Leveraging behavioral science to make instructional reforms stick: Case studies from Burundi, Liberia, Rwanda, and Zambia

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

In the formal education ecosystem, teachers have the most immediate connection to students, and are generally considered to have the greatest impact on student learning. Alongside parents and communities, they can shape student attitudes toward schooling, social interaction, and resilience. A critical mass of effective teachers can also have positive spillover effects on other teachers; their sense of agency, efficacy, and validation can motivate them to remain in the profession (Rivkin, Hanushek, and Kain, 2005; Clotfelter, Ladd, and Vigdor, 2007; Goldhaber, 2007; Harris, 2011).

Policy standards, curricular reforms, and continuous professional development in the form of training and coaching, all contribute to building teacher efficacy in the classroom (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Desimone, 2017). But very often curriculum and policy reforms seem slow to take hold in the classroom; they may be used at first but then not sustained. This is especially true regarding foundational learning. Despite global efforts to improve foundational skills teaching and learning, nearly 70% of 10-year-olds in low and middle- income countries are unable to read and understand a simple text (World Bank et al., 2022). Science of reading, core knowledge, and structured pedagogies all provide insights into effective teaching strategies to improve foundational learning outcomes (Shanahan, 2020; Wexler, 2020; UNICEF, 2020). However, only a few studies examine why and how teachers might change their behavior to adopt effective teaching strategies (Guskey, 2002). Fewer still have investigated teacher behavior change in low- or middle- income contexts (Pouezevara, 2018).

This panel will consider factors that contribute to internalizing teacher and educator behavior for the “take up” and sustainability of foundational learning reforms. Our panelists will present teacher and educator behavioral models derived from formative and participatory action research methods (Zuber-Skerritt, 2018) in four African contexts, drawing on several theoretical frameworks that converge around various applications of the COM-B model (capability, opportunity, and motivation to change behavior), (Michie et al., 2011; Better Purpose, 2022). We will outline from our combined research the ways in which interactions between teachers, schools, and the larger system impact teaching behaviors in the classroom (Opfer and Pedder, 2011).

While there are many applications, behavioral science has traditionally focused on change at the individual level, seeking to understand why and how individuals think and behave (Chater and Loewenstein, in press). In this panel, we will discuss the broader interactions between individual and system level change. Each of our programs and related studies are firmly grounded within existing systems and in partnership with local actors and stakeholders. We will show how behavioral research that compiles, synthesizes, and elevates local education stakeholder voices, has the potential to shift control of the narrative from the central or top-down to grassroots and horizontal discourse and dialogues. Panelists will highlight not only where teacher change may be needed, but to describe the context in a way that clarifies the environmental and systems adjustments that would be required for those changes to take place or to stick. We argue that behavior change research at the classroom, school, and district levels can support advocacy for broader systems level change. We will discuss how advocacy, when grounded in behavioral evidence, and organized in groups, can be a powerful, though perhaps quieter form of protest.

The first presentation describes how formative research findings using the COM-B framework and the Behavior Change Wheel, guided the selection of teacher behaviors and identification of behavioral determinants in Burundi. They will present findings from the study and show how they informed the adaptation of the Care Group methodology to develop and pilot a teacher learning circle program to shift teacher beliefs, influence motivation, address barriers, and build their capability to implement key early grade reading practices in the classroom.

The second presentation shares findings from a small-scale, qualitative study that used the Actor-based Change (ABC) Framework (Koleros et al., 2020) – built on COM-B – to deepen understanding of the drivers of behavior change and political economy factors in Liberia. The group identified key assets and pathways – “super levers” – that could help Liberia take its reading reforms to the next level, based on the capabilities, opportunities, and motivations teachers and other key system actors need to adopt and sustain behaviors to improve learning outcomes at scale.

The third presentation argues for putting schools at the forefront of collaborative problem solving and behavior change based on an evidence-based and rigorous participatory action media methodology (Parker et al., 2020) and a socio-ecological framework (McKee et al., 2010) in Rwanda. With roots in participatory action research, the approach incorporates qualitative contextual research with a media development process, allowing the team to identify critical barriers and challenges, strategies, and specific actions, that would stimulate positive behaviors, while also addressing behavioral barriers and promote the shifting of negative behaviors and attitudes to more desirable behaviors in a long-term sustainable manner.

The final presentation focuses on the supporting role of educators in making use of performance data to create and sustain an enabling environment for classroom level improvements in Zambia. Studying the application of successful program components in new regions, the study draws on the 5-Rs (USAID, 2016) and the COM-B framework to identify critical barriers to sustaining progress. Presenters will discuss the formal and informal rules, roles and relationships that can serve either to support or weaken motivation for change in Zambia schools and classrooms.

Sub Unit

• Global Literacy SIG

Chair

• Corrie Blankenbeckler, Education Development Center (EDC)

Individual Presentations

• Behaviorally Informed Teacher Learning Circles: Using Behavior Science to Improve Teacher Practice in Burundi - Jana Torrico, Food for the Hungry; Lisa M Easterbrooks, CARE

• Unlocking the Power of “Super Levers” for Sustained Instructional Reform: Insights from a Behavior-Driven Study in Liberia - Edward Landreth, Chemonics International; Jennifer Swift-Morgan, Chemonics International

• Our Data, Our Responsibility, Our Action: An examination of the potential for results-based transformational behavior change in Zambian schools - Corrie Blankenbeckler, Education Development Center (EDC); Wiston Chiyengi, Education Development Center