STRENGTHENING SCHOOLS ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS THROUGH PARTICIPATION: ADDRESSING EDUCATION QUALITY AND EQUITY IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN

低收入国家的弱势儿童，特别是残疾儿童越来越多地入学，但由于课堂内的社会排斥和糟糕的教学方法，无法有效地学习，这使不平等永久化。为了揭示公平与质量的关系，教育研究和政策需要超越通过实现基本认知技能基准和完成传统上被视为有效的教育质量指标的学校周期来评估服务提供的考虑；这一观点受到了倡导非认知或心理社会技能在评估优质教育中的重要性的专家的质疑。促进问责制进程被认为是促进教育质量和公平的一种方式。我们认为，通过创新的社会问责机制，家长和社区成员在提高教育质量方面可以发挥的作用在地方社区中心中没有得到充分的探索。在以往研究的基础上，我们将制定、实施和评估一项社会责任干预措施--与全纳教育培训相结合--吸引家长、教师和儿童参与。我们将评估干预对学习者基本认知技能和心理社会技能的影响，以及家长对残疾儿童的期望和参与，以及教师对纳入残疾儿童的信心。瑞典援助阿富汗委员会(SCA)和巴基斯坦国家农村支助方案(NRSP)这两个合作伙伴在偏远地区开办社区学校。他们需要了解哪些因素可以促进或阻碍有意义的学习经历。我们假设，通过基于社区的系统动力学(CBSD)加强现有的社会横向问责机制--一种从系统动力学的反馈角度在破译和改变复杂系统的过程中促进地方所有权的参与性方法--可以增强包容性和弱势儿童的学习体验。发展学校管理委员会(校董会)成员的有效作用需要仔细考虑背景和社区动态，而CBSD坚持这一点。我们将与中小企业开展团体模型建设(GMB)会议--这是一种具体的CBSD方法--以确定对社会责任改革的见解。SCA/NRSP支持的SMCS将根据干预CBS中的这些见解实施更改。一项随机对照试验(RCT)将评估这一干预措施。定性方法将验证心理社会评估工具，并探索利益相关者对教育的看法。在第一阶段，调查员将(I)破译CBSS正在使用的现有问责和监督机制；(Ii)培训教师、4个NRSP和SCA小组，每个小组由3名协调员和2名协调员组成，内容涉及全纳教育；以及(Iii)就GMB培训SCA/NRSP小组，以促进在80所随机选择的干预学校举行会议。在第二阶段，校董会成员(校长、教职员、教师和家长)将参加不同的GMB课程，以设计相关的学校社会问责制度，并确定重点干预的杠杆点。在第三阶段，每所学校将在政制事务局局长/新资源增值计划小组和调查人员的支持下进行干预。在第四阶段，调查者将通过两波访谈，使用整群随机对照研究来衡量社会责任干预对学习结果的影响：对所有160所学校的教职员工、教师、三到五班的学生和一年级的家长进行基线调查；终线调查将在第四年级开始进行。在深度访谈和FGD中，游戏和与儿童的视听活动将在第二和第三年进行。在第五阶段，调查者将在国家(大学、教育非政府组织)发展能力，并通过学术、政策制定者和实践者的网络以各种形式向广泛的受众传播调查结果。

Disadvantaged children in Low Income Countries (LICs) particularly children with disabilities are increasingly accessing schools, but not learning effectively due to social exclusion within the classroom and poor teaching methods, that perpetuate inequality. In order to unpack the equity-quality nexus, education research and policy need to move beyond considerations of service delivery assessed through achieving benchmarks on basic cognitive skills and completing school cycles, traditionally considered valid proxies for quality of education; a view challenged by experts advocating for the importance of non-cognitive or psychosocial skills in assessing quality education. Promoting processes of accountability is recognised as a way of promoting quality and equity in education. We argue that the role that parents and community members can play in improving the quality of education through innovative social accountability mechanisms has not been sufficiently explored in LICs. Building upon previous research, we will develop, implement and evaluate a social accountability intervention - combined with inclusive education training - engaging parents, teachers and children. We will assess the intervention's impact on basic cognitive but also psychosocial skills of learners as well as parent's expectations and engagement, and teachers' confidence with regards to inclusion of children with disabilities. Two partners, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) and the National Rural Support Programme in Pakistan (NRSP) run Community Based Schools (CBS) in remote areas. They require knowledge as to the factors that can promote or hinder a meaningful learning experience. We hypothesize that strengthening existing social horizontal accountability mechanisms through a Community Based System Dynamics (CBSD) - a participatory approach promoting local ownership in the process of deciphering and changing complex systems from the feedback perspective of system dynamics - can enhance inclusion and the learning experience of disadvantaged children. Developing an effective role for school management committee (SMCs) members requires careful consideration of context and community dynamics, which CBSD upholds. We will carry out Group Model Building (GMB) sessions with SMCs - a specific CBSD method- to identify insights about social accountability reforms. SMCs supported by SCA/NRSP will implement changes based on these insights in intervention CBSs. A randomised control trial (RCT) will evaluate this intervention. Qualitative methods will validate psychosocial assessment tools and explore stakeholders' perception of education. In stage 1, investigators will (i) decipher existing mechanisms of accountability and monitoring being used in CBSs (ii) train teachers, 4 NRSP and SCA teams of 3 facilitators and 2 coordinators each on inclusive education and (iii) train SCA/NRSP teams on GMB to facilitate sessions in 80 randomly selected intervention schools. In stage 2, SMCs members (principals, staff, teachers and parents) will participate in separate GMB sessions to design a relevant school social accountability system and identify leverage points on which to focus the intervention. In stage 3, each school, with the support from SCA/NRSP teams and the investigators will implement the intervention. In stage 4 the investigators will measure the impact of the social accountability intervention on learning outcomes using a cluster RCT with two waves of interviews: baseline survey in all 160 schools from staff, teachers, students in classes 3 to 5 and parents in year 1; end line survey will take place at the beginning of year 4. In depth interviews and FGDs, games and audio-visual activities with children will take place in years 2 and 3. In stage 5, the investigators will develop capacity in countries (universities, education NGOs) and disseminate findings to a broad audience in various formats through academic, policy makers and practitioners' networks.