English
By Dr Benjamin Alcott, Prof Pauline Rose and Dr Ricardo Sabates
From left, Prof Pauline Rose, Dr Benjamin Alcott and Dr Ricardo Sabates during the PAL Network Knowledge workshop in May. 22, 2018 in Uganda. (PAL Network Photo/Muhammad Usman)
When we met recently with members of the People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network to discuss their work on Assessment for Action, a number of issues struck us about what makes them so special. Notably, their overall organic and free range approach of implementing actions at the grassroots puts into practice global buzzwords such as ‘scalability’, ‘replication’, ‘cost-effective’ and ‘adaptability’. This organic and free range approach was aptly described by one of the PAL Network members: “we have a common agenda on raising learning, particularly for marginalised, but with varied approaches in how to achieve this. The selection of options is not like ones from a McDonalds chain, but more like from a wide and varied Chinese menu”.
Members of the PAL Network have played an important role in making clear the global scale of the learning crisis. Citizen-Led Assessments across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America have collected data on a large-scale, showing that far too many children are passing through the primary-school years without gaining foundational literacy and numeracy skills.
Although the work of the PAL Network members in monitoring the learning crisis has been well recognised, less is known about their local actions for improving learning outcomes. BƐƐkunko in Mali, for example, has been engaging with local stakeholders in education with the aim of raising awareness and achieving behavioural change that will ultimately result in actions towards raising learning outcomes. The remedial learning camps, or Chalo, Parho, Barho conducted by ASER Pakistan provides teaching methods and materials which are adequate to build the foundational skills of children who are in primary schools and who have not yet achieved these basic skills. Similar programmes have been contextually adapted in Mexico, Senegal, Mozambique and Botswana from those developed and documented by Pratham and ASER in India.
But what makes the PAL Network work on Assessments for Action so special? Firstly, their organic approach is based on South-to-South collaboration. Currently members of the PAL Network represent organisations from 14 countries, with others interested in joining this network. These organisations are all in the global South. The solutions being built across the Network are led by those embedded in the very contexts in which they are working, with a concern for working at scale and adopting cost-effective approaches which are realistic and relevant.
This organic approach is not imposed by others, nor is there a blue-print within the PAL network. The free-range approach emphasises the importance flexibility and diversity through sharing experiences of what works in certain contexts with other members, and learning from their own and each other’s mistakes. Promoting feedback loops to improve the design and implementation of actions through an ongoing process of learning is a particular strength of the approach. A notable example of this is the adaptations of Pratham’s approach to teaching children at the level at which they currently have reached, building on ASER India’s citizen-led assessment data. The approach is implemented differently in Pakistan, Mexico, Senegal, Mozambique and Botswana.
The organic and free range approach promotes transparency for learning beyond PAL network members themselves. For instance, citizen-led assessment tools and data are available for use of the international community.
The PAL network’s organic and free-range approach provides its members with a special vantage point. Rather than using global buzzwords in vague and intangible ways, they show the reality through their actions. These actions that are built and developed in the contexts in which they are to be applied, that are adapted according to context, and that are shared and honed among a collaborative (friendly and fun!) group of committed experts, place it in a unique position to promote improvements in learning, notably for the most disadvantaged, globally.
Dr Benjamin Alcott, Prof. Pauline Rose & Dr Ricardo Sabates
Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre, University of Cambridge