International Development Division : IDD
December 2008
Madagascar: Teachers Making Radio-Powered Changes in Practice
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there is a certain excitement in the air in Mahasoabe, a town in the mountainous region of Fianarantsoa in central Madagascar. The Grade 1 and 2 students have a little spring in their step as they walk to school, and the teachers notice. Aimée Rafanjanirina, a community-based teacher at the public primary school, carefully places a bright blue radio at the front of her classroom. Her 40 students immediately settle in their seats and look expectantly as she turns the hand crank, generating power for the windup radio.
But the excitement is not just because of the windup radio - Aimée's enthusiasm is contagious. She is one of 2,797 grade one and two teachers across Madagascar making learning more active, more engaging and more fun. How do they do it? Last year, she and 1,407 other teachers from Fianarantsoa attended a workshop on student-centered learning given by their local area supervisor. For three days, Aimée and her colleagues tried out the new approach - they sang songs, learned to play new educational games, and used easy-to-find local resource materials like sticks, leaves and bottle caps to solve mathematics problems. The training introduced teachers like Aimée to strategies associated with student-centered learning. It also showed them how to use the new radio programs, named Izaho koa mba te hahay! (I want to learn too!), developed by the Ministry of National Education (MEN) for grades 1 and 2 to model the same strategies.
The MEN, supported by the Appui Technique aux Educateurs et Communautés (ATEC, or STEP for its initials in English) program--funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by EDC--provides the training, the radio programs, and the windup radios. Many more teachers will soon benefit, as the MEN already has plans to expand the training and support program, and with good reason. A recent study conducted by ATEC and the MEN demonstrates that the Interactive Radio Instruction programs are having significant impact on the instructional practices of beneficiary teachers like Aimée.
Researchers from the MEN observed teachers during non-radio lessons–when they were teaching without direct instructions from the radio program–to measure whether they are learning to use student-centered practices in their everyday instruction. The researchers used three methods for measuring: an index of 27 different student-centered teaching practices; a record of whether each teacher-to-child feedback statement was positive, negative, or neutral; and an analyisis of the difficulty of questions that teachers asked students. On all three measures, teachers showed dramatic improvement during the program’s first academic year.
Student-centered teaching practices: The index listed 27 positive statements that reflect student-centered teaching behaviors learned in the workshops and modeled in the radio program, such as, “The teacher has the children participate actively throughout the lesson,” “The teacher checks children's understandings throughout the lesson,” and “The teacher offers boys and girls equal opportunities to answer questions, to do board work or to recite.” By the end of the year, 97% of teachers were regularly using at least 16 of the 27 student-centered techniques in their own lessons - up from 49% at the beginning of the school year.
Feedback to students: During the Izaho koa mba te hahay radio programs, the radio teachers model positive feedback for classroom teachers by complementing the students on their answers and on their participation levels. The modeling is purposeful and designed to help primary teachers adopt language that builds students’ confidence levels, pride in their work, and desire to engage in class activities. Early in the school year, teachers were sparse with praise; only 22% of feedback was positive. By the end of the school year, teachers gave an average of 33% positive feedback– half again as much–and had slightly reduced the percentage of negative feedback. Indeed, during the year, 70% of the teachers observed at least twice had increased the postive feedback given.
Difficulty of questions asked: The type of questions asked during a typical lesson determines to some degree what children learn and is reflective of what is valued in the learning environment. Children who are asked higher level thinking questions develop deeper understandings than children who are asked predominantly memorization questions; for that reason, Izaho koa mba te hahay models the use of higher level thinking questions by teachers. ATEC-supported teachers increased their incidence of asking explaining or solving questions–the most advanced of three levels measured--by half, going from over 5.5% early in the school year to just under 8.3% near the end. They also increased their percentage of recall questions, the next highest level. Approximately 80% of teachers observed at least twice increased their score on this measure. Thus, since their schools have been supported by ATEC, Malagasy students are more likely to be challenged to think on a higher level than was the case previously.
In Mahasoabe, at one of the 600 schools taking part in the first phase of ATEC, Aimée explains why she thinks the program has helped. "I'm a community-based teacher. I'm new and still lacking experience. I attended some local trainings when I was first asked to take over one of the classrooms, but it wasn't understandable enough for me. But
with the radio programs, the explanations are clear. It's an everyday training for the ears," she says. Teachers are also equipped with a teacher's guide, which contains a detailed description of each program and previews the different activities included. The guide is also a source of support: "Inside the teacher's guide there are many new and interesting things such as songs and stories. I prepare the next day's lesson at home with it," explains Aimée.
After witnessing ATEC’s positive results, both the MEN and USAID have responded positively. MEN has integrated the three major ATEC activities, including the IRI program, into its nationwide plans to achieve the Education for All development goals. USAID has extended the program for another two years, meaning that EDC, through ATEC, will support Malagasy education reform until November of 2010. Plans include adapting Izaho koa mba te hahay to more closely match a newly released national curriculum and the addition of IRI lessons for middle school English as a Second Language classes. Soon, more of Aimée’s colleagues will learn what all the excitement is about.
To learn more about Aimée and how IRI is helping her teach more effectively, making her students more eager to learn, and encouraging parents to get more involved in their children’s education, read her full story.
To learn about how ATEC-supported teachers are taking charge of their own professional development through local teacher networks, read their story.
To witness the construction of a new canteen for schoolchildren and learn how ATEC is mobilizing communities to support their schools, read this story.
IDD is a division of Education Development Center (EDC), an international, nonprofit organization with more than 325 projects dedicated to enhancing learning, promoting health, and fostering a deeper understanding of the world.
© 2009 Education Development Center