ESSPIN is a UK aid-funded project managed by Cambridge Education Is sustainable learning for all achievable? Emerging evidence from Nigeria

ESSPIN is a UK aid-funded project managed by Cambridge Education


Is sustainable learning for all achievable?

Emerging evidence from Nigeria



17 September 2015

UKFIET, Oxford

Improving school quality at scale

Lilian BreakellStuart CameronLaura McInerney

Photo: SBMC Children’s Committee, Sandra Graham

Education in Nigeria and ESSPIN

Background

10.5m children out of school

Low quality schools, low teacher competence, low pupil achievement

ESSPIN - UK/Nigeria-funded programme running from 2008 – 2017

Active in six states: Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara and Lagos

Initial pilot in 2k schools, now working in over 16k schools with nearly 6m children

ESSPIN’s School Improvement Programme

The Composite Survey

Methods

• School Survey conducted in 2012 and 2014

• Stratified sample design, schools selected based on amount of ESSPIN intervention, ASC is sampling frame.

• Survey included: interviews with head teachers, teachers, and school-based management committee chairs, lesson observations, and tests of teachers and children in English and mathematics.

• It reports on indicators of how head teachers are managing the school, how teachers behave in the classroom and how well they know basic English and mathematics, and how much children in grades 2 and 4 are learning.

ESSPIN schools perform better than other schools on a range of indicators

ESSPIN schools are significantly better than other schools on all overall indicators in 2014

% meeting overall standard Other schools ESSPIN SIP

Competent teachers 62 73*Effective head teacher 14 34*

School development planning 3 20*

Inclusive school 8 25*Good quality school 3 27*

Average % scores in children’s tests Other schools ESSPIN SIP

Literacy grade 2 26 41*Literacy grade 4 25 40*Numeracy grade 2 34 47*Numeracy grade 4 30 39*

* means that the results are statistically significantly different in SIP schools than in other schools (p < .05).

School quality is improving faster in ESSPIN schools

Learning outcomes still in decline, but less so in ESSPIN schools

Learning outcomes are declining overall…

…however they are declining less in ESSPIN schools than non-ESSPIN schools

Causes: Expanding enrolment + conflict?

Conclusion: Improving school quality at scale is possible

• ESSPIN has increased access to schools and has improved school quality. Learning outcomes are better than in non-ESSPIN schools.

• States have rolled out the SIP to almost 100% of their schools- benefiting nearly 6m children.

• Indicators are showing that the SIP is improving education in ESSPIN schools across the six states, yet learning outcomes are still low.

• It is unclear how long it takes to improve learning outcomes in this kind of context where there are many challenges e.g. teachers with low levels of literacy and numeracy, conflict, post-election transition, unpredictable funding.

• CS3, to be conducted in 2016, may provide more answers to this question, yet given the lack of progress during the election cycle, big changes are not expected.

www.esspin.org


17 September 2015UKFIET, Oxford

Deepening classroom practice in low- resource, large-scale contexts

Abimbola OsuntusaSimon Thomson



Demonstrating a process works when working on a pilot…

Showing the state they can lead rollout at a larger scale…

Supporting states to deliver to all of their schools.

Within states’ limited budget envelopes.

State committed spend per pupil

State 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16Enugu £3.64 £2.02 £1.77 Jigawa £1.74 £0.98 £- Kaduna £2.70 £2.14 £- Kano £0.28 £0.27 £0.26 Kwara £- £1.12 £1.12 Lagos £- £1.13 £- Average £1.39 £1.28 £0.52

A fragile delivery model (example of Kano)

137,568 teachers benefitting

36,199 teachers directly trained

16,467 head teachers trained

474 SSOs

4,967,740 children learning in different ways

SUBEBs

285 SSITESSPIN Learning Team

Technical improvement

Changes and needs identified and shared

States’ models for effective classrooms come from Western technology-led spaces…

…which is simply not realistic in their working context…

…where classrooms are crowded and furniture is minimal…

…and those children who have access to materials struggle to use them.

School infrastructure is poorly invested in…

…and some classrooms are in unusable condition.

Rather than expecting to radically change the context, we seek to identify ways learning can happen within it.

…using local materials and finding ways for children to practice writing.

We cannot un-crowd all classrooms, or give all children materials.

But we can improve the quality of teaching so that all children have opportunities to learn.

Accepting the context we work in means giving individual teachers permission to work in their own ways…

…but teachers’ lack of understanding of effective pedagogy has required us to illustrate it through lesson plans and DVDs.

…including images of effective teacher behaviour.

Partly, this has to be delivered through traditional, step-down workshops…

…but the crucial stage of all workshops is discussion of how materials and ideas can work in context…

…working towards teachers and their managers being able to discuss professional behaviour…

…and content is delivered in classrooms in the context it should be used in.

An ongoing Continuous School Improvement Process

embeds improvement in state workplans and allows state

officers to determine content.

www.esspin.org




17 September 2015

UKFIET, Oxford

Whose learning needs to be prioritised?

Inclusive education in Nigeria

Manjola KolaFatima AbokiSourovi DeJake Ross



10.5 million children out of school

18% global total

Marginalisation



Expanding education space for all children

Teaching

School leadership

Community/SBMCs

INCLUSIVE

Promoting inclusion

• Diverse approach

• Process, not end point

• State level

• Institutionalisation

• School based management committees

• Community and children’s needs

• Most marginalised

Inclusive policiesSelf-assessment results on inclusive education at policy level

Inclusive communities

1,151

167,000 members

School based management committees

10,442

30-40% women

Inclusive schools

• Training for teachers and head teachers

• In classrooms

• Diversity and differentiation

• Children supported to actively participate

Targeted, state-specific interventions

• Girls’ education promoted

• Sports for girls

• Nomadic community schools

• Islamiyya, Qur’anic and Tsangaya Education

• Support to children with albinism

Improving access and retention

School based management committees

“Through the SBMC we have achieved a lot and the school is now in good shape. Based on our understanding of our role, we succeeded in bringing 22 out-of-school children back and provided school uniform for them.”

Hayem Banke LGEA SBMC, Kaduna State

More inclusive

ESSPIN supported (SIP) schools are significantly better than other schools on inclusion indicators in 2014

% meeting overall standardOther schools ESSPIN SIP

Inclusive school 8 25*

SBMC functions 17 67*

SBMC inclusive of women 2 48*

SBMC inclusive of children 2 18*

Good quality school 3 27*

* means that the results are statistically significantly different in SIP schools than in other schools (p < .05).

More inclusive

ESSPIN supported (SIP) schools are significantly better than other schools on inclusion indicators in 2014

More inclusive

ESSPIN schools perform better than other schools on most inclusiveness indicators

Action on pupil attendance

Plan for access for disadvantaged

Multiple assessment measures

Inclusive teaching

Wealth difference in learning outcomes

richest 20% 2x better

than poorest 20%

poor children’s learning outcomes

significantly raised

Promoting inclusion

• School inclusiveness

• Head teachers’ actions to improve pupil attendance

• Spatial and gender inclusiveness in classrooms

• SBMC functionality and inclusiveness

• Gender gaps

• Learning outcomes by wealth

• Rural-urban gaps; location

• Language

• Over-age

inclusive education at scaleIS POSSIBLE

Significant improvement of quality and equity

2012 to 2015

440,000 more children enrolled

450,000 more children learning in good quality schools

ALLmarginalised children need to regularly attend school

www.esspin.org


Documents

ESSPIN is a UK aid-funded project managed by Cambridge Education Is sustainable learning for all achievable? Emerging evidence from Nigeria