Advancing equity through Schools2030: How might a focus on the whole child advance equitable learning for all?

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This proposed panel will bring together three presentations that interrogate what we mean by holistic education, how holistic skills development is defined in different contexts and by different stakeholders, and how holistic approaches may or may not advance quality, equitable learning. We will present preliminary research findings from across four countries: Pakistan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. This research is being led by partners from the Schools2030 Global Research portfolio; Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), Zizi Afrique, Nazarbayev University and OISE-University of Toronto.

Schools2030 is a ten-year participatory learning improvement programme based in 1,000 government schools and community learning centres across ten countries: Brazil, Portugal, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Using the principles of human-centred design and a three-step model for educational change – Assess, Innovate, Showcase - Schools2030 is generating new school-based, teacher-driven and learner-centred education innovations that inform systems-level approaches about how best to improve holistic learning outcomes in challenging contexts.

Schools2030 works in some of the most remote and marginalised communities characterised by low learning outcomes and low resources. We focus on generating evidence-based, teacher-driven, school-level innovations that benefit learners at their key educational transition years: from preschool to formal schooling (approximately age 5); at the end of the primary school cycle (approximately age 10) and the transition from lower secondary school to higher education, skills training and the world of work (approximately age 15+).

The Schools2030 ethos of co-creation, collaboration and participation fully aligns to the conference theme ‘Improving Education for an Equitable World’. We believe that by training teachers in holistic learning assessment and human-centred design, educators can develop new, contextually relevant, practical, affordable, and scalable approaches to improve quality learning outcomes for students that will have a meaningful impact in advancing educational equity at community, national and global education system levels. Our approach is rooted in the traditions of participatory action research, and sees teachers gather, interpret and act on evidence in the classroom to ensure their teaching is responsive to the diverse needs and diversity of their learners. By adopting participatory action research methods, the Schools2030 human-centred design process is transformative rather than simply informative. It seeks to operationalise what Chambers describes as a ‘paradigmatic shift from things to people, from top-down to bottom-up, from standard to diverse, from control to empowerment’. By combining this approach with our focus on holistic learning outcomes we seek to improve learning for all, and to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to negotiate local and global challenges emerging from the times of uncertainty that we live in.

Schools2030 is a global coalition made up of education stakeholders, including teachers and school communities, national and global technical partners, local and national government, civil society organisations and donors. By inviting stakeholders from across the education eco-system at local, regional, national and global levels to co-build evidence, we are held to account on matters of equity, inclusion, diversity, quality, effectiveness and sustainability as we strive to foster a dynamic movement aiming towards the improvement of learning for all.

Schools2030 Research

As part of the global community of stakeholders involved in the programme, Schools2030 works with a diverse set of independent research partners, many of whom are based in the focus countries, to help us understand how holistic skills are conceptualised, assessed, taught and learned at classroom level in the context of Schools2030. Their research provides an opportunity for rigorous exploration across the three steps of the Schools2030 model, and serves as a critical avenue for learning at all levels of the education system.

All of our research partners are committed to using participatory research methods and involving stakeholders in equitable partnerships. This has involved them developing meaningful engagement with teachers, school leaders, students, community members and policy makers to co-create evidence. In some cases, research partners have involved stakeholders in their research design as well as in the research itself. In doing so, they aim to elevate the voices of school-level stakeholders from the marginalised communities with whom Schools2030 is working, and to produce actionable and relevant outputs that may be put to use by schools themselves. As such, research partners are particularly concerned with identifying gaps and challenges to social justice, equity and inclusion that will provide strategic direction to our programme, as well as highlight priorities for the research and global education community.

In this session we will hear inputs from ITA, Zizi Afrique, Nazarbayev University and OISE-University of Toronto. The first paper investigates the relationship between academic learning outcomes and non-academic skills in Pakistan. This research led by ITA is concerned with understanding the extent to which solutions inspired by local contexts, culture and heritage fostered through the Schools2030 programme result in equitable and inclusive learning. The second paper discusses how holistic learning is valued and conceptualised in the Kenyan context. Against the backdrop of the introduction of a competence-based curriculum, Zizi Afrique’s work examines the context-specific factors and mechanisms that may support successful implementation of pedagogy and assessment practice that nurtures the development of holistic learning outcomes. The third paper explores local definitions of education quality and equity in the context of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Drawing on social justice theory, this project led by Nazarbayev University aims to explore the perspectives of stakeholders on the ground and incorporate these voices in helping to identify gaps in the system to drive solutions that may bring about quality, equitable and inclusive practice in the Kyrgyz and Tajik contexts.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Ellen Smith, Aga Khan Foundation

Individual Presentations

• The Reality of Equity in Pakistan: Case study of Schools2030 - Saba Saeed, Idara-E-Taleem-O-Aagahi (Ita)

• Holistic Innovation for sustained improvement in Education - Agatha Kimani, Ziziz Afrique Foundation