Teaching at the Right Level – Rwenzori
Location:
Rwenzori, Uganda
Timing:
2022-2025
Budget:
DKK 12,000,000
Donor:
The Hempel Foundation
Sector:
Primary education
Focus:
Foundational literacy and numeracy; social-emotional learning; Teaching at the Right Level; professional development of teachers (INSET) and school leaders
Challenge:
Despite Uganda’s efforts to increase learners’ literacy and numeracy levels and life skills with the introduction of a thematic curriculum, a 2021 learning assessment of primary school learners carried out by Uwezo and the National Assessment for Progress in Education showed a decline in literacy and numeracy outcomes. For example, the majority of learners in grade 5 could not read a short story; and only 41 per cent of children master basic operations by the end of primary school. The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated Uganda’s ‘learning poverty’, with Kasese district in Rwenzori performing below the country average.
Goal:
Teachers and school leaders of 80 primary schools in Kasese district in Rwenzori support learners in primary grades 3 to 5 to acquire foundational literacy and numeracy skills through Teaching at the Right Level.
Partners:
- Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES): national and district level
- TaRL Africa
- Research partner (yet to be identified)
Approach:
Developed by Pratham NGO, Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) is a fun, effective and evidence-based remedial learning methodology. It enables learners to quickly catch up on literacy and numeracy by grouping them according to learning levels rather than age, and targeting instruction to that level.
The TaRL-Rwenzori project is built on three pillars:
- Professional development of teachers and school leaders to apply the TaRL methodology through training by Master Trainers and regular monitoring by school-based and external mentors
- Regular assessment through baseline, midline and endline assessments to monitor learning outcomes and regroup learners
- Development of contextualised teaching guides and teaching and learning support materials on TaRL
The delivery of TaRL lessons uses a school-based modality. TaRL lessons are provided before and after ordinary school hours, to allow learners to catch up and improve their literacy and numeracy ability. Ideally, TaRL sessions would be included in normal school hours. This is a topic for advocacy with the Ministry of Education and Sports and other education stakeholders.
By the end of the project…
- Selected government staff and teacher trainers are experienced TaRL Master Trainers who conduct training and mentoring-monitoring visits
- School leaders, mentors and teachers have the competencies to implement TaRL sessions in literacy and numeracy in their schools.
- Daily TaRL sessions for literacy and numeracy per school year have been organised in 80 primary schools for 33,682 P3-P5 learners. In total, two cycles of TaRL will have been organised in 80 schools by the end of the project. The first year (2022) focuses on 24 pilot schools. As of 2023, 56 additional schools will be added (80 in total).
- Learning outcomes for foundational skills in literacy and numeracy have improved significantly in 80 primary government schools in Kasese district.
