Childcare and ECEDScaling education innovations in new contexts often requires enabling local stakeholders to drive the innovation. In Sabre Education’s case, they could only accomplish the vision of scaling play-based learning to all KG schools if teachers in both private and public schools enact play-based learning with their children. Despite enjoying previous success with the Ghana Education Service (GES) in scaling the play-based learning model through public schools, private schools posed a different challenge.
To better understand the sub-sector, Sabre Education launched a scoping study and ran tests through an initial pilot in 47 private schools in Central Ghana, where they trained teachers and headteachers in play-based learning. Early results showed that teachers were essential for play-based learning implementation. However, teachers had varied motivation levels to enact play-based learning.
Sabre Education led a brainstorming activity during the Impact at Scale Labs Group sharing session, where other participants of the Labs and Labs’ coaches shared ideas to navigate teacher engagement and motivation for implementing play-based learning based on their context in Brazil (Latin America), Kenya (Africa) and Pakistan (Asia). This article describes the process and learnings from this exercise.
Quantifying the challenge
The pilot provided more information about the teachers in private kindergarten schools. Many KG teachers were high school leavers and had no formal training. They also had no professional development during their time as schoolteachers. Sabre also found out that teachers were often poorly compensated (approximately $30/month) with no additional incentives or other means of income. These, and the fact that most learning environments had poor resources, contribute to the high turnover rate of teachers (2 years) in private KG schools in Ghana. Some teachers who spoke to Sabre during the pilot affirmed that there was little to motivate them to be in the classrooms. They were only biding their time for their next career moves, like gaining admission into tertiary institutions.
Prior to this, Sabre Education had deployed the play-based learning program in public schools where teachers had considerably higher pay, were better trained and had better learning facilities. Therefore, their previous experience had not prepared them for the kindergarten teachers in affordable private schools.
Brainstorming ideas
The brainstorming activity allowed Sabre Education to engage with participants and coaches to think through questions whose answers could help them drive engagement among private school teachers in affordable kindergarten schools. They posed the following questions to the group.
- How do we get KG teachers with low motivation to be committed to putting in the required level of effort to use the play-based methodology in the classrooms despite these issues?
- How do we incentivize them? Who should do that?
- What are your experiences working with teachers with such low levels of motivation? How did you overcome it?
Some of the ideas shared are listed below:
- Understand the motivations of the teachers by asking them
A participant from Dignitas mentioned that when the organisation was conducting their tests for their application, they decided to ask teachers what they wanted. Often these responses usually border on monetary rewards, but sometimes they could mean organising fun activities in exciting places as treats for teachers as well as other perks they might not normally enjoy. Another participant recommended doing a stakeholder map that focused on the needs of the teachers, what may drive them to commit to new solutions, and what might inhibit them from maintaining such commitments. Getting teacher input can accelerate the adoption of new solutions.
- Professional Development through peer motivation and support
Modern Classrooms Project, which empowers educators to build classrooms that respond to every student’s needs, was used as a case study here. The organisation has an online platform for training teachers, and one of its standout programs is the mentorship program, which empowers trained teachers to mentor newer teachers through various teaching practices. One of the advantages of this approach was that it encouraged peer influence as teachers motivated fellow professionals on the merits of the teaching program. A participant added that Sabre can build local alumni groups of previous teachers who can support to teacher adoption through more frequent meetings and mentoring. This sense of community and support could inspire dedication among newer adopters.
- Strengthen buy-in from school leadership
The level of school leadership buy-in often cascades into the attitude of teachers to a program. A participant mentioned that in Kenya, without school management buy-in, interventions will likely fail. This manifests in teachers being absent from trainings about the interventions. Thus, participants encouraged Sabre Education to strengthen alignment with school leadership as they play a huge role in determining the roles and responsibilities of teachers they employ in their schools. Among others, Sabre Education should demonstrate the benefits of the play-based learning solution to school leaders in a manner that focuses on cost reduction/revenue development, increased productivity and improved learning outcomes for schools. - Professional Development through certification
Participants acknowledged that it was common for private school teachers across Brazil, Kenya and Pakistan respectively to have low teaching qualifications and they believe that professional development training and certification can give a sense of career growth for such teachers, which can inspire more dedication. Participants encouraged Sabre Education to build on their relationship with the education ministry in Ghana to develop an authoritative certification in play-based learning. Teachers can attain higher qualifications when they show higher aptitude in delivering play-based learning to children in their schools. Such certifications can provide them with a social currency to bargain for better income in the future. - Visualise the impact of a play-based learning approach
When teachers can see the potential impact of their work, they tend to be motivated to act. For example, Dignitas demonstrates the impact of their solution in both learning outcomes and teaching practice to their target teachers. They do this by sharing data during coaching sessions which shows teachers their real progression between the start and current stage of the intervention. They also showed teachers where they would like them to be in the future. Teachers get to see their growth and are more invested in future targets. Teachers may connect better with the outcomes of their work through play-based learning if they see how their work improves. Participants challenged Sabre Education to examine the current practices in the target schools and build complementary products/services that make Sabre’s approach the more desirable option for teachers. - Monetary and non-monetary incentives for milestones
Where the funding is available, Sabre Education can provide monetary incentives to teachers that they tie to their engagement and aptitude for the play-based learning approach. The Citizens Foundation in Pakistan practices this approach where school leaders may receive raises at the end of the year based on academic leadership, determined through a quality assessment. Although this can often be a small amount of money, participants mentioned it still has an influence on teachers’ commitment to adopting a new model. There are opportunities for healthy competition among teachers, which can drive further engagement.
Next Steps
This catalogue of ideas offers Sabre Education new approaches to strengthen buy-in from teachers and school leaders. At the end of the conversation, Michael Klutse and Tony Dogbe, who moderated the discussion on behalf of Sabre Education, were excited to try some of the ideas applicable to their context. Prominent among them was thinking through professional development pathways and models that can inspire teachers in affordable private schools.
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