About the project

Inequalities in education and health are deeply rooted in social and economic disadvantage. This research investigates how schools work effectively with communities in rural areas by developing and evaluating a systems-oriented and multi-layered complex intervention.

The project aims to create the optimal practices, cultures and conditions to strengthen schools’ organisational and professional capacities, and become enabling spaces for young children’s improvement in learning and health. 

The project ran from February 2020 to April 2023, and was funded by the ESRC.

A whole-school intervention

Grounded in a holistic, philosophical approach to the “whole child” education, this intervention brings together school leaders, teachers, and community members to nurture and enrich 6- to 9-year-old learners’ engagement in reading.

The design of the intervention is informed by a strong research-informed belief that school leaders and teachers in rural areas, together with community participation, can beat the odds and enable children to achieve and flourish despite adversity.

Contents

Focus

Inequalities in education and health are deeply rooted in social and economic disadvantage. In South Africa, 38% of children live in rural communities and are significantly more likely to be deprived of opportunities for quality education and health-related quality of life than their less disadvantaged peers.

This research aims to address this persistent structural challenge and establish how schools can beat the odds and enable children to achieve and thrive despite their location in high-poverty communities.

The project is grounded in an ethic of social justice and is led by a UK and South Africa interdisciplinary team from Education, Health, Psychology, Sociology, and Health Economics. This mixed methods research will establish a comprehensive, empirically grounded theory of practice – i.e. organising schools as enabling spaces for improvement in learning and health.

It focuses on the Foundation Phase of primary schooling (children aged 6-9) because:

  • this is a critical period of transition from early childhood to middle childhood when early interventions can make a significant impact on long-term outcomes, and
  • this is also a key transition phase when children begin developing a sense of belonging to quality schools that can provide protective environments for those who are ‘at risk’ because of their dysfunctional early childhood experiences.

Thus, in contrast to existing discrete and narrowly focused health interventions in schools, this research regards improving whole-child quality education (SDG4) as a health intervention in its own right to transform the health-related quality of life for children and adults (SDG3) in rural communities in South Africa.

By doing so, the research will make a timely contribution to understandings of how different sectors may work more effectively with schools to unlock the transformative power of education for the achievement of the other 2030 SDGs systemically and sustainably. 

Questions

  1. Are there education and health education models in rural primary schools that are sufficient to achieve the objective of improving academic and/or health and wellbeing outcomes for all pupils, especially the socio-economically disadvantaged and/or those in the Foundation Phase, in South Africa? What difficulties might they encounter or give rise to?
  2. What are the key structural, social and cultural challenges – injustices – that rural schools and their communities face in improving the learning and health-related quality of life for all children?
  3. To what extent, and how, does a systems-oriented approach to building rural schools as enabling spaces for children’s learning and wellbeing improve schools’ professional and organisational capacities to effectively address social, cultural and structural challenges?
  4. What are the similarities and differences in terms of feasibility, acceptability and potential impact of this approach on children between schools with different characteristics of classroom practice (pedagogy and curriculum), conditions and capacities and between rural communities with different characteristics of social conditions and resources?
  5. How cost-effective, sustainable and replicable is this approach in transforming schools’ capacities and connections with local communities to substantially improve children’s learning and wellbeing in South Africa, and beyond?
  6. What are the implications for policy and practice in enhancing the potential of education, and school quality especially, as a means to achieve sustainable development in resource poor, socio-economically disadvantaged communities?

By answering these questions, the research will

  • produce new empirical knowledge about the complex interface between schools, their communities and the social conditions and resources that deeply influence children’s quality of learning and quality of life in rural spaces in South Africa, and
  • provide new evidence on how and why a systemically-connected approach has the potential of building healthy, effective schools that inspire children’s learning and improve their quality of life in more sustainable ways. 

Framework and innovation

In this research how children’s quality learning is constructed and supported in schools is grounded in a social-ecological interpretation of human development. This theoretical lens presupposes a process-oriented, ‘person x environment’ model of learning (i.e. indispensable interaction between person and environment). 

A distinctive feature of our methodology is to build on, and extend, research-informed knowledge about what successful schools (especially those serving socioeconomically disadvantaged communities) do to accelerate student learning and wellbeing. This is an often overlooked missing link in scaling-up research on education and health innovations.

A key consideration in this research is to refine school-community collaborative health education approaches in ways that they interact with (i.e. integrated and embedded), rather than add to (i.e. as discrete, add-on components) (Bryk, 2015; Gu et al., 2018), the complex classroom, curriculum and school systems. 

Outputs

Working papers

  • Ann, L., du Preez, H., Basson, L., Ebersöhn, L., & Gu, Q. The role of early childhood development & education in supporting children’s learning and well-being in the context of rural education. Journal of Early Years Education (Submitted).

Conference presentations

  • Basson, L., Ebersöhn, L., Murphy, P.K., & Gu, Q. (2023, January). The quality and sustainability of resilience-enabling complex school-based interventions in rural primary schools in the Global South: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis [Conference Presentation]. Annual Conference of the Education Association of South Africa (EASA) 8 – 11 January 2023.
  • Symposium “Schools as Enabling Spaces to Improve Learning and Health-Related Quality of Life for Primary School Children in Rural Communities in South Africa — Part 1”, 2022 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (AERA) in Collaboration with the World Education Research Association (WERA) 2022 Focal Meeting, 25 April, Chicago (virtual), US.
  • Gu, Q., Ebersöhn, L., Callaghan, P., Mills, M., Higham, R. J., Ang, L., & Skordis, J. (2022). Researching School Enablement in Rural Communities: A Global Challenge.
  • Ebersöhn, L., Gu, Q., Callaghan, P., Mills, M., Higham, R. J., Ang, L., & Skordis, J. (2022). Reconceptualizing Research Rigor in Global Challenging Times.
  • Abou Jaoude, G. J., Ebersöhn, L., Rampa, K., Basson, L-M., Oosthuizen, M., Dingle, K., & Skordis, J. (2022). Using PhotoVoice to Explore Well-Being and the Role of Education in Rural South Africa.
  • Symposium “Schools as Enabling Spaces to Improve Learning and Health Outcomes in Rural South Africa — Part 2”, 2022 AERA Annual Meeting in Collaboration with the WERA 2022 Focal Meeting, 25 April, Chicago (virtual), US.
  • Mills, M., & Higham, R. J. (2022). Social Justice in Rural Community Schools: Tensions and Dilemmas.
  • Ding, H., Gu, Q., Graham, M., Ang, L., Du Preez, H., Callaghan, P., Ebersöhn, L., & Themane, M. (2022). The Significance of School Leadership for Primary School Children’s Learning and Health in Rural Contexts.
  • Callaghan, P., Ding, H., Gu, Q., Wood, K., McGranahan, R., & Ebersöhn, L. (2022). The Effect of Interventions for Improving Health and Academic Outcomes on Primary School Children Living in Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Communities.
  • Symposium “Rurality as a global challenge: Schools as Enabling Spaces to Improve Learning and Health-related Quality of Life for Rural Primary School Children Part 1: Schools as Enabling Space for Better Learning and Health Outcomes”, 2021 WERA Virtual Focal Meeting, 18 March.
  • Basson, L-M., Gu, Q., & Ebersöhn, L. (2021). Introduction: The Concept and the Methodology.
  • Themane, M., Gu, Q,. Ebersöhn, L., Morris, R., Akinyemi, O, S., & Chiramba, O. F. (2021). The Significance of Schools and School Leadership.
  • Ang, L., Du Preez, H., Mustafa, S., Mabasa, A., Gu, Q., & Ebersöhn, L. (2021). Early Childhood Development & Education.
  • Callaghan, P., Du Toit, P., Wood, K., Ding, H., Ebersöhn, L., & Gu, Q. (2021). Health-Related Quality of Life.
  • Symposium “Rurality as a global challenge: Schools as Enabling Spaces to Improve Learning and Health-related Quality of Life for Rural Primary School Children Part 2: Why Justice and Capability Matter”, 2021 WERA Virtual Focal Meeting, 19 March.
  • Mills, M., Higham, R. J., Crafford, M., Hwenjere, R., Gu, Q., & Ebersöhn, L. (2021). Systematic Educational Disadvantage: A Social Justice Lens.
  • Ebersöhn, L., Gu, Q., Basson, L-M., & Eksteen, A. (2021). Enabling Professional Capabilities.
  • Abou Jaoude, G. J., Skordis, J., Gu, Q., & Ebersöhn, L. (2021). The Capability Approach in Economic Evaluations.

Protocol

Team

University College London

Principal Investigator

  • Professor Qing Gu - Director of the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership and Professor of Leadership in Education 

Co-investigators

  • Professor Lynn Ang - Professor of Early Childhood and Pro-Director and Vice-Dean Research, IOE
  • Dr Rupert Higham -  Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, IOE
  • Dr Huiming Ding – Research Fellow, UCL Centre for Educational Leadership
  • Gerard Abou Jaoude - Research Associate at the UCL Institute for Global Health and Fellow of the UCL Centre for Global Health Economics
  • Professor Martin Mills - Inaugural Director of the Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research, IOE, and Professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Queensland University of Technology
  • Professor Jolene Skordis-Worrall, UCL Institute for Global Health

London South Bank University

London South Bank University
  • Professor Patrick Callaghan, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor Research and Enterprise and Professor of Mental Health Science

University of Pretoria

University of Pretoria logo

Lead investigator

  • Professor Liesel Ebersöhn - Director of the Centre for the Study of Resilience and Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the Faculty of Education

Co-investigators and researchers

•    Professor Peet du Toit - Associate Professor, Department of Physiology
•    Professor Mahlapahlapana Themane (University of Limpopo)
•    Dr Hannelie Du Preez - Researcher and Lecturer in Early Childhood Education (Wageningen University and Research)
•    Liz-Marie Basson – Project Administrator
•    Professor Marien Graham – Full Professor, Department of Science, Technology and Mathematics Education, University of Pretoria 
•    Marike de la Rey - Senior Research Assistant
•    Princess Mabota-Rapholo - Senior Research Assistant
•    Monique Oosthuizen - Senior Research Assistant
•    Kanye Rampa - Senior Research Assistant 

Funder

ESRC logo

 

Related links

Enabling Schools Toolkit

A manual for schools and their communities to help creating a collaborative school environment which nurtures 6- to 9-year-old learners’ enjoyment of reading.

Why was the Enabling Schools Toolkit manual developed?

The official “learning poverty” data from the World Bank and UNESCO show that more than half of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately exacerbated this learning crisis and the impact on Africa is particularly hard, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 40% of children at risk of falling victim to a life-long break on their future potential. The severity of the problem is far worse in rural primary schools where structural, social, and economic disadvantage challenges children’s access to quality education.

To make good rural primary schools even better, the Enabling Schools Toolkit provides step-by-step guidance on how school leaders, teachers and community members work together to build and foster a “reading for enjoyment” culture that enables children to learn better, feel happier and be healthier.

This is a whole-school intervention, led and coordinated by an Enabling School Committee (ESC) comprising of school leaders, teachers (of the Foundational Phase), and school-community members [Community Reading Champions (CRCs) and fieldworkers] in each of the participating schools.

The overarching aim of the Enabling Schools Toolkit is to strengthen the schools’ capacity to make use of available human, technical and social resources within and outside the school gate as enabling resources for better pupil learning and health outcomes. More specifically, it aims to:

  1. Strengthen school leadership teams.
  2. Enable school leaders to harness the skills and commitment of teachers and community members to develop a “reading for enjoyment” culture for learners.
  3. Embed a “reading for enjoyment” culture in school that improves the learning motivation and outcomes of young learners and enables them to enjoy a happier, healthier, and more confident schooling experience.

Who are involved?

School leaders, teachers, and CRCs come together to ensure that learners are supported by a committed team who brings together visionary leadership, expert teaching practices, and community values, identity, and aspirations.

How does the Enabling Schools Toolkit work?

The toolkit presents a four-step intervention process that helps schools and their communities to create a collaborative school environment which nurtures 6- to 9-year-old learners’ enjoyment of reading.

Such an environment develops the values and skills required for children to learn better, feel happier and stay healthier.

Step 1

  • Introductory meeting Leadership consultation Establishing Enabling Schools Committee (ESC).

Step 2

  • Centralised Learning Dialogue with Principals, Teachers & CRCs Launch of Intervention.

Step 3

  • Monthly ESC meetings Centralised Learning Dialogue and Support for Reading Cycles Implementation of Reading Cycles.

Step 4

  • Final ESC meeting Celebrating the launch of a School Mini Library.

What does the Enabling Schools Toolkit entail?

We have designed an Enabling Schools Toolkit Manual which provides an overview of this whole-child education focussed intervention and detailed descriptions of the roles of school leaders, teachers, CRCs and fieldworkers.

We have also designed training manuals for centralised learning dialogue sessions for principals, Foundation Phase teachers, CRCs, and fieldworkers respectively.

Enabling Schools Toolkit manual

The manual consists of three parts:

Part A

Provides an overview of the Enabling Schools Toolkit:

Part B

Provides an overview of school leaders’ roles and activities, focusing on how they collaborate and support teachers and CRCs:

Part C

Introduces the three phases of the “Reading Cycle” and provides an overview of teachers’ and CRCs’ roles and activities:

  1. Reading Cycles for the Foundation Phase of Primary Schools - Summary (pdf)
  2. Reading Cycles for the Foundation Phase of Primary Schools (pdf)
  3. Reading books
Core reading books
Supplementary reading books
Children’s books

Learner generated storybooks - including Grade R, 1, 2 and 3 in both English and Setswana.

Citizenship
Education
Family and Community
Health
Nature
Wellbeing

Contact us

UCL Centre for Educational Leadership
Department of Learning and Leadership
UCL Institute of Education
University College London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL

IOE faculty building front

Professor Qing Gu

UK Principal Investigator

Click to email. q.gu@ucl.ac.uk
IOE faculty building front

Professor Liesel Ebersöhn

South Africa Lead Investigator

Click to email. liesel.ebersohn@up.ac.za

Image

EduLife via Adobe Stock.