LEARNigeria Scale-up Pre-test – June 2017 to August 2017

As part of the survey and test development processes for the LEARNigeria assessment, a pre-test exercise was conducted in five (5) states – Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Ebonyi and Taraba. The first round of pre-tests was held in these states but the second round was carried out in only Plateau and Ebonyi states respectively. A collaborative approach was adopted for the exercise, with participation of technical partners (including language and linguistics specialists, representatives from the National Population Commission (NPC) , Federal Ministry of Education, and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), curriculum experts from state education ministries, teachers, and state NGO partners.

The purpose of the pre-test was to test the validity and reliability of LEARNigeria survey instruments, by ensuring that the test tools are culturally- and age-appropriate for the target population and clearly worded; and also to review the test tools for typographical errors, translation mistakes, or unclear instructions.

Certain factors were critical to the success of the pre-test, from appropriateness of the test tools, to the level of engagement of the community, to the existing partnerships. The curriculum experts, language specialists, and other technical partners helped to validate the content of the test tools. Community leaders also supported by granting access to the communities.

The LEARNigeria data has the potential to initiate and sustain a country-wide Accountability in education with information about pupil performance from the LEARNigeria data being made accessible to the public through a Citizen Report Card {CRC}/ Community Score Card while sharing the results with other key stakeholders (e.g. local communities, parents, school management, and public officials). This can create change by publicly rewarding good performance.

Data Collection (Survey) – September 2017

In September 2017, we commenced the data collection process with a 3-day state training of supervisors, followed by the local government area training on listing and mapping exercise, within the same week. We had a total of 1,440 volunteers that partook in the training; 240 each from Lagos, Kano, Taraba, Ebonyi, Plateau, and Akwa Ibom states. We trained the volunteers on assessing children, and the ethics of household assessment. With assistance from the National Population Commission (NPopC), the volunteers were also trained on EA location (map reading & updating) and how to carry out a listing exercise. Following the training, volunteers were sent out to conduct the survey and administer the assessment.

The volunteers were guided by supervisors that we identified in each state. We engaged a total of, at least, 252 supervisors in the 6 states, having 42 supervisors per state. The responsibility of the supervisors was to ensure the success of the survey.

For the scale-up phase, we deployed both the manual data entry method (survey booklet), and a digital data entry method, using the Survey C.T.O tablet. Our key reason for this approach was to test the reliability of the data gathered on the field, comparing both methods. This will help to better inform us on the most efficient method for the survey.

In each of the 6 states, we covered 6 local governments, 180 enumeration areas, 3,600 households, and an estimate of 10,800 children (average of 3 children per household).

LEARNigeria Technical Workshop – March 2017

LEARNigeria is a citizen-led household survey of learning in Nigeria. An acronym for “Let’s Engage, Assess & Report Nigeria”, the programme is aimed at generating evidence on the foundational numeracy and literacy skills of Nigerian children. The data generated will be used to strengthen education policy making and equip a wide array of education sector stakeholders with information to improve learning outcomes in Nigeria.

In 2015, The Education Partnership (TEP) Centre initiated the pilot phase of LEARNigeria. Since the successful pilot of LEARNigeria, the scope of the project has been expanded and plans have been made for LEARNigeria to be implemented in six Nigerian states – Lagos, Kano, Taraba, Plateau, Ebonyi, and Akwa Ibom – representing the six (6) geopolitical zones in the country.

The LEARNigeria Technical Workshop was the first step in the development of the test materials for the scale-up phase of the LEARNigeria project. Additional local language literacy tests were added to the testing materials, and literacy tests in the scale-up phase were conducted in Yoruba and Igbo languages, in addition to the already existing Hausa language tests.

Experts from PAL Network and government institutions – National Population Commission, National Bureau of Statistics, Federal Ministry of Education – were participants at the workshop. Other participants included experts from development partners, the private sector, tertiary institutions, school teachers, among others.

By the end of the workshop, the participants had successfully reviewed the test frameworks that were used during the pilot phase, and developed frameworks for English, Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo languages respectively.