Widening the tent in global education research: building research and learning through transformative Global South partnership

• In Event: Building for Local Realities: How Partnerships from the Global South are Enabling Education Transformation

Proposal

Research driven by and for the Global South is critical for an evidence base that informs meaningful and sustainable policy and innovation. Yet, education research has historically been dominated by institutions and voices from the Global North, often limiting the relevance and the uptake of evidence in contexts where they are most needed. This panel presentation reflects on why research driven by organizations in the Global South is critical - and how one education organization, TaRL Africa, is contributing to a more inclusive and impactful evidence ecosystem in sub-Saharan Africa

The Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach illustrates how partnerships can foster both rigor and adaptation. Developed in India by Pratham Education Foundation, TaRL was rigorously evaluated through six randomized controlled trials with J-PAL researchers, which helped refine the approach and position it for impact at scale. By 2015, the demand for the TaRL approach had spread to sub-Saharan Africa, where Zambia's Ministry of Education initiated a pilot program. Since then, the TaRL approach has spread to 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and reached over 7 million learners.

From the start, the TaRL approach benefitted from a unique model of partnership: Pratham’s partnership with academic researchers associated with J-PAL India allowed a fruitful collaboration that resulted in one of the most rigorously tested education programs through multiple RCTs. After the founding of TaRL Africa in 2019, this partnership model evolved into one centered on Global South leadership and collaboration, deeply rooted in evidence generation and utilization. Since then, TaRL Africa has advanced a research learning agenda that emphasizes three dimensions.

First, the organization has prioritized research innovation within shared implementation contexts, working alongside governments and local partners to generate practical evidence on scaling strategies, cost-effectiveness, and classroom-level and system-wide adaptations. This collaborative model has enabled rapid testing of promising ideas and the transparent sharing of lessons with value-aligned organizations across the Global South.
Second, TaRL Africa has promoted cross-country and cross-regional learning. The spread of TaRL across Africa has allowed the organization to study implementation challenges and opportunities across contexts and how they drive impacts. These comparative insights illuminate both the generalizability of the approach and the extent to which local conditions such as local languages or teacher support shape outcomes.

Finally, the organization has adopted what we call a “wide-tent” approach to research voices. By intentionally including Global South researchers and learning organizations, TaRL Africa has amplified perspectives historically excluded from global education debates. This commitment has catalyzed important perspectives that challenge status quo assumptions and has enhanced our policy-informed evidence generation.

This presentation will examine what TaRL Africa has learned about why global south learning partnerships are critical to enabling evidence-informed research that drives transformational education programs - and how our shared journey of South-South learning partnerships has influenced our organization's understanding of transformative change and impact in global education.

Authors

• Kodjo Aflagah, Teaching at the Right Level Africa

• Daniele J Ressler, Teaching at the Right Level Africa