Improving attentiveness in the classroom for better academic performance: Is addressing student hunger sufficient?

• In Event: Harnessing the transformational power of literacy: Using research to build more effective literacy interventions in school feeding programs

Proposal

Beoog Biiga in Burkina Faso is an integrated program that aims to improve students' literacy skills by addressing barriers to attentiveness in the classroom. In order to achieve this goal, the project is designed to address factors that are intrinsic to the quality of learning/education, in particular school health and school feeding. The school health component focuses on improving nutritional practices, deworming and vitamin supplementation; improving access to drinking water; and improving hygiene in schools. The school feeding component addresses short-term hunger and improved nutrition by providing food for school canteens.

The Beoog Biiga Theory of Change postulates that alleviating short-term hunger will lead to improved classroom attention, which, along with improved literacy instruction and student attendance, will lead to improved literacy among school-age children. A recent baseline suggested, however, that short-term hunger alleviation is not sufficient to improve attention for all students. While 97% of students said they had eaten breakfast the previous day and only 3% reported feeling hungry after lunch, half of teachers felt that male students were not attentive. This stands in contrast to 81% of teachers reporting that female students were attentive. The attentiveness component of the Theory of Change is therefore challenged by teachers' responses, suggesting the existence of factors other than hunger that influence attention. In order to investigate this discrepancy, a research activity has been designed to explore attentiveness within project classrooms.

The main research questions of this special study are: What factors contribute to student attention in the classroom?; How is student attention currently understood in the target schools?; and how does attentiveness differ, if at all, between boys and girls? The study will be conducted in 139 classrooms and will involve teachers, students and educational supervisors, as well document review. The study team will employ both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, including interviews, focus groups and, most importantly, classroom observations. This study will explore the classroom environment, such as the organization of class work, the relationship of the student to the work, gender dynamics in the classroom, student interactions, the perception of attentiveness and parental education. Data collected on the teaching environment, teachers' perception of attentiveness and parental education will allow a deeper examination of factors that can contribute to inattentiveness how these might be addressed. This presentation will describe the study, its methods and preliminary results.

Authors

• Hamadou Kanazoe, Catholic Relief Services

• Daniel G Oliver, Room to Read