Challenged by school closures and social distancing, VVOB – education for development illustrates how resilience and creativity contribute to continued learning for all in times of COVID-19.

First comes health…

In an attempt to put a stop to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, nearly every country has closed its schools to some degree – most have closed all – and has put measures of physical distancing in place. People in every corner of the world are staying home for the good of their and others’ health.

VVOB teams in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America are also glued to their home desks. A period of intense internal collaboration and self-reflection has now resulted in a new normal—a normal that might leave its mark once the crisis has been quelled.

From day 1, our highest priority has been the health of our staff, partners and co-citizens. Our next concern is ensuring continued support to our education partners in this exceptional context.

… then comes work

Pre-pandemic, we nurtured our valued ties with our education partners – including ministries of education, teacher training institutions, providers of continuous professional development and decentralised education structures – primarily through in-person contact. Capacity development activities of these partners have traditionally been face-to-face, for the most part.

Trainings and workshops, harvesting and peer learning, mentoring and coaching. In this time of crisis, we have studied our broad range of capacity development methods to see how we can diversify and adapt them to uphold the quality and ensure continuity of our support from a safe distance.

Here, we highlight just three examples of how we do this in practice.

WhatsApp videos in Zambia

In Zambia, VVOB is training and coaching individuals in the Ministry of General Education (MoGE) to become ‘Master Trainers’ of early childhood education (ECE) teachers. Where training sessions would usually happen in-person, the team has now turned to the popular messaging app WhatsApp.
Having divided the Master Trainers up in geographical groups first, VVOB shares a video on a specific ECE topic every week through these groups on WhatsApp. This is then followed up by conference calls for more in-depth discussions about the content of the video. With this new remote approach to strengthening Master Trainers, we combine coaching and peer learning.
Early feedback has been very positive. The Master Trainers find it enlightening to start from a very practical and hands-on video to then move to the discussions and reflections. But make no mistake: this requires proper planning of the conference calls especially, so even the most remotely located Master Trainer can participate. Inclusion above all!

“I am taking advantage of the social distancing measures to engage Master Trainers on topics they may not have understood in previous face-to-face trainings. I do this through calls and WhatsApp of course. Once the pandemic is over, I might fall back on this experience. Sometimes flooding prevents beneficiaries from reaching us in-person too.”

Richard Bwale, Provincial ECE Coach (Muchinga Province), VVOB

Coaching over internet or phone in Cambodia

In Cambodia, VVOB has created a new manual on how to conduct coaching sessions online or over the phone. The internal manual is a go-to resource for becoming a good remote coach and includes a refresher course on the GRROW (goal, reality, resources, options and way forward) model – the coaching model used by VVOB,  as well as practical tips and coaching questions.

Based on the framework of the EU-co-funded TIGER project, the manual specifically supports TIGER coaches to continue their individual coaching sessions with the management and teaching staff of TIGER schools (schools that are undergoing a transformation into gender-responsive schools). An action guide was developed for that transformation and any obstacles schools experience when putting the guide’s theory into practice, are addressed during individual coaching sessions. These sessions are now organised online and over the phone by the TIGER coaches hailing from VVOB, the teacher education colleges and partner Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

Engaging in coaching from a distance is quite different from face-to-face coaching. Certain crucial social cues like eye contact, body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice are lost. But, if the guidelines in the manual are properly applied, there are no real limitations to remote coaching compared to face-to-face coaching.

Online learning in Rwanda

In Rwanda, VVOB invests heavily in continuous professional development (CPD) of teachers and school leaders. Most of the training courses already included blended learning – that is, learning that is made up of both traditional learning methods and ICT-based or distance learning activities – in varying degrees before the crisis hit. Now, in response to the pandemic, VVOB is preparing to go fully online.

VVOB has organised its online activities to resemble the face-to-face predecessors as much as possible. They also run in an online learning environment that is already familiar to the trainees from engaging in previous blended CPD modules: Moodle. Presentations are either pre-recorded, with narrators sticking to the point, or conducted live through conference tools. Follow-up discussions take place via chat. An online bonus are the additional materials and activities, such as quizzes and assignments, that can be easily organised and shared.

We’ve also been mindful about trainees not having access to the necessary technologies. The online learning environment is designed for smartphones rather than laptops or PCs, and transcripts of the video presentations are made available for trainees with limited connectivity.

Stronger together

This COVID-19 crisis has forced all of us to think differently and move faster with the blended learning approaches we were already implementing. This intensive reorganisation will definitely leave its mark on our capacity development activities post-crisis.

Though not easy and with a long road ahead, VVOB will emerge from this crisis richer with new approaches and more resilient with experience. We thank all of our partners for bearing with us in these difficult times, for their ambition to continue learning, and for their flexibility in adjusting planned capacity development trajectories.

Members of the TaRL Africa Community who gathered in Gaborone from 5-7 September. Photo: Young 1ove

From 5-18 September, Young 1ove, in partnership with TaRL Africa, (a formal partnership between Pratham and J-PAL) hosted a series of TaRL events in Botswana. In Botswana, the Ministry of Education has committed to scaling-up TaRL, supported by Young 1ove and UNICEF. To date Young 1ove have reached 10% of primary schools with striking results: in the latest implementation, the percentage of students at grade-level mathematics jumped from just 12% to 76%. These results have fueled momentum to scale nationally.

Young 1ove’s Botswana base acts as a TaRL innovation hub – where interested actors can see TaRL in action, TaRL innovations can be tested and the TaRL community of practice can come together to share lessons.

This workshop marked our first official co-training as an innovation hub. There were three events: first, a 3-day Community of Practice workshop, which was an opportunity for existing implementers of TaRL programmes to share their experiences and brainstorm potential solutions to challenges. Second, a one-day learning journey when organisations could see TaRL in action. Third, an 8-day training for prospective TaRL implementers.

The 8 day training was opened by the Botswana Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Basic Education. Capturing the power of TaRL, he said:

“teaching at the right level inspires, energizes and re-engineers the teaching process.”

The training included a range of activities from production of phonic charts in local languages, reading comprehension activities such as making as many words as possible with a set of letters, direct practice in schools, reflections with school management, and social hikes.

We took particular advantage of the training since it was on our home turf. Our government partners sent representatives from headquarters and regional offices, as well as the basic education and in-service department and ten of our staff joined. The opportunity to have direct training in partnership with TaRL Africa is an opportunity we had to maximize.

A few takeaways emerged for us:

• Each country is implementing TaRL ‘at their level.’ No one size fits all. Each country has adapted the program for their context. In Nigeria, the team is adapting new models to a context with over 100 students in a classroom; in Botswana, we have added daily problems of the day or ‘checkpoints’ to help youth instructors target instruction daily with a user-friendly tool.
• The diverse delivery models being implemented within the TaRL Africa Community of Practice enables helpful cross country learning. Some TaRL efforts are leveraging teachers, others national youth service programmes, others NGO delivery, others government delivery, and some a fusion. This has enabled cross-sharing across models, a recipe for continual learning and success across the TaRL ecosystem.
• There is broad-based demand for TaRL. The alarm has been sounded about the problem: a ‘learning crisis’ with students in school but many not learning; yet solutions are harder to come by. TaRL provides a tangible solution, backed by evidence and with a track record of scalability. The results are visible, galvanize energy, which in turn drive stronger results, yielding positive feedback loops. The demand for TaRL was expressed by nearly every country and partner.
• The movement is growing. New and old partners joined the workshop, and the coalition of partners grows every day. That’s what makes it a movement, after all.

“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.”

With TaRL, we’re going far.

From 9-18 September, Young 1ove and TaRL Africa hosted participants from organisations across Africa for a TaRL learning journey and workshop in Gaborone, Botswana. Lindi Strydom from South African-based organisation, Community Action Partnership (CAP) reflects on her experience at the Workshop.

In September, representatives from all over Africa attended an 8-day Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) workshop in Botswana, with one common interest: To learn about an exciting evidence-backed remedial education programme designed to help learners acquire basic reading and mathematics skills.

In South Africa, our school drop-out rate is extremely high. For every 100 learners entering Grade 1, half drop out, 40 will pass Matric (South Africa’s high school leaving examination), and only 12 will be accepted into a higher education institution. The overall dropout rate for schools in our local community is 54% and I strongly believe that the lack of basic reading and mathematics skills contributes greatly to this problem. Thus, learning more about  a simple, adaptable and learner-centred solution was my personal motivation for attending the TaRL workshop.

The week kicked off with a Learning Journey experience hosted by Young 1ove; a young, dynamic and energetic NGO based in Botswana that implements health and education programmes. They set the tone for the week with fun and interactive ‘getting to know each other’ icebreakers and energisers, and took us to a local school where we could see the programme in action. The learners were grouped according to their mathematics learning level to form three classes (Class One: addition and subtraction, Class Two:  multiplication, and Class Three: division). Each class was led by a Young 1ove facilitator, who conducted fun activities such as the ‘bundles and sticks’ activity , and to encourage learner participation everyone would ‘snap’ their fingers as a way of applauding. I was amazed at how engaged learners were at all times and how this uncomplicated method truly made them grasp the concepts of the different operations. This was a huge highlight and it was only the beginning of the week!

The following day, the TaRL workshop commenced with presentations by the TaRL Africa team, a joint partnership between Pratham and J-PAL. The team did a wonderful job delivering carefully planned and engaging activities. During the week we learned about the TaRL approach for Literacy and Mathematics which, at the classroom level, can be broken down into 3 main components:

1. Learners are evaluated with a quick and easy-to-use assessment tool.
2. Learners are grouped according to their level of understanding and not their grade or age.
3. Learners are taught basic reading and mathematics skills through fun and engaging, level-appropriate activities that are culturally relevant.

We also gained an understanding of where and why TaRL was born, how it continuously evolved through randomised evaluations, how it can be modelled to fit different contexts, what is needed to create a scalable and sustainable model, and finally how to ensure it will be successful.

What stood out was how incredibly simple but exceptionally efficient this programme is if it is implemented correctly to fit the local context. Sharing their TaRL success story were members of the Ministry of General Education from Zambia, who joined us at the workshop. Zambia placed last in 2011 Southern and East Africa Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) assessment, for both reading and mathematics.  In 2015, J-PAL Africa approached them with compelling research on a programme called TaRL – government  wasted no time to get on board – next year the programme will be scaled up to 1800 schools.

Similarly, in South Africa, results from the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy (PIRLS) assessments showed that 83% of grade 5 learners were unable to do basic mathematics (adding and subtracting whole numbers) and 78% of grade 4 learners were unable to read with meaning. South Africa was the lowest-performing country out of 50 in both assessments, failing to reach even the lowest benchmark.

To approach this problem we, as a non-profit company known as Community Action Partnership (CAP) and based in the rural Western Cape town, Swellendam, are interested in piloting a 3-year adapted Learning Camp Model at all our local schools, reaching just below 40,000 learners. This model will entail a 40-day burst of after school instruction for 1.5 to 2 hours with regular assessment of learner performance. Our vision is to establish real sustainable and scalable change and to achieve this we will eventually partner with the government.

Having had the opportunity to be a part of this workshop and meeting so many different people from all over Africa, sharing stories and ideas, and learning from each other has allowed us to gain a new perspective on what is possible and how to combat problems that seem almost impossible to solve. How do you eat an elephant? One TaRL bite at a time!

From 6 to 11 May, members of the Catch Up team from Zambia visited India to meet Pratham staff, see TaRL classes in action, and meet school and government staff working on TaRL programmes. The Catch Up team reflects on the visit.

1. What were the objectives of your trip to India?

Since 2017, VVOB and J-PAL Africa have been supporting the Government of Zambia to implement the Catch Up programme, Zambia’s Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) programme. As we embark on the third year of implementation, the team wanted to reflect on the challenges encountered and learn about best practices for scale, embedding the programme in government systems, and sustainability, while ensuring that all children master foundational skills. It is in this context that both organisations planned a learning visit to India to understand how Pratham tackled some of the challenges we are currently facing and how to ensure we provide the best support to the Ministry of Education to improve learning outcomes in Zambia.

14 VVOB and J-PAL Africa staff members, including District Coordinators, Education Advisors, and Management attended the learning journey. Before the visit, we discussed our expectations and wrote our key questions to help guide our conversation with Pratham and other TaRL stakeholders. Our key questions focused on sustainability, scale, monitoring, content and government partnerships.

2. What were some of the most striking things you noticed about TaRL in India?

At the end of each day, as a team, we reflected on the key lessons learned and what they mean for Catch Up in Zambia. The most striking things shared during these reflection meetings were the following:

• Pratham and the Government of India work hand in hand, as equal partners in states where they are jointly implementing the programme.
• There is a strong commitment from teachers, mentors and all stakeholders involved in the implementation of the TaRL methodology.
• There is clear ownership of the TaRL methodology by the government and it is embedded in their structures.

Data is shared across the board and all stakeholders understand the importance of assessment and data collection and the use of technology to collect data.

Overall, the entire team learned how we might overcome some of the challenges we are currently facing in the implementation of the programme in Zambia.

3. What are some of the lessons you will take to your work in Zambia?

Upon our return to Lusaka, each team made a presentation on lessons learned and way forward to integrate some of these lessons into our work. We then drafted an action plan articulated around six goal areas: government partnership, scale and sustainability, methodology, implementation and monitoring. In each goal area we have identified priority activities that need to be implemented by each team and have incorporated these into our six-month activity plan.

Key lessons include:

• The need to identify and create programme champions at each level of Catch Up implementation;
• Provide recommendations to the Ministry to simplify lessons plans and rethink about learner progression in numeracy;
• Review some of our monitoring tools and increase our efforts around government capacity building.

4. Were there any quotes, ideas, or people from your time in India that stood out to you?

When we met with the Director of Basic Education in the state of Uttar Pradesh, we asked him how he keeps his staff motivated to implement the programme. He responded:

“There are hundred-thousand teachers involved in the programme in my state and of course people are sometimes not motivated. However, when we share the assessment data with them and they see that children are progressing and their skills are improved it motivates them to continue implementing the programme. Seeing learners progressing and learning outcomes improved should be the biggest motivation for teachers.”

Furthermore, when asked if the government will be able to sustain the programme on their own, here is what he said:

“I have some brilliant minds around me, teachers and trainers who understand the methodology and solid structures that can sustain the programme are in place. I am confident that the programme should be able to run with limited support when competent people and the right structures are in place. I see that teachers own the programme and understand that it is an on-going programme and it is not something that is going to be replaced anytime soon.”

In addition to the explanations shared by the Director of Basic Education, we met very dedicated teachers, mentors and other district level support staff who do not hesitate to spend their own resources, travel hundreds of miles and invest additional time to ensure that children acquire foundational skills. Seeing this level of dedication was very inspiring for all of us.