Equity and Inclusion in Education: What Role for Remediation?

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the learning crisis in public education systems, emphasizing the need for collaborative efforts to ensure equitable access to education for all learners. It is clear that public education systems cannot recover on their own and ensure no learner is left behind. Even before the pandemic, a staggering 617 million children and adolescents worldwide struggled to attain minimum proficiency levels in reading and math, despite being enrolled in school (UNESCO, 2017). Recent research (Patrinos et al., 2022; Azevedo et al., 2021) indicates that learning losses due to COVID-19 range from 0.6 to 0.9 years of schooling.

The consequences of learning loss are profound, intergenerational, and disproportionately affect marginalized children who have historically faced inequality and discrimination. This situation presents a significant challenge for education systems. While some governments have initiated learning recovery programs, schools encounter numerous obstacles in effectively providing support. Issues such as staff shortages, excessive workload, resource constraints, and limited technical assistance impede their efforts.

Addressing the learning crisis requires both short-term targeted interventions and long-term systematic approaches to ensure learners regain their pre-pandemic learning trajectories. Remedial education models are gaining momentum, with emerging evidence showing their effectiveness in rapidly improving foundational learning for vulnerable children. However, there is a pressing need to delve deeper into how these evidence-proven strategies can be integrated into a comprehensive, long-term response to address learning inequities and contribute to the creation of more inclusive education systems.

The symposium will bring together representatives from various organisations, who will be invited to critically reflect on how their respective evidence-proven approaches understand and address learning equity. This symposium will share and discuss findings from ongoing or completed research of five different remedial education programs implemented in a variety of contexts across Africa and Asia:

In paper 1, we will explore the efficacy of targeted support in crisis-affected contexts through an investigation of remedial programs. Focusing on the USAID/Senegal Passerelles project, which aims to enhance access to quality education and essential life skills for children in Southern Senegal, the study evaluates the impact of a remedial education program on students' success in regular education programming. Results from a comprehensive analysis of 2,040 learners reveal that participants in the Passerelles remediation program achieved significantly higher scores in reading and math compared to their peers with similar academic performance who did not participate.

In Paper 2, we will share the findings of the effectiveness of the Catch-up Clubs model in improving the learning and well-being of children most affected by inequality and discrimination in conflict-affected contexts. The Catch-up Clubs (CuCs) are a community & play-based remedial learning model that supports children aged 8-13 who have not yet acquired literacy at the level of the last grade of lower primary school. Wrap-around support of cash transfers and integrated community case management was added to the education component. Research using a quasi-experimental design and difference-in-difference analysis has been completed in Myanmar and is being finalized in the Philippines.

In paper 3, we investigate the impact and scalability of a remedial strategy for foundational literacy and numeracy in Uganda, specifically targeting vulnerable children. The SESIL Community-Led Learning (CLL) initiative, supported by UKAID, Education Above All, and the Luminos Fund, and managed by Cambridge Education aims to strengthen the education system and improve early-grade literacy and numeracy. With a reach of over 330,000 children, an impact assessment of 93,000 children reveals that attending CLL classes more than doubles the likelihood of improving literacy levels. As CLL continues to scale, further impact assessments and qualitative studies explore scalability and adaptations by local governments for sustainable community engagement.

In paper 4, we will look at Youth Impact’s ConnectEd, a phone-based tutorial program that successfully improved learning outcomes during the pandemic. Through phone calls and SMS messages, ConnectEd delivered targeted content and achieved a 31% decrease in innumeracy among enrolled students. Testing in five countries showed significant learning improvements through phone call tutorials, particularly in the Philippines and Uganda. Collaborations with governments in Nepal and the Philippines highlighted the effectiveness of full-time teachers in delivering the program. The ConnectEd study provides insights for scalable phone-based tutoring programs in diverse global contexts to address the ongoing learning crisis and support children in need of accessible and cost-effective interventions.

In paper 5, we highlight evidence from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in Liberia, focusing on the impact of the Luminos program on out-of-school children. The findings demonstrate the potential of catch-up education programs to accelerate learning outcomes and facilitate the reintegration of marginalized children into mainstream education systems. The RCT involved 100 communities, with 50 in the treatment group and 50 in the control group. The insights gained from this study have practical implications for designing effective programs that improve educational access, quality, and equity in diverse global contexts.

Finally, in framing the discussion, the Chair will highlight global education systems-driven evidence for foundational learning and conclude with a reflective take on the thematic contributions of the programs to building system-level coherence for learning.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Organizers

• Gillian Valentine, Save The Children International

• Nora Charif Chefchaouni, Save the Children

Chair

• Michelle Kaffenberger, What Works Hub for Global Education, Georgetown University

Individual Presentations

• Passerelles remediation program in Senegal - Nathalie Louge, FHI 360; Rafael Eduardo Contreras Gomez, FHI 360

• Community-based catch-up learning and well-being support: evaluations in Myanmar and the Philippines - Nora Charif Chefchaouni, Save the Children; Silvia Mila Arlini, Save the Children International ARO

• Community-Led Learning as a scalable and sustainable innovation to mitigate lost learning in Uganda - Aggie Nakirya, Cambridge Education

• Supporting the most vulnerable children to achieve foundational learning: Lessons and evidence from accelerated learning programs - James Earl Kiawoin, Luminos Fund

Discussant

• Tim Murray, Save the Children