The Ministry of Education (MoE) in Zambia on 28th February - 2nd March 2023 hosted a learning visit for education officials and UNICEF staff from Angola, Eritrea, Somaliland and Uganda. The learning visit was hosted by UNICEF Zambia and facilitated by TaRL Africa and VVOB in Zambia.
The visit was aimed at showcasing how Zambia has been implementing and scaling the contextualized Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) programme, or Catch-Up as it is commonly known.
TaRL was identified by MoE as an approach that could help push up the depressingly low learning outcomes as highlighted by the SACMEC report of 2014. Catch-Up was initially piloted in 80 schools in 2016 to have local proof of concept and arrive at a model that could be adopted by MoE for scale up 6 years on. Catch-Up is being scaled to approximately 5000 schools with the aim of reaching a national scale. Uniquely, the quality of the programme has improved as the programme is being scaled up to more schools, proving that the technical capacity of the ministry is growing as more schools are being reached and the process of embedding is working. The programme is being led by MoE with technical support from UNICEF Zambia, VVOB - education for development, TaRL Africa, AbdulaLatif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Pratham Education Foundation and is targeting children in grades 3, 4 and 5. Teachers are motivated by seeing childen learn and parents are seeing the results of investing in the education of their children.
The Learning Journey visit started with delegates going through an exhibition/gallery walk where they were oriented on the four domains of Catch-Up:
- Assessment Data Recording and Grouping
- Activities and Teaching/Learning Materials
- Monitoring and Mentoring
- Lesson Procedure and Classroom Management
The exhibition was led by MoE Catch-Up master trainers, and had a wide display of Catch-Up materials and an explanation of key aspects and activities including material development and assessment tools with an emphasis on the data management process.
The following day the delegates were taken to the field to witness what the methodology looks like in the classroom. School visits were done in Lusaka at Yotam Muleya Primary School, Libala Primary School, Kalingalinga Primary School, Aurthur Wina Primary School and Nyumbyanga Primary School. The visits included literacy and numeracy classroom observations and a demonstration on how the simple assessment to group learners in their capability levels, is carried out. This was followed by group reflections with teachers, school headteachers and school mentors. One of the visiting teams observed a numeracy lesson at Timothy Mwanakatwe School in Lusaka (Chilenje Zone), a school with 1836 learners and 49 teachers. The delegates were delighted to see children engaged and just generally smiling and happy. They were also happy to learn that at Timothy Mwanakatwe School teachers are using the Catch-Up methodology also in other grades, especially the upper primary grades as they realize that they have many learners who need to consolidate foundational skills, especially those that have been out of school for protracted periods of time. They are also using some of the good practices of Catch-Up, especially grouping and teaching according to the level of abilities in other subjects.
The visiting delegation appreciated the interactivity of the classes, the dedication and motivation of teachers, how well the lessons flowed and how teachers managed to break down mathematical concepts in a way that young learners could grasp them. Very notably they appreciated the role of mentoring and coaching in supporting teachers taking up the Catch-Up classes. One of the delegates from Uganda, who has been working in education for over 30 years, remarked that she had just witnessed the best teaching techniques of a maths lesson by a maths teacher she had ever seen! The learning journey ended with delegates from the four countries reflecting on what Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) could look like in their countries and how they could tap into the experience of Zambia in their journey to set up their own contextualised TaRL.
School Visits Observing Literacy and Numeracy Classes
