Remote Learning in the Philippines During COVID [Briefs Series]

The Remote Learning Study was conducted during the 2020–2021 school year to investigate how mother-tongue-based multilingual education reading instruction proceeded in 20 schools around the country while classrooms were closed. The school head, 2 teachers, and 4 home learning partners from each school in Grades 1 and 3 were interviewed to gain insights on school administration, teaching and learning, and the home environment. Data was collected at three time points—November, March and June—from 20 school heads, 37 teachers of and 79 parents. Not all respondents were available at each time point. No parents were interviewed in November as recruitment was still underway. Children were also asked to fill out a literacy assessment worksheet, but very few parents returned this worksheet at each occasion. These briefs describe essential themes that emerged from this activity. #1 - Strategies for Assisting Home Learning Partners, #2 - Use of Teaching and Learning Materials, #3 - Use of Technology, #4 - Student Engagement Strategies, #5 - Challenges and Solutions to Remote Learning, #6 - School Leadership, #7 - Literacy Instructional Practice.

Developing eResources for Early Literacy and Numeracy [Presentation]

This presentation was delivered at the 2021 mEducation Alliance Symposium in a panel on the subject of education technologies for basic education in the Philippines.

Learning Continuity Innovations

Learning Community Innovations, an Emerging Good Practice Digest. March 2021 Digest No. 1. Includes parent engagement successes.

A Research Framework for Capturing Teachers' Decision-Making [CIES 2021 Presentation]

The purpose of this session is to articulate a research framework that centers teachers’ voices when trying to understand how teachers use curriculum materials in the classroom. Operating in the context of highly structured lesson plans, the approach identifies ways in which teachers exercise their professional discretion to modify the lesson and frames conversations to elaborate the motivations driving the teachers’ choices. The approach has been iteratively refined across three studies; taken together, the studies provide evidence for the value of listening to teachers and being responsive to their voices during implementation. The research framework uses the lens of modifications, or changes to the intended lesson plan implemented within one class period. Modifications can be large or small, additive or subtractive. For example, in a lesson with a section for independent student practice, a large modification might be skipping the practice section entirely. Or, during a lesson focused on blending of initial sounds using 3 example words, a small modification might be extending the exercise by adding extra words. Researchers observe the lesson, noting any modifications; after the lesson, the researchers select some of the modifications and ask the teachers why they made the choices they did. Analyses of teachers’ explanations highlight the importance of understanding why teachers make the choices they do. For example, a teacher who skipped the independent practice section because they don’t think their students are ready to do the skill on their own suggests that the teacher is exercising agency and using her knowledge of her students to inform her decision-making. Insights such as this one can guide decisions on projects. It may be that while the intention of the teacher was guided by knowledge of students, the end result is not desirable from the project’s point of view. Understanding why the teacher made this choice provides implementers with better and targeted ways to address choices that impact the overall goals of the project. In this presentation, we draw on data from an exploratory case study to understand use of new mathematics materials in Liberia, a more in-depth case conducted in Malawi on teacher use of reading materials, and finally, a systematic study examining how reading teachers use materials across four Sub-Saharan African countries. We use each case to highlight both an aspect of the research framework and instances of modifications to project implementation driven by teachers’ voices. By focusing on teacher voices, we disrupt the deficit notion that teachers are “resistant” to change, or do not “understand” new pedagogies. Instead, we aim to value teacher voices and integrate their insight into implementation programs. By doing this, we not only raise the likelihood of successful use of new materials and pedagogies, but we also develop more responsive pedagogy that better matches existing classroom cultures.

Social and Emotional Learning and School Climate Activity Report: Iringa and Zanzibar Regions

Based on 2018 Operational Research on contextualizing SEL in the Tanzanian context, this study sought to: 1) improve student learning through a focus on the social and emotional climate of the classroom; and 2) encourage reflection on existing classroom management and pedagogical practices and on activities that foster positive classroom climate and SEL; 3) foster dialogue about the goal of these activities and practices and the potential barriers to implementing them in the classroom; and 4) co-construct activities that achieve the goals and help address the barriers. It's primary aim was to build on what teachers already do well and encourage them to reflect on certain classroom values that are important to them that may be potential barriers to implementing new activities. The Activity monitored both how teachers engaged with two different methods of facilitating reflection and co-creation as well as how their attitudes and behaviors changed throughout the process. The aim of this report was to monitor and document the experience of implementing this activity to guide future practice.

Results and Implications of a 2019 Study of Fidelity of Implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) Policy in the Philippines

This presentation highlights some of the results and implications of a 2019 study on fidelity of implementation of the language of instruction policy in the Philippines. In 2009 the Philippines Department of Education issued Order No. 74 calling for the use of the learners’ mother tongue (MT) as the main medium of teaching and learning (MoTL) in kindergarten through grade 3. The policy introduces Filipino and English as additional languages of instruction, gradually increasing their usage until they take over as the primary MoTL in grade 4. Successfully navigating students through three languages in the early grades is a daunting task. Building on previous studies of MTB-MLE policy implementation in the Philippines, this study examined how teacher assignment, class sectioning (grouping learners by MT), materials provisioning and usage, and teachers’ language usage in the classroom conforms to or diverges from the policy, especially across locations with different contextual factors. It also looked at the factors associated with higher implementation.

Facilitator's Guide for Journeys Activity Handbook for Pupils

Each Journeys Handbook has an accompanying Facilitator's Guide that serves as a manual for the facilitator responsible for leading a teacher training on Journeys. This particular Facilitator's Guide is meant to accompany the Journeys Activity Handbook for Pupils. The Facilitator's Guide is meant for training purposes only.

Reading achievement in the Philippines: The role of language complexity

This study looks at the impact of first language (L1, or “mother tongue”) complexity on reading achievement in the Philippines using Grade 3 Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) data collected in 2013 and 2019. EGRA data were collected from 232 schools in 2013, when students learned to read in the national languages of Filipino and English. These data on English and Filipino performance were collected again in the same schools in 2019, when students would have, according to policy, learned to read first in their mother tongue.

Tusomere Wamu Uganda Learning Campaign Toolkit

Tusomere Wamu Uganda Learning Campaign Toolkit

Runyankore Rukiga Story Cards

Runyankore Rukiga Story Cards

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