Improving teacher time on task: Gaps in our understanding of solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

• In Event: Teacher Time on Task – Potential Solutions and Interventions

Proposal

Problem: Teacher time-on-task, the time teachers spend actively engaged in teaching, is low in many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and adversely impacts student learning. Over the last decade, large research initiatives, including UNICEF’s Time to Teach series, the World Bank’s Service Delivery Indicators, and the current Global Education Policy Dashboard have gathered data related to teacher time on task and teacher absence in SSA. Thanks to this research, teacher time on task and underlying causes are well documented. However, gaps remain in our understanding of actionable solutions to improve the instructional time teachers spend actively engaged teaching students in their classrooms.

Why is it important? Low time on task is a key contributing factor to why even the best-designed foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) programs fail to achieve sustained results. We know that teachers are the greatest asset to improving children’s learning and that improving the quality of pedagogy students receive from their teachers is associated with improvements in learning outcomes. At the same time, improving the dosage, the amount of instructional time students receive, can also lead to improvements in learning outcomes, especially in middle- and low-income countries.

The question: What are the best solutions to low time on task in SSA? Achieving improvements in foundational learning requires a combination of high-quality teacher instruction and teachers having sufficient instructional time. We know a great deal about teacher interventions focused on improving the quality of teacher instruction, but what about investments that affect teacher time on task? Moreover, what can we learn about the relationship between the two?

The answer: Potential solutions and interventions to enhance instructional time teachers spend on-task depend on the underlying causes of low teacher time on task in each education system. This paper provides an overview of the gaps in our understanding of how to improve teacher time on task in SSA.

Author

• Mary E Breeding, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation