Helpdesk Reports
The most important element for successful adult literacy and numeracy learning is to take a people-centred approach. Literacy and numeracy teaching should be incorporated into subjects that are directly relevant and useful for participants. Ideally, learners would be consulted on their priorities and be involved in the planning and design of the programme and of… Read more
Research looking at the use of smartphones to monitor doctor attendance in Pakistan found many other factors affecting attendance other than the monitoring (Callen et al 2013). Health systems inspectors uploaded results to an aggregating website. Smartphone monitoring doubled inspection rates and relatively few phones were used to cover a large population. Because politicians provide… Read more
Children in northern Uganda have undergone significant psychosocial stress during the region’s lengthy conflict. A Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) programme was implemented in 21 schools identified as amongst those most severely affected by conflict-induced displacement across Gulu and Amuru Districts. The PSSA intervention comprised a series of 15 class sessions designed to progressively increase children’s… Read more
This report examines the influences on educational programming in conflict-induced emergencies. It questions whether standardised interventions are appropriate and effective educational responses, and focuses on child-friendly spaces, school-feeding programmes, and pre-packaged education kits. It draws on a review of literature, and the country studies of Sudan, Lebanon, Uganda, and Timor-Leste.
This research seeks to explore the education of refugee children in Uganda. Specifically, it addresses the multiple ways in which refugees access education and the social effects of the differing forms of education on the creation of stability for refugee children. Conditions in Uganda have allowed the development of four distinct arenas in which the… Read more
Assessment in education in Uganda takes many forms: for example, the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) and Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, the National Assessment of Progress in Education (NAPE) and other system-wide tests, practice examinations used in schools, formal and informal classroom assessment. Uganda’s assessment system is a complex and interconnected web of all… Read more
Information about school performance can be powerful. Governments can use it to drive an accountability system, and schools can use data to identify areas for self-improvement. However, to be useful, the data need to provide fair and accurate information about school quality. In the UK, Ark’s chain of academy schools is at the forefront of… Read more
A school’s success in promoting learning is often measured in terms of the examination results of the students. Value added measures are designed to account for the ability of a school’s intake to provide a fairer and more accurate indication of performance. They are being increasingly used to provide more accurate data about the quality… Read more
Where have all the teachers gone? Why there are never any teachers in Africa’s refugee camps and what we can do about it, is chapter 10 of Next steps in managing teacher migration: papers of the sixth Commonwealth research symposium on teacher mobility, recruitment and migration. When it is time to start formal education soon after… Read more
Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is a largely overlooked issue in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. Every day, millions of menstruating girls and women in low-income countries struggle to find clean water for washing, private places for changing and adequate blood absorbing materials. This study aims to explore the difficulties experienced by schoolgirls in… Read more
Improving student learning outcomes is one of the top priorities for the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology & Sports (MOESTS). Valid and reliable measures of the quality and distribution of student learning outcomes are essential components in the drive for improved education quality. However, improved learning achievement depends not only on the resources invested in… Read more