Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education (RISE) and Zanzibar Teacher Upgrading by Radio (ZTUR)

"...interactive audio programming (IAI) remains a viable and useful intervention format for increasing access to high-quality early education, particularly in the most challenged districts..."

This document explores the activities, impacts, and next steps for two early childhood development (ECD) projects established in 2006 in Zanzibar: Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education (RISE) and Zanzibar Teacher Upgrading through Radio (ZTUR). These programmes ran consecutively until the end of 2011 with the goals of: (i) building the capacity of Zanzibar's Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) staff in the area of ECD and education (which this report defines as services for children through the age of 8); (ii) improving access to quality math, literacy, and life skills instruction and materials for underserved young children (preschool to grade two); and (iii) developing a quality distance and open learning programme through which in-service early childhood teachers can upgrade their skills and work towards preschool accreditation. RISE was implemented by the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and Zanzibar's MoEVT, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development(USAID).

As detailed here, IAI is an interactive teaching and learning paedagogy that "promotes quality learning in diverse environments, including those with shortages of qualified teachers, school infrastructure, and learning materials. Based on child-friendly instruction, which is inclusive, playful, active, and engaging, each 30-minute broadcast uses the formal Zanzibar curriculum as the foundational content (Kiswahili, math, English and basic life skills), but integrates games, songs, and activities through a common story-line. The IAI programs encourage problem solving and self-directed exploration."

RISE activities were implemented in Zanzibar's two lowest-performing districts and eventually expanded into a Zanzibar-wide teacher training and certification programme through ZTUR. (Please see Related Summaries, below, for further detail.) The key activities were:

• Developing and piloting 3 series of Tucheze Tujifunze (Tu Tu) IAI programmes for preschool, Standard 1, and Standard 2 students, including those in formal and non-formal settings, with accompanying instructional and learning materials;
• Establishing over 180 Tucheze Tujifunze early childhood learning centres ("TuTu Centers") in areas with poor access to ECD and education;
• Producing interactive videos for guiding teacher professional development in teaching English as a second language;
• Training a cadre of preschool and early grade educators (formal and non-formal) to teach literacy, math, and life skills; and
• Building the capacity of a MoEVT team to lead distance and open learning for all of Zanzibar.

The subsequent ZTUR Project was designed to further RISE's ECD work by creating a comprehensive preschool teacher certification programme to be implemented by MoEVT. The intention of the certification programme (the Early Childhood Advancement Certificate Program, or ECACP) is to provide in-service teachers with knowledge, skills, and practice through a distance learning platform administered through their district in-service teacher centres. The ECACP programme consists of audio, video, and print materials that guide teachers through ECD instructional theory and practice, and support them as they actively apply their knowledge in their classrooms.

The impact evaluation looks at student performance at Standard 7 in Kiswahili, English, and math. The same sample of learners who took part in an earlier evaluation in 2008 (when they were in Standard 1) was used for the subsequent 2014 data. Of the total 1,543 learners from the 2008 sample, 904 (58.6%) were tested in 2014 - including 552 from the RISE group (those who had listened to the Tucheze Tujifunze programming) and 352 from the comparison group (students in a district with similar demographics who did not have direct exposure to the programming).

The 2014 assessment found that RISE formal school students "performed significantly better on standardized grade-level assessments in Kiswahili, English and math, compared to their counterparts. Six years after the intervention, RISE formal school students demonstrated a better mastery of grade-level concepts."

At the time of its conclusion in 2011, "RISE had provided ECD opportunities to over 35,000 Zanzibari children and trained over 809 formal teachers and non-formal facilitators in IAI pedagogy, classroom management and other key areas. The project also distributed over 28,000 teaching and learning materials developed by the team."

An excerpt from the report follows (footnote numbers have been removed):
"The main success of the RISE and ZTUR Projects consisted of successfully establishing a distance and opening learning division (the eLearning Division), within the MoEVT. The eLearning Division consists of the staff who were trained and supported by RISE and ZTUR; this continuity has allowed the division to further some of the work started under the projects. By 2014 there were 14 technical staff working in the eLearning Division, and their activities (which continue to build on the foundational activities established under the RISE and ZTUR Projects) were in the process of being further developed with support of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). By 2016, 120 new centers...will be opened, materials and training will be provided to 240 mentors, and 200 new preschool programs will be recorded.

As of 2014, 179 of the original 180 Tucheze Tujifunze ECD centers are still in existence, and some efforts have been made to help build more permanent spaces for the centers that were in non-permanent structures....Broadcast of Tu Tu lessons has continued....

Head teachers...in the Tucheze Tujifunze centers...all expressed the continuing importance of the Tucheze Tujifunze programming. Mentors have continued to facilitate classes, despite limited access to the programs and materials and the resource-lean circumstances.

The RISE continuous training model has not been sustained, largely because of a lack of allocated funds for training. However, two trainings took place in early 2014 to build the capacity of new mentors for the 51 newly established centers..."

The ECACP certification program, which was designed and developed under ZTUR, was rolled out in seven Teacher Centers early in 2014....At the time of this study, there were 352 teachers from all ten districts going through step 1 and 26 trainers had been trained by the e-Learning Division and Aga Khan Foundation. All 26 trainers had received ECD certificates from Aga Khan Foundation. Over 700 teacher participants are expected to benefit from the ECACP, starting in 2014..."