Exploring and measuring the relationship between the school’s learning environment and learning outcomes: results from Cambodia, Uganda & Zimbabwe

• In Event: Socio-emotional learning

Proposal

This panel session will explore the results of a three country longitudinal research study examining the effectiveness of an implementation approach to Save the Children’s (SC) global guidance for education programming, the Quality Learning Framework (QLF). The paper will overview the programme approach, the interrelationship between and sustainability of the quality of the learning environment and student learning outcomes and the use of these results to inform the design of future education programming for Save the Children.

1. Overview of the QLF Approach
The QLF describes SCs best understanding of what makes a quality basic education, defining parameters to respond to the global learning crisis, with particular attention to the most marginalised and deprived children. SCs believes that education should be understood as a multi-dimensional process, with the QLF representing a child-centred and holistic approach to rights-based education. The assumption is that an improved learning environment will lead to enhanced learning and is a precondition to individual (child) and societal (community, national) development.

The QLF outlines sixteen components with associated indicators across five foundations that support the well-being and learning of all children. The five foundations are:
Foundation 1: Emotional and psychological protection
Foundation 2: Physical protection
Foundation 3: Teaching and Learning
Foundation 4: Parents and Community
Foundation 5: School Leadership and Management

As a means to operationalize the QLF, Save the Children Norway (SCN) developed the I’m Learning project. From 2013 to 2017, SCN implemented I’m Learning as a pilot project in a total of 32 schools across three countries: Cambodia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. SC Country Offices had the freedom to design, implement and monitor contextualised interventions. The only prescription was ensuring interventions aligned to the QLF framework, thereby ensuring a structured, rights-based holistic approach to improving the quality of education in schools.

In the pilot project, SCN sought to develop, document and test the effectiveness and sustainability of QLF-aligned programming approaches / interventions for improving the quality of basic education. It also advocated with Ministries of Education (MoE) about the importance of the quality of learning environments and its impact on children’s learning and development, using evidence from the project to do this.

The results of the project were measured through ongoing project monitoring as well as a longitudinal research study. The research was designed to cover three school years from 2014-2017 and was led by the University of Oslo who acted as an intermediary between SCN and the researchers based in the three countries. The local research teams were engaged from the following institutions: Kampuchean Action for Primary Education - KAPE (Cambodia), University of Gulu (Uganda) and University of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe). The research design tested the underlying assumptions of the QLF and the I’m Learning project, namely that there is a positive relationship between learning environments and learning outcomes and child development. Both the research and the project monitoring activity used assessment tools to track literacy, numeracy, life skills and an array of indicators depicting the quality of the learning environment.

2. Results of the QLF Pilot Project and Longitudinal Study
There are several important and encouraging findings from the research.
(i). The interrelationship analysis conducted by the research team shows the project model holds – the five QLF Foundations are associated with improved learning outcomes. The project examines root causes of poor enrolment, attendance, and performance and used a holistic perspective to address the causes.
(ii). Results were variable for literacy, numeracy and life skills across countries. The longitudinal research exhibited positive outcomes in literacy, weaker results in numeracy, and little to no results in life skills, it did observe important impact on QLF indicators and this impact was increasing over the length of the project.
(iii). A measurable improvement in community/parental engagement in school was achieved. The project galvanised parental, community and teacher’s commitment to improving school results.
(iv). The research design selected schools according to criteria of marginalisation. The project was extremely effective at helping to raise the most marginalised schools to a point of functioning again.
(v). A cost analysis showed large differences in per student/school funding levels between the three countries. These costs were also benchmarked against other equivalent interventions, leading to recommendations for costs/child of this holistic style programming.
(vi). The QLF model was adopted nationally in Cambodia.

3. Next Steps: Strengthening School Leadership and Management in the Quality Learning Framework
A major finding from the research was that where school leadership and management (SLM) was more effective, where it was participatory and distributed, it acted as a driving force for change and improvement, and conversely, less effective leadership and management suppressed a school’s results. Participatory and distributed SLM was achieved through:
• ensuring the effective functioning of school management committees;
• fostering leadership structures for classroom teachers to raise standards of teaching and learning;
• establishment of classroom committees to enable parents to have a hands-on role in their child’s school;
• strengthening of children’s councils to empower the voice of children in school-level decision making.

The I’m Learning project experienced that stronger involvement and participation in school management and leadership contributed to a mind shift around quality education and joint ownership and responsibility for creating quality learning environments for children. Furthermore, by breaking down the barriers between stakeholders, the project ensured that interventions were locally relevant and encouraged sustainability.

Using the results of the longitudinal study, SCN is starting a two year process in 2019 to formulate an SLM project model with components of (a) Leading Learning; (b) Distributed Leadership; (c) Effective management of human, financial, and physical resources for ensuring a protective and safe learning environment. A developmental evaluation approach will be used to support the evidence base for and refinements of the SLM model.

Authors

• Lisa Zook, InformEd International

• Sine Christensen, Save the Children Norway

• Cameron Ryall, InformEd International