jodyhollis - Winning Teams

Leh Wi Lan – Closing the Gaps In Learning

jodyhollis — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 10:03:21 +0000

Winning Teams is proud to have contributed in a small way to the Sierra Leone – Leh Wi Lan (‘Let’s learn!’) programme, a Sierra Leone government education initiative designed to improve learning outcomes in English and Mathematics in all Sierra Leonean secondary schools. Overseen by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, it is managed by Cambridge Education, a member of the Mott MacDonald global consultancy group. The programme additionally receives funding from the UK Aid agency on behalf of the UK government.

These reports produced by Cambridge Education showcase the impact of Winning Teams’ involvement in the Sierra Leone – Leh Wi Lan programme. Through our active learning strategies, targeted support, and emphasis on building confidence, we have witnessed remarkable transformations in mathematics education. Students have been engaged in collaborative problem-solving, finding joy in learning, and overcoming challenges.

Our innovative approach has closed the learning gap, identified areas of improvement, and provided immediate feedback to foster continuous progress. The programme has not only improved students’ mathematical skills but also their overall confidence and enthusiasm for the subject. Through partnerships with local communities and sustainable practices, Winning Teams aims to create a lasting impact, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to succeed in mathematics and beyond.

The reports are entitled:

Remediating Secondary School Mathematics in Sierra Leone – The Winning Teams Pilot

Closing the Gaps in Learning

See the links below:

Cambridge Education – https://www.camb-ed.com/uk

Cambridge Education provide technical support and project management to implement and improve education at school, regional and national level. Their work ranges from education evaluation to school, local authority, and central government transformation.

Sierra Loene Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education Leh Wi Lan Programme – https://mbsse.gov.sl/leh-wi-lan

Leh Wi Lan: Improving the Quality of Secondary Education in Sierra Leonne. Leh Wi Lan aims to improve pupil learning outcomes in English and Mathematics in all

Mott McDonald – https://www.mottmac.com/

The Mott MacDonald Group is a management, engineering and development consultancy headquartered in the United Kingdom. It employs +18,000 staff in 150 countries.

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Learning Recovery and Development: RAPID Framework

jodyhollis — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 13:18:41 +0000

The RAPID Framework

The World Bank together with several partners (see Attribution below) developed a policy framework to guide decision makers to reversing learning losses arising from the COVID pandemic.

The policy framework entitled R.A.P.I.D., is based on five evidence-based policy actions:

Reach all children
Assess learning
Prioritize the fundamentals
Increase the efficiency of instruction
Develop psychosocial health and wellbeing

The first two policy actions (i.e., reaching and keeping students in school, and assessing learning levels regularly) are primarily designed to support recovery, and the remaining three policy actions are strategies to improve teaching, learning, and well-being.

Source: World Bank

Winning Teams’ Response to the RAPID Framework

We are in complete agreement with the approach adopted by the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, FCDO, UNESCO, UNICEF, and USAID. The RAPID framework specifically tries to accelerate learning through non-conventional means. The Winning Teams approach is consistent with the RAPID framework, which we have successfully applied for more than two decades. The RAPID framework is based on research over many years, and is based on evidence from numerous programmes around the world, and from many countries.

There are many similarities between the RAPID approach, and the Winning Teams approach. Our approach specifically addresses:

Assessing learning levels regularly
Prioritising teaching the fundamentals
Increasing the efficiency of instruction including catch-up learning

“The Winning Teams approach is consistent with the RAPID framework, which we have successfully applied for more than two decades.”

Whilst we do support education decision makers in the ‘Reach’ component, primarily by keeping learners motivated to stay in school, and the ‘Develop’ component, our approach specifically targets the classroom environment rather than the country-specific policy environment.

Assess Learning Levels Regularly

The framework provides for both system-level and classroom-level learning assessment. System level assessments are primarily aimed at a national or regional level, and the baseline measures of learning can help policymakers understand the scale of the learning challenge, trends in learning over time, and inequalities in student learning.

Winning Teams provides continuous learning level assessments at the classroom and school level. It is vital to have quality classroom level data about the performance of students. Classroom assessments are critical to implement recovery strategies like targeted instruction, which groups students by their learning levels, and for monitoring the effectiveness of learning recovery interventions. Winning Teams uses a continuous motivating, and non-threatening learning assessment methodology.

Prioritise Teaching the Fundamentals

The pandemic-related education disruptions have left learners behind their grade-appropriate learning levels. Strictly adhering to the curriculum risks presenting learners with material they are not prepared to learn. If they move through the curriculum without first mastering the key foundational concepts they need, their ability to progress on to more complex topics with adequate understanding will be jeopardized.

The Winning Teams approach focuses on learners mastering key foundational skills through several mechanisms. This is not a definitive list, but it is in alignment with the RAPID framework:

Focusing on key competencies within these focus areas
Streamlining duplicate content
Integrating topics based on logical connections
Providing a motivating environment in which to learn
Providing learner and teacher guides focusing on foundational knowledge

Increase the Efficiency of Instruction, Including Through Catch-Up Learning

To recover from learning losses, schools will need to support initiatives that increase the amount of learning within classrooms, through more effective teaching practices and learner-focused recovery strategies that can help all students make gains on their learning. Improving the quality of teaching and targeting it to the level of the student are among the most crucial interventions for reversing the decline in learning progress.

“The pandemic has left learners with learning gaps which have to be met with ‘catch-up’ learning initiatives”

The Winning Teams approach fully supports this policy objective through

Targeted instruction
Self-guided learning
Structured learning
Tutoring

Specifically, we help align instruction to the learning levels of students. We provide material support that helps direct self-guided learning, including high-quality teaching and learning materials, peer coaching, and continuous learner assessment. We also use a peer tutoring system using more advanced learners in small-group environments, which gives individualized attention and targeted instruction in areas where learners need further support or practice.

The key takeaway is that the pandemic has left learners with learning gaps that have to be met with ‘catch-up’ learning initiatives so that they are able to progress further in more complicated areas.

Attribution

World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, FCDO, UNESCO, UNICEF, and USAID. 2022. Guide for Learning
Recovery and Acceleration: Using the RAPID Framework to Address COVID-19 Learning Losses and Build Forward Better. Washington, DC: World Bank.
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/publication/the-rapid-framework-and-a-guide-for-learning-recovery-and-acceleration

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The State of Global Learning Poverty 2022 – World Bank

jodyhollis — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 12:11:28 +0000

State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update Summary

The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update report was issued in June 2022 by the World Bank, with several global partners.

These partners included UNESCO, UNICEF, UK government Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), USAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The most important metric that the report identifies is the learning poverty rate, which measures the share of children who cannot read a simple text with comprehension by age 10. Prior to the pandemic, the learning poverty rate was estimated at 57 percent in low- and middle-income countries, and in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was 86 percent.

The effects of the pandemic have resulted in a startling increase in the earning poverty rate. The 2022 estimates of the effects of the pandemic suggest global learning poverty in low- and middle-income countries has surged to an estimated 70 percent, i.e. 70% of 10-year-olds are unable to understand a simple written text. The learning poverty rate in Sub-Saharan Africa will no doubt have also increased.

Key Findings

Even before COVID-19, the world was facing a learning crisis, with nearly 6 out of every 10 ten-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries suffering from learning poverty—meaning they were unable to read and understand a simple story.
Now COVID-19 pandemic school closures and disruptions have deepened the crisis, sharply increasing learning poverty and exacerbating the inequalities in education.
Without urgent action to reduce learning poverty, we face a learning and human capital catastrophe.
If children do not acquire the basics of literacy—together with numeracy and other foundational skills—the futures of hundreds of millions of children around the world, and their societies, are at grave risk.
There is a narrow window to act decisively to recover and accelerate learning.
This will require firm political commitment and implementation of evidence-based approaches for rapid impact.
The good news is that the core policies that can help recover learning lost to the pandemic, will also address the deeper underlying learning crisis that predated COVID-19 – accelerating learning, and delivering long-term benefits for economies and societies.

Short-Term Actions and the RAPID Framework

The report partners recommend the RAPID framework (see subsequent post) which offers evidence-based actions in five policy areas that countries can use to promote learning recovery and acceleration, starting in the short term. These actions build on proven innovations from around the world. But they are very different from what many education systems do under business as usual, so meaningful learning recovery and acceleration will require focused, intentional change at scale. The framework summarizes a menu of policies, many of which have already been implemented at the national level in different countries.

Reach every child and keep them in school.
Assess learning levels regularly.
Prioritize teaching the fundamentals.
Increase the efficiency of instruction.
Develop psychosocial health and well-being.

Key Report Partner Quotes

(Acknowledgements to all parties, our emphasis – Winning Teams)

World Bank

Jaime Saavedra, Global Director for Education, World Bank: “COVID-19 has devastated learning around the world, dramatically increasing the number of children living in Learning Poverty. With 7 in 10 of today’s 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries now unable to read a simple text, political leaders and society must swiftly move to recover this generation’s future by ensuring learning recovery strategies and investments. The World Bank is committed to supporting countries during these challenging times. Together, we can build forward better more equitable, effective, and resilient education. We owe it not only to the children and youth of this generation, but to ourselves – in their minds rests our future.”

FCDO – UK Government Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office

Alicia Herbert OBE, Director Education, Gender and Equality and Gender Envoy, FCDO: “This important document helps us to better understand where we are on education globally, and how we can ensure that all children are supported to get on track to achieve 12 years of quality education. The report shows what we feared. Even fewer children are now able to access a quality education, due to the impact of COVID-19 and school closures globally, especially the most marginalised. An estimated 7 in 10 of all children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read a simple text with comprehension by age 10. This is unacceptable. We must come together to pay attention and to act, so that all children can get back to school and learn.”

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Dr. Benjamin Piper, Director of Global Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: “I want readers of this report to have at least two responses. The first is profound sadness at the magnitude of the learning crisis. The learning poverty data highlights the shocking inequality that persists in learning outcomes, with 87% of children in Africa unable to read and understand a simple text. This data was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the new simulations suggest this has increased to 89%. This is sad, but it’s also wrong. The second is that we have solutions that can work at scale and in government systems. Committing to substantial learning recovery programs is a start, but the composition of those programs matter: measure learning outcomes, but also invest in improving instruction through structured pedagogy or teaching at the right level interventions while increasing instructional time. Countries that do this have a real opportunity not only to recover learning lost due to COVID-19, but to make significant progress to reduce learning poverty by 2030.”

UNESCO

Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant-Director General for Education: “These estimates ring the alarm louder than ever on the urgency to prioritize education in recovery plans and beyond. We must invest in holistic and transformative policies that act on the multiple causes of the learning crisis, mobilize the international community, and put in place all the conditions to ensure that no child falls behind. The Transforming Education Pre-Summit, from June 28 to 30 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, and the Transforming Education Summit, on 19 September in New York, are our opportunity to set learning on the right tracks and fulfill the SDG4 promise to ensure quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

UNICEF

Robert Jenkins, UNICEF Global Director of Education: “Getting children back into the classroom is just the first step – but if we stop there, we will rob millions of children of the chance to reach their full potential. Every child has a right not only to be in school, but to learn in school, acquiring the basic skills that are the foundation for higher learning and higher income levels someday – in turn supporting equitable development and sustainable growth. We need to reach every child, in every situation. We need to assess their learning level and help them master the basics, so they can move ahead as confident learners. And especially for children living through conflicts and crises, we need to support children’s learning by making sure they have the psychosocial support they need. We can’t let children’s learning become yet another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

USAID

LeAnna Marr, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation, Center for Education, USAID: “The State of Global Learning Poverty is an urgent call for commitment. Recovering from this massive shock will require all of us – governments, families, educators, civil society, and the private sector – to double our efforts to ensure every child is supported to return to school and catch up on learning. In the wake of the worst shock to education and learning in a century, USAID is committed to continuing our support to the recovery and transformation of education to ensure all children and youth are able to return to safe and quality learning. USAID will continue to build on our investments and lead globally in foundational learning, strengthening resilience in education systems, and equipping the next generation with the skills needed for lifelong success.”

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From disruption to recovery – UNICEF

jodyhollis — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 12:09:13 +0000

In early 2022 the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the World Bank conducted a survey on the global effects of the Pandemic on education, and summarised their major findings entitled “Where are we on Education Recovery?“.

Their key findings were as follows:

Two years into the pandemic, schools have been fully closed for 20 weeks, and partially closed for an additional 21 weeks, on average across countries.
Data from the UNESCO Global Monitoring of School Closures reveal that about 1 in 10 countries had fully closed their schools for over 40 weeks.
Schoolchildren around the world have missed an estimated 2 trillion hours – and counting – of in-person learning since the onset of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
The chain effect of school closures could be staggering and felt far beyond education. In addition to missed learning, school closures deprive children of the benefits to their safety, health, nutrition, and overall wellbeing provided by schools.
Prolonged school closures have deepened existing disparities in education.
Learning losses are worst for the most vulnerable children, particularly girls.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that without urgent action to recover learning that was lost before and during COVID-19, the world faces a generational catastrophe.

UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Bank have proposed a comprehensive strategy for education recovery (RAPID):

Reach and Retain: tracking the number of children that are back in school, and retain them in school
Assess: measuring students’ current learning levels
Prioritize: prioritsing teaching the fundamentals
Increase: increase catch-up learning by implementing programmes at scale to address learning losses
Develop: providing additional measures so that every child is ready to learn

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Re-imagining the future of learning – Peer to peer learning

jodyhollis — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 13:34:22 +0000

Peer tutoring and peer-learning encompass a range of approaches in which learners work together in small teams to provide each other with learning support. Essentially, peer tutoring relies upon learners helping others learners to learn. Some see this as a teaching strategy, but we believe that it is a far broader strategy.

There are different models for peer-tutoring, in which learners are placed together based upon age, or ability levels. Some examples include:

Cross-age tutoring: in which an older learner takes the tutoring role and is paired with younger learners
Peer assisted learning: where learners assist each other in learning materials based upon their unique skills and knowledge
Reciprocal peer tutoring: in which learners alternate between the role of tutor and tutee

The common characteristic is that learners take on responsibility for aspects of learning and for evaluating their success.

Effectiveness

There are many studies that show that peer tutoring approaches have a positive impact on learning, with participants averaging an improvement equivalent to approximately five additional months’ progress within an academic year.

Of particular importance is that peer-learning approaches are extremely cost effective to implement, and provide relief to scarce teacher resources.

“Peer-learning approaches are extremely cost effective to implement, and provide relief to scarce teacher resources”

There is also evidence to suggest that peer-tutoring is particularly effective with lower performing students, and those with foundational learning gaps.

In cross-age peer tutoring, some studies have found that a gap of fewer than three years is optimal, although ensuring that the gap is wide enough so that the work is challenging to the tutee whilst easy enough for the tutor to support them is key.

Peer tutoring appears to be particularly effective when learners and tutors are provided with quality support to ensure that the quality of learning is of a high level. There is also evidence to suggest that peer-tutoring is most effective as a reinforcement of pre-taught concepts, rather than as a means to introduce new learning concepts.

Peer-led tutoring approaches also help learners to close gaps in their learning by offering targeted, peer-led support to consolidate within class learning, practice skills, and identify and overcome misconceptions.

Winning Teams’ Approach to Peer-Learning and Tutoring

We embrace the peer-learning and peer-tutoring in our approach to youth learning and development. With more than two decades of experimentation and observation, we can confirm that there is very strong evidence as to the effectiveness of peer-learning approaches. Whilst our approach relies upon a number of learning models, peer learning is an important pillar.

We incorporate these principles into our programmes in the following ways:

We engage with, and employ school-leavers who are approximately two years older than our learners, to assist with tutoring our learners in their final school years. These tutors have successfully completed their final exams, but are often unemployed, and unable to afford higher education. Our funders pay a small stipend. There is a tremendous opportunity for these school-leavers to cement their knowledge and develop the confidence to study further.
These tutors are drawn from the local communities, and in most circumstances are alumni of the schools that they are tutoring which ties their contribution to their community learning aspirations.
We provide training and guidance to these tutors as to how to conduct peer tutoring, and we also provide training in our processes and procedures, concentrating on pre-assessment, and post-assessment techniques
Our approach focuses on peer, and collaborative learning (more to follow). We believe in empowering our learners to develop lifelong learning skills so that they are uniquely equipped to continue their learning beyond the formal educational environment.

There are a number of other elements to our approach that we will write about, and update this article as we proceed. Further posts will cover collaborative learning, self-directed learning, learner engagement, and lifelong learning skills

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COVID: The effects of unfinished learning – McKinsey & Co

jodyhollis — Wed, 18 May 2022 12:35:34 +0000

The Lingering Effects of Unfinished Learning

McKinsey and Co have published a paper on the effects of COVID-19 on the effects of the pandemic on student learning and well-being. The paper is entitled “COVID-19 and education: The lingering effects of unfinished learning”. The paper focuses primarily on the effects of the pandemic in the US, but the recommendations have global significance.

Listen to the article: COVID-19 and education: The lingering effects of unfinished learning

The paper highlights that the fallout from the pandemic threatens to depress this generation’s prospects and constrict their opportunities far into adulthood. They specifically highlight the term “unfinished learning” to refer to the fact that students were not given the opportunity this year to complete all the learning they would have completed in a typical year.

Key Findings

The report analyses the effects of ‘unfinished learning’, and some of the findings are as follows:

By the end of 2020-2021, students, on average, were on average 5 months behind in maths, and four months behind in reading.
The initial shock was especially severe in Maths, with students learning little, if anything, in the initial shutdown. The effect on reading was less but continued to accumulate.
Parents reported increases in mental health conditions and concerning behaviours in children, particularity, anxiety, depression, lethargy, social withdrawal, self-isolation, and irrational fears.

For the full analysis refer to the report.

Key Takeaway

By our interpretation, the key finding of the report is that the pandemic and ‘unfinished learning’ will have long-term effects on lifetime earnings, economic productivity, social integration, and personal health.

” Unfinished learning is real—and inequitable “

McKinsey & Co.

Next Steps

These are not new insights, but the value of the paper lies in the recommendations that McKinsey makes as to how to remedy the problem. Whilst we do not agree that all of these recommendations are relevant to the global problem, they offer some significant insights into the past state of education and also point to future developments in education.

Specifically, they refer to the recommendations made by the ‘Coalition to Advance Future Student Success‘, a think tank of leading educational practitioners.

These priorities encompass four potential actions for education:

Safely reopen schools for in-person learning.
Reengage students and reenroll them in effective learning environments.
Support students in recovering unfinished learning and broader needs.
Recommit and reimagine our education systems for the long term.

These objectives are very similar to those recommended by UNESCO and the World Bank. See our post entitled: ‘From disruption to recovery – UNICEF’.

Re-imagine our Education Systems for the Long-Term

Of the above recommendations, what is of particular interest to us, because it complements our approach, is that McKinsey points out that opportunity gaps have existed in school systems for a long time. We think that this is a worldwide phenomenon. In their analysis, they provide recommendations to enhance education and learning in the future.

They highlight:

developing high-quality curricula
providing engaging, curriculum and instruction
delivered by diverse and effective educators
supported by effective assessments to inform instruction and support

Whilst they don’t specifically endorse our view of the importance of community-based learning, they reflect that parents are considering hybrid models, remote learning, homeschooling, or learning hubs over the long term.

They conclude as we do that the future of ‘unfinished learning’ provides the global learning community a generational opportunity to re-imagine learning and that the pandemic will no doubt have profound effects on future learning endevours.

McKinsey is the oldest and largest of the “Big Three” management consultancies, the world’s three largest strategy consulting firms by revenue. It has consistently been recognized as the most prestigious consulting firm in the world.

Any commentary is solely the opinion of Winning Teams, and is not endorsed by McKinsey & Co.

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Winning Teams’ Response to the Covid Educational Crisis

jodyhollis — Wed, 18 May 2022 08:26:25 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic has had disastrous implications for global education, affecting more than 1.6 billion learners worldwide. The global response to this challenge was to close educational facilities, implement digital learning services, and provide financial support to students. Early research has highlighted certain problems with this approach: lack of access to digital learning infrastructure; lack of supportive structures to facilitate learning; and inadequate educational resources to deliver effective education. These problems are exacerbated in under-developed countries. Educationalists report considerable inconsistency in foundational knowledge amongst learners; erosion of learner engagement; increased dropout rates; widening gender inequality; and difficulty in assessing student knowledge. This will have considerable economic and social implications for decades to come.

Winning Teams is uniquely positioned to support public and private sector efforts to respond to these challenges. Our innovative approach relies on the following principles: enhancing self-directed learning; leveraging collaborative learning; fostering active student engagement; identifying foundational knowledge gaps; providing continuous assessment; and supporting educationalists. Critically, we rely on the efforts of successful school-leavers who are role models from their own communities, to assist students and to support overwhelmed teaching resources. We create opportunities to increase parent/teacher interaction, foster broader societal interaction with students, reduce gender inequality, and cultivate positive attitudes of self-learning, and life-long learning. Our approach does not rely on digital technology, and it is able to be deployed rapidly, making it particularly effective in under-developed economies.

The result is a highly pragmatic, results-orientated, and cost-effective response to the challenges that have arisen as a result of the pandemic. We have achieved significant success in raising knowledge in the Science, Mathematics, and second-language English subject areas, but the methodology can be used in diverse subject areas. We have a proven track record in educational improvement, and our solution is scalable, having reached more than 2 million students in South Africa over a fifteen-year period.

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Which children were left behind – COVID 19

jodyhollis — Thu, 05 May 2022 14:59:22 +0000

Infographic: Which children were left behind?

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