We are committed to measuring and recording our impact over time, and feeding this data back into our projects to promote a cycle of improvement. Previously, we focussed mainly on our Education and Community Programme (ECP) where we made good progress in developing teacher skills, driving pupil attainment and boosting regular school attendance. Click here for details on the external impact evaluation of the ECP conducted by Dr Tim Bristow in September 2019.

 

Attendance is a success story

Over time, we aim to build awareness and understanding within the local community of the importance of education, so that they are actively engaged in and committed to ensuring children attend school and learn.

  • The number of pupils attending our project schools regularly* has steadily increased from 81% to 94% since the ECP began in 2015

  • Parental attitudes have shifted, and they now understand the importance of education for their children’s future economic well-being

  • In some villages, children are going on to higher education for the first time which is a source of pride for the whole community

 
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We support teacher professional development

We work alongside teachers to help them to develop their teaching in line with international best practice. We focus on high impact teaching strategies and support teachers to develop a range of skills.

We know that the learning outcomes for pupils will not improve if teachers are not focussing their efforts on learning. As a direct result of the support we have offered to schools, significantly more teachers are concentrating on learning.

  • At the start of our work in schools, only 31% of teachers engaged with our teams regarding pupils’ learning. Today, in those schools we support, more than 75% of teachers directly engage with us in professional discussions about how best to improve learning outcomes for all their pupils.

  • We encourage teachers to use their own ideas to improve the learning experience for pupils. In the schools we support, more than 90% of teachers are now motivated and have the confidence to take this approach.

 
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Attitudes to learning literacy and numeracy are developing well

In many of our project schools, pupil attitudes toward learning are improving, and pupils are:

  • Self-motivated, attentive to their work and try hard

  • Cooperative when working in groups

  • Self-disciplined

  • Confident and friendly with adults

 
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Teachers value our training

Over 90% of headteachers we provided training for in 2018-19 agreed:

  • The issues covered were useful to them

  • They would implement what they learnt at the training in their own schools

 
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*pupils attending school 70% or more of the time

 
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Whistle-led processions

In Bharuch, a group of girls aged 8 or 9 are now brimming with confidence and proud to tell visitors how they help to ensure that all the children in the village attend school every day. Equipped with loud whistles, they walk each day through the village to school, blowing their whistles to remind all the other children that it is time to go to school and to join the ever-louder throng.

One of the girls - the most confident of the group - explains how she makes a mental note of any children who do not join the procession to school, and that she then returns to those houses to challenge the parents “who then send their child to school”! 

 

Birthday celebrations

Reach to Teach recognises and values every child, but this is not the case in many of the communities where we work. Births of children are often not even recorded, let alone celebrated, as a new child can be seen as an economic burden on the family.

In our schools, every child has his or her birthday recognised by the teacher and all the classmates, as birthday songs are sung to celebrate each special day. The children point proudly to their name and birthday month, displayed on a brightly coloured wall chart in each classroom. For most, this will be the first time that they will have seen their name written down, identifying them as a unique individual. Indeed, when they first join our classes, some children seem unaware that they have a name, and only after repeated encouragement do they recognise and respond to their given name.

The children themselves also nominate a “star of the day” from among their peers, to celebrate a special achievement or effort. This child then receives formal recognition and can take home the certificate they are given to share with their families, often contacting their extended families to share the news too.

 
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