Warchild led project: improve children’s learning through a focus on the quality of classroom teaching in South Sudan

1. Connect.Teaching
Marc van den Homberg
Euro Africa ICT
Lisbon, 29th of November 2012

2. 2
Education in South Sudan (1)
Six years ago barely an
educational system due to civil
war >> education peace
dividend is now expected
81% illiteracy, 26% primary
school completion rate
Over 500 primary schools (first
to eight grade) constructed, still
half of primary school children
out of school

3. 3
Education in South Sudan (2)
Poor quality of teaching:
61% of teachers do not possess any professional training to be
teachers
Lack of trainers for the teachers
Pupil-Teacher ratio = 52
Predominantly rote teaching
Syllabus coverage not on schedule
Infrastructure:
A third of classes in open air
Not enough books, paper and pens
No or little electricity and internet connectivity

4. 4
Connect.Teaching
Goal:
Improve children’s learning through a focus on the quality of
classroom teaching
Solution:
Classroom support and coaching
Learning-centred lessons for teachers using an off-line database of
curriculum-linked educational resources

5. 5
Solution proposed
Classroom support and coaching
Training by Cluster Education Centre in collaboration with Warchild,
and aligned with Ministry of Education and General Instruction in
Eastern Equatoria State
Educational content
Curriculum of South Sudan: English, Science and Maths
Teacher Professional Development material
Tablet
Hardware: 7” and 7 hrs battery lifetime, Micro SD card
Software: “a website disguised as an app” (Android OS, HTLM5 and
Dolphin browser), Microsoft Sharepoint for online database

6. 6
Low cost hardware

7. 7
Content Management System (SCREEN 2A)

8. 8
Stakeholders involved
Schools, teachers and pupils!
Government of the Republic of South Sudan:
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education and General Instruction in Eastern Equatoria
State
Teacher trainers organisations: Cluster education centre
NGO:
Warchild (leading party)
Technical partners, such as innovation partner, platform hosting
company and programmers
Content providers: National and International

9. 9
“We have decided not to have a big consortium from the start, but
instead hire specific expertise on the way. Sometimes this meant there
was a delay, as it took time to find the right experts to do the job. On the
other hand, the core team was quite small which made it easier to take
decisions. Opportunity driven though and financing all activities has
been a constant challenge, and still is.”

10. 10
Early Implementation Pilot
July – Sept 2012:
Training of teachers by Cluster Education Center
Tablet: 22 tablets in 10 schools in Magwi and Torit, one solar panel
per school
Research and evaluation:
Classroom and school observation
Participant experience
Tablet usage

11. 11
Research and evaluation (1/3)
Classroom and school observation – Quantitative and qualitative data
To monitor
Children’s engagement in classroom learning increases (time-on-task)
Teachers increase the number of different learning activities used, and broaden the
type of learning activities used in the classroom

12. 12
Research and evaluation (2/3)
Participant Experience (Survey, interviews, focus groups)
To monitor
Children’s classroom experience improvement
Teacher’s and supervisor’s capacity and commitment to providing quality education
improves
Teachers gain access to additional important information through the database

13. 13
Research and evaluation (3/3)
Tablet usage – Quantitative data
To monitor
Supervisors and teachers access teaching and learning and professional
development material from the database to support their work with teachers

14. 14
“For teachers to work with the tool, we need to do a fair amount of
training, actually more than we had first planned for. The first pilot
results showed there is more work to do before the teachers will actually
apply the teaching material in the classroom”

15. 15
Preliminary findings and recommendations
Supervision and training
Usage of tablet is still limited
Certification of teachers and Peer learning will be explored
Hardware:
Charging with solar panel takes 3-4 days, exploring other ways for
charging, possibly more powerful panels
Database content
Streamlining the over 500 resources
Mother tongue and teacher generated content will be explored
Overall
Work towards replicability: ensure adoption, technical scalability,
sustainable business model.
Continuous communication with Ministry of Education

16. 16
Questions?
Marc van den Homberg, leader ICT4D team, marc.vandenhomberg@tno.nl
On behalf of the projectteam:
South Sudan:
Laina Henderson, Program development manager, Juba,
laina.henderson@warchild.nl
Beden Chaplain, Field Officer, Torit, beden.chaplain@warchild.n
The Netherlands:
James Lawrie, Education advisor, james.lawrie@warchild.nl
Jenny de Boer, ICT4D consultant, jenny.deboer@tno.nl
Have a look at:
http://www.connactnow.org/teaching/tool/

17. 17
Back up slides

18. 18
Contents
Education in South Sudan
Goal of the Connect.Teaching project
Solution proposed
Value network
Pilot
Monitoring and evaluation
Results and challenges ahead

19. 19

20. 20
Content Management System (SCREEN 2B)

21. 21
Open Educational Resources

22. 22
TECH-FLOW