Purpose

A non-governmental organisation (NGO) with schools in Sierra Leone prioritises admission of the most disadvantaged children but nevertheless achieves high educational and social standards. These schools were asked to provide continuing professional development and learning (CPDL) for other schools. This paper aims to report the design, development and delivery of CPDL which aimed to mobilise effective practices more widely. It also reports the design and results of an impact evaluation.

Design/methodology/approach

It was recognised that CPDL delivered by foreigners would be (1) unaffordable in this impoverished West African country and (2) culturally inappropriate. It was therefore delivered by local teachers from the NGO's own schools. Most had obtained no formal teaching qualification. They were trained to collect data using a quasi-experimental design for an impact evaluation of children's attendance and literacy. A total of five schools participated in the CPDL, with ten control schools.

Findings

A largely unqualified team succeeded in mobilising knowledge in the experimental schools. Children's attendance in experimental schools improved over that in control schools. Performance in literacy also improved significantly and was maintained at follow-up.

Research limitations/implications

Findings of the impact evaluation are seen as indicative rather than causal because a quasi-experimental study was conducted rather than a randomised controlled trial.

Originality/value

This lies in (1) teachers in schools with a severely disadvantaged intake providing a structured programme of CPDL for teachers in other schools; (2) school improvement through knowledge mobilisation in CPDL; (3) an impact evaluation with a quasi-experimental design showing improvement in children's performance.

中文翻译：

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撒哈拉以南非洲地区的知识动员：CPDL对改善小学生成绩的影响评估

目的

一个在塞拉利昂设有学校的非政府组织（NGO）优先考虑处境最不利的儿童，但仍实现了较高的教育和社会水准。这些学校被要求为其他学校提供持续的专业发展和学习（CPDL）。本文旨在报告CPDL的设计，开发和交付，旨在更广泛地动员有效的实践。它还报告了影响评估的设计和结果。

设计/方法/方法

人们认识到，外国人提供的CPDL将（1）在这个贫穷的西非国家无法承受，并且（2）在文化上不合适。因此，它是由非政府组织自己学校的当地教师提供的。大多数没有获得正式的教学资格。他们接受了使用准实验设计收集数据的培训，以评估儿童出勤和识字的影响。共有5所学校参加了CPDL，其中10所是控制学校。

发现

一个基本上没有资格的团队成功地动员了实验学校的知识。实验学校的儿童出勤率比对照学校的提高。识字能力也显着提高，并在随访中得到保持。

研究局限/意义

影响评估的结果被认为是指示性的，而不是因果关系的，因为进行的是准实验研究，而不是随机对照试验。

创意/价值

这是因为：（1）在学校中教师处于严重不利地位的教师为其他学校的教师提供了CPDL的结构化课程；（2）通过CPDL中的知识动员改善学校；（3）通过半实验设计进行的影响评估表明儿童的表现有所改善。