A Covid-inspired Innovation for Sustainable New Teacher Orientations

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Reading is the foundation of all learning and the preparation of new teachers to deliver early grade reading is critical for the overall educational progress of students. The Rwandan government is committed to providing a quality education for every child and, facing large teacher shortages, began a process of major teacher recruitment, including employing 7,000 new teachers for lower primary, in 2020 and 2021.

However, the orientation and training of the new teachers entering lower primary in 2020/2021 was seriously challenged by school closures and restrictions forced by COVID-19 threatening the quality of education received by many thousands of Rwanda primary school children. In response, USAID Soma Umenye and the Rwandan Basic Education Board (REB) devised an innovative program to orient new teachers to teach early grade reading in their place of work using staff in local schools.

With trained Master Teachers and Lead Teachers delivering school-based orientation over a five-week period in Terms 1 and 2, dedicated support from headteachers, sectors and districts, and agile monitoring and adaptation, schools were able to overcome the challenges of COVID-19 and ensure their new teachers had the skills and resources to teach reading in the P1 to P3 curriculum.

Importantly, the learning and evaluation from the program shows that, far from this approach being a temporary measure to address an urgent crisis, school-based orientation may have a complementary and supportive role to play alongside formal and large-scale face-to-face teacher training in the long term.

This panel will present the process for developing the School Based Orientation program, delivery of the SBO and recommendations.

Sub Unit

• Teacher Education and the Teaching Profession SIG

Chair

• Protogene Ndahayo, FHI 360

Individual Presentations

• The need for an innovative approach to teacher orientation and support - Stephen Derek Blunden, Chemonics International

• Sustainable and cost-effective school-based support - Protogene Ndahayo, FHI 360