The RISE Podcast

This episode is a recording of a panel conversation that took place at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government during the RISE Annual Conference in September 2023. For the purposes of clarity and length, this podcast is an edited version of the conversation. The panel featured Nompumelelo Mohohlwane from the Department of Basic Education in South Africa; Rachel Hinton from the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; and former RISE Research Director, Lant Pritchett. This conversation was moderated by Laura Savage from the International Education Funders Group. The panel looks back at the questions that existed at the start of RISE and whether enough has been learnt ten years later. They reflect on the difference between the motivating questions for RISE and the What Works Hub for Global Education. They go on to debate what commitment to learning really means and what cultural shifts are needed for it to materialise, and connected to this, what implementation science really means. The conversation ends with a reflection on the meaning of the thematic shift from systems to implementation. Links Nompumelelo Mohohlwane Rachel HintonLant PritchettLaura SavageContract teachers – Why do they work in an NGO setting but not with government?South Africa Department of Basic Education Research Agenda, 2019 – 2023South Africa’s 5-year NDP “Medium-Term Strategic Framework 2019 – 2024”South Africa’s Presidential Youth Employment InitiativeRewriting the Grammar of the Education System: Delhi’s Education Reform (A Tale of Creative Resistance and Creative Disruption)State of education researchSmart Buys Report 2023The RISE Podcast: Denis Mizne on Transforming Brazil’s Education System to Deliver LearningWorld Development Report 2018Applying

In this episode, RISE research fellow Julius Atuhurra speaks to Dr. Adedeji Adeniran, the Director of Research at the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA)–a Nigerian think tank. Adedeji explains CSEA’s education research journey that has evolved from an initial focus on education financing to studying more nuanced topics, including: education system diagnosis, data quality, community engagement, policy analysis tools, and curriculum effectiveness. He highlights the need to fully grasp what transpires inside the classroom and how that is influenced by interactions happening outside the classroom. He also explains RISE Nigeria’s primary focus on demand-side actors and discusses findings from their recent study on primary-level curriculum effectiveness in Nigeria. Links Adedeji Adeniran (webpage) Instructional Alignment in Nigeria using the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (working paper) by Adeniran, Onyekwere, Okon, Atuhurra, Chaudhry, and Kaffenberger The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 update (report) by UNESCO, UNICEF, FCDO, USAID and BMGF Understanding Education Policy Preferences: Survey Experiments with Policymakers in 35 Developing Countries (working paper) by Crawfurd, Hares, Minardi, and Sandefur Imagine a World Where Innovations Could Save the Lives of 2 Million More Mothers and Babies. BMGF 2023 Goalkeepers Report (report) by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Financing Basic Education in Nigeria: What are the Feasible Options? (working paper) by Onyekwena, Uzor, Oloko, and Adeniran Improving Basic Education Outcomes in Nigeria. Effectiveness, Accountability and Equity Issues (working paper) by Onyekwena, Adekunle, Eleanya, and Taiwo Understanding cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost analysis using data on school feeding and education assistance programmes in Nigeria (journal article) by Uneze and Tajudeen Is Nigeria Experiencing a Learning Crisis: Evidence from curriculum-matched learning assessment (journal article) by Adeniran, Ishaku, and Akanni Is Nigeria on track to achieving quality education for all? Drivers and implications (working paper) by Adeniran, Onyekwena, Onubedo, Ishaku, Ekeruche Policy Deliberation, Social Contracts, and Education Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from...

This episode features RISE Research Fellow Yue-Yi Hwa in conversation with Jennifer Opare-Kumi, a final-year doctoral researcher at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. They cover a breadth of issues including the potential for targeted instructional programs to contribute towards improved child mental health outcomes, why mainstreaming children’s mental health during early learning might improve their educational and other life outcomes, and the need to adopt an expanded view of the ‘learning crisis’ currently affecting countries in the global south. Links Jenn Opare-KumiFoundational Learning and Mental Health: Empirical Evidence from BotswanaCognitive and Socioemotional Skills in Low-Income Countries: Measurement and Associations with Schooling and Earnings Socioemotional and Academic Learning Before and After COVID-19 School ClosuresResearching Socio-Emotional Learning, Mental Health and Wellbeing: Methodological Issues in Low-Income ContextsMeasuring the impacts of teachers in Vietnam: teacher value-added and student cognitive and non-cognitive skillsYouth Impact’s page on Teaching at the Right Level in BotswanaTeaching at the Right Level AfricaPratham’s Combined Activities for Maximized Learning (CAMaL) teaching-learning approach Guest biography Jennifer Opare-Kumi Jennifer Opare-Kumi is a Doctoral Researcher at the Blavatnik School of Government. Driven by a passion for efficient, evidence-based policy making, she researches ways to improve education and mental health outcomes for young people in the Global South through government and non-governmental interventions and policies. Yue-Yi Hwa Yue-Yi Hwa is a Senior Education Specialist on the evidence translation and synthesis team at the What Works Hub for Global Education. Previously, Yue-Yi was a research fellow and research manager for Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE), where she focused on synthesising research on teachers and management. She has also been a research fellow for the Penang Institute in Kuala Lumpur and a secondary school English teacher in Selangor, Malaysia. She holds an MPhil in comparative government from the University of Oxford and a PhD...

In this episode, RISE Research Fellow Julius Atuhurra speaks to Anustup Nayak, Project Director for Classroom Instruction and Practice, at Central Square Foundation (CSF) in India. Anustup retraces his educational path in India, Africa and the US, and links to his career in foundational learning. He reflects on the FLN context in India and why he is hopeful about the future. Anustup gives an in-depth explanation of CSF’s work and their broad collaboration with state governments and other similar minded actors to improve the teaching and learning experience in the classroom. They also touch on Anustup’s involvement with some of the work strands at RISE and his ideas about future directions. Anustup reflects on India’s position as both the 'hotbed' for FLN problems and ‘go to’ place for solutions to the global learning crisis. Links Central Square FoundationDemystifying the Science of Teaching: A 'Structured Pedagogy' Approach to Improving Foundation LearningA Million Children Learning – Improving Elementary School Education at ScaleRISE Community of PracticeCSF’s Experience of Working with the RISE Diagnostic Framework in North IndiaHow to Rapidly Improve Learning Outcomes at System Level?RISE Annual Conference 2022Michelle KaffenbergerUnderstanding Education Policy Preferences: Survey Experiments with Policymakers in 35 Developing CountriesSystem (In)Coherence: Quantifying the Alignment of Primary Education Curriculum Standards, Examinations, and Instruction in Two East African Countries Guest biography Anustup Nayak Anustup Nayak leads the Classroom Instruction and Practices (CIP) team at CSF. In his role, he works with multiple CSF partner organizations and state government agencies to support the implementation of the FLN mission. Prior to working at CSF, his work involved supporting and scaling up an entrepreneurial venture named XSEED Education. Anustup joined CSF to pursue his passion to improve...

In the latest episode of the RISE Podcast, the Director of UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, Manos Antoninis, talks to RISE Research Fellow Jason Silberstein about the first report in the Spotlight Series. The Spotlight is a new initiative by the GEM Report and its partners to shine a spotlight on primary completion and the state of foundational learning in Africa. They discuss the report’s original research and clear recommendations for how to improve learning, with a focus on what the Spotlight has to say about politics, measurement, supporting teachers, and balancing investment in student-level inputs with systems-level reform. Links Spotlight on Basic Education Completion and Foundational Learning in AfricaGlobal Education Monitoring ReportAssociation for the Development of Education in AfricaUNESCO Institute for StatisticsNational SDG 4 BenchmarksThe Long-Run Decline of Education Quality in the Developing WorldFocus to Flourish: A Messaging Campaign on Five Actions to Accelerate Progress in LearningFive Actions to Accelerate Progress in Learning Guest biography Manos Antoninis Manos Antoninis is the Director of the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report since 2017. He was previously responsible for the monitoring section of the report. He coordinated the financing gap estimates for the 2030 education targets, the projections on the achievement of universal primary and secondary education completion, and the World Inequality Database on Education. He has been representing the report team in the Technical Cooperation Group on SDG 4 indicators, which he is currently co-chairing. Prior to joining the team he worked for 10 years on public finance, monitoring and evaluation projects in education including: a public expenditure tracking and service delivery survey of secondary education provision in Bangladesh; the evaluation of a basic education project in the western provinces of China; the mid-term evaluation of the Education For All Fast Track Initiative; the annual reporting of progress in the implementation of the Second Primary Education Development Project in Bangladesh; a basic education capacity building programme in six states in Nigeria; the evaluation of an in-service, cluster-based teacher training programme in Pakistan; and the...

In this episode, RISE Research Fellow Jason Silberstein speaks to Jishnu Das, Professor at Georgetown University and a Principal Investigator of the RISE Pakistan Country Research Team. They discuss Jishnu and his team’s ambitious research agenda, which is not simply studying the impact of a new education policy or intervention, but trying to build a fresh description of how the education system works. They talk about what makes a good school and how to measure it; why comparing public and private schools hides more than it helps; 'Zombie Schools' that are feeding on kids brains; and why every child that doesn’t learn is the fault of a badly engineered system and the ways we can change that. Links Heterogeneity in School Value-Added and the Private PremiumThe Value of Private Schools: Evidence from PakistanTeacher Value Added in a Low-Income CountryUpping the Ante: The Equilibrium Effects of Unconditional Grants to Private SchoolsWhy Do Households Leave School Value Added on the Table? The Roles of Information and PreferencesBad BoysLow-Cost Private Schools in Tanzania: A Descriptive Analysis Guest biography Jishnu Das Jishnu Das is a Principal Investigator on the RISE Pakistan team. He is a Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy and the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His work focuses on health and education in low and middle-income countries, with an emphasis on social markets, or common, but complex, conflagrations of public and private education and health providers operating in a small geographical space. He was previously a lead economist at the World Bank’s Development Research Group, where his research focused on the delivery of quality education and health services. He has authored numerous education-related works, including “India Shining and Bharat Drowning: Comparing Two Indian States to the Worldwide Distribution in Mathematics Achievement” (Journal of Development Economics), and “Teacher Shocks and Student Learning: Evidence from Zambia” (Journal of Human Resources), in addition to work co-authored with Tahir Andrabi and Asim I. Khwaja. Das was awarded a PhD in economics from Harvard University and a BA from St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi, India. He was an author of the Learning and Educational Achievement in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) report, an extensive study of the schooling environment more than 100 villages in rural Pakistan. Jason Silberstein Jason Silberstein is a Research Fellow for RISE at the Blavatnik School of Government. His research explores the relationship between schools and the communities they serve. Before joining RISE, he worked as a consultant...

In this episode, RISE partnerships manager and co-producer of the RISE podcast Joe Bullough speaks to Armando Ali, CEO of the People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network—a South-South network of organisations working to conduct citizen-led assessments of learning to empower citizens and spur political action to improve learning. Armando revisits memories of school in Nampula, Mozambique and reflects on (one generation later) what he learned from the first citizen-led assessment of children’s learning in Mozambique, and the “Wiixutta Nithweelaka” (“Learn by Play”) programme to help children catch up on missed foundational skills. They discuss why literacy and numeracy are important indicators of whether education systems are working to give children value in their education, and the power and potential of community action to drive learning outcomes worldwide, village to village. Links PAL Network WebsiteThe ICAN (International Common Assessment of Numeracy) ToolkitPAL Network datasets on learningThe Essential Role of Citizen-led AssessmentsBuilding on Solid Foundations: Prioritising Universal, Early, Conceptual and Procedural Mastery of Foundational SkillsGetting Real about Unknowns in Complex Policy WorkRISE Podcast Episode 14 Guest biography Armando Ali Armando Ali is the Chief Executive Officer at the PAL Network where he provides overall leadership, nurtures a sense of collective ownership and belonging within the network and ensures sustained growth, health and impact. Armando is an Education Specialist with over 20 years of experience in mobilizing citizens to improve the quality of education. He is passionate about improving foundational literacy and numeracy skills of children in the early grades and, since 2001, has held a variety of leadership roles in civil society and academia, advocating for the right of quality education for all children. Before joining PAL Network, he worked as an education specialist with UNICEF, Mozambique. He also previously worked as the coordinator of Mozambique’s Citizen-led Action, Wiixutta Nithweelaka – an approach inspired by Teaching at the Right Level that helps children to improve their reading and arithmetic competencies. He holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Development Work from Linnaeus University in Sweden. Joe Bullough Joe Bullough is the Partnerships Manager for the RISE Programme and a co-producer of the RISE podcast, based at the Blavantik School of Government at the University of Oxford. Joe manages RISE’s engagement with global...

This episode is cross-posted from the Building State Capability (BSC) at Harvard University’s podcast series and features BSC Director Salimah Samji in conversation with Matt Andrews, who is BSC Faculty Director and the Edward S. Mason Senior Lecturer in International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School. Together, they discuss Matt’s paper “Getting Real about Unknowns in Complex Policy Work”, which uses a novel due diligence strategy to examine 25 essential policy questions, citing real-world examples from policy reforms focused on girls’ education in Mozambique from 1999 to 2020. In his paper, Matt offers policymakers a practical way to engage with public problems in the presence of unknowns—one which demonstrates the need for a more modest and realistic approach to doing complex work. Links Getting Real about Unknowns in Complex Policy Work - A Conversation with Matt AndrewsGetting Real about Unknowns in Complex Policy WorkBSC at Harvard University’s podcast seriesBuilding State Capability ProgrammeWhat is PDIA- Problem Driven Iterative AdaptationPDIA Toolkit - A DIY Approach to Solving Complex ProblemsImproving Public Sector Management at Scale? Experimental Evidence on School Governance in IndiaWhen the Devil’s Not in the Details: The System Failure of a Large-Scale School Management Reform in India Guest biographies Matt Andrews Matt Andrews is the Edward S. Mason Senior Lecturer in International Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He has worked in over 50 countries across the globe as a civil servant, international development expert, researcher, teacher, advisor and coach. He has written three books and over 60 other publications on the topics of development and management. He is also the faculty director of the Building State Capability program at Harvard, which is where he has developed – with a team – a policy and management method to address complex challenges. This method is called problem driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) and was developed through over a decade of applied action research work by Matt and his team. It is now used by practitioners across the globe. Matt holds a BCom (Hons) degree from the University of Natal, Durban (South Africa), an MSc from the University of London, and a PhD in Public Administration from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. Salimah Samji Salimah Samji is the Director of Building State Capability (BSC). She has more than 15 years of experience working in international development on the delivery of public services, transparency and accountability, strategic...

In this episode, Sharath Jeevan OBE, Founder and CEO of STiR Education and Executive Chairman of Intrinsic Labs, speaks to Yue-Yi Hwa, RISE Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. They discuss why we need to go upside-down to focus on the people in education systems; how to change ministers’ mindsets; how to create space for teachers to innovate at the classroom level; and why education systems are “wicked hard”—that is, full of problems that are ill-defined and hard to solve. Links Intrinsic LabsIntrinsic: A Manifesto to Reignite our Inner DriveA World Where Teachers Love TeachingCelebrating Three Well-Deserved OBEs for Services to EducationTeacher Careers in Education Systems That Are Coherent for Learning: Choose and Curate Toward Commitment to Capable and Committed TeachersSystems ThinkingTeacher Agency Matters More Than Ever: What Can We Practically Do About It?Sharath Jeevan Guest biography Sharath Jeevan Sharath is one of the world's leading experts on re-igniting our inner drive (intrinsic motivation). His groundbreaking book "Intrinsic" has received glowing endorsements ranging from leading smart-thinking writers like Dan Heath and Nir Eyal, to business and education leaders to the former Prime Minister of Greece. Sharath was awarded an OBE in the 2022 Queen's New Year's Honours for founding and leading STiR Education, arguably the world's largest intrinsic motivation initiative. STIR re-ignited the motivation of 200,000 teachers, 35,000 schools and 7 million children in emerging countries. Sharath is the Executive Chairman of Intrinsic Labs, which supports organisations and leaders all around the world to solve deep motivational challenges, from governments to leading universities and high-profile corporations, from L'Oreal to the London School of Economics. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Economist, The Telegraph. Financial Times. NPR, CNN, CNBC, The Hindustan Times and The Times of India. An accomplished speaker, Sharath has delivered talks and workshops to share the ideas from "Intrinsic" with influential audiences including the World Health Organisation (WHO), Cambridge University, Daimler, Amazon and the World Economic Forum. Sharath holds degrees from Cambridge University, Oxford University and INSEAD. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for his contributions to the field and was invited to serve on the high-level steering group of the Education Commission, the pre-eminent global think tank founded by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Visit intrinsic-labs.com to find out more about Sharath and his work. Yue-Yi Hwa Yue-Yi Hwa is a

In this episode, Onyebuchi Ajufo, an advocacy and communications specialist and former Director of Communications and Advocacy at Africa Practice, speaks to Modupe Adefeso-Olateju, Managing Director of Nigeria’s pioneering education partnership organisation, the Education Partnership (TEP) Centre, where she leads the LEARNigeria citizen-led assessment and advocacy programme. They talk about the inspiration for Mo’s work to improve foundational learning in Nigeria; the importance of data for understanding the extent of the crisis, and as a tool to inform policy; and the role of public-private partnerships for improving children’s outcomes. Mo also speaks about Human Capital Africa’s recent call to action for African policymakers to make foundational learning their top priority. Links The Education Partnership (TEP) CentreLEARNigeria Assessment and Advocacy ProgrammeLEARNigeria Citizen Action ReportAccess alone has not guaranteed that children are learning in schoolsHuman Capital AfricaHuman Capital Africa’s Call to Action for Policymakers to Respond to Africa’s Learning CrisisAfrica PracticeRISE Community of PracticeStakeholder Perspectives on Improving Educational Outcomes in Enugu StateMobilising Community Support for Education: Lessons from the Igbajo Community in NigeriaFollowing FACTS to Recover and Revamp Nigeria’s Education System During and Beyond COVID-19Policy Deliberation, Social Contracts, and Education Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Enugu State, NigeriaRISE Nigeria Country Research Team Guest biographies Modupe Adefeso-Olateju Dr. Modupe (Mo) Adefeso-Olateju is a recognised policy expert specialising in public-private collaboration in education and...

In this episode produced jointly between RISE and Building State Capability (BSC) at Harvard University, BSC Director Salimah Samji speaks to Nangamso Mtsatse, CEO of Funda Wande, an NGO that works to catalyse improvements in foundational literacy and numeracy for children in South Africa. They talk about building local teams; creating a culture of measurement, reflection and learning; being intentional; and working within the constraints and opportunities of the system you are in for change. Links Funda Wande through the Lens of PDIA: Showcasing a Flexible and Iterative Learning Approach to Improving Educational Outcomes Funda WandeWhat Do Effective Instructional Materials Look Like?What is PDIA - Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation?PDIA Toolkit - A DIY Approach to Solving Complex ProblemsTo solve the learning crisis, start with the problemBuilding on Solid Foundations: Prioritising Universal, Early, Conceptual and Procedural Mastery of Foundational SkillsAligning Levels of Instruction with Goals and the Needs of Students (ALIGNS): Varied Approaches, Common PrinciplesPIRLS Assessment Guest biography Nangamso Mtsatse is CEO of Funda Wande (a not-for-profit organization that aims to equip teachers to teach reading-for-meaning and calculating-with-confidence in South Africa). Nangamso is also completing her PhD in Education Policy at Stellenbosch University and is an affiliated researcher at the Research on Socioeconomic Policy (RESEP) group. She has published her research in a number of accredited journals. In January 2019 she was also selected by the International Literacy Association (ILA) as one of the Top 30 Under 30 researchers around the world. Salimah Samji is the Director of Building State Capability (BSC). She has more than 15 years of experience working in international development on the delivery of public services, transparency and accountability, strategic planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning. She joined the Center for International Development at Harvard University in 2012 to help create the BSC programme. Today, she is responsible for providing vision, strategic leadership, oversight and managing projects and research initiatives. Salimah also leads BSC’s work on digital learning. Attribution RISE is...

In this episode, Marla Spivack speaks to Yamini Aiyar about her new book, ‘Rewriting the Grammar of the Education System: Delhi’s Education Reform (A Tale of Creative Resistance and Creative Disruption)’, which documents the introduction of education reforms in Delhi public schools. They discuss some of the challenges faced throughout this reform as well as lessons that emerged from documenting the reform experience. These include the importance of understanding that everyone is part of a larger system which is conditioning the behaviours and actions of people within it, and the necessity (and challenges) of building consensus for learning throughout systems. Links https://riseprogramme.org/publications/rewriting-grammar-education-system-delhis-education-reform-tale-creative-resistancehttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/limits-accounting-based-accountability-education-and-far-beyond-why-more-accountinghttp://rtiworkshop.pbworks.com/f/2006-00-IN-Is-Knowledge-Power-The-Right-to-Information-Campaign-in-India-Amita-Baviskar.pdfhttp://www-personal.umich.edu/~hullm/MHull_2012_Documents%20and%20Bureaucracy.pdfhttps://riseprogramme.org/blog/video-initiatives-india-align-instructionhttps://cprindia.org/https://riseprogramme.org/publications/indias-new-national-education-policy-evidence-and-challengeshttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/improving-public-sector-management-scale-experimental-evidence-school-governance-india Guest biography Yamini Aiyar is a research collaborator on the RISE India and Political Economy...

This episode is cross-posted from the Building State Capability at Harvard University Podcast Series and features Matt Crowley, Superintendent of the Public School District in Woburn, Massachusetts, interviewed by Salimah Samji, Director of the Building State Capability Programme. They discuss how this school system pivoted to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of collaboration and adaptability when leading through a crisis. Links https://harvardbsc.simplecast.com/episodes/pivoting-education-systems-in-a-crisishttps://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/podcastshttps://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/https://vimeo.com/262046965https://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/files/bsc/files/pdiatoolkit_ver_1_oct_2018.pdfhttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/funda-wande-through-lens-pdia-showcasing-flexible-and-iterative-learning-approachhttps://riseprogramme.org/blog/solve-learning-crisis-start-problemhttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/podcast-diagnosing-education-systemshttps://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/building-state-capability-evidence-analysis-action Speaker biographies Matt Crowley is the Superintendent of the Public School District in Woburn, Massachusetts. Salimah Samji is the Director of Building State Capability (BSC). She has more than 15 years of experience working in international development on the delivery of public services, transparency and accountability, strategic planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning. She joined the Center for International Development at Harvard University in 2012 to help create the BSC programme. Today, she is responsible for providing vision, strategic leadership, oversight and managing projects and research initiatives. Salimah also leads BSC’s work on digital learning. Attribution This episode was first published on the Building State...

This episode of the RISE Podcast features Luis Crouch, a member of RISE Research Directorate, and the Senior Economist at RTI’s International Development Group. In conversation with RISE Research Fellow Yue-Yi Hwa, he shares perspectives from his 30-year-career across development and education. They discuss the relationship between education and national development goals; socioeconomic development; the importance of purpose in education systems change; the interplay between national priorities and international agenda-setting in education; and the challenges of coordination and unintended consequences, including the effects that these can have in complex education systems. Links: https://riseprogramme.org/blog/improve-learning-outcomes-system-levelhttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/systems-implications-core-instructional-support-lessons-sobral-brazil-puebla-mexicohttps://riseprogramme.org/blog/learning-inequality-educational-systems-foundational-skillshttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/looking-beyond-changes-averages-evaluating-foundational-learning-some-inequalityhttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/eliminating-global-learning-poverty-importance-equalities-and-equityhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059321001309https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/international-journal-of-educational-development/special-issue/1035CNWP9N3https://riseprogramme.org/podcast/dzingai-mutumbuka Guest...

The first RISE Podcast episode of 2022 features Denis Mizne, who is CEO of the Lemann Foundation and leads its efforts to transform Brazil’s education system so that schools deliver learning for all children. In conversation with RISE Research Fellow Jason Silberstein, he explains why foundational skills are a political winner; the Lemann Foundation’s work on Brazil’s Learning Standards; how to balance accountability with support for teachers; what we can learn from Sobral, Brazil’s famous success story; “status quoism”; Lord Voldemort; and much more. Links: https://fundacaolemann.org.br/enhttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/systems-implications-core-instructional-support-lessons-sobral-brazil-puebla-mexicohttps://riseprogramme.org/blog/teacher-agency-mattershttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/building-solid-foundations-prioritising-universal-early-conceptual-and-proceduralhttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/teacher-careers-education-systems-are-coherent-learning-choose-and-curate-towardhttps://www.cgdev.org/publication/9781933286778-rebirth-education-schooling-aint-learninghttps://riseprogramme.org/rise-community-of-practice Guest biography: Denis Mizne is the CEO of the Lemann Foundation. A graduate of University of São Paulo Law School, Mizne was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University Center for the Study of Human Rights, a Yale World Fellow at Yale University and completed the Owner/President Management Progam at Harvard Business School. While at Law School, Mizne led the first disarmament campaign in Brazil. The Sou da Paz - I am for Peace - movement was instrumental in approving the Disarmament Statute, one of the most modern pieces of legislation controlling civilian gun possession. The law directly contributed to the reduction in homicides in the country. In 1999, Mizne joined Brazil’s Ministry of Justice as special advisor to the Minister and later Chief of Staff. After one year in Government, he came back to São Paulo to create the Sou da Paz Institute, where he stayed as executive director until...

In this episode of the RISE Podcast, RISE Research Director Lant Pritchett speaks to Asyia Kazmi. During the episode, they walk through Asyia’s wide-ranging experiences spanning her 25-year career in education—as a teacher, mentor, advisor, and educationalist—and they reflect on the legacy of Girin Beeharry, the inaugural Director of Global Education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They also discuss the critical importance of getting kids literate and numerate, as well as the need to build systems that champion quality teaching and restore children's confidence in their ability to succeed. Links: https://girlseducationchallenge.org/https://www.gatesfoundation.org/https://www.cgdev.org/blog/symposium-girin-beeharrys-manifesto-global-educationhttps://www.cgdev.org/reader/pathway-progress-sdg4-symposium?page=1https://www.cgdev.org/reader/pathway-progress-sdg4-symposium?page=16https://riseprogramme.org/publications/building-solid-foundations-prioritising-universal-early-conceptual-and-proceduralhttps://riseprogramme.org/publications/quality-education-every-girl-12-years-insights-rise-programme-researchhttp://www.andyhargreaves.com Guest biography: Dr Asyia Kazmi is the Global Education Policy Lead at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with a focus on effective instructional practices, education advocacy and edtech. Nearly half of Asyia’s 25-year career in education was spent as a mathematics teacher and teacher coach. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Asyia was a management consultant in PwC leading the Girls’ Education Challenge, a $1bn fund set up by the UK to support the education of 1.5 million girls in 17 countries. Asyia has worked in three UK Government departments: as a senior education adviser in DFID, a project director in the Department for Education, and a senior Her Majesty’s Inspector in Ofsted, where she inspected schools, local authorities, initial teacher education and trained inspectors. Her areas of expertise include teaching, learning and formative assessment; school improvement; and large-scale programme management. Asyia has a Masters in Applied Mathematics...

In this episode of the RISE Podcast, Carmen Belafi, RISE Research Associate at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, speaks with Professor Brian Levy. During the episode, they discuss Brian’s decades of work on governance, and how governance interacts with institutions and power. They talk about systematic ways to analyse different governance contexts, and how this can guide action. They also discuss Brian’s latest book, “The Politics and Governance of Basic Education: A Tale of Two South African Provinces,” and how issues around governance matter for aligning education systems for learning. Not least, Brian offers insights on the legacy that South Africa’s first democratic government inherited from the Apartheid regime, and he compares and contrasts the unique challenges that persist in the different South African provinces until today. Links: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28340https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5980 Guest biography: Brian Levy is a Professor of the Practice of International Development at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC and Academic Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town. Prior to this, Brian had a 23-year career at the World Bank, where he was at the forefront of sustained efforts to integrate governance concerns into the theory and practice of economic development. Between 2007 and 2010 he was head of the secretariat responsible for the design and implementation of the World Bank Group's governance and anti-corruption strategy. He worked in the Bank's Africa Vice Presidency from 1991 to 2003, where his role included leadership of a major effort to transform and scale-up the organisation’s engagement on governance reform. He has worked in over a dozen countries, spanning four continents. He has published numerous books and articles on the institutional underpinnings of regulation, on capacity development in Africa, on industrial policy, and on the political economy of development strategy. He received his PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1983. Attribution: RISE is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Programme is implemented through a partnership between Oxford Policy Management and the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford supports the production of the RISE Podcast.

In this episode of the RISE Podcast, Yue-Yi Hwa, RISE Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, speaks with Professor Joan DeJaeghere and Vu Dao, members of the RISE Vietnam team based at the University of Minnesota. The conversation focuses on Joan and Vu’s work on a large-scale qualitative video study of teaching and learning in Vietnamese classrooms. Topics explored include ongoing challenges in Vietnam’s education system despite its exceptional success; how teachers can unintentionally internalise prejudices against ethnic minority students (even if the teachers are ethnic minorities themselves); why it is worthwhile to spend countless hours analysing classroom videos and interviews; and how to build strong collaborations with in-country researchers. Links Publications so far from the qualitative video study of classrooms in Vietnam include: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Educationhttps://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2021.1924621https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-RISE-RI_2021/024https://riseprogramme.org/blog/learning-high-performing-classrooms-vietnam Quantitative study from the RISE Vietnam team finding that conventional statistical indicators cannot fully account for Vietnam’s educational performance: https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-RISE-WP_2020/036https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-RISE-WP_2021/078 Other RISE publications mentioned: https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-RISE-WP_2019/030https://riseprogramme.org/blog/kotze-interview Guest biographies Joan DeJaeghere is a Principal Investigator for the RISE Vietnam team. She is an Associate Professor of Comparative and International Development Education...

In this episode of the RISE Podcast, Jason Silberstein, a RISE Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, speaks to Professor Adam Ashforth. The conversation draws on Adam’s ethnographic research to explore what the education system looks like for the average person in Malawi. He shares accounts from the Malawi Journals Project, which shed light on what most families see as the core purpose of education. In doing so, we learn just how absent the state is in many schools and how this space is filled with local relationships of accountability. Links https://riseprogramme.org/publications/analysis-political-economy-schooling-rural-malawi-interactions-among-parents-teachershttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/113269https://riseprogramme.org/blog/institutionalising-reforms-below-when-state-fails-to-leadhttps://riseprogramme.org/countries/political-economy-implementation Guest Biography Adam Ashforth is a Professor in Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan. Adam has published extensively on state formation and the political implications of spiritual insecurity in everyday life in South Africa. During South Africa's transition to democracy he spent many years living and writing in Soweto. He is currently researching responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in everyday life in rural Malawi and ethnic conflict in Kenya's Rift Valley. His publications include four books: The Politics of Official Discourse in Twentieth-Century South Africa (Oxford, 1990); Madumo, A Man Bewitched (Chicago, 2000); Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa (Chicago, 2005) [winner of the Herskovits Award, 2005]; and The Trials of Mrs. K.: Seeking Justice in a World with Witches (Chicago, 2018). Attribution RISE is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Programme is implemented through a partnership between Oxford Policy Management and the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford supports the production of the RISE Podcast.

In this episode of the RISE Podcast, Carmen Belafi, RISE Research Associate at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, speaks with Dr Ritva Reinikka. During the episode, they discuss the role that financing plays in education systems. Ritva shares her insights from having worked closely with the governments of Uganda and South Africa, and illustrates the crucial role that the Ministries of Finance have played in the transformation of education in both countries. She also talks about the importance of applying a system’s approach to education, including not just the actors squarely within the education sector—the Ministry of Education, administrators, school principals and teachers—but the broader political and societal context in which the education sector operates. Links https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5986Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 3, No.2/3.http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004969?origin=JSTOR-pdfThe Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 119, No.2 (May). https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041382120https://ssrn.com/abstract=604999https://riseprogramme.org/events/bureaucratic-barriers-or-administrative-actions-role-bureaucracies-successful-educationInternational Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 85 (September).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102436International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 84 (July).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102430 Guest biography Ritva Reinikka, a Finnish national, is Professor of Practice at the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics, based at Aalto...