Impact case study database

This section sets out details of the impact of two strands of Newcastle University’s research around improving primary and secondary schooling for children living in deprived socio-economic conditions in India and Nigeria. The first looks at how the research has changed policy and practice through knowledge transfer. This has impacted on the allocation of UK government funds for research into schooling in the global south. The second considers how the development of curriculum materials in order to facilitate our action research has impacted on millions of children’s learning and teacher training in India and Nigeria. As in the first impact strand, this has also changed policy and practice through knowledge transfer and the teaching of reading through phonics in both Nigeria and India.

Changing policy, practice and funding through knowledge transfer

A Professor of Economics of Education, University of Ibadan, Nigeria and DEEPEN advisor states ‘ Dixon and her colleagues’ research showed that the school sector benefited by the provision of different types of school management and that in some urban areas the majority of children were attending alternative schools, set up by social entrepreneurs’ (IMP5) .

DFID now funds research into non-state school providers and chains of schools as a direct result of Newcastle University’s research. The shift is due to improved knowledge and understanding among international aid agencies, ministers and MPs. According to a past Secretary of State for International Development ‘The research has inspired a significant change in the way international aid agencies have thought about funding non state providers to allow millions of disadvantaged children to access an education that will make a difference to their entire lives’ (IMP10). He goes on to say that ‘The research which is on-going continues to influence UK and international thinking on how to make ‘education for all’ a reality and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4’ (IMP10). The former Director of Making Markets Work for the Poor states that our research ‘helps to think through policy responses and how we respond to the behaviour from people we are trying to help. Your research focused on understanding the demand side – what is it that poor parents want, and can policy respond to those voices? It’s about giving the poor a voice’ (IMP7).

Dixon was invited to give oral evidence around the research to the International Development Select Committee hearing in Parliament, 21 February 2017, owing to the Newcastle University team’s research on different school management types in the Global South (IMP8). This allowed for a change in knowledge of MPs, which ‘opens up a space in public debate’ (IMP10). The Minister of State for International Development, who cited Dixon’s work at a later International Development Committee session on 28^th March 2017, states ‘ I was looking at the evidence that Prof Dixon was giving to your Committee earlier… where the private sector can bring innovation’ (IMP6). This session, focusing on parental access and children’s attendance of primary and secondary schooling in developing countries, was live streamed (IMP6).

A key turning point that illustrates how DFID changed their funding eligibility concerning non-state school providers due to Newcastle University’s research is the GBP13,000,000 project Developing Effective Private Education Nigeria (DEEPEN, 2013-2019) (IMP4) which helped create an improved regulatory environment for private schools, increased access to financial services and access to quality improvement services (IMP5, IMP7, IMP9, IMP10). As stated by the DEEPEN Project Manager ‘Your research… was in my view instrumental in the design and structuring of the DEEPEN project’.* (IMP9). A DEEPEN advisor and Professor at the University of Ibadan states ‘a large grant on the back of Dixon’s research was given to look at the private school’s sector’ and ‘without’ Dixon’s research the project would not have been undertaken in Nigeria (IMP5) and the Co-Founder of the Springfield Centre ‘The DEEPEN project would not have happened without your research’ (IMP7). He goes on ‘As I say it directly came off and was funded owing to your research, the influence that your research had on DFID through knowledge exchange. Owing to the DEEPEN project some schools were able to access finances and to upgrade. We are talking about 600,000 children benefiting directly and 1 million benefitting indirectly’ (IMP7).

Other key projects invested in by DFID inspired by our research followed include Improving schools and a voucher program in Pakistan (GBP78,000,000); The Girls Education Challenge Fund (GBP300,000,000); Bridge Academy (CDC: GPB4,200,000,000; DfID: GBP6,000,000; Novastar: GBP15,000,000); Making Markets Work for the Poor (GBP25,000,000). As stated by the Co-Founder of the Springfield Centre ‘If it hadn’t been for your research there would not have been that knowledge exchange with DFID and ministers that in the end changed the way funding was allocated to look at options other than the state sector.’ (IMP7, IMP4).

The Newcastle University research strongly influenced the founders of Bridge who as a direct result of the research set up the International Academy chain, starting in Nairobi, Kenya (2009) where we undertook our seminal research (IMP3). This founding team is also part of the public- private partnership trial in post conflict areas of Liberia (2016-ongoing). According to the Erstwhile Secretary of State for International Development, our research ‘around schooling where countries have been devastated by war and conflict’ has informed the setting up and running of a trial around public-private partnership schools in Liberia which ‘shows much promise’ ( IMP10). The founders of Bridge International Academies visited Newcastle (2008) when looking for projects around social entrepreneurship to talk with Dixon and Tooley around the research findings. Bridge has opened schools in India (2016), Kenya, Liberia (2016), Nigeria (2015) and Uganda (2015) and now educate 500,000 children around the world. Bridge runs or supports over 1,000 schools for the marginalised and disadvantaged. It aims to educate 10,000,000 pupils across 12 or more countries by 2025. According to the Vice President Communications, Bridge International Academies ‘ The research provided information to our Co-Founders around parents’ desire to access quality schooling, especially where the state is unable to provide’ (IMP3).

Curriculum development

There had been very little research in government or low cost private schools in India or Nigeria with primary aged children concerning learning to read using letter sounds and blending; Jolly Learning (learning resource provider) produced the curriculum package used in the research. This original package did not have any teacher training materials, no children’s workbooks and did not recognise the impact that mentorship could have on a teacher’s professional development. Therefore as part of the research Dixon developed these materials co-creating them with teachers working at the grassroots ensuring cultural specificity and relevance to the context; The CEO of Jolly Learning says ‘This had not been done before and changed the way Jolly Learning thought about how children and teachers use phonics to read in the global south’ (IMP1).

Before our research, phonics was not taught in Nigerian government schools. The CEO, Jolly Learning took the outcomes of Dixon’s research and her newly developed curriculum package to the Nigerian government to demonstrate how children living in deprived socio-economic conditions could benefit from learning to read through phonics. Resources shown included the new children’s workbooks, teacher training manuals and materials as well as the mentorship strategy, all based on Dixon’s research, augmented by two PhD students. Consequently ‘Jolly Phonics has now been adopted for all children studying in Nigerian government schools… and is unlikely to have occurred without the research initially carried out in the Global South with Professor Dixon’ (IMP1). Also ‘owing to the collaboration… many schools in Delhi now teach the reading of English through phonics. This includes government schools as well as 196 Satya Bharti Schools in six Indian states with 39,507 students’ (IMP1). Jolly Learning has now expanded its teacher-training programme worldwide. As a direct result of the research Jolly Learning and Universal Learning Solutions (ULS, an NGO delivering innovative literary solutions) changed the way they operate within Nigeria and India (2016-present). ‘Dixon’s research has informed and impacted on the way we deliver our programmes…it has allowed us to transform 105,000 teachers in Nigeria alone, through teacher training and mentoring. This potentially has impacted 8,150,000 children. Moreover, in order to be able to mentor all trained teachers, we have also built the capacity of 4,831 local, state and national government officials’ Projects Director ULS (IMP2a). In 2016/2017 in Nigeria 1,840,000 pupil books were being used in conjunction with 36,906 teacher books (IMP2a, IMP2b) all developed by Dixon and her team in order to undertake the research. Research is on-going (2018-present) with the Newcastle University team who are working with the Nigerian government to consider the effectiveness around the implementation of phonics in all government schools from 2017.