Curriculum, Learning and Teaching
Curriculum, Learning and TeachingAt a Young Lives conference last year, Karthik Muralidharan presented what is probably the first ever longitudinal study of learning outcomes in a developing country. By applying Item Response Theory to a learning assessments dataset from Andhra Pradesh, the research found that the primary curriculum only catered for the top 10%. Most students fell further… Read more
This article reports on a systematic review of research on the effectiveness of interventions aimed at increasing teacher attendance in developing countries. After a comprehensive search process, nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Pooled effects sizes of included studies were estimated (with the exception of three studies that had unavailable information to calculate their effect… Read more
This review addresses the characteristics of effective teachers, tackles the problems in recruiting and securing the best candidates to teaching roles and identifies best practice in not only recruiting, but also deploying and retaining teachers. There is overwhelming evidence that teachers have the most effect on pupil outcomes (closely followed by the quality of leadership)…. Read more
The School for Life (SfL) is an NGO in Northern Ghana running a ‘Literacy for Life Change’ programme. It targets out of school children, between the ages of 8 and 14, and, through an intensive nine-month programme, gives them adequate basic literacy and numeracy skills to enable them to integrate into formal primary schools. The… Read more
This review looks at key aspects of policy and practice relating to headteachers: their changing role; management of supply; recruitment; performance management; training and development. Many of the policy documents and much of the recent literature talk about ‘leadership’ when discussing the role of headteachers and principals of schools. The word is also used when… Read more
This Review deals with the structure and contents of the curriculum, together with curriculum delivery, including time spent on teaching and learning, the relationship between school structures and the curriculum on offer as well as teaching. It also deals with assessment. The section on assessment discusses the purposes of assessment, its timing and methods, as… Read more
This report describes the Ugandan context and the educational context within. Under-funding, rapid expansion and inadequate management have led to low and declining education outcomes for girls and boys. DFID’s aim is to improve education for all children within DFID-supported schools, and reduce gender barriers to girls’ participation and achievement. Support from DFID can help:… Read more
Sir Ian was part of the Round Table convened by DFID at the UKFIET Conference in Oxford in September 2013, which presented the evolution of DFID’s education programme. In this video, Sir Ian reflects on the session and the education programme in general. He supports the shift in focus from primary to secondary education, but… Read more
Recently, the HEART team received a request to investigate the practicalities of developing an early grade reading primer programme for a country with low levels of literacy and educational infrastructure. Experts in the field of literacy, children’s book publishing, and programmatic distribution were consulted and their responses synthesised into a guide. Below are a few… Read more
This helpdesk report is on the topic of “attracting and retaining teachers” and aims to address what works to attract competent people into the teaching profession and how to retain teachers and ensure that they attend school regularly and teach effectively. The report is structured into sections covering the issues of teacher recruitment, retention, attendance… Read more
This paper assembles a panel data set that measures cognitive achievement for 128 countries around the world from 1965 to 2010 in 5-year intervals. The data set is constructed from international achievement tests, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which have become increasingly available… Read more