Leveraging the Teacher Small Shifts Framework for Technology-Enabled Playful Learning to Address Foundational Skills

• In Event: Strengthening Foundational Learning for Peace in Kenya: Teacher Empowerment, Playful Learning, and Collaboration

Proposal

Persistent learning gaps in foundational literacy and numeracy demand innovative pedagogies and sustained teacher support. This presentation introduces the Teacher Small Shifts Framework, a research-backed model designed to help teachers adopt technology-enabled playful learning approaches. Developed through evidence from the KPLAY program—including interviews, focus groups, co-design workshops, lesson observations, and a review of global frameworks—the model is grounded in the principle that “big change comes from small steps.”
The framework identifies four critical dimensions of improved teacher practice: Instructional Practice, Content, Technology, and Community. Each dimension outlines a progression from novice to expert, detailing observable shifts in teaching methodologies. For example, in Instructional Practice, teachers move from initial awareness to effectively implementing 4–5 Playful Instructional Practices (PIPs) independently, fostering learner agency. The Content dimension guides teachers in using culturally and contextually appropriate materials, incorporating the 5 Characteristics of Play (5CPs)—joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive—to strengthen foundational conceptual understanding. Similarly, the Technology dimension supports teachers in safely and effectively integrating digital tools to expand access to resources, differentiate learning, and enhance literacy and numeracy instruction. Finally, the Community dimension emphasizes cultivating a positive emotional climate, essential for creating safe learning spaces where children feel empowered to take risks and grow socially and emotionally—a vital component of peace education.
By articulating these incremental but powerful shifts, the framework offers a scalable approach that can be embedded in professional development programs, coaching, mentorship, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL). It demonstrates how teachers can be supported to strengthen pedagogical skills while leveraging playful, technology-supported methods to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes and to build inclusive, supportive, and resilient learning environments. Ultimately, investing in teachers through this framework highlights education’s potential to close learning gaps for children in challenging contexts.

Authors

• Muthoni Njeru, Education Design Unlimited

• Daniel Light