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The more we congregate the more we learn about how to unpack the ‘learning black box’ in diverse geographies. I recently returned from yet another amazing gathering of the People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network in Uganda (May 2018). The PAL Network is the growing evolving organic family of citizen led assessment & action (CLA & A) followers – a truly south -south initiative spread across the world! The PAL Network began its journey in 2015/16, as a response to decisions by diverse teams from varied geographies of the South who came together for crafting a DNA to promote ‘learning’- truly as an authentic and uniquely driven group.
Yes. So far the family has grown from Asia to, Africa, to Latin America and is still growing inspired by Pratham and ASER Centre, performing cutting edge work in ideas, action, innovation, leadership, and propagation on demand at multiple levels and always informed by evidence and evaluations. The leadership is infectious with many more groups emerging to take learning innovations forward- it was refreshing to see our youth leaders taking forward our ‘Olympic Flame for Learning’ forward with great resolution! This inter-generational addiction to the learning agenda makes us old fossils feel regenerated to see the millennium generation catching fire! Yes. There is hope for SDG 4!
The PAL Network provocation and aspiration remains simple and to the point, “Everyone has a right to learn meaningfully and NO ONE must be left behind” backed by the principles of ‘learner centred; diversity, equity, inclusion, measurement, learning and sharing, innovation, support, and partnerships’. Noted by Suman, the Chair of the PAL Network board, that ‘if Education is FOR ALL, then we need data FOR ALL too! The work embraces comprehensively both right to education regimes in each partner country, often backed by our constitutions, and the SDG 4 targets.
Much has happened in this space since 2006/7–with growing recognition that something may be going right; the solutions are emerging within local contexts that are measurable. We have collectively influenced the SDGs/SDG 4 and continue to seek ways to ensure that SDG 4.1.1 and or the lower primary indicator does make it to a tier II indicator with the UN Statistical Commission one of these days. Many of us have been associated with the Global Alliance to Measure Learning (GAML) formed by UNESCO as the guardian of measuring learning outcomes for SDG 4 (Incheon Declaration 2015).
We are convinced that it is imperative to find out in early years of schooling if the child is learning or not; and if it is a struggling child help is needed at the child’s level or what is now called ‘teaching at the right level’. We know we are on the right pathway as the world struggles to address the messy and complex problem of ‘schooling isn’t learning’ rallying around SDG 4, its learning centric focus, globally. Today we pick any seminal work on education –learning and comparable learning remains its key marker.
The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation have decided to engage in this space allocating US$ 68 million to unpacking this conundrum; we believe that the PAL network partners in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa stand a good chance to engage with this rigorous interrogation into learning. We are passionately working for ‘Building Global Action in Learning’; ‘Supporting and accelerating Education Quality’; pushing for no –frills approach to ‘Cost –effective Classroom Instruction for Learning’ and committed to equity for the most marginalized by ‘understanding (and overcoming) barriers’ that keep girls and other groups away from achieving right to education and SDG 4. The four pillars of the recently announced Global Education Learning Strategy by the Gates Foundation, resonate profoundly with our work as the PAL Network is seeking critical friends and partnerships to scale up our assessment for action work, sensitive to calls from all partners in the south and the north!
Citizens Led Assessments (CLAs) are now formally part of the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) catalogue of learning assessments, and this milestone was no mean achievement! Today CLAs have become synonymous with powerful primary ‘evidence on quality, equity, and inclusion’ no matter where they are used. Yes. CLA is a social movement from the south to mobilize ordinary citizens for extra-ordinary tasks; where parents, guardians, community members can get to understand first hand if their children are learning at all, and if not, take necessary action armed with evidence! Assessment is also the first step for devising learning improvement strategies such as ‘teaching at the right level’ amongst others.
In Uganda, it was refreshing to see actions for learning in so many partner countries taking place in myriad ways -open to scrutiny and support. The network partners shared from Mexico, Botswana, Senegal, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nepal, India, and Pakistan -placing agency with the learner and her/his supporters! Theories of change were discussed -constructed -deconstructed and reconstructed for authentic internalization by the REAL Centre team /Cambridge University. The REAL Centre team led by Pauline Rose, Ben Alcott and Ricardo Sabates are, our critical friends mapping how the aspiration of “Improved Learning Outcomes’ is being realised in each geography through the concurrent strands of assessment to action for learning and vice versa as iterative processes for scalability through rigorous, easy to understand steps. The power lies in “You Can Do It!” approach almost intoxicating -like a good ‘nasha’ feeling but uncompromising in its discipline and routines.
Data generated from this family is incredibly rich, nuanced, granular and accessible – being used globally by so many researchers, policy makers and activists- and we all know that there is so much more that we can do within the network for using this data for cross country studies. This public good generated by the PAL Network is a wonderful open source data treasure trove – for researchers, policy makers and activists alike – we are aspiring to expand our partnerships in the South and the North with a global dialogue and marketplace in 2019 on “Addressing the Learning Crisis -Lessons on Inclusion & Equity from The South”.
Watch out friends, you will hear more about this from the PAL Network!