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

Stichting Child Savings International

Status: Completed

Conditions: Active Learning Methods and Life-skills Education

Treatments: Behavioral: Child centered teaching of life-skills

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02348580

TOUN-2013-Rwanda-AMIR01

Details and patient eligibility

About

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. Did teachers use of active learning methods in class increase due to the training received?

2. Did students' levels of engagement and on-task behaviour increase as a result of the intervention's pedagogy and content?

3. Did the following competencies of students improve due to the intervention?

   1. Self-efficacy
   2. Social skills
   3. Financial literacy
   4. Planning attitudes
   5. Savings attitudes
   6. Savings behavior
   7. Entrepreneurship

4. 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?

5. Did the intervention change student drop out rates in the classes which it was implemented?

Enrollment: 1,750 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 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

Exclusion criteria

• Non-consenting individuals

Trial design

1,750 participants in 2 patient groups

Treatment as usual

No Intervention group

Description:

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 group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Child centered teaching of life-skills