The Why and How of Strengthening Secondary Education in the Global South: Funder and Practitioner Perspectives

Group Submission Type: Panel Session

Proposal

Secondary education is quickly becoming a priority throughout the Global South. As countries make gains in universal education worldwide and youth populations expand, offering high-quality secondary education is vital to ensure that young people complete schooling and are prepared for the workforce. This panel explores why strengthening secondary education in the Global South is so important and provides recommendations on how to re-conceptualize secondary education at the classroom, school, and system levels, drawing on current funder and practitioner perspectives.

Substantial evidence exists to support the need for high-quality relevant secondary education, including findings from two recent reports from FHI 360. Making Waves: The Rising Demand for Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, explains the need for high-quality lower secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa and identifies challenges that must be addressed to meet this demand, including teacher recruitment, curriculum relevance, and participation of disadvantaged student groups, among others. Looking through the Lens of Adolescent Development to Strengthen Secondary Education argues that in order to meet the demand for secondary education, schools in developing contexts must re-invent themselves to better meet the needs of adolescent students, drawing on evidence-based practices from the United States. The report offers considerations for re-conceptualizing systems and strategies at the classroom, school, and system level to ensure that young people develop the technical, cognitive, and social-emotional skills they need to thrive in school and life.

Funders play a key role in helping countries to meet their educational goals, including strengthening secondary education. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is one funder that invests in secondary education to boost economic growth and reduce poverty in the Global South. MCC’s work in education initially focused heavily on infrastructure but has since incorporated various education strengthening initiatives in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America. MCC strengthens secondary education – including lower secondary, upper secondary, and technical-vocational training – at the classroom level by prioritizing demand-driven curriculum development and teacher training. At the school and systems level, MCC focuses on training school leaders, developing school networks, providing student scholarships, and strengthening ministries of education.

A concrete example of effective MCC secondary education strengthening at the classroom, school, and system level is currently happening in Guatemala through the Secondary Education Improvement Program. To strengthen education at the classroom level, practitioners are working to improve teacher quality through training in active learning methodologies and certification courses. At the school and systems level, education networks, composed of teachers, principals, and families, are being developed to better support adolescent students. Additionally, the Ministry of Education receives support at the central level to improve information systems and evidence-based decision making to more effectively use data to benefit secondary students.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Youth Development and Education

Chair

• Ana Florez, FHI 360

Individual Presentations

• Why secondary? Evidence of the need to strengthen secondary education - Ana Florez, FHI 360

• Funder insights: MCC’s approach to secondary education strengthening - Carlos Gargiulo, MCC

• Practitioner insights: FHI 360’s approach to implementing the MCC Guatemala Secondary Education Improvement Program - Carmen Maria Henriquez, FHI 360; Antonieta Harwood, FHI 360

Discussant

• Megan Meinen, US Agency for International Development (USAID)