Deadline for proposal submissions is 31 May 2024
The What Works Hub for Global Education is an international partnership working out how to implement education reforms effectively at scale, with the ultimate goal of increasing literacy, numeracy, and other key skills in low- and middle-income countries. This grant, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to advance evidence on scaling effective approaches to improve foundational learning, particularly structured pedagogy and targeted instruction, in government systems.
The Hub invites proposals that investigate, evaluate, and support foundational learning programmes that are operating at scale or in the process of scaling in government systems, including programmes funded by governments and/or large international organisations (e.g., World Bank, USAID, FCDO, UN, Gates Foundation).
This call for proposals is focused on supporting research to improve the availability of evidence on structured pedagogy, targeted instruction, and other innovative teaching methods.
Questions of interest include:
- Scaling structured pedagogy and/or targeted instruction: What are the key barriers to teachers’ adoption of effective instructional practices (such as formative assessment, adapting instruction, use of teacher guides, etc.) for foundational learning? How can programmes achieve sustained shifts in teacher practices to implement effective instructional techniques? How can approaches from targeted instruction programmes be taken up in mainstream classrooms? How can fidelity of implementation in mainstream classrooms be improved? How can structured pedagogy and targeted instruction techniques be integrated within programmes?
- Middle-level education workforce: What are the key behaviours of mid-level actors in education systems that are connected to better instruction in the classroom? How can mid-level instructional support be implemented effectively and sustainably at scale? What are the barriers/opportunities for mid-level actors to provide effective instructional support?
- Cost effectiveness: How much do structured pedagogy and targeted instruction cost to implement at scale in the government system? What are the cost ingredients of effective programmes for foundational learning? How do costs change when moving from pilot to at-scale implementation?
Other questions that are related to improving the evidence on the effectiveness and/or scaling process of structured pedagogy, targeted instruction, and other innovative teaching methods will also be considered.
Innovative proposals are invited that use one or more of the following approaches to generate evidence:
- Rigorous M&E and implementation measurement (such as take up and fidelity) that allows for ongoing iteration, adaptation, and learning as implementation is rolled out.
- Iterative testing of different approaches (such as A/B testing) to better understand and ensure effectiveness of implementation and optimization of scaled models.
- Right-fit approaches to generate causal evidence to evaluate large-scale program effectiveness.
- Qualitative methods, ideally alongside quantitative methods, to investigate nuance and complexity of effective implementation.
Geographical focus
It is expected that the majority of grantees will be in countries where the What Works Hub for Global Education is already operating (Botswana, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Tanzania) but compelling opportunities in other Sub-Saharan African countries will also be considered.
More information on the essential criteria, who is eligible and how to submit can be found here.