Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa : Lessons from Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia

Multigrade teaching is an increasingly important policy option for African countries as they seek to provide schooling for out-of-school children in areas of low population density. In multigrade teaching, a teacher works with students from two or...

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Main Authors: Mulkeen, Aidan G., Higgins, Cathal
Format: Publication
Language:English
Published: World Bank 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000333038_20100114233101
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2697
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5952
id okr-10986-5952
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-59522021-04-23T14:02:24Z Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa : Lessons from Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia Mulkeen, Aidan G. Higgins, Cathal EDUCATION SERVICES LEARNING MATERIALS MULTIGRADE-MONOGRADE COMPARISON ONE-TEACHER SCHOOLS OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN SPECIALIST TRAINING TEACHER SHORTAGES Multigrade teaching is an increasingly important policy option for African countries as they seek to provide schooling for out-of-school children in areas of low population density. In multigrade teaching, a teacher works with students from two or more grade levels at the same time, in a single classroom. This study examines the challenges of implementing and supporting multigrade teaching through case studies of multigrade schooling in Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia. These three countries offered different perspectives. In Uganda the schools observed mainly used one teacher to teach two grades, and had benefitted from a pilot project that had provided specialist training for teachers and additional learning materials. In Senegal, there were different models of multigrade schooling, including some experimental one-teacher schools. In The Gambia, multigrade teaching was being used largely by default, as shortages of teachers left some schools with more classes than teachers. From these three very varied cases, some general patterns emerged. Multigrade teaching was widely used in all three countries. It was estimated that 20 percent of primary schools in Uganda and 18 percent in Senegal had some multigrade classes. In most cases this use of multigrade teaching was not part of a planned initiative, but a practical response to teacher shortages. Multigrade teaching is a promising option for provision of education services in small schools. In Uganda the quality of the pilot multigrade schools was perceived to be comparable to monograde schools in the same area, attendance and retention were higher, and examination results were similar. 2012-03-19T10:05:04Z 2012-04-04T07:44:01Z 2012-03-19T10:05:04Z 2012-04-04T07:44:01Z 2009-08-01 http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000333038_20100114233101 978-0-8213-8065-9 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2697 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5952 English World Bank Working Paper ; no. 173. Africa Human Development Series CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank Publications & Research :: Publication Publications & Research :: Publication Africa West Africa Sahel Sub-Saharan Africa East Africa Gambia, The Uganda Senegal
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic EDUCATION SERVICES
LEARNING MATERIALS
MULTIGRADE-MONOGRADE COMPARISON
ONE-TEACHER SCHOOLS
OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN
SPECIALIST TRAINING
TEACHER SHORTAGES
spellingShingle EDUCATION SERVICES
LEARNING MATERIALS
MULTIGRADE-MONOGRADE COMPARISON
ONE-TEACHER SCHOOLS
OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN
SPECIALIST TRAINING
TEACHER SHORTAGES
Mulkeen, Aidan G.
Higgins, Cathal
Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa : Lessons from Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia
geographic_facet Africa
West Africa
Sahel
Sub-Saharan Africa
East Africa
Gambia, The
Uganda
Senegal
relation World Bank Working Paper ; no. 173. Africa Human Development Series
description Multigrade teaching is an increasingly important policy option for African countries as they seek to provide schooling for out-of-school children in areas of low population density. In multigrade teaching, a teacher works with students from two or more grade levels at the same time, in a single classroom. This study examines the challenges of implementing and supporting multigrade teaching through case studies of multigrade schooling in Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia. These three countries offered different perspectives. In Uganda the schools observed mainly used one teacher to teach two grades, and had benefitted from a pilot project that had provided specialist training for teachers and additional learning materials. In Senegal, there were different models of multigrade schooling, including some experimental one-teacher schools. In The Gambia, multigrade teaching was being used largely by default, as shortages of teachers left some schools with more classes than teachers. From these three very varied cases, some general patterns emerged. Multigrade teaching was widely used in all three countries. It was estimated that 20 percent of primary schools in Uganda and 18 percent in Senegal had some multigrade classes. In most cases this use of multigrade teaching was not part of a planned initiative, but a practical response to teacher shortages. Multigrade teaching is a promising option for provision of education services in small schools. In Uganda the quality of the pilot multigrade schools was perceived to be comparable to monograde schools in the same area, attendance and retention were higher, and examination results were similar.
format Publications & Research :: Publication
author Mulkeen, Aidan G.
Higgins, Cathal
author_facet Mulkeen, Aidan G.
Higgins, Cathal
author_sort Mulkeen, Aidan G.
title Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa : Lessons from Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia
title_short Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa : Lessons from Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia
title_full Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa : Lessons from Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia
title_fullStr Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa : Lessons from Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia
title_full_unstemmed Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa : Lessons from Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia
title_sort multigrade teaching in sub-saharan africa : lessons from uganda, senegal, and the gambia
publisher World Bank
publishDate 2012
url http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000333038_20100114233101
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2697
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5952
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