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STiR Education

place India + 7 more

Reigniting intrinsic motivation in teachers and education systems.

We support education systems to reignite intrinsic motivation in every teacher and official, so that every child is motivated to learn and improve. Since 2012, we've reached more than 200,000 teachers and 6 million children across 3 Indian states and one quarter of all districts in Uganda.

HundrED 2021
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Overview

HundrED has selected this innovation to

HundrED 2021

HundrED 2020

Web presence

2012

Established

200K

Children

5

Countries
Target group
Teachers
Updated
April 2023
We wish to see a world where teachers love teaching and children love learning. Through implementation at large scale, we want to see systematic behavioural change in the government systems which will directly impact the quality of education in schools, improving learning outcomes for children. We also want equitable classrooms, providing equal opportunities for all children to learn and thrive.

About the innovation

Education systems must prepare every child, everywhere, to thrive in an increasingly complex world.

Children today face an increasingly complex world. This trend includes the pandemic, the climate crisis, increased inequality and rapid technological changes. All children will need to learn and adapt throughout their lives, and education systems need to support them by instilling motivation for learning and improvement.

But education systems are failing to address this need. Despite huge increases in education spending over the past two decades, children are not achieving the desired outcomes. A lack of belief and investment has led to widespread demotivation of teachers and officials, as seen through high levels of absenteeism and low levels of job satisfaction. For example, a 2014 UNESCO report in Uganda estimated that 84% of primary teachers in Uganda wanted to quit the profession in two years.

What we do?

Behaviour change.

At its core, our work is about changing behaviours and attitudes at every level by reigniting intrinsic motivation. We work with our government partners to define the desired behaviours that they want to see at each level of the system, and help them to clearly demonstrate how these can be promoted through strong role-modelling and positive relationships.

At child level we want to see participation and learning as an active choice and a desire to keep on learning more. For teachers, effective deployment of teaching strategies with a desire to improve their classroom practice and for officials, spending more time in schools while supporting teachers.

These behaviours are reinforced across all of our activities, and we have developed practical behavioural measures to help us to understand this change through our monitoring and evaluation.

Government and other partnerships.

No NGO intervention can last forever and STiR is very aware how difficult it can be to achieve true sustainability. Government ownership and adoption are essential for long-term sustainability. Our team works to ensure that the approach is increasingly prioritised within our partner systems. We initiate deep learning partnerships with the governments, with all activities delivered by existing government officials to build strong ownership. And we collaborate to customise and design content for each geography, while we work closely to ensure that the programme aligns with their policies and priorities. Working in this way makes our model incredibly cost-effective. Our only expense is our team, and we currently spend less than $1 per child annually.

How it works.

Behaviour change takes time. So our programme enables incremental improvements at every level that contribute to a system shift. We introduced peer networks for teachers and officials – monthly meetings for small groups of peers to strengthen connections, foster mutual support, and ensure sustainable improvement through learning new strategies to embed into their professional practice. Every teacher and official will engage in these activities in our termly learning improvement cycles (LICs), and each LIC is focused on different themes, for example, science of learning.

First, district officials are introduced to the content for the next term, they then lead the training sessions for school leaders who share the content with the teachers. Every month, 20-30 teachers meet in peer networks – which is led by school leaders to expose them to best classroom practices and strengthen peer connection.

Between meetings, teachers act on their learning by introducing new practices in their classrooms and given feedback by school leaders. The next month, teachers reconvene to reflect on their experiences and adapt and refine their action plan accordingly. After each third network meeting, teachers move on to a new area of practice. And the cycle continues.

Supporting school leaders and officials.

In this model, every level of the system needs to develop strong role-models and trusting relationships.

District officials participate in termly training institutes with their peers to understand new practices for each term. They then lead training institutes for school leaders, to empower them to lead teacher network meetings effectively. Over the course of the term, both groups actively support teachers by conducting developmental observations and feedback, creating emotional safety and using data to provide rich insights – which grows their intrinsic motivation.

We aim to show governments that our approach can be a highly cost-effective mechanism to increase the effectiveness and impact of their overall investment in education, and influence them to place increased focus on reigniting intrinsic motivation at every level. Over time, we expect to step back our own involvement with governments increasing their own contribution to the costs of delivery. We’re also starting to explore opportunities to partner with other implementing entities to amplify our approaches and improve our own organisational sustainability.

2025 Strategy

1. Realising sustainable systemic behaviour change. By 2025, we want to see meaningful and sustained behaviour change which continues to deepen across systems over time.

2.Driving equity to support Covid-19 recovery. We intend to more deliberately understand inequities in partner systems. We will explicitly address these in our programme design and share our learning with governments and the wider sector.

3. Advocating for change within the education sector. We will advocate for greater investment in intrinsic motivation and lifelong learning to strengthen education systems.

4. Strengthening autonomy, mastery and purpose at all levels of STiR. We need to better support our internal team to realise our 2025 vision. Our leadership team will role-model learning and improvement and ensure strategic clarity. We will also upskill and motivate our team to ensure our success.

Impact

A case study was conducted alongside the International Institute for Educational Planning of UNESCO (IIEP-UNESCO) which focused on the project in Delhi. Their report found that the programme has had noticeable positive effects and it can be seen through increased teacher collaboration and improvements in student outcomes.

In 2019, the Mastercard Foundation commissioned a similar review into STiR’s work in Uganda. This found that the programme was directly supporting the government’s priorities for teaching and learning. It was also observed that officials showed commitment to the concept of teacher motivation.

Impact & scalability

Impact & Scalability

In education, we hear a lot surrounding the needs of students, but what about teachers? STiR Education is addressing the need to support teachers and revive their passion for their work which significantly increases their abilities in the classroom and how they interact with their students. By involving governments, school leaders and teachers, STiR takes a holistic approach towards change.

HundrED Academy Reviews

Love that this innovation addresses the issue with teachers not being in love with their career choice and that they wish for teachers to fall back in love with teaching! This innovation starts with the teachers passion that will ultimately impact the learners.

The partnership with the government to rethink the way they use resources to complement and support the programme is exactly what strikes me as something that will have the right impact and will be scalable.

- Academy member
Academy review results
High Impact
Low Scalability
High Impact
High Scalability
Low Impact
Low Scalability
Low Impact
High Scalability
Read more about our selection process

Media

How deeper connections between teachers and students can prevent school drop-outs - STIR Education
Competency based curriculum – a magic bullet for skilling youths in Uganda? - STIR Education
Story of change in Kota Kediri, Indonesia - STIR Education
Kharunda Rose Khisa – a journey to the love of teaching - STIR Education
Understanding the links between teacher motivation, metacognition and stress - STIR Education
What we have learnt after the 80-week school closure - STIR Education
The role of positive teaching practices in thriving classrooms - STIR Education
Classroom innovation, professional agency and the conditions needed to thrive - STIR Education
STiR’s 10th anniversary report - STIR Education
Classroom innovation, professional agency and the conditions needed to thrive - STIR Education
Juliet’s story – Uganda - STIR Education
Addressing substance abuse in Delhi schools through positive classroom engagement - STIR Education
How fear-free classrooms propel improved student learning outcomes - STIR Education
Listenership survey for STiR’s radio programme in Uganda - STIR Education
Gender responsiveness impacts adolescent girls in Uganda - STIR Education
William’s guide on how to conduct a network meeting - STIR Education
Ms. Flora’s story - STIR Education
Rethinking the critical role of data to improve teaching and learning
Increasing system synchronisation in South West B, Delhi - STIR Education
Social and Emotional Learning and the New Normal - STIR Education
Longitudinal study - Uganda Year 1 evaluation report - STIR Education
STiR's response to Covid-19 in Uganda - STIR Education
Reimagining Education Systems for Changing Times: 3 Questions Governments Need to Ask - AVPN
Case Study - Luweero, Uganda - STIR Education
Case Study - Arua, Uganda - STIR Education
The true promise of the garden of education
Finding the Sweet Spot for Innovation Within Government Systems (SSIR)
Sharath Jeevan - Education Commission & GESF 2019 - My Highlights

Implementation steps

Understand the geography
It is important to understand the target geography and its education system. This should include the individual needs at every level of the system, including schools, teachers and children, so we are confident we can make an impact. Our system diagnostic tool is designed to assess the readiness of a system for our approach, including conditions such as a stable middle-tier officials, alignment to government policy and strategy and the operational ease of working in the country.
Build partnerships
Sustainability is essential, so engaging governments is critical in achieving our vision. We establish deep learning partnerships with clear time-bound milestones of progress to build strong ownership. We find ways for existing officials to deliver every activity. We also ensure strong alignment with existing policies and priorities. Ultimately, we aim to show that our approach can increase the effectiveness and impact of each government’s overall investment in education.
Implement the programme
With a formal government partnership in place, implementation can begin. Content is co-designed with the government, therefore it will vary from geography to geography. Three core activities must be introduced (or harnessed) at every level of the system: peer networks, coaching and reflection. We work with governments to develop the confidence and capability of district officials and school leaders to share this content with teachers. This might initially start in a small number of districts.
Reflection and alignment
We collect monitoring and evaluation data and capture stories to understand the extent of change. Regular alignment meetings at district and national levels provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to analyse data, share learning and develop plans together to strengthen delivery. These activities are delivered in close partnership with governments. This helps to ensure that we are responsive to the specific needs of local contexts and the needs and challenges faced by each education system.
Scale to wider areas
Over time, we create a scaling plan with governments in which they lead the growth into new areas, developing ways for districts to learn from each other. We aim to deeply embed practices into central ministries to ensure their long-term sustainability, and create regional hubs to spread these practices more widely.

Spread of the innovation

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