Learning Assets for a More Peaceful, Inclusive World

• In Event: Learning for Peace: Accelerated Education as a Pathway to Stability and Opportunity for Out-of-School Youth

Proposal

Ethiopia and Uganda are two countries that have been wracked by violence for many decades, the former of which is still embroiled in armed conflict. The loss of formal education opportunities is one of the serious consequences of such conditions, while the chance to receive high-quality schooling is a vital aspect of resolving persistent social division and preventing future threats to peace.

In these two countries, as in many others, the governments and their funding partners have embraces accelerated education as a promising way for students to capture lost years of schooling and gain an education that will provide them, their families, and their communities with a better future. One such a program, called “Speed School,” has operated in Ethiopia since 2011 and Uganda since 2016. The program has been the subject of a variety of independent studies in both countries, all of which describe the enduring academic and social performance of former Speed School students as they transition to and continue through the conventional formal education system.

In 2024, an INGO sought to understand why former Speed School students continue to excel even as they transition to classes with turgid teacher-centered instruction, severely overcrowded classrooms, and severely limited learning materials. Specifically, we asked 120 teachers in each country to appraise the learning strategies and behaviors that these students bring with them from Speed School classes to achieve greater success in their studies and as classroom and school leaders. Each teacher compared the class rankings and the learning strategies (using 23 indicators) of the former Speed School students two years after joining their classmates who have completed all their schooling in conventional classes, reporting on a total of nearly 37,000 students.

The presentation will cover three related aspects. First, it will cover the study’s two main findings, verifying that former Speed School students do in fact dominate the top academic places in their classes and sharing their teachers’ confirmation of their superior learning assets. Second, it will review the model’s key pedagogic and classroom management elements that foster these learning assets. Third, it will describe how these assets translate into learning and personal performance in and beyond the classroom, positioning these students as future leaders for closing the social and economic gaps that divide their communities and countries.

Two broad lessons will receive attention in conclusion. One is the profound value and importance of accelerated education as a vital response to the societal disruption that conflict and other crises cause. Schooling both offers a noble and effective distraction for children from the misery and trauma they and their families have experienced (and often still are) and it represents a promise for a better future. The other is the cultivation of the skills, knowledge, and mindset students will need to be drivers of that better future. QED – quod erat demonstrandum.

Author

• Joshua A Muskin, Geneva Global