Drawing on teachers' initiatives and experiences to design effective peer-mentoring solutions supporting TaRL implementation in Uganda.

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Learning in groups, learning in loops: How to start using data for development in implementation research

Proposal

Despite progress in primary education enrolment, Uganda hasn’t achieved its goal of equipping all learners with foundational skills. Inspired by its successful implementation in, among others, India and Zambia, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) contextualized the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) methodology in Uganda to address the low literacy and numeracy levels among primary school learners. A TaRL pilot showed promising results, improving learners’ foundational skills (VVOB, UNICEF, & MoEs, 2023), prompting the MoES to develop and validate a strategy for scaling the contextualized TaRL methodology named “UCatchUp”.
Research on professional development shows that sustainable changes in teaching require follow-ups (Conn, 2017; Popova, Evans, Breeding, & Arancibia, 2022) and that mentoring as a follow-up tool can promote changes in instructional practices and reduce turnover (Vangrieken, Dochy, Raes, & Kyndt, 2015; Pitsoe & Machaisa, 2012). UCatchUp teachers receive continuous professional development through in-person training and SMS coaching. In addition, mentoring should be provided by school-based and external mentors but data shows it does not occur frequently. Some teachers have established peer networks to aid their implementation of UCatchUp. Research in Zambia on TaRL methodology implementation has shown that teacher collaboration and resulting positive social norms enable quality implementation (Busara, 2023). Implementation research could identify why peer mentoring was set up, how it works, and what makes it successful. This could enable replicating the mechanism to ensure more teachers get this essential support.

Phase I of the research uses in-depth case studies with key informant interviews, change stories, and mentoring observations in schools where peer mentoring occurs. This provides detailed information on how peer mentoring was initiated and structured, identifies key players, and explores the barriers, enablers, and impacts of mentoring. Phase II of the research leverages findings from Phase I to co-design peer mentoring modalities to be investigated in A/B testing. Only modalities that are considered scalable by teachers and government stakeholders will be tested, and a diverse set of teacher outcomes will be measured. Teacher outcomes will be selected based on their importance for successful UCatchUp implementation and Phase I results. Throughout the project, the research team aims to draw on teachers’ opinions and experiences, to inform and iterate on the research design and process.

At the end of the study, we hope to have co-created effective mentoring systems with teachers that will be integrated into the government's UCatchUp program. We aspire that these mentoring systems will improve implementation fidelity and other important teacher outcomes, like motivation, job satisfaction, and well-being. Ultimately, peer mentoring is envisioned to lead to better learner outcomes as well.

At the time of the CIES conference, we will be able to present rich qualitative data on the types of peer mentoring teachers set up, their motivations for doing so, and their reflections on barriers, enablers, and impacts. We will have started co-designing peer mentoring interventions with teachers and government stakeholders and can share lessons learned in this co-creation process, with a focus on how to keep interventions contextually relevant and scalable.

Authors

• Millicent Okwarampe, VVOB - Education For Development

• Kakula Sambanu Wandi, VVOB - Education For Development

• Sharon Schroen, VVOB - education for development

• Stefaan Vande Walle, VVOB - education for development