Improving learning outcomes in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the midst of COVID-19 through Community based system dynamics and project-based learning

可持续发展目标推动了对教育公平和质量的关注。在与大流行相关的封锁之后，低收入和中等收入国家数百万儿童失学数月的教育水平有所下降。考虑到即使在当前的大流行之前，这些国家中的许多国家的学习成果都很差，这一点尤其令人担忧。此外，低收入中等收入国家的危机给处境不利的儿童造成了多重负面后果，包括辍学、早婚或怀孕、流离失所、童工和健康状况不佳。围绕学习科学、社会正义、人类发展和能力方法的理论，我们建议将范式从受教育权转变为有效包容的权利--即为所有儿童提供公平和高质量的学习。这在受危机影响的环境和大流行的背景下具有特别重要的意义。采用跨学科的视角，使用创新的混合方法，我们拟议的研究建立在以前干预的基础上，提供新冠肺炎封锁后的干预措施，以实现教育的结构性和可持续改善，特别是针对阿富汗和巴基斯坦农村学校的少数族裔儿童、贫困或流离失所儿童，或残疾儿童。我们的变革理论提供了一条通向包容性的道路，通过三个具体目标来缓解新冠肺炎、气候危机和政治动荡导致的学校封锁的负面影响：首先，我们将研究封锁对儿童学习结果的影响。为了衡量这种对儿童认知(例如识字、算术、数学、逻辑)和非认知(例如批判性思维、沟通、自尊、应对机制)技能的影响，我们将在新一轮采访中，采访参与了现有随机对照试验的儿童，以测试2018年、2020年和2021年的类似干预。我们亦会访问教师和家长，以探讨教师对儿童技能和知识的评价、对自我效能的评估(包括在教授残疾儿童时)、对家长参与的看法，以及家长的社会经济背景和对教育的满意程度。为了了解学习过程中的障碍，我们将进行定性访谈、焦点小组讨论、视频提示和课堂观察。第二，为了弥补因封锁而损失的时间，我们将在干预学校进一步培训教师两周-同时与学生和家长接触-以儿童为中心的教育实践(基于项目的学习)。我们专注于解决因封锁而造成的压力源和知识损失。我们已经在现有的干预下举办了两轮参与式小组模型构建(GMB)研讨会--基于社区的系统动力学所使用的方法。我们将举办第三轮GMB工作坊，让学校利益相关者参与，强调在当前情况下影响学习的因素。通过这些研讨会，他们确定并共同选择在我们的执行伙伴--挪威阿富汗委员会、瑞典阿富汗委员会和巴基斯坦国家农村支持计划--的资金和技术支持下随后实施的改进制度的行动。第三，我们将通过培训、政策参与和长期后续行动与多个利益攸关方接触。调查人员与我们的三个伙伴一起，是关于阿富汗和巴基斯坦教育改革的对话的一部分，并将根据研究结果进一步为政策文件作出贡献。它们将培训两国从事初等教育的发展伙伴(如捐助者、多边机构、非政府组织)。此外，它们将与儿童基金会和教科文组织、伙伴大学和非政府组织合作，通过电子学习平台传播PBL教师培训模块和GMB方法。

Sustainable Development Goals have created impetus to focus on education equity and quality. The education level of millions of children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) out of school for months following pandemic-related lockdowns has dropped. This is particularly troubling considering that, even before the current pandemic, learning outcomes in many of these countries have been poor. Furthermore, crises in LMICs result in multiple negative consequences for disadvantaged children, including a high risk of school dropout, early marriage or pregnancy, displacement, child labour and poor health.Grounded within theories of learning sciences, social justice, human development and capabilities approach, we propose to shift paradigms from a right to education, towards a right to effective inclusion -i.e. equity and quality in learning for all children. This has particular relevance in crisis-affected settings and the context of a pandemic. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective and using innovative mixed methods, our proposed research builds on a previous intervention, offering a post-COVID-19 lockdowns intervention to make structural and sustainable improvements in education particularly for children from minorities, poor or displaced children, or those with disabilities in rural schools of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our theory of change offers a pathway towards inclusion, mitigating the negative effects of the COVID-19, climate crisis and political unrest driven school lockdowns through three specific aims: First, we will examine the effects of lockdowns on children's learning outcomes. To measure this impact on child cognitive (e.g. literacy, numeracy, mathematics, logic) and non-cognitive (e.g. critical thinking, communication, self-esteem, coping mechanisms) skills, we will interview, for a new round, children who have participated in an existing randomised control trial to test a similar intervention in 2018, 2020 and 2021. We will also interview teachers and parents to examine: teachers' evaluation of children's skills and knowledge, assessment of their own self-efficacy (including when teaching children with disabilities), perspectives on parental involvement; and parents' socioeconomic backgrounds and satisfaction with education. To understand barriers to learning processes, we will conduct qualitative interviews, focus group discussions, video cues and classroom observations.Second, to remediate for time lost due to the lockdowns, we will further train teachers for two weeks in intervention schools -while engaging with students and parents- in child-centred education practices (Project-Based Learning). We focus on addressing stressors and loss of knowledge due to the lockdowns. We have conducted two rounds of participatory group model building (GMB) workshops under the existing intervention -methods used in Community Based System Dynamics. We will conduct a third round of GMB workshops to engage school stakeholders in highlighting the factors that influence learning in the current situation. Through these workshops, they identify and jointly choose actions to improve the system subsequently put in place with the financial and technical support of our implementing partners -Norwegian Afghanistan Committee, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, and the National Rural Support Program, Pakistan. Third, we will engage with multiple stakeholders through training, policy engagement and long-term follow-up. Investigators, together with our three partners, are part of the dialogue on education reform in Afghanistan and Pakistan and will further contribute to policy papers based on research findings. They will train development partners (e.g. donors, multilaterals, NGOs) engaged in primary education in both countries. Further, they will collaborate with UNICEF and UNESCO, partner universities and NGOs to disseminate the PBL teacher training module and GMB methods through an e-learning platform.