You may have noticed that we’ve adopted the hashtag #AllChildrenLearning on much of our social media content over the last few months. We started using this during our December outreach campaign, and it stuck! It’s message rings true for us, and for our work, beyond any single season.
Our friends at Usawa Agenda recently launched their 7th learning assessment report titled, ‘Are Our Children Learning?’ The findings of the study project a worrying outlook on the Kenyan education sector, and point to many complexities in quality learning that sadly resonate with what we see in our partner schools and communities on a day to day basis.
We’ve summarised our reflections here, and considered what the findings of this significant study mean for our work.
The battle of public vs private education is irrelevant if we are genuinely focused on leaving no child behind.
For a number of years, there has been raging controversy around the role of non-state education actors, and the most recent GEM report (December 2021) was dedicated to this question. However, the reality remains that 30% of children in Kenya are enrolled in private schools, even after a post-Covid-school-closure decline in private school enrollment of almost 8%. In many of the communities where low-cost private (APBET – Alternative Providers of Basic Education and Training) schools are present, there is simply inadequate public provision, and without the intervention of non-state actors, many of these children would likely be out of school. If we are committed to all children learning, we must consider how to embrace (and regulate, and ensure quality of) community based, low cost providers.
Interestingly, the Usawa Agenda report also raises the issues of quality. According to their findings, private schools consistently offer smaller class sizes – an average Class 8 class is half the size of the same class in a typical public school (the study finds that an increase in one unit in the pupil/classroom ratio (class size) is associated with a 0.6 marks reduction from the mean score). Further, the report suggests that private schools have better learning outcomes (perhaps, in part, due to higher rates of learning continuity during Covid school closures.) The odds for a pupil from a private primary school having better learning outcomes in English and numeracy are 86% and 51% respectively higher than those of a pupil from a public primary school;
Gender is at play, but not like we’d expect!
Whilst not consistent across all counties, the national outlook has more boys out of school than girls – 8 out of 100 boys, vs 7 out of 100 girls, with a more significant difference for children aged 4-5 (39 out of 100 boys out of school vs 33 out of 100 girls). This is intriguing and demands further research. Whilst some may take this as an opportunity to dismiss the prioritization of girls’ learning and educational opportunities, the report also holds stark reminders of the gendered barriers to learning – girls with disabilities recorded the highest decline in enrollment post school closures, and during the study girls were more likely to be absent from school than boys.
The impact of Covid school closures is real, and far from over. But is anyone paying attention?
According to the report, only 1 in 4 children experienced any continuity in their education during Covid school closures! This will surely have a devastating and detrimental impact on learning poverty. It is interesting to note that private schools offered continuity of learning quickly, and somewhat efficiently (largely using platforms such as Whats App), without waiting for instruction, guidance or resource from the state, and as a result, more than 52% of private schools offered learning continuity during school closures, as opposed to just 22% of public schools. The report finds that having supported learning continuity during school closures is associated with 13 marks improvement in the KCPE mean score.
There are a significant number of children who have never made it back to school since reopening – the study recorded an overall 3.2% drop in enrollment. Where are these children now? Who is looking for them, and counting them back to the classroom?
What have we learned about supporting learning during a crisis? Have we documented it, and are we using this to build improved systems of support and continuity for future shocks to the system?
The education workforce, as a whole, is not adequately equipped or supported
At Dignitas, we believe that school leaders are agents of change, and with the right support and skills, can transform schools to be vibrant places of learning. The report points to the fact that the experience and expertise of the headteacher is important. Findings suggest that one year increase in the head teacher’s service as head of the same school is associated with almost 2 marks addition to the mean score. However, the report points to two significant deficits in the preparation of the education workforce.
First, despite the fact that female teachers make up 60% of the teaching workforce, they are not well represented in positions of leadership, in promoted posts, or even in ad-hoc in-service training opportunities such as digital literacy. Only 29% of school heads are female, and only 16% of board chairs. As for training opportunities, almost 1.5 as many male teachers are trained on digital literacy, than female teachers. We need to ask ourselves what this means for educators and learners of all genders? Why are female educators being left behind?
Edtech is a hot topic at the moment, but it will remain empty talk if we cannot improve the rate at which teachers are gaining digital literacy skills – the report suggests that only 30% of teacher workforce have digital literacy training. This poses a significant barrier to the introduction of edtech tools and resources to support teaching and learning
Inequality is a huge driver of schooling without learning.
Only 2 in 5 Grade 4 learners meet expectations in reading a Grade 3 appropriate English text, and only 5 in 10 Grade 4 learners meet expectations in solving a Grade 3 appropriate numeracy problem. The learning deficit, or learning poverty as termed by the World Bank, highlights the stark inequality in our education system. The odds for children from wealthy households to have better learning outcomes are more than twice those of children from poor households; being located in an urban areas is associated with 15 marks improvement in the mean score compared to a rural school. 87% of headteachers believe CBC (Competency Based Curriculum) will improve equity in education, but is that enough? What other action should we be taking to tackle the inequalities that seem to overwhelm the pursuit of quality learning for all.
Our conclusions:
- Inequality persists, is driven by wealth and geography, and is leaving millions of children behind.
- Schooling without learning means that children are not realising their opportunity to thrive and succeed. Less than half our children are gaining foundational literacy and numeracy skills at the expected rate.
- The education workforce is key to transforming teaching and learning, but only if we adequately prioritise their training and support.
This should be our rallying call; our inspiration to act, and act with urgency if we want to see all children thrive and succeed. Dignitas is focused on bridging these gaps – particularly for the most marginalised communities. Our vision, to ensure all schools are vibrant places for children to gain the skills and strength of character to thrive and succeed, is intended to turn ‘schooling without learning’ on its head, and we believe the key to achieving this transformation lies in the equipping and supporting of the education workforce.