Effectiveness Study of Teacher Training and Social and Financial Education in Rwanda's Primary and Secondary Schools

NCT02348580 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: TOUN-2013-Rwanda-AMIR01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,750
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The study uses experimental methods to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention in Rwanda. The intervention, designed by Aflatoun and AMIR, involves training teachers on the use of active-learning methods to implement a social and financial education curriculum with students in primary and secondary schools. Teachers then implement the social and financial curriculum with students in order to improve their personal, social, and financial competencies. Teacher training will take place in November-December 2013 and the curriculum implementation will be evaluated in the 2014 school year. The study will examine the following hypotheses:

1. 1.Did teachers use of active learning methods in class increase due to the training received?
2. 2.Did students' levels of engagement and on-task behaviour increase as a result of the intervention's pedagogy and content?
3. 3.Did the following competencies of students improve due to the intervention?
4. 4.Self-efficacy
5. 5.Social skills
6. 6.Financial literacy
7. 7.Planning attitudes
8. 8.Savings attitudes
9. 9.Savings behavior
10. 10.Entrepreneurship
11. 11.Did the intervention change student's pass rates on the primary six (P6) and secondary three (S3) final examinations for the classes in which it was implemented?
12. 12.Did the intervention change student drop out rates in the classes which it was implemented?

Conditions

Active Learning Methods and Life-skills Education

Keywords

teaching; education; active learning; time on task; financial education; social education; rights based education; primary school; life-skills

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Change in Teacher Use of Active Learning Methods (Observed)

  A composite, standardized variable combining 5-items from an observational instrument filled out by enumerators observing teachers' classes.

  Up to 12 months

• Change in Teacher Use of Active Learning Methods (Self-reported)

  A composite, standardized variable combining 7-items from a self-reported instrument capturing the confidence of teachers using these seven specified active learning methods.

  Up to 8 months

• Change in Teacher Use of Active Learning Methods (Student report)

  A composite, standardized variable combining 4-items from students' structured interviews about their teacher's use of active learning methods.

  Up to 8 months

• Change in Classroom Level of Student Engagement (Observed)

  A composite, standardized variable combining structured observations of 7 randomly selected students for three different 10-second intervals in each teacher's classroom using an adapted version of the PreQuip tool designed by Educans at the University of Amsterdam.

  Up to 12 months

• Change in Student engagement (Student report)

  A composite, standardized variable combining 4-items measured using structured interviews of 7 randomly selected students in each teacher's classroom.

  Up to 8 months

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Change in Students' Generalized Self-efficacy Scale (GSES-10)

  Up to 8 months

• Change in Students' Pro-Social (PS) (6-item) and Conduct Disorder (CD) (6-item) subscales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

  Up to 8 months

• Change in Students' Financial Literacy

  Up to 8 months

• Change in Students' Planning Attitudes

  Up to 8 months

• Change in Students' Savings Behavior

  Up to 8 months

Other Outcomes (4)

• Difference in standardized examination pass rates on primary 6 (P6) and secondary 3 (S3) tests in study classes

  December 2014

• Difference in percentage drop out rates of students in study classes

  December 2014

• Change in Teachers use of Active Learning Methods (Observed) mediates Student Engagement (Observed)

  Up to 12 months

Study Arms (2)

Treatment as usual

NO INTERVENTION

Schools in which regular curriculum is delivered and teachers do not receive any additional training in child centered methodologies.

Child centered teaching of life-skills

EXPERIMENTAL

Training of teachers and weekly implementation of hour long sessions based on child centered teaching of life-skills education over the course of the school year in P6 and S3 classes as designed by Aflatoun Stichting Child Savings International and the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR). The life-skills curriculum is known as Aflatoun's Child Social and Financial Education program. The training of teachers element of the intervention is known as Aflatoun Academy, which trains teachers in active learning, child centered methodologies as well as how to implement the life-skills curriculum of Aflatoun Child Social and Financial Education.

Behavioral: Child centered teaching of life-skills

Interventions

Child centered teaching of life-skills BEHAVIORAL

The intervention includes five core components: (1) personal understanding and exploration, (2) rights and responsibilities, (3) savings and spending, (4) planning and budgeting, and (5) social and financial enterprise. The training and curriculum are both manualized. The curriculum is in English and is regionally specific (for Anglophone Africa) and has been contextualized for Rwanda. The minimum hours required by Aflatoun's fidelity guide is 20 hours which includes 10 hours of curriculum lesson and 10 hours of learning activities (savings groups, social and financial projects, club activities etc).

Also known as: Aflatoun Child Social and Financial Education, Aflatoun Academy, Social and Financial Education, AflaAcademy, Innovation for Education

Child centered teaching of life-skills

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Schools willing to participate in the intervention.
• Classes of students in grade P6 or S3 during academic year 2014
• Teachers of entrepreneurship, social studies, or mathematics

You may not qualify if:

• Non-consenting individuals

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Stichting Child Savings International: lead
• Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda

Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Educational Status

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Socioeconomic Factors; Population Characteristics

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 9, 2014
• First Posted: January 28, 2015
• Study Start: September 1, 2013
• Primary Completion: November 1, 2014
• Study Completion: March 1, 2015
• Last Updated: July 31, 2015

Record last verified: 2015-07

Locations

RW (1)