Learning at scale in Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Senegal

 

In most French-speaking African countries, governments have long been exploring ways to implement education and language policies that incorporate local languages alongside French to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Growing research evidence has demonstrated that using French alone as the language of instruction impedes foundational learning for students who do not speak it at home or have it as a second language in their immediate environments.   

This project builds upon recent research findings indicating that children in Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Senegal are transitioning to French before they are developmentally prepared. It aims to address the lack of effective and efficient pre- and in-service training of teachers to teach foundational skills in one language and smoothly transition into another.  
 
This project will adapt and evaluate the effectiveness and scalability of innovative and tested teacher-training packages and approaches on teacher and student outcomes in the three countries. It will mobilize knowledge through well-established stakeholder networks in West and Central Africa to develop locally owned, scalable and effective teacher professional development models that can be used in other multilingual contexts. The project will explore how gender impacts both barriers and supports in teacher training. It will also consider linguistic and socio-economic factors. Finally, the project will offer targeted policy and program recommendations aimed at reducing inequities and inequalities.

This project is funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, a joint endeavour between GPE and IDRC to connect expertise, innovation and knowledge to help low- and middle-income countries build stronger and more inclusive education systems and accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal on education.