Collaborative Evidence-building for Impact: Reflections from the Schools2030 Programme

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Mobilizing demand driven evidence in LMICs to improve policy and policy implementation in a digital society: learning across major global initiatives

Proposal

The Schools2030 programme approach is a three-step model of teacher professional development, where educators are provided with tools, training and support to assess the holistic learning levels of their students and the quality of the classroom environment; to design and test new pedagogical practices and contextually-responsive innovations to improve holistic learning outcomes ; and to showcase their best practices and innovations through community, national and global forums to inspire system-level educational change.

Teacher professional development and agency are the heart of the Schools2030 programme, and it is teachers who lead the effort to build an evidence base on holistic learning innovation through their action research and human-centred design journeys. However, teachers require an ecosystem of support in order to develop the skills and autonomy to be innovative and responsive. In each country, the Program work in close partnership with local education authorities, research institutes, Ministries of Education, civil society, international organisations and donors.

Through this collaborative approach, Schools2030 is building a body of evidence on holistic learning outcomes, quality teaching, and inclusive classroom environments. In this presentation, insights and learning from two countries will be shared.

The first example will be drawn from Schools2030 Uganda, where the programme works in close partnership with the research institutions Open Development & Education and eKitabu to promote more inclusive practices that support the diversity of learners in Ugandan primary schools. This research has focused on enhancing teacher-student relationships, inclusive assessment practices and holistic learning approaches in order to develop policy and practice-relevant tools to support teachers to address the needs of students with special educational needs. These tools are in digitally enabled, accessible formats for learners and teachers, including e-Braille and ePub, responding to a recognised gap in digitally enabled assistive devices for students with disabilities. The collaborative research is responding to the Uganda National Teacher Policy (NTP 2019), which outlines an ambitious ten-year strategy for enhancing the professionalism of all teachers and improving inclusivity.

The second example will highlight evidence, innovation and learning emerging from Schools2030 Tajikistan. Working with the National Testing Centre, Schools2030 has developed a suite of learning assessment tools focusing on social-emotional learning and 21st century skills – a key priority area for the Ministry of education. In partnership with the Republican Teacher Training Institute across each district in the country, Schools2030 has rolled out teacher professional development training on these holistic assessment tools as well as on human-centred design and action research, supporting over 400 teachers to gather evidence on learning outcomes and to design education innovations and practices. These training modules are being further developed for online and hybrid learning to maximize reach and scale. This builds off current partnership between Schools2030 and the Tajikistan MoES to develop a Digital Library of learning and teaching resources aligned to curricular priorities across all subjects and grade levels.

Through these two examples, key lessons on co-design and co-development of context-relevant evidence will be highlighted, reflecting on the key role of teachers in policy-relevant research evidence and scaling impact.

Author

• Bronwen Magrath, Aga Khan Foundation