Achieving learning outcomes at scale: How can resources help?

This article introduces the Impact at Scale Toolkit, which offers valuable insights and practical tools to enhance your solution for scaling. It includes a combination of tools for specific challenges, case studies on how these tools have been implemented across different contexts, and unique stories of challenges and solutions other organisations are facing when scaling their impact.

This toolkit is designed for anyone interested in scaling up, whether you are assessing the potential of a new project or evaluating the scalability of an established one.

Learning loss is a global crisis. To tackle this crisis appropriately, it is essential to find solutions that can be expanded, replicated, and adapted across geographic space and over time to reach a large number of people. In other words: it is important to find solutions to scale.

However, few education programmes are designed with scale in mind from the outset, and there is a lack of funding and support to help innovations scale. Additionally, there is very little evidence on best practices for scaling and how to ensure learning outcomes at scale. This places organisations in a difficult position where they may have developed solutions to promote learning outcomes but are faced with limited guidance and knowledge on how to sustainably transform their solutions to scaled solutions.

Given that the aim of scaling is not simply to reach a greater number of people, but to scale the extent of impact solutions can have on the lives of the greatest number of people, it is essential to scale in a way that does not compromise the quality (“impact”) of the solution. With this consideration, GSF built the Impact at Scale Labs to support organisations to scale impactful education solutions.

To enable more organisations to benefit from the learning and resources generated by the Impact at Scale Labs programme, GSF is launching the Impact at Scale Toolkit. This toolkit is designed to support organisations at various stages of their scaling journey by providing tools, insights, and real-world case studies. The toolkit aims to equip organisations with the knowledge and tools they need to ensure a successful scale-up of their programmes, thereby ultimately increasing their impact.

This article details how we began the development of the Impact at Scale Toolkit. We needed to ensure that the toolkit we developed was useful and aligned with the preferences and requirements of organisations. Our first step was to interview organisations that were at various stages of their scaling journeys to understand their challenges and needs comprehensively, and then to develop our toolkit to be most relevant to address these requirements.

Organisations favour tools that are actionable and practical, as opposed to purely theoretical. While there is much discussion and theory surrounding scaling, organisations found that there was insufficient practical support or guidance available online to help them navigate this new terrain.

“The language that exists is about the necessity of scale; but there’s no information on how to practically do that.”

Organisations were only able to identify one or two resources that had been useful in their scaling journeys so far, and those were highly specific to certain concerns instead of providing holistic, step-by-step guidance throughout their scale journeys. Therefore, they expressed an interest in tools that were highly interactive and templates that could be filled out as per the needs of the organisation. For example, a tool that allows an organisation to assess and prove their readiness to scale was particularly sought after.

“We need to know how to collect ‘rigorous data’… If you’re in a position to scale, you need to be able to ‘prove’ that your intervention is producing an impact, and inability to do that is a problem. We just carried out a randomised control trial and have seen how it has elevated the conversations we can have with organisations about our readiness to scale.”

Similarly, resources that help organisations define their narrative and identity are beneficial, since this is often a challenge they face, for example, when trying to raise funds or share their successes on social media. Such resources would help them apply what they learn from the toolkit immediately, giving them solutions to real-world problems.

Time is precious for organisations, who often find themselves tackling a number of different priorities at any given time. Given organisational time constraints, any resource should be succinct and easy to consume.

“[We] want fillable templates that are easy to convert into outputs.”

Organisational preferences ranged from formats like PDFs to PowerPoint slides, but shared the same sentiment of quick reads that provided them with the information they needed at their fingertips.

The scaling process can feel like a lonely one. There was a strong desire to learn from the mistakes and successes of other organisations that have successfully navigated the diverse challenges of scaling. Organisations expressed that the potential for networking and collaboration with peers in similar sectors is invaluable to them. They noted how GSF is particularly well-positioned to develop peer learning opportunities to help scaling organisations develop a community of support, especially on issues where toolkits are limited.

“Diversity of experience is valuable: to be able to learn from the mistakes of others and how they overcame them. The [most] special offering of GSF is this shared experience through the toolkit.”

This allows organisations to grow together and learn from the challenges and highlights of each other’s journeys, and perhaps even collaborate on problem-solving shared concerns. The interest in peer learning also extended to the toolkit itself where there was a particular emphasis on the need for real-world examples that allow readers to understand how each tool or template can be utilised in real-world settings.

While toolkits can be essential in providing resources and guidance for organisations across a variety of topics, it is important to note that many organisations believe that their primary challenges stem from persistent issues inherent to the education ecosystem, and as such, cannot be easily resolved with a toolkit. Issues with funding, capacity, and working with various stakeholders are examples of issues that they must navigate on a daily basis.

“Most functioning organisations would be fine to scale with enough resources and timeline. The challenges [of scaling] are more contextual it seems rather than being internal.”

Any toolkit that is to be developed for such organisations, who feel that they are always “fighting fires”, must be highly relevant, useful, and efficient to make a strong case for why organisations should invest time into these resources amidst their other priorities. Toolkits may also be supplemented with videos, communities of practice, or other forms of engagement to cater to the specific and contextual needs of organisations.

Moving from start-up to scale is not an easy journey, but it can be meaningful, worthwhile, and in this case, absolutely essential in tackling the learning loss crisis. Given the shared milestones and challenges organisations on this journey may face, a toolkit can be a useful resource to support organisations as they embark on the journey. As GSF works to develop this scale toolkit, we recognise that scaling is a multifaceted experience that requires different kinds of support resources and structures. The best way to address this diversity is to keep the voice of stakeholders at the heart of the resource design, and to provide them with what they need and want as they grow from start-up to scale.

With special thanks to the GSF members who contributed their time and insights for this article and toolkit to be possible: Building Tomorrow, EducAid, Impact Network, Jackfruit Finance, and Learn to Play.