitudes of challenges including large class sizes, teacher shortages, teacher and pupil absenteeism, limited school resources and epidemic related challenges like COVID-19, the dream of providing a quality education is still elusive for many countries including those in East Africa. At the same time, these developing economies have further been reported to grapple with challenges of meeting educational demands of the 21st century (Nwagwu, Okere & Branch, 2021)
To continuously work on such challenges, yield improvements and identify where gaps still manifest, governments in East Africa have commissioned and conducted own studies/surveys. Key among those have been learning assessments conducted at regional and national levels through nationally mandated ministry of education bodies. However, such evidence generated by governments, has been critiqued for its inadequacy of independence and is often inaccessible outside of government circles. New trends in assessment have however yielded different approaches to generation of learning assessments data. These include citizen led assessments conducted in the global south by non-government entities, whose assessment data is independently generated and is more accessible.
Within East Africa, the citizen-led learning assessments on foundational literacy and numeracy have been conducted in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda since 2010 and aimed at influencing the improvement of learning outcomes for primary school age children. The assessments conducted at household level and by local citizens, target both in and out of school children and those never enrolled. The status of learning is revealed across the region and within the individual countries. These assessments have further been conducted with the aim of influencing policy and action towards improvements.
Learning assessments data whether generated by governments or not have been reported to most frequently influence policies linked to curriculum, teacher professional development, and teaching methods, and building the capacity of national assessment teams even when the data itself is less likely to be used (UNESCO, 2019).
In this paper, we highlight how learning assessments in foundational literacy and numeracy have been used in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania as; i) a tool for evaluating educational learning outcomes ii) a platform for policy and public engagement to inform evidence-based decision-making in policy formulation and implementation and iii) influenced key policy decisions. We further conclude by discussing practical lessons from utilization of learning assessments in informing education policies and practices as an avenue for transformation of education systems in the East African region.

Authors

• Faridah Mubiru Nassereka, Uwezo Uganda

• Benjamini Semu Masebo, Uwezo Tanzania

• Emmanuel Okoth Manyasa, Usawa Agenda