EnglishPAL NetworkTanzaniaUncategorized
First RISE team to examine ambitious, nationwide re-orientation of education policies and incentives
Tanzania is the first country on the agenda as RISE launches its international research programme to find ways of improving learning on a large scale throughout the developing world.
RISE will conduct an extensive research project that examines the effects of sweeping, nationwide reforms that the Government of Tanzania is undertaking in an effort to improve learning for students in its primary and secondary schools. A multidisciplinary team of researchers with close ties to the region and expertise in education-focused analysis will conduct the project. The aim is to gain insights that lead to better education for students in Tanzania, and in other nations where learning levels need to improve to give the next generation the basic skills they need to lead better lives.
In 2014, the Government of Tanzania announced Big Results Now in Education, a multifaceted, US$416 million (£289 million) reform programme that has received financial support from the United Kingdom, Sweden and the World Bank. The reform package was created to address an educational crisis in Tanzania, where basic reading and math skills have plummeted in recent years – even as the country has increased investment in schooling, and has made striking progress toward achieving universal primary education.
The RISE Country Research Team aims to understand what made such far-reaching reforms possible, and how they can be sustained; whether and how the reforms work to improve skills of students in Tanzania; and what insights can emerge to inform effective ways to improve students’ learning elsewhere.
“Tanzania is a valuable country to study because tracing the positives and negatives of such a big push approach to education reforms will be important for understanding the possibilities for improving learning throughout the developing world,” said Lant Pritchett, RISE Research Director. “Tackling the problem of deteriorating performance and learning allows a promising opportunity to explore efforts that can turn around and accelerate the growth in learning.”
The Tanzania Country Research Team is composed of 11 researchers who bring expertise in economics, education, psychology, political science and public policy, as well as close ties to the region. They are affiliated with institutions worldwide, with principal bases in Washington, D.C., and Dar es Salaam.
“Tanzania offers an interesting case study of reform that is relevant to other countries also planning to undertake ambitious reform,” said James Habyarimana, a key team researcher, and a Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.
The six-year-long, £4.2 million research project will examine the combined effects of a wide variety of interactive reforms that were intended to engage parents, voters, teachers, head-teachers and administrators at all levels. These systems-level reforms include:
- Creating and publicising school rankings.
- Offering annual incentives for the most-improved schools.
- Offering incentives to motivate teachers.
- Providing teacher training to help identify and support low-performing students.
- Providing principals (head-teachers) with financial and management training.
“Taken individually, the initiatives might not be sufficient to improve learning outcomes on their own, but, taken together, they present a plausible theory of change,” said Deon Filmer, another key team researcher, and lead economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank, where he was recently named as the co-director of the 2018 World Development Report, which, for the first time, will focus on education. “Ultimately, from the Tanzania experience, we hope to gain understanding that can lead to meaningful improvement in learning, which is central to enhancing human welfare and reducing poverty throughout the world.”
“The Tanzanian government has recently signaled an intention to make education a priority, making the RISE undertaking particularly timely,” said key team researcher Kitila Mkumbo, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies in the University of Dar es Salaam, and a senior consultant in What Works in Education for Twaweza East Africa, an initiative working on education and issues concerning government transparency and responsiveness in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
“Previous education projects in Tanzania have usually addressed a specific entity in the education sector,” he said. ”Due to its multifaceted and systems-based approach to studying education problems, the RISE project is uniquely placed to examine how various initiatives and support systems in education in Tanzania can be galvanised to promote learning outcomes for children – and, at the same time, to sustain high enrolment and completion rates.”
Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) was launched in 2015 to conduct high-quality research to build a body of world-class evidence to inform education policy, and to raise learning outcomes for children throughout the world. Research in Tanzania, and in other targeted countries, seeks to shift emphasis away from long-standing, input-oriented goals – children’s attendance in schools – and toward output-oriented achievements – increased literacy and numeracy skills.
RISE is supported by £27.6 million in funding from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), which has dedicated £21 million to high-quality research in up to five countries, and £6.6 million to support expert advice and management; and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), whose commitment of A$9.85 million (£5.1 million) has allowed RISE to incorporate a sixth country.
“This exciting, dynamic and diverse research programme will measure the impact of reforms on the quality of education service delivery,” said Dr Rachel Hinton, head of education research DFID. “We look forward to seeing the outcomes of this research, particularly around whether the learning-outcome-based incentives yield improvements in learning.”
RISE is managed and implemented through a partnership based in Oxford, UK, between leading international development consultancy Oxford Policy Management, and the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. Research is led by Professor Pritchett and a team at the Center for Global Development, a non-profit think tank based in Washington, DC.