Supporting education of children through policy reform in developing countries.
Researchers have been investigating children’s learning in developing countries through a number of large-scale studies in African nations aimed at understanding the factors that enable, or constrain, learning. These assessments, commissioned variously by the UK Department for International Development (DFID, now FCO), UNICEF and the World Bank, have led to a number of scaled-up, regularised, national numeracy and literacy assessment frameworks in countries such as Sudan and Nigeria. These assessments also led to government-sponsored interventions to improve literacy standards, and substantial funding from international agencies, such as the World Bank, to implement improvement programmes. Examples of our impact on policy reform include the following: Global Partnership for Education, Stories of Change
Research from the Department contributed to improvements in educational outcomes for children in Sudan, as part of this programme from the Global Partnership for Education. Dr David Johnson designed a series of regular National Learning Assessments for the government of Sudan, which provided evidence to develop future education programmes. This work was submitted as in impact case study to REF2021 – you can download the full case study here.