Promoting academic resilience in Nepal, South Africa, and India: A closer look at the role of contextual, student and school-based factors

这项研究综合补助金旨在对两项RLO赠款进行补充分析：“问责制和学习的组织视角：孟买和加德满都的学校管理模式和学校教育的社会影响”和“克服困难取得成功：了解南非高功能乡镇和农村小学的复原力和例外论”。具体而言，该提案利用这两个项目和补充数据分析，调查学生层面的因素（如社会情感技能或社会包容经验）和学校因素（特别是学校领导和管理（SLM）或问责过程）在促进三个发展中国家（南非，尼泊尔和印度）的学术弹性方面的作用。OPAL以印度和尼泊尔为重点，调查了学校的问责制如何根据学校管理模式而有所不同，以及问责制是否与学习成果的差异有关。SAO的目标是了解南非高功能乡镇和农村小学的复原力。该研究确定了与出色的学业表现相关的因素，并发现“坚毅”的心理结构对学业弹性具有高度预测性。在此之后，SAO试图调查学校因素，学生的社会情感技能和成就之间的潜在相互作用。由于OPAL收集了关于学生社会经济背景、学习成果和心理健康的数据，因此有可能确定那些表现超出预期（即学业弹性）的学生（和学校）。此外，这两项研究评估了学校一级与功能有关的因素-可持续土地管理或问责制-以及其他学校功能和社会经济因素，这些因素可能与学校进程相互作用，抑制或增加学习和优异表现的机会。这使得我们有可能研究学校因素、情境和学生因素之间的动态关系通过综合印度、尼泊尔和南非的项目结果，辅之以数据分析，并通过与在其他纬度工作的潜在受益者接触，我们希望得出的结果比在每一种情况下单独研究这种关系时更能普遍适用于发展中国家的情况。该项目汇集了来自斯泰伦博斯大学、巴斯大学和布里斯托大学的经济学和教育研究人员。这项研究还将在整个研究周期内通过有针对性的研究交流方案，系统地与公众和民间社会接触。

This research synthesis grant aims to carry out a complementary analysis of two RLO grants: "Organizational Perspectives on Accountability and Learning (OPAL): school management models and the social impact of schooling in Mumbai and Kathmandu" (OPAL) and "Succeeding against the odds: understanding resilience and exceptionalism in high-functioning township and rural primary schools in South Africa" (SAO). Specifically, this proposal draws on these two projects and supplementary data analysis to investigate the role of student-level factors (such as socio-emotional skills or experiences of social inclusion) and school-based factors (particularly school leadership and management (SLM) or accountability processes) in fostering academic resilience across three developing countries: South Africa, Nepal and India. By academic resilience we refer to performance above expectations.Focusing on India and Nepal, OPAL investigated how the accountability of schools differs according to the school management model and whether accountability is linked to differences in learning outcomes. The objective of SAO was to understand resilience in high-functioning township and rural primary schools in South Africa. The research identified factors associated with exceptional academic performance, and found the psychological construct of 'grit' to be highly predictive of academic resilience. Following from this, SAO sought to investigate potential interaction effects between school factors, student socio-emotional skills, and achievement. Because OPAL collected data on the socioeconomic background of students, their learning outcomes and psychosocial wellbeing, it is possible to identify those students (and schools) that perform above expectations (i.e. academically resilient). Moreover, both studies evaluated school-level factors pertaining to functionality - either SLM or accountability - and other school functionality and socio-economic factors that may interact with school processes to dampen or augment opportunities for learning and exceptional performance. This makes it possible to investigate the dynamics between school-based factors, contexts and student factors (such as socio-emotional skills or experiences of social inclusion) in producing learning across the three countries.By synthesising project findings across India, Nepal and South Africa, with complementary data analysis, and by engaging with potential beneficiaries working in other latitudes, we hope to produce results that are more generalisable across developing country contexts than is possible when studying this relationship separately in each setting. The project brings together economics and education researchers from Stellenbosch University, the University of Bath, and the University of Bristol. This research will also systematically engage with the public and civil society through a targeted programme of research communications throughout the research cycle.