Education systems in low-income countries like Bangladesh have rapidly
responded to the Covid-19 pandemic with extremely limited resources, resulting in
adaptive and unique approaches to teaching and learning (use of mobile phones;
national television; online live teaching and downloadable resources), but many
children are missing out on critical periods of their education. The situation is
exacerbated due to the Covid-19 pandemic and reform in the education policy is
underway in response. The research project ‘Crisis-led approaches to teaching
and learning in Bangladesh: new frameworks for outdoor, blended learning in
low-income country contexts’ addressed these challenges and seeks to inform
policy through developing a framework to combine digital learning with outdoor
learning for primary education in Bangladesh, to mitigate the impact of the
pandemic, but also to improve children’s educational and wellbeing outcomes in
the longer term.
Through working in partnership between Cardiff University, Bangladesh University
of Engineering and Technology (BUET), #NextGenEdu and Aspire to Innovate (a2i),
and directly with primary teachers and schools, we have developed an evidence
base of the emerging responses to remote, blended, and outdoor learning in
schools, households, and neighbourhoods during the pandemic, and developed a
collaborative network to address current problems and frame new solutions. The
project activities (a review of existing evidence, a stakeholder workshop to explore
existing practices and needs for research, field research in Bangladesh and a
dissemination workshop) were jointly conducted by Cardiff University, BUET, a2i,
and #NextGenEdu between February and October 2021 and supported by HEFCW
GCRF funds.
This report draws on the findings from the review of existing
evidence and field research at two phases (telephone survey with 201 primary
school teachers and headteachers, in-depth interviews and creative methods with 20 families, and in-depth case studies of six promising teaching and learning
practices). You can download the report here