Key details
| Location | Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Start date | November 2020 |
| End date | February 2022 |
| Client | Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) |
Background
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, Member States of the OECS closed schools and began exploring strategies to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the education sector. The Education Development Management Unit (EDMU) of the OECS Commission developed an Education Sector Response and Recovery Strategy to COVID-19, and OpenDevEd (ODE) was contracted to develop an Academic Recovery Programme (ARP) to target at-risk, vulnerable, and marginalised students who had only limited access to teaching and learning during the lockdown, as well as those who were struggling academically before the onset of the pandemic.
Our Approach
The Academic Recovery Programme was co-designed in consultation with education stakeholders from four OECS focus countries (Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines), aimed at ensuring core dependent competencies – such as in mathematics, literacy, and social skills – commensurate to a Grade 3 skill level. The programme uses a range of approaches to support learning inside and outside of the classroom and is designed to harmonise with existing recovery and support initiatives in each country. An agile methodology allows for the reiteration of activities to effectively adapt to the contexts and needs of learners, overseen by EDMU officials
contribution
OpenDevEd staff conducted the following tasks:
- Rigorous literature review of ARPs conducted globally and in the region, with situational analyses of the four focus countries
- Interviews and workshops with education stakeholders to gain insights on the anticipated ARP structure/functions
- Development of an evidence-based needs assessment tool to identify at-risk children and those likely to benefit most from the ARP
- Development of the ARP, including the incorporation of stakeholders at all levels, policy recommendations and teaching/training requirements, accelerated learning strategies, and sustainability planning for programme continuation
- Implementation of ARP pilot schemes in focus countries
The focus of the second phase of the ARP covered a scaling up of the original programme to the wider group of 10 OECS Member States. This included:
- Reviewing and revising the ARP, incorporating a guiding strategy for Ministries of Education to support accelerated learning, and outlining evidence-based approaches to support programme implementation
- Development of an OECS Declaration on Education
- Integrating with other programmes being implemented in the region (including the LAC Reads Capacity Program and Let’s REAP!), as well as incorporating the involvement of key education stakeholders from NGOs to community organisations
outcomeS
Key outcomes of the programme include:
- Informed by the data collected, developed the OECS Declaration on Education, outlining the Organisation’s vision for education, harmonization of education policy, and the role of partnership and collaboration in supporting the achievement of the vision. This will be a key document in guiding the regional integration of education across the OECS Member States for years to come.
Documents
First phase (ARP I)
- Outputs
- Selected bibliography
- See more in our Evidence Library
Second phase (ARP II)
- Outputs
- Selected bibliography
- See more in our Evidence Library
