AEWG at CIES 2019: Talking evidence and tools

Building the Evidence Base for Accelerated Education

Chaired by Kayla Boisvert of USAID’s Education in Crisis and Conflict Network (ECCN), AEWG partners presented on various evaluation and research studies that examine the effectiveness of AE. This panel aligns with the first broad objective identified in the AEWG’s Learning Agenda, as well as the AEWG’s third strategic focus for 2019 to build the evidence base for AE and begins to fill the gap in knowledge about the effectiveness of AE.

• Jessica Oddy from Save the Children UK, presented findings from their AEP research study (published in December 2018), which explores the perspectives of children, families, teachers and wider educational stakeholders regarding what supports or hinders education transition along their displacement journey. The findings from the children’s workshops enabled the team to gain a rich understanding of the everyday lived experiences of children and young people. Please see the report and executive summary here.
• Jessica Lowden from Geneva Global, presented on applied research, focusing on the execution of their flagship education project, Speed School, in Ethiopia and Uganda. The Speed school model accelerates the first three grades of primary school into 10 months. She discussed findings from a six-year longitudinal quasi-experimental study that found that Speed School students attended school more regularly, were more likely to stay enrolled, achieved higher results on literacy and numeracy tests, and had higher educational aspirations than their peers in the formal schools. Please see the full report from the study here.
• ​​​​​​​Romain Cardon from Plan International in Burkina Faso, shared good practices and lessons learned, from their AEP, PASS+, including the importance of AE being a legitimate, credible education option for most at risk OOSC, and emphasizing gender equity and alignment with the national education system. He noted the steps the PASS+ project has taken to foster sustainability and alignment with national education systems at multiple levels, from local to national, and contributing to a successful regional scale-up.​​​​​​​
• Anne Breivik from Strømme Foundation, presented on a recent Norad-funded impact evaluation of Strømme Foundation’s Speed School programme in West Africa. The evaluation concludes that the programme provides an efficient and cost-effective way to bring out-of- school children back into education. 90% of children enrolled in the period 2014-2017, completed the course, of which 48% were girls. The evaluation also found that the programme provided high value for money, at an average cost per enrolled child of 132 US dollars over a 10-month period. Please find the full evaluation report here.
• Sabrina Hervey from Educate A Child, a global programme of the Education Above All foundation concluded the presentations. Sabrina provided incisive comments and questions about the importance of building the evidence base for AE, the need for participation of beneficiaries in research and evaluation, gender-sensitive programming and examining gender equity through evidence, and the need for additional studies including exploring value for money.

The panel presentations contribute to the growing evidence base on AE and suggest important future directions to understand the efficacy of AEPs globally. The AEWG and partners continue to build this evidence base, recognizing the need for a greater understanding of what works and why to meet the needs of over-age, out-of-school children and youth.

Principles in Action! Roundtable

The second session was a roundtable discussion, chaired by Ash Hartwell of USAID’s Education in Crisis and Conflict Network. AEWG members and partners presented various ways the AEWG principles and tools have been used globally.

• Caroline Keenan from War Child Canada, discussed how stakeholders developed national AE guidelines based on the AEWG 10 Principles for Effective Practice to support harmonization of AEPs across implementers in Uganda. She also explained the process of developing a lower secondary AEP that is aligned with the Ministry strategy in Uganda, collaborating with community members to identify AE centre sites and students and developing and piloting the curriculum. 
• ​​​​​​​Kayla Boisvert from the Education in Crisis and Conflict Network, presented on work she conducted with USAID Leer y Aprender and the Ministry of Education in Guatemala using the AEWG 10 Principles to enhance provision of alternative education in Guatemala. Her presentation reflected on the process of supporting the development of curriculum, learning materials, placement tests, teacher training, and research and evaluation. She discussed some of the successes and challenges of contextualizing the Principles in the Guatemalan context. 
• Claire Stiglmeier, Lauren Gerken, and Alison Doyle from Teachers College Columbia (TCC) University, presented the development of a much-needed teacher training pack for AE. They discussed the importance of the collaborative process the AEWG undertook in developing the teacher training materials that were initially drafted by TCC and the AEWG; introduced the content of the training pack, and discussed how it can be adapted to meet the context-specific needs of learners and teachers. The AEWG teacher training pack will be piloted in 2019. 

• Mona Younes presented work she has done with the Carey Institute, describing an online introductory training to AE based on the AEWG 10 Principles. She reviewed the process of offering the training online to global audiences and suggested implications for future trainings using ICT. 

Ash Hartwell then facilitated a group discussion reflecting on the issues related to teacher training for AE, the practical implications of secondary AE, and the critical importance of advocacy and policy-level partnership and collaboration. Participants were highly engaged in this roundtable, which highlighted some of the key issues faced by those implementing AE and connected those working in AE to facilitate ongoing dialogue about the use and contextualization of the AEWG tools in a variety of contexts.

Who are the Accelerated Education Working Group?

The Accelerated Education Working Group is led by UNHCR, with representatives from education partners supporting and/or funding AEPs1. The AEWG aims to improve the quality of AE through developing guidance and tools to support a more harmonised, standardised approach to AE. Since inception, the AEWG has also committed to engaging and advocating for AE within national policy, donor strategies, and programmatic responses to address the issue of out of school, over-aged learners. The AEWG defines Accelerated Education as: “a flexible, age-appropriate programme, run in an accelerated timeframe, which aims to provide access to education for disadvantaged, over-age, out-of-school children and youth. This may include those who missed out on or had their education interrupted due to poverty, marginalization, conflict and crisis. The goal of Accelerated Education Programmes is to provide learners with equivalent, certified competencies for basic education using effective teaching and learning approaches that match their level of cognitive maturity.”

Future Directions of the AEWG