2 Radio. Resource Pack to Support Remote Learning. Acknowledgements. Much appreciation goes to Giti Mohn, Atif Rafique, Manuel Cardoso (UNICEF), Alex Twinomugisha, Robert Hawkins, and Maria Rebeca Barron Rodriguez (World Bank) who have led the development of the Remote Learning Resource Packs. This set of resources would not have been possible without funding from the Global Partnership for Education, and support and contribution of Mott MacDonald Limited, trading as Cambridge Education who were commissioned by UNICEF’s Global Education Team, New York Headquarters. To produce the materials, Cambridge Education worked in collaboration with AMR International Development Education Associates Inc. and the Open University, UK. From Cambridge Education, Barbara Payne OBE and Helen Kamal served as Project Director and Team Leader respectively for this work, with Ursula Grant as Deputy Team Leader, and Anca Savu as Project Manager. The lead authors and key researchers were Ursula Grant, Caroline Jordan, Helen Kamal, Sabine Kube-Barth, Dan Waistell, Sue Williamson (Cambridge Education); Claire Hedges and Tom Power (Open University, UK) and Dr Alison Mead Richardson (AMR International Development Education Associates Inc). In addition, valuable contributions were made by Frank Van Cappelle, Erin Tanner, Antoine Marivin, Nisrine El Makkouk, Jessica Catherine Brown, Eduardo Garcia Rolland, Ameena Mohamed Didi, Rachel Cooper, Juan Pablo Giraldo, Bassem Nasir, Florian Rabenstein, and Auken Tungatarova (UNICEF), as well as Diego Armando Luna Bazaldua, Sharon Zacharia, Edmond Gaible, Esther Gacicio and Ariam Mogos (World Bank). The resource packs were designed by Ensemble Media. Published in January 2022 Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Introduction 2 Contents. 1 About the Remote Learning Resource Packs...........................................................................4 1.1 Purpose of the educational radio pack.....................................................................................5 1.2 Case studies included in the pack.............................................................................................6 2 Why use radio for remote learning?.............................................................................................7 2.1 What is remote learning using radio?......................................................................................7 2.2 Benefits of educational radio......................................................................................................8 2.3 Potential limitations of educational radio...............................................................................9 2.4 Stages of educational radio development........................................................................... 13 3 Preparing educational radio programmes.............................................................................. 15 3.1 Knowing your learners and their context............................................................................. 15 3.2 Defining the learning purpose................................................................................................. 18 3.3 Developing the scope and sequence..................................................................................... 21 3.4 Designing learning content...................................................................................................... 25 4 Developing an effective radio programme............................................................................. 32 4.1 Access and equity....................................................................................................................... 32 4.1.1 Differentiating to meet the needs of all learners........................................................... 32 4.1.2 Considering special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities.................................... 34 4.1.3 Considering language barriers.......................................................................................... 36 4.1.4 Considering girls and safety............................................................................................. 37 4.2 Quality and support.................................................................................................................... 40 4.2.1 Maximizing pupil interaction with radio content............................................................ 40 4.2.2 Parental and caregiver support........................................................................................ 42 4.2.3 Community listening groups............................................................................................. 45 4.2.4 Teacher engagement......................................................................................................... 48 4.3 Assessment and evaluation..................................................................................................... 53 4.3.1 Collecting and using evidence.......................................................................................... 53 4.3.2 Assessing learning............................................................................................................. 55 5 Managing your costs to achieve value for money............................................................... 57 6 Integrating with other remote learning approaches......................................................... 61 7 Looking ahead...................................................................................................................................... 63 References.............................................................................................................................................. 68 Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Introduction 3 1. About the Remote Learning Resource Packs. In response to the challenge This introductory Resource Pack considers the key elements of to education systems a ‘pedagogy-first’ approach to remote learning, starting with the PAC K 1. learner and learning, then considering technology options and presented by the global your programmes’ broader approach to supporting learning. It Introduction. discusses some of the most common considerations that remote COVID-19 pandemic, programmes often overlook but which, if carefully considered, UNICEF and the World can lead to improved learning for more children. Bank have created a set Radio has a long-established position among remote learning of seven Resource Packs modalities, reflecting in part its wide accessibility in many about remote learning. PAC K 2 . parts of the world including in some of the hardest to reach The packs are designed areas. This pack is designed to support you if you are involved Radio. in remote learning using radio and help you to strengthen and to support government improve systems and approaches so that learning outcomes officials and staff in national can be improved for all children and young people. and international agencies tasked with designing and Despite advances in technology, print remains a crucial medium for implementing effective PAC K 3 . many learners around the world. This pack discusses some of the major strengths and limitations of print as a medium for delivery of remote learning opportunities Print.. remote learning and identifies some of the approaches that can be for children in development taken when planning for the use of print within remote learning. and humanitarian contexts. Remote learning is the A recent UNICEF survey of 127 countries using technology for remote learning identified that 75% are using edTV. This pack process of teaching and PAC K 4 . is designed to support you if you are involved in remote learning learning performed at a TV. through edTV. It can help you to strengthen and improve your systems and approaches so that learning outcomes can be distance. Rather than having improved for all children and young people. learners meet their teachers in person, learners are distanced from their teacher and This Resource Pack is intended to help you design new digital PAC K 5 . remote learning programmes or strengthen existing programmes. possibly their peers as well. This pack will help evaluate your digital learning options by placing Digital. your learning purpose and the context of your learners at the heart One of the consequences of your decision making. of COVID-19 is that almost every country has had to put in place remote learning There are over 5 billion mobile users in the world today. PAC K 6 . Unsurprisingly, many countries are turning to mobile technology programmes. The packs are for remote learning. This pack is about creating and strengthening therefore designed primarily Mobile. effective remote learning programmes using mobile technology. It overlaps with the Resource Pack about digital learning. to help you to enhance and improve the effectiveness of existing remote learning Children and young people cannot be expected to learn and programmes. PAC K 7. progress through a remote learning programme with few or no interactions with teachers. This Resource Pack is about creating Formative opportunities for formative assessment in remote learning Assessment. programmes i.e. opportunities for checking understanding, giving feedback and collecting information to decide what to do next. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Introduction 4 1.1. Purpose of the educational radio pack. This pack is about creating and strengthening effective remote learning programmes using radio. Radio has a long-established position among distance learning modalities, reflecting in part its wide accessibility in many parts of the world, including in some of the hardest-to-reach areas. During the COVID-19 crisis, the closure of schools and subsequent scramble to provide alternative out of school provision has led many countries in low-resource environments, notably in sub-Saharan Africa and South America, to a massive development of educational radio programming. Radio instruction presents an attractive option because of its relative low cost and its accessibility, reach and familiarity within communities and households. You can find a comprehensive list of global educational radio initiatives implemented in response to COVID-19 school closures, compiled by UNESCO, here.1 The goal of this resource pack. This pack is designed to support you if you are involved in remote learning using radio and help you to strengthen and improve systems and approaches so that, going forward, learning outcomes can be improved for all children. The pack aims to identify aspects that may have been rushed in the hurry to get things moving during crisis and which may now require a second look, and to build upon some lessons and experiences from around the world. Use of reflection points. Readers of this pack will be at different stages and iterations of educational radio programme design, development and delivery. The pack does not tell you how or where to start, but offers ‘reflection points’ – a series of questions and challenges to enable your own stocktake and review, to improve upon where you are now and to build upon the experience and expertise you have gained during the immediate crisis of school closures. Use of case studies. Using case studies, the resource pack draws out a broad range of responses taken in different country contexts. Some are working at scale, supporting national-level, government-led educational radio programming; others are smaller scale, focused on the targeted needs of a specific group of learners (e.g., girls, or out-of-school youth). Some build from years of delivering educational radio, from which they were able to draw down during the crisis; others demonstrate quick learning on the job as necessitated by COVID-19 school closures. All the cases need to be understood within their specific context and objectives. Together, they provide insights into some successful strategies and promising practices in response to operational challenges commonly faced in using radio for distance learning. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Introduction 5 1.2. Case studies included in this pack. NEPAL. SIERRA LEONE. Supporting the Leh Wi Lan. Education of Marginalised Girls in LEARNER PROFILE. PAKISTAN. Kailali (STEM II). Secondary. Alight Pakistan. LEARNER PROFILE. VENEZUELA. LEARNING OBJECTIVE. LEARNER PROFILE. Secondary; girls; Curriculum-aligned, Fe y Alegría. Out-of-school children. hard-to-reach areas. school replacement LEARNER PROFILE. (government programme). LEARNING OBJECTIVE. LEARNING OBJECTIVE. Sustain learning for Secondary Education Primary and pre-primary. children in non-formal Examinations preparation and Remote, vulnerable education centres. revision for girls in Grade 10. communities. G1-3 covering English, Life skills and good parenting. LEARNING OBJECTIVE. Urdu, Maths and Public service Educational continuity. General Knowledge. announcements. Foundational literacy and numeracy, plus some life skills (health, hygiene) and faith-based elements. SOUTH SUDAN. LIBERIA. “Our School” Rising on Air Girls’ Education (Rising Academy UGANDA. South Sudan (GESS). Network). Strengthening LEARNER PROFILE. Education Systems LEARNER PROFILE. Girls; all ages. for Improved Learning ECE, Lower Primary, Upper Parents/caregivers (SESIL). Primary, Lower Secondary, and community. Upper Secondary. DEMOCRATIC LEARNER PROFILE. REPUBLIC OF THE LEARNING OBJECTIVE. LEARNING OBJECTIVE. CONGO (DRC). Target P1-P3 children. Awareness generation for Foundational literacy government educational and numeracy. Integrated Youth LEARNING OBJECTIVE. School replacement. radio programmes. Development Activity (IYDA). First term: condensed Public service accelerated learning announcements: LEARNER PROFILE. programme, combining P1-P3. safeguarding, supporting Out-of-school youth. learners, health advice. From second term, curriculum-aligned P1-P3 LEARNING OBJECTIVE. programmes: numeracy, Accelerated learning P1-P6. mother tongue literacy, and English. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Introduction 6 2. Why use radio for remote learning? 2.1. What is remote learning using radio? Educational radio uses the medium of audio. There is a variety of ways of providing audio content, including: Audio content broadcast Audio content Audio content Audio content at fixed times on shared via SMS, accessed via an streamed from national radio networks, WhatsApp, memory Interactive Voice the internet, independent radio cards, audio cassettes, Response system e.g. on YouTube networks, community or CDs. (IVR). or via downloadable radio stations, shortwave MP3 files. and satellite radio. Interactive radio instruction (IRI) and the broader interactive audio instruction (IAI) been used to promote and support better classroom- based teaching and learning through providing audio-based guidance to teachers (particularly paraprofessional teachers and untrained or GDL Radio. limitedly trained educators) and learners alike. You can listen to a selection IRI is a distance education system that combines radio broadcasts of IRI and IAI programmes with active learning to improve learning and teaching. IRI programs developed by a number of different countries to support require teachers and students to react verbally and physically to their learners, with a particular exercises posed within lessons and to participate in group work, emphasis on early years learning: experiments, and other activities suggested by the radio program. In an IRI lesson, learners engage in as many ways as possible to https://gdlradio.org/ practice their new learning. They listen, play, sing, move, dance, answer questions, demonstrate skills to nearby listeners and evaluate each other’s skills. IAI lessons use the the same content and format as IRI lessons. The only difference is these can be used via different delivery modes other than radio, allowing for greater reach and giving more flexibility to users about when and how frequently they listen. For example, audio content can be Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Why use radio for remote learning? 7 used via mobile phones (e.g. memory cards/podcasts), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), MP3 players/CDs or audio streaming/ downloading. 2 Evidence points 3 to IRI and IAI improving learning, particularly in Maths, local language, English, Social Studies and early childhood development (ECD) (enjoyment, motor skills, verbal skills, attention) especially in early grades and including marginalized groups. 2.2. Benefits of educational radio. Broadcast radio lessons have proved the quickest option for Interactive radio content continuing schooling in many countries during COVID-19, as access in Somalia. to radio – whether state, private, or community – is well established, Radio is widely available and even in harder to reach areas. 75% of households have access to accessible in Somalia; radio radios globally, with 80-90% access among households in sub- learning has helped bring education Saharan Africa4 . IRI using pre-recorded interactive lessons to reach to previously unreached children. students (and their parents) has also been successfully used during IRI success in Somalia hinged on the lockdown period in many countries around the world 5 . well researched, skilfully produced radio programmes. Learners are • Educational radio is a relatively cost-effective option in the long engaged in physical activities term for delivering educational content at scale and especially (answer out loud, sing, etc.) in communities with limited connectivity, digital literacy and alongside radio material which electricity, and with hard-to-reach students, such as those in draws strongly from relatable remote rural areas. Somali folktales, with lessons delivered through a variety of • Radio is most popularly used in teaching maths and language- formats to suit different learning related subjects. Radio can play a key role in encouraging styles (song, drama stories poems, learners to maintain engagement, especially where games proverbs and activities): infrastructure is already in place, while also permitting relatively https://vimeo.com/28642333 higher autonomy for the learner in cases where their dedicated learning time or space is reduced. • For children not yet able to read, e.g., pre-school children, radio can be a great way to deliver content; it can also positively engage learners’ imagination. Joyful learning in India. • Children learn more when having fun. Auditory stimulation Children listen, play, sing, move, can be achieved through songs, jingles, sound effects, etc. dance, answer questions, (e.g., children learning the days of the week in Zambia 6 ). demonstrate skills to nearby listeners and evaluate each other’s • Radio’s portability, transparency to people who cannot read, skills. IRI helps teachers bring out affordability, listeners’ ability to carry out other activities while active learning in the classroom: also listening to the radio, and the general overviews radio https://vimeo.com/29620689 programmes provide, render it highly accessible and a preferred medium for reaching large numbers of pupils and communities7. • Another advantage of radio programming is that given that the recording guides instruction you can potentially reach high quality instruction using untrained community members, parents, or teachers. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Why use radio for remote learning? 8 2.3. Potential limitations of educational radio. A number of common challenges of radio as a medium for remote learning are now well documented: the audio format of education delivery may not hold the attention of some children, particularly children with learning disabilities; its ephemeral nature7 means children cannot pause or listen and play at their own pace; limited multimedia ability and its low interactivity when listened to via a live broadcast; and the difficulty of monitoring its usage (such as through the collection of user-generated data); and, the lack of comprehensive evidence on the effectiveness of radio programming as a learning modality. Significant numbers of households still do not own or have access to radios. Ensuring access for learners has been a highest-order priority in many countries, with partners working to identify those that have been unable to access radio, and discussions about how to reach more marginalized children taking centre stage.8 C A S E S T U D Y. Nepal – STEM II. Using data to inform decisions. In Nepal, the STEM II project surveyed accessibility. Only 37% of the girls had access to a phone and of those, nearly half would be sharing the phone with an adult. Research indicated widespread radio coverage and, despite being unfamiliar with radio delivery for education, STEM II worked with the three most popular local FM stations, most easily accessed across the region, to deliver their revision lessons. C A S E S T U D Y. South Sudan – GESS . Mitigating access problems. In South Sudan, radio ownership is more common in urban areas and among more literate households. Poorer and less-educated households are found to have lower access. Recurrent costs of batteries and electricity are constraints to household access. The GESS project has provided wind-up radios in rural communities and in harder to reach areas. These were intended for group or family listening and sharing, in COVID-19 secure settings. Young women in South Sudan celebrate World Radio Day. Photo: GESS. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Why use radio for remote learning? 9 Inclusivity and access are multifaceted challenges and deserve careful consideration. Even considering households with access to a radio, it is important to reflect on how many and how well children are listening. There may be multiple radio users within the household, and the chance of a child having the radio for their use at the precise time their lesson is being broadcast is uncertain. Children with hearing impairments or disabilities that affect their ability to sit and listen to a remote voice bring additional access limitations. The broadcast signal may be weak in some areas. Local radio stations may offer better access for rural children, these may also be more familiar among households than national FM radio stations. In Nepal, the STEM II project chose to work through three popular local radio stations, building from an established listenership. Even then the project identified coverage gaps, and the radio stations were encouraged to expand access. In Venezuela, in addition to broadcasting radio lessons in 17 states through 21 community radios, non-governmental organization (NGO) Fe y Alegría worked to increase access in states, municipalities and parishes where there was no radio coverage and to make sure lessons were available through different modalities, to reach all children. C A S E S T U D Y. South Sudan – GESS. Radio signal is better in urban areas and local radio stations are owned by NGOs, Churches and state governments. To maximize coverage, the GESS project has chosen to partner with a large number of stations – up to 30. Reflection Point. – Which children can access radio and which children may be left behind? Are you able to build a clear picture of household-level radio ownership or access? What information do you need and how could you gather data to fill gaps? – How widespread is radio signal connectivity across your country/target area? Is coverage evenly spread across all learners and households, or does it indicate particular access problems for some groups? How can you find out more about coverage? – Have you or others attempted to expand access? Was this effective? What have you learned from this experience? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Why use radio for remote learning? 10 Students learning in Liberia Photo: Rising Academy Network Children’s home environments are not always conducive to learning. It is worth considering whether in the rush to provide remote content rapidly during 2020, educational radio has, albeit under immense pressures, run up against similar pitfalls encountered in school-based learning, i.e. focusing on important issues Qu around access, but then assuming learning al ty it will occur so long as access is achieved. ui y Eq & This third limitation is the lead consideration Su s& for this resource pack. It is the limitation ppo Ac c e s which has the biggest impact on children’s rt ability to learn using the radio. Take a look at the table on the next page which lays out different constraints relating to children’s home environments. This pack is all about how you can manage these constraints so that children can learn. It presents a series of promising ideas and approaches that have been tried in As n se io educational radio programmes around the ssm at world. The pack is structured around three ent & Evalu core components of an effective learning programme: Access & Equity, Quality & Support, and Assessment & Evaluation. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Why use radio for remote learning? 11 Constraints in the learning environment. Access & Equity. For pupils with limited proficiency in the language of instruction, the lack of supportive Language measures available in classrooms, such as visual aids and body language, can make Barriers. remote radio instruction in an isolated home inaccessible and disengaging. Educational radio based on curriculum content alone will be a challenge for a significant number of pupils who are below expected levels for their grade. Differentiating to Are all children able to engage with a sequenced programme from week 1? What Meet the Needs happens if they miss some lessons? Is progression a challenge in stand-alone lessons? of All Learners. Differentiation for a variety of levels, learning speeds and needs is a huge challenge for a national radio programme. Children with special educational needs and disabilities may face additional barriers Special Educational when learning through radio. For example, children with hearing impairments would Needs and not be able to engage with radio provision unless someone in the home can sign Disabilities. for them. School closures can mean children are spending more time at home, potentially facing Girls and increased economic hardship or family and emotional problems. These can increase Safety. children’s risks of early marriage, child labour and all forms of violence. Quality & Support. Trying to hear via a potentially crackly radio with noises of a family life and the world happening in the background is not the ideal listening environment to aid learning. Pupil Interaction IRI is built to facilitate interaction between the pupil and the radio content but without with Radio Content. peers or a teacher the level of this interaction is much weaker in an isolated home setting. For example, they may not receive personalised feedback or reward. Parents may be willing to support, but unable to do so effectively either due to other Parental and commitments (e.g. farming or other work) or because of their own challenges with Caregiver Support. literacy and numeracy. Many will find playing that supportive role very hard. Community Wider social norms, behaviours and beliefs all play a part in how learning is supported Engagement. in the home. Design of educational radio programmes often bypass teachers who struggle Teacher to find a role for themselves – including as children come back to school. Engagement. Teachers are often not trained in how to support remote learning using radio. Assessment & Evaluation. Assessment and Listenership data can be drawn from radio stations to give a sense of access, Programme Design. but it can be difficult to assess children’s engagement with content via radio. Assessment for Radio is not an easy technology for diagnosing what learners can do and understand, Learning. or to give feedback to individual learners. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Why use radio for remote learning? 12 Young women recording a programme for Alight’s radio education programme, Muallim radio, in Pakistan. Photo: Alight 2.4. Stages of educational radio development. Remote learning Resource Pack 1 points to the process for deciding which distance learning modalities might be best suited to your context. The flow diagram below – developed by the World Bank – illustrates ‘How to’ resource. the process of developing educational radio. This is a good guide for This useful online resource gives those that are starting out. If you have already developed and rolled pithy process guidance to support out an educational radio programme, the graphic provides a useful starting your educational radio checklist against which progress can be reviewed – perhaps take a programme, including for example some specific considerations look at each stage to check how thoroughly these have been planned around how to record your radio and developed. Are there gaps that might usefully be revisited, programme. tweaked or improved? Rising Academies & EdTech Hub This pack touches on each of these stages, recognizing that each is How-to Guide: Delivering high important, but aims to add value to what is available elsewhere: this quality radio learning_(2020) useful World Bank resource is signposted 9, rather than rehearsed again. It focuses instead a little less on process and a little more on the operational challenges that limit educational outcomes for learners. To build upon experiences gained by developing and delivering educational radio during COVID-19, this resource pack adds an ‘Adapt and improve’ stage. Throughout the pack short tasks are offered as prompts to help you reflect on your own programme, and to adapt and improve upon the progress that you have made already. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Why use radio for remote learning? 13 Stages of educational radio development*. Preparation. Development. Production. Delivery. Audience Scriptwriter Audio production of Teacher/caregiver research. training. educational radio training for use of program (local educational radio. production, if possible). Analysis of the Scriptwriting and educational context initial episode to ensure the content production. Production of Community is appropriate for the supplementary sensitization and target audience and educational mobilisation. other factors (e.g. material. curriculum, policy) . Formative evaluation that prepares for the final Delivery of production of educational radio Assessment of use-ready episodes lessons via one or technology options and supporting more delivery modes. and production material. resources. Engaging listeners Development of and marketing program design educational document for each radio lessons. subject and grade level of instruction, including a scope and sequence of programs and program evaluation guidelines. * Source: World Bank Group Education Radio Knowledge Pack. Available from: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/351561596545287034/ EduRadio-KnowledgePack-WorldBank.pdf Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Why use radio for remote learning? 14 3. Preparing educational radio programmes. 3.1. Knowing your learners and their context. Having a sound understanding of your audience and their context for learning will help you design educational radio content that meets learners’ needs and enables them to succeed in achieving their learning outcomes. To really understand your learners, you will need to test existing assumptions and gather information on learner characteristics and context. You may seek answers to questions such as: What language(s) do learners speak? What learning What challenges resources are do they face in available to them? What age trying to learn? are they? What skills do they already have? What do they want How much from the radio Where are time do they programme? Are they they listening have to learn? male / female? to the radio? There are different ways to obtain this information. You can consult existing data sources, for example, the annual school census, or Ministry or project data on pupil demographics. You can also create a ‘Learner Profile’ (see Task box below). By reflecting on the learner through different lenses, you can gain a deeper understanding of what your learner needs. The Learner Profile tool can be used before you start a new programme. It is also useful for periodic reviews of ongoing programmes, to incorporate new insights you may have gained about the learners. A better understanding of the children you want to reach enables better programme design to meet their learning needs. For example, if they are in a remote rural area, will they understand or relate well to stories set in an urban context? If they are a female, will they identify with a story that is only about young boys or adult men? If they don’t speak the main national language, will they understand the speakers? If they have a specific disability, such as hearing impairment, attention-deficit, physical impairments that preclude long periods of sitting, will they struggle to access and listen to the programme to its completion? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 15 Reflection task. Learning is active and must start with where the learner is. The Learner Profile Tool maps the different characteristics of your target audience and prompts you to consider how these characteristics might affect engagement with educational radio content. This deeper understanding drives the design and development of education content and any additional teaching or learning supports in ways that are responsive to specific learner needs. The tool can be revisited at any point during the programme cycle, to incorporate new insights you may gain about the learners or a specific subset of learners as you go along. It might be useful to develop separate profiles for different groups within your target learner population, including children with special educational needs. To use the tool, simply envision a typical learner and start to map characteristics, as set out through a series of questions in each of the boxes. Once you have charted the characteristics of your learners, start to consider the implications that they hold for the design of your remote learning programme. This can be in terms of identifying and addressing teaching and learner support needs, but also in terms of practical and logistical issues involved in meeting those needs. Who are they? What motivates What do we know about – How many learners with this their learning? their learning? profile are you likely to have – Why are they learning? – What learning skills do they on your programme? – What do they want from have (e.g., reading ability)? – What are their age(s)? the programme? – What experience do they have – Are they female and/or male? – What challenges do they of self-study? – What is their first language(s)? face in trying to learn? – Are their parents willing and – What interests and able to help them learn? – Do they have families around them? experiences do they bring – Is there anyone else who can – Where are they (e.g. rural that are relevant? help them to learn? homestead, urban shanty)? – Will they be able to interact with other learners? What do learners see What do we know that as their needs? is surprising? – What is important to the learners, What are the implications – What have you learned from their contexts and their goals? speaking to learners and for learning design? (List 3 - 5). those who support them? – What is the learning purpose that (List 3 - 5). meets these learners’ needs? – What style of learning will be most What resources do they have appropriate for these learners? to help them? What technology do they – What size, nature and content of have access to? learning materials will be relevant – How much time will they have and feasible for study? available for study? – Can they access a radio – Who will provide them with – Where, when and how will within the home? support? What type of support and they be learning? – Do they need consent how much support will be possible? – What learning resources and of others to use it? – How will materials and support media can they access? – For how long and how reach these learners in ways that – Will they have access to local often can they use it? are timely, feasible and affordable? facilities, e.g. study groups, libraries? – If not, is there access to – How will their progress be – Who will pay any expenses or fees? community-shared radios? assessed? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 16 Learner Profile Tool. Brief description of targeted learner: Who are What motivates What do we know about they? their learning? their learning? What resources do they What do learners see as have to help them? their needs? What technology do they What do we know that is What are the implications have access to? surprising? for learning design? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 17 3.2. Defining the learning purpose. The more clearly you are able to define your audience and learning purpose, the easier it will be to develop an effective educational radio programme and the supportive enabling environment to make it effective. Having gained an understanding of who your learners are, the next step is to reflect on the learning purpose – what do you want these learners to know, understand or be able to do? Without defining this clearly, there is a danger that the approach will not reach the target audience, the content will not be sufficiently tailored to their needs and the delivery mechanism may miss opportunities to support learning. Below are some questions you can ask to help define your learning purpose. What grade levels are you targeting? Are you targeting all pupils or a specific group? What is the timeframe for Learning your programme? Purpose What is your pedagogical focus? What are your expected learning outcomes? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 18 The case studies in this pack show how these questions can help define quite different learning purposes. Uganda. Liberia. Pakistan. Nepal. SESIL. Rising on Air. Alight. STEM II. Grade ECE, primary, Out-of-school Secondary P 1-3. level(s). secondary. children. grade. All pupils in All pupils in NFE All/subset Rising-supported centres; could Girls All pupils. of pupils. schools; could extend to all in project. extend globally. pupils. Full Timeframe. 20 weeks. 30 programmes. 15 lessons. academic year. Pedagogical Core curriculum Core curriculum Accelerated Revise prior focus. content. content. curriculum. learning. Keep children Deliver the national Sustain learning Revise prior Learning engaged with curriculum in an for children in the learning to avoid outcomes. learning and the accelerated form. NFE centres. gaps in learning. education system. During the COVID-19 pandemic and associated school closures, many countries rapidly created radio content, aligned to the national curriculum and delivered to all pupils in multiple grades, nationwide. Whilst many radio programmes were developed within this scope, the learning aims varied slightly and this resulted in differences in radio content produced (see some examples from the case studies below). Being specific about the learning aim will help define the shape and roll out of the radio programme. This may need to be revisited at certain points in time as the context and learning purpose might evolve. In Uganda, SESIL supported government to develop radio content with the intention of providing the best possible school replacement whilst children were out of school. The programme aimed to deliver the national curriculum in an accelerated form. In Liberia, Rising on Air aimed to keep children engaged with the education system. They worked quickly to develop a 20-week learning course with content that was engaging and stimulating. It was aligned to, but did not attempt to cover the full curriculum or replace school. In Pakistan, Alight developed a series of radio programmes with the primary purpose of sustaining learning for children in the non-formal education centres they worked with. Alight chose radio because it was the medium in which they could develop content quickly and at a low cost. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 19 C A S E S T U D Y. Nepal – STEM II. The changing needs and learning context of adolescent girls in Nepal during COVID-19. Understanding learner needs. As part of its initial response to COVID-19, the Supporting the Education of Marginalised Girls (STEM II) project in Kailali, Nepal, conducted a rapid needs assessment with project participants. It became clear that the immediate and highest priority was the health and wellbeing of girls, including access to food and health services. The project accordingly shifted and adapted to address those urgent needs. Continuous student surveys were carried out over the telephone, by the project’s social mobilizers, with a focus on three clusters — urban, semi-urban and rural/remote girls. This meant location-specific needs could be identified and interventions be directed towards the most marginalized and vulnerable communities. Understanding students’ wider learning environment. Teachers and other learning environment stakeholders (such as guardians and school management committee members) were also surveyed to assess their own wellbeing, and needs related to supporting or engaging with distance learning. More detail on these assessments is available at Impact of COVID-19 in adolescents girls_ mercycorps.pdf. By month three of lockdown, the community had gained more familiarity with COVID-19 and initial health concerns reduced. At this point, STEM II specifically concentrated their surveys ODK/ONA. on access issues (to phones, laptops, tablets, computers and The STEM II team used digital the internet) to assess the viability of virtual learning during data collection platform ODK/ONA, school closures. a free and open source Android application which helps collect Further surveys suggested some youngsters were studying surveys offline. by themselves with even a small number finding some online support. Others were doing very little or no study and many were Guide: Introduction to Ona – anxious about impending exams and not being ready for them. Ona Help Center Identifying the learning purpose. Grade 10 schoolgirls expressed rising concerns about their forthcoming Secondary Education Examinations (SEE). Thirty- five percent of girls surveyed wanted tuition for the SEE. Although SEE were cancelled in late June, and the immediate stress levels were reduced, STEM II determined it did not remove the need for ongoing educational support as schools remained closed. Potentially the girls would lose a year of schooling and they feared they would forget the work they had done. STEM II provided a radio-based Grade 10 revision programme for these girls. Having used repeat user surveys STEM II had developed a well-defined learning purpose with a clearly targeted group of learners. When the Nepal government itself later turned to distance learning, the STEM II team was well positioned to assist with learning from their successes in Kailali. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 20 Reflection task. Defining your learning purpose. Having clearly articulated your learner profile and learning needs using the Learner Profile tool, it is worth taking some time to ensure you are clear about your learning purpose, i.e.: – what you want your learners to gain from the educational radio programme you are broadcasting; – how this builds upon or supports the knowledge and skills they already have; and – how the radio programme will strengthen or extend these skills. It is helpful to consider how this learning will be assessed, too, so that learning content and activities can be geared towards achieving this purpose. As you reflect on these points, try writing a high-level summary (500 words maximum) of why the radio programme is important and what you want to achieve through your remote learning programme. Your statement will serve as a checkpoint throughout the programming cycle (from design to assessment). It will also aid communications with stakeholders and your team, and it will help you identify key communication messages to children, care-givers and communities. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 21 3.3. Developing the scope and sequence. Having defined your audience and learning purpose and identifying that radio is a suitable mode of delivery, these can be used to inform the scope and sequence of the educational radio programme. First consider the learning aim – where do we want the learner to be? To answer that question, you must also consider where the learner is now. The scope and sequence then map the journey to take the learner from where they are now to where you want them to be. Most educational radio programmes will be aligned to existing subject(s) and curriculum – often the national curriculum. It is unlikely the radio programme can deliver the comprehensive curriculum; therefore decisions need to be made about what content to include – the scope of the programme. Deploying an e-learning environment in Zanzibar: Digital content curation (EdTech Hub) 10 is a useful guide on how to curate digital content. It recommends developing a skills taxonomy. This involves starting with the subject and then breaking it down into curriculum, topic, skill and learning point. EDC (2020) advises that government and partners need to identify aspects of the Subject curriculum that will have the biggest impact on a learner’s future academic progress. Decision makers should involve educationalists, civil bodies and curriculum topic skill learning religious groups in the decision- point making process to reduce potential opposition to audio content. The learning points (and learning outcomes) then form the basis for the selection of content. Content might be created or curated. Decisions on which skills and learning points to include can be made by considering your overall learning purpose. For example, it might be appropriate to cover only the foundational skills, or the most common topics in exams, or topics pupils struggle with, or topics pupils enjoy and engage well with. Key consideration: Limited learning time. If the educational radio programme is being designed to deliver the curriculum usually delivered in school, then limited learning time will be a challenge. Thirty minutes to one hour a day of grade- level programming will struggle to replace a full day of classroom learning. Any more time on radio would be less engaging for pupils. No evidence exists to indicate how much of the school curriculum can effectively be provided through IRI11. This challenge can be mitigated by supplementing the radio learning with additional learning resources: for example, community learning groups, printed materials, hotlines and radio call-ins. (See Section 6 for more about supplementary materials.) Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 22 C A S E S T U D Y. Uganda – SESIL. Maximising learning time within available resources. How much learning time is available for the education radio programme? Each child can tune in to three radio lessons per week (maths, literacy, English) for their grade group. Each lesson is 30 minutes long. There is a call-in that is part of the same 30-minute lesson slot. Increasing the time allocation further has cost implications and is not an option for this project. Is this sufficient time for pupils to achieve the learning purpose? It is a bit short, but it is not realistic to think children can sit by radio all day. Radio is in itself insufficient to deliver the whole curriculum and SESIL is also looking at supporting Community Led Learning (CLL) separate from and in addition to the radio lessons. However, CLL involves bringing people together and there is a risk of COVID-19 transmission which would need to be managed. The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) has produced printed materials and they have been distributed, but distribution brings its own challenges and has not yet been able to reach all children. Key consideration: Sequence vs stand alone. Radio programmes are broadcast on a particular day, at a set time, for a set duration, for example a radio series may occur every Wednesday at 11am for an hour. This helps people remember when to tune in for their favourite show. This is a common way for educational radio programmes to be broadcast too. But for learning broadcasts that are following a curriculum sequence, this presents a risk and a challenge. What happens if a child is unable to listen at the set time for one day, or several days, or even a week? Particularly in subjects where the curriculum builds skills and competencies Sample Schedule. gradually and sequentially (e.g., maths, reading), missing these For an example of an educational broadcasts could cause learning gaps and limit the ability of pupils radio programme schedule see this to follow future lessons effectively. If radio-based learning is following example from the Ministry of Basic an important sequence over time, rather than being a set of stand- and Senior Secondary Education alone broadcasts, thinking about how the risks of missing some of (MBSSE) in Sierra Leone: the sequence can be mitigated is a potentially important part Radio-Teaching-Programme.pdf of effectiveness. (mbsse.gov.sl) One way to address it is by minimizing the risk of children missing a broadcast. Design from the outset by researching and selecting a time that would be most suitable to the listeners and combine this with advocacy and communications to encourage listenership. For example, in Nepal, when choosing timings for the STEM II revision broadcasts consideration was given to what else the girls were involved in during the day and when they would be best able to listen and concentrate enough to understand the lesson. During the day, many were busy with the rice plantation and so mornings and evenings were considered most suitable. In this way, they were able to listen to two lessons in the morning and two other subjects in the early evening. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 23 Broadcast repeats of the show to engage listeners at different times. However, this has cost implications and whilst SESIL in Uganda started with this approach they later needed to cut back due to budget constraints. Another option is to put the audio file on an additional platform. For example, in Sierra Leone the radio broadcasts were stored on the Ministry Website. Rising on Air makes its files available to a wide range of partners for adapting and using. Link back to prior content for reinforcement and coherence. For example, in Uganda, the radio programmes follow a thematic approach. At the start of lesson, the script refers back to the previous Sierra Leone Ministry of Basic and Senior Education website. lesson to remind and refresh the points it covered. Then the script proceeds with new learning. There are three or four lessons in the same theme, with different subthemes explored in different programmes. Themes such as child protection are included through the lessons in mother tongue literacy, numeracy and English. Wrap-around support can help learners who have missed a lesson, this also serves to support learners who need more practice to master a skill. For example, you could provide supplementary materials or links to textbooks so pupils can study a missed lesson. Encourage peer listening groups so children can support one another to catch up on missed learning. Rising on Air website. C A S E S T U D Y. Nepal – STEM II. The timing of broadcasts was selected to provide four lessons, one in each of four subjects, split into two per morning and two per early evening, over consecutive days. This meant delivery was concentrated into a little over two weeks as there were 15 lessons for each subject and lessons were aired on six days of the week. This concentration of effort seemingly worked well and held pupils’ interest in the short term. The content was designed as revision prior to examinations; it seems also to have worked well to clarify and embed some of the classroom learning. However, there is a great deal to take in through a medium that requires good listening and concentration skills by individuals working alone. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 24 3.4. Designing learning content. The Universal Design for Learning12 provides three key principles for any inclusive learning programme that should underpin educational radio content as well: • provide multiple means of representation of information; • allow children multiple means of action and expression; and • provide multiple means of engagement. At first, this may seem more challenging to achieve over radio than in a classroom. Throughout this pack, there are examples of how to make radio an active learning process for all children. The Inter- agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) has published a series of COVID-19 Briefs, produced by Humanity and Inclusion, which provide some excellent tips on how to develop content and do it well. The box below highlights some key messages around developing radio content, and provides a link for you to follow up. Make radio lessons as much like a classroom as possible, but keep the programming interactive and engaging for learners. – It is important that lessons remain short (around 20 minutes each is ideal) and that students are encouraged to have a break between lessons. – Keep it simple and don’t overload the content. – Spend the first 2-3 minutes with an introduction about the topic and the key learning to be targeted in the lesson. – The bulk of each lesson should not be longer than 10-15 minutes, and this should be split up into shorter sections of a few minutes each to keep learners motivated. – Make sure that learners with learning disabilities are able to follow the content with regular repetition, use of key words, and use of activities. COVID-19 Brief no 4. – Break up the content through motivating short songs or poems to keep listeners’ interest up. 10 tips for supporting – Ensure that the listener is being posed some questions which they have time TV and Radio to answer (in a workbook or orally at home, if accompanied by a parent/ sibling/ lessons. support person). View PDF – Spend the last few minutes in a summary wrap-up of the key messages. – Involve students as part of the radio lesson. They would need to be briefed by the radio presenter/teacher first, and they could then ask live questions to the teacher on the radio show, so it sounds more like a real classroom. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 25 C A S E S T U D Y. Venezuela – Fe y Alegría. Creating age-appropriate content to engage learners: pre-primary and primary radio lessons. Sixty-minute programmes are broadcast daily, structured in age specific blocks of time. The first block is for all the family, with entertainment for everyone (dancing, singing, fun facts, riddles, recipes, etc.). Then, a second block is for younger children (pre- primary), a third block for the first three grades of primary, and a fourth block is for the last two grades of primary. Fe y Alegría tried to maintain the structure of face-to- face classes, with warm- up activities that invited brainstorming, using fun facts, music and singing, and sometimes breathing exercises, when possible related to an overarching theme for the week. Activities were adopted to promote problem-solving, research, logical thinking, reading and writing. Finally, wrap-up activities were planned so that children could draw conclusions, present an analysis, explain and summarize what they had learned, or capture it using strategies and resources such as concept maps or drawings. It was a challenge to keep the children curious and engaged on the radio. They achieved this through different sounds, music and by having different people (radio hosts, teachers, students) take turns to speak during the radio lesson, to prevent it from being too boring or repetitive. In just one month in November, around 70 children were guests on the radio lessons, coming from different states and municipalities throughout the country. Guest teachers also rotated on the radio broadcasts, to make it easier for the children to stay engaged, listening to different voices and different ways of speaking and accents from various parts of the country. Instituto radiofonico Fe y Alegria, recording La Radio Educativa. Photo: Fe y Alegria, Venezuela. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 26 Designing new content versus using existing content. One of the Principles for Digital Development is ‘Reuse and Improve’. You do not always need to create content from scratch; it is useful to first look at what already exists. EdTech Hub13 provides useful guidance on this. EDC provides guidance on reusing IRI/IAI programmes during humanitarian crises14 . While advocating for repurposing wherever possible, its comprehensive article makes it very clear that repurposing requires planning and careful thought, before setting out the options for doing it well. The case study box below shows how EDC achieved this in DRC as a response to COVID-19. C A S E S T U D Y. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – IYDA. Reusing existing radio materials. IYDA has around 130 Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) centres and a further 30 or so vocational training centres, where, under normal circumstances, learning is face-to-face. In the professional training centres (CAPs), geared to older youth and adults (up to age 35) they teach mainly basic literacy and numeracy. In March 2020, when the pandemic reached DRC, the schools were closed and IYDA had to change its modus operandi in response. Youth in the ALPs were studying for the equivalent of the last year of primary and were preparing to sit the national examinations. Being in their third semester made the timing critical for these students. Fortunately, EDC had the products of an older IRI project to turn to. PAQUED, and an even earlier project – Pour une Approche Globale de l’Education (PAGE) – had developed three primary school IRI series. These series provided curricula-based, grades 1-6 language and mathematics programming for learners in formal schools. They had also produced a short series guiding community leaders, families and others on the organization and management of community schools. To train the teachers in the new modality, they had also made a series for grades 1-6 teachers on how to conduct IRI/IAI in their classrooms. When faced with the COVID-19 crisis, IYDA therefore had a significant amount of material to use as the basis for making a quick change in delivery modality. The material was not perfect, as they were now working in the accelerated learning environment, rather than in the formal system, but they were able to make light modifications to the programming, thereby making its rebroadcasting feasible for a new audience. IYDA broadcast the grades 5 and 6 IRI lessons to help prepare learners for the primary exit examinations. Alongside the repurposing of the materials, IYDA also paid attention to the public service announcement (PSA) angle to ensure parents were made aware of the opportunity and would encourage their youngsters to listen. Further information from EDC can be found here: Interactive Radio and Audio Instruction Resources: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) | Education Links (edu-links.org) Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 27 Scriptwriting. Scriptwriting is a skilled task and should be planned and resourced well. Ideally, a team of curriculum experts, Ministry staff, and radio producers should work together to develop the learning content and scripts. Scripts should be tested with teachers and a diverse group of children. In Uganda, NCDC co-ordinated an inclusive approach involving teachers, international experts, and the government’s Gender Unit and Special Needs Department. Scriptwriting can carry significant expense, especially when it involves a variety of experts. In Liberia, Rising on Air filled a government funding gap by quickly mobilizing its team of international curriculum experts to draft scripts to be reviewed and edited by a Liberian team, including government and children. Rising’s initial spend was less than US $350,000 on the content – if that reaches 12,000,000 children worldwide as they expect – the cost will be 3 cents per child. As the government received its own emergency funds, Rising gradually handed the process over. Where to see good radio lesson content. Wherever possible, an open approach to radio development should be adopted. Open standards, open data, open source and open innovation form one of the Principals of Digital Development. An open approach can increase collaboration, avoid duplicating work that has already been done and maximize resources15 . Two excellent, open-access sources are: Providing an anchor to the 16. education system is crucial when • Rising on Air schools close; the longer you wait, The Rising Academy Network provides pre-recorded audio the higher the chances children content, downloadable scripts and SMS packages for English and will not return. Rising On Air maths at the following levels: Early Childhood, Lower Primary, allows partners and government Upper Primary and Secondary. This site also hosts materials for to mobilise quality radio and SMS radio-based TPD. content quickly, and importantly, in their own voice. I am impressed ARABIC: risingacademies.com/onair-arabic. by the growing community ENGLISH: risingacademies.com/onair. working together on this project. FRENCH: risingacademies.com/onair-francais. — George Werner. Former Minister of Education, Liberia. 17. • Audio Now! Responding to COVID-19 EDC provides access to some practical tools, including videos showing IAI in action around the world. It lists its existing IAI programs, covering literacy, maths, social studies, science, foreign and second language instruction and life skills, in a variety of languages. The EDC team invite you to contact them for access for use during the COVID-19 crisis. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 28 C A S E S T U D Y. Pakistan – Alight. Developing radio content quickly and effectively in an emergency context. Alight aimed to support remote learning through radio for children in non-formal education centres. The team began with a decision about which curriculum to use, which student learning Young girls listening together to Muallim Radio, Alight Pakistan outcomes (SLOs) to focus on and Photo: Alight which textbooks. In the backs of their minds was the prospect of broadcasting nationally and so they decided to select SLOs from the national curriculum (which is the basis for slightly adapted curricula and textbooks in every province in Pakistan). The criteria for selecting SLOs were largely guided by what Alight felt could be taught via radio, in situations where children would have a wide variety of materials and none. So, for example, in language it focused more on developing vocabulary, comprehension and grammar and less on reading skills. Having selected SLOs, Alight started developing scripts for programmes in four subjects – Urdu, mathematics, English and general knowledge for children in grades 1-3. To speed up the development process, it identified experienced teachers from private and public schools in Pakistan to prepare the scripts. Due to lockdown, the Alight team could not get to recording studios or even meet and work together, so they recorded the first few lessons on their phones and these were then edited by the professional editor. In April, Alight approached the education department in Gilgit-Baltistan with its radio programme. The Secretary of Education in Gilgit-Baltistan set up a committee to review the 30 programmes Alight had developed. The committee comprised graduates from education programmes at the Aga Khan University. The committee proved to be really useful; because they were educators, they were able to provide lots of feedback that resulted in a much better set of radio programmes. The education department gave the go-ahead for programmes to be broadcast. Starting in April, they were broadcast once a day between 5 and 6 p.m. by two local private FM stations and one MW station of Radio Pakistan. Over time, Alight improved the content. When the lockdown eased feedback was obtained from children and teachers as well. Stories, poems and games were added – including local games adapted for radio - and they added children into the cast of performers. Children liked these additions. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 29 Producting radio in Freetown, Sierra Leone Photo: Rising Academy Network C A S E S T U D Y. Liberia – Rising on Air. Developing radio content quickly and effectively in an emergency context. Using its team of international curriculum experts, Rising Academies Network created a 20-week programme of free, downloadable, ready-to-air radio scripts – 20 weeks of content for core subjects for five age groups across K-12: ECE, Lower Primary, Upper Primary, Lower Secondary, Upper Secondary. The process Rising usually follows is: its international team sends ‘generic’ Rising on Air script à in-country team edits for local context à text developed à practice à record à media edit à submit completed audio to Ministry à broadcast à collect feedback from end users. The quality of the materials is tested during the design stage. This includes bringing children into the office where the team observes them, learning from their interest and reactions to scripts. Of course, script writing is a skilled task and can be costly. In Liberia, Rising invested its funds in this as it had the right team and could develop and broadcast quickly. The government applied for and received emergency funding, but that took some time to come through so Rising led the process in the beginning and kept it moving forward in the interim, working with other local partners collaborating with the Ministry. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 30 Reflection task. What do you think successful radio content sounds like? Choose and listen to a radio lesson using the links to the right. While you are listening ask yourself the following questions: Radio lessons: in English (sample). – Did you enjoy listening to the radio lesson? Rising Academies - Rising On Air. What did you like or dislike? Radio lessons: in Arabic and local languages (South Sudan). – Are the learning objectives clear? Do you think children would Radio Programmes: Girls’ learn from the radio lesson? Education South Sudan. – Do you think this radio lesson would motivate students to Radio lessons: in Spanish (Venezuela). engage? What works well/less well? La Escuela en la Radio - Radio Fe y Alegría Noticias – As you listen, consider whether the speaker attempts to describe tricky concepts. What techniques did they use? In your opinion, does it work well for the intended learners? – Would the lesson work well for some children better than others? What knowledge would children need to have in order to learn during this lesson? (e.g. are early childhood lessons accessible for children who have not yet achieved literacy?) – Did you find the radio lesson engaging and fun? What teaching techniques have worked particularly well - have they used song, dance, storytelling effectively? What about pauses and question and answer sections? What could be improved? – Does the teacher/presenter speak clearly and slowly? – Do you think children would require someone present or alongside them to help guide their learning? – What are the main conclusions you can draw from this for your own content development? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Preparing educational radio programmes 31 4. Developing an effective radio programme. 4.1. Access and equity. You need to be sure that all children and young people can engage with the educational radio programmes. Exclusion and inequality will likely be exacerbated if the listeners from already marginalized and vulnerable groups, such as girls, ethnic minorities, and persons with physical or learning disabilities, are not able to listen to or learn well from the radio programmes. There is a known gender digital divide in developing countries, with women and girls having less access to internet and technology devices than boys and men18 ; this may extend to radio access. Radio is commonly recognized as a widely accessible form of communication. It is important to map out access and ensure that radio can be broadcast to all communities. In Sierra Leone, the government mapped where the Ministry broadcast reached and the Leh Wi Lan project supported by covering broadcast fees in more remote places, ensuring national coverage. During the Ebola pandemic, many NGOs provided radios to communities and households that did not have radio access, and these could also be used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even when children have access to a radio and the educational radio programme, inequalities can exist in their ability to access the learning. An effective radio programme needs to consider the inequalities from the outset and plan to produce and deliver diverse and inclusive content. The next section poses some considerations to make your learning content more inclusive. 4.1.1. Differentiating to meet the needs of all learners. Pupils do not learn at the same speed or in the same way and so a skilled teacher should provide differentiated learning opportunities to help maximise learning for each individual. We know from learning assessments that in many low- and middle-income countries many pupils are below expected curriculum learning levels, especially when the curriculum is not differentiated. Radio programming that seeks to translate the curriculum or lesson plans into time-bound, radio-based lessons risks rapidly becoming out of reach and inaccessible to many of those it is aiming to support if the realities of the mismatch between pupil competency level and curriculum expectations are not considered. Differentiation to meet the different needs of learners has to be built in from the beginning. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 32 Promising solutions adopted by the case study projects. Reinforce foundational skills and prior learning. Prior learning can be reinforced throughout the programme. For example, a recap at the beginning, summary at the end and taking time to include reminders or repetition throughout the programme. In Uganda, SESIL adopted this approach. Radio can also be used specifically for revision or re-enforcing foundational skills. In Nepal, STEM II provided radio content that was revision of work the girls should already have covered in class rather than all new. To incorporate the needs of all the students, the radio classes had to cover basic topics before proceeding on to more complex issues. I found the science lessons easier to understand because Involve a diverse group of children. they were in Nepali. The teacher Try to involve children from diverse backgrounds and repeated content and provided with different abilities in the development of your radio good examples which made scripts. This could include girls, boys, children from it easier to understand. different locations and ethnicities, children from different socio-economic backgrounds and children with disabilities. — Mamta. They can be involved in testing the scripts or included as Grade 10 student, actors in the presentation, as well as contributing their Nepal. views to evaluations. To do this, ensure you take an Source: inclusive approach and help all children to contribute fully; Revising with the radio – Mercy Corps. be aware of which children are speaking out and which https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KhBuY- may need encouragement. kFrHdcYXLiI3_zuPCKb5v3AOzy/view Multi-grade versus single-grade programmes. A common point of entry to tackle this challenge is deciding who the radio broadcast is for and how it will be delivered. You might consider grouping grades, e.g., P1-3; this often lowers costs and is easier to schedule with the radio station. In Sierra Leone this was perceived as an opportunity to teach at the right level because it provided both foundational skills and more advanced learning within one programme and greater diversity in content to meet the needs of pupils across the three grades. In Uganda, the grouping was found to be a constraint and the design was changed to single grade radio programmes (P1, P2, P3, etc.) to enable more targeted content at each grade. In both multi-grade and single- grade sessions, adopting the principles of multi-grade teaching can be an effective way of differentiating to meet all learners’ needs. This is the approach used by Alight in Pakistan. Creating differentiated learning content that is tailored to specific needs of different children is challenging. Universal Design for Learning19 offers more guidance to make learning truly inclusive. The box below provides some more examples and ideas on how to differentiate your radio content. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 33 How to differentiate radio scripts. During COVID-19 many educational radio programmes focused on producing content quickly and whilst developers knew differentiation was important, they did not fully differentiate scripts. This is a growth area for many! In Pakistan, Alight started differentiating scripts by posing differentiated questions to storytelling: a simple ‘listen for words beginning with the letter F’ was extended to more complex questions of grammar. Ideas that might be tried to differentiate your scripts include the following: – Provide different explanations of concepts. – Use different activities for the same learning objective. – Provide multiple options for practicing concepts – e.g., sing a song, write a note, draw a picture. – Predict misconceptions and address them in the radio content. – Encourage pupils to take ownership of their learning by asking them how they feel. Do you feel you achieved the learning outcome? What do you think you need to practice before the next session? – Signpost learning at the right level. For example, at the end of the show a presenter can suggest that pupils who found this difficult or want more practice can tune in to show X (the lower grade) whilst pupils who found it too easy or need a more challenging lesson can tune in to show Y (a higher grade). The radio programme can also signal where children can get more support or practice in their homes and communities; for example, ‘try counting to 5 with someone in your home.’ 4.1.2. Considering special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities. Radio broadcasts rely exclusively on aural content delivery - words, songs, stories, poems etc. For some children this will present a real access challenge. Children with a hearing impairment, for example, may not be able to engage with radio content, unless someone in the home can sign for them. Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (DPOs) and other local NGOs may be able to help provide this support. Humanity and Inclusion’s Guidance Note 4, 10 tips for supporting TV and Radio lessons 20 , provides an excellent overview of the huge disadvantages facing children who are deaf or hard of hearing, children with other learning challenges that affect their interactions with sound, such as autism, or emotional disturbances, and also those children who do not speak or understand the language of transmission. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 34 Simple solutions exist, but these must be planned and budgeted for. Humanity and Inclusion’s brief outlines effective ways of addressing the challenges. These include consideration of the additional supports (written transcripts, sign language videos) for children who are deaf; use of phones/SMS and face-to-face visits to support understanding for children with intellectual or communication disabilities; and ensuring that government awareness-raising campaigns about radio lessons are also geared to persons with disabilities. In Uganda, NCDC provided printed, self-study materials to compliment the radio content. These were translated into Braille and distributed to learners by inspectors via village committees. Persons with disabilities should be involved throughout the entire process of designing, producing, delivering and evaluating the radio programme. Working with DPOs offers a local network of expertise to ensure the radio meets the needs of children with disabilities. Additionally, presenters with disabilities themselves or characters with disabilities included in the educational radio content can support diversity and inclusion. There is an opportunity to address negative social norms through the radio content and portray people with disabilities positively in storylines, challenging negative stereotypes about them. In South Sudan, GESS used the International Day of Persons with Disabilities to deliver inclusive messages across South Sudan using social media and radio. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 35 4.1.3. Considering language barriers. Radio is a relatively easy education platform to deliver education content in the mother-tongue, and consideration needs to be taken of supporting pupils with limited proficiency in the formal language of instruction. In a classroom setting, these children will benefit from inherently supportive measures such as visual aids and teachers’ body language; the absence of these can make remote instruction in an isolated home inaccessible and disengaging. Some parents and community members may be well placed to provide support, but others may themselves not have the language skills to be able to understand radio content and support children’s learning. You might consider including some of the following approaches to address this: • Where it is not possible to cover all languages, select languages to reach as many of the most marginalized as possible. See case study below on how this was achieved in South Sudan. • Work with local radio stations to broadcast in multiple languages. See case study below on how this was achieved in Uganda. • Include pauses in the instructions to allow for translation in the home or community. • Use didactic strategies such as spaced repetition for language learning. 21 • Provide supplementary materials in relevant languages. C A S E S T U D Y. Uganda – SESIL. Working with local authorities to deliver radio in 11 local languages. In the districts where SESIL operates, there are 11 official local languages. Education policy is to learn in the mother tongue in early primary (P1-P3), and from P4 upwards the medium of instruction is English. The radio programme was designed to reflect the education policy and a decision was made to broadcast in local languages. SESIL funded the local language translations. In some locations, where multiple languages are spoken, broadcasts were aired in two languages. In Uganda, the scripts were written with support of SESIL in English and then needed to be translated to 11 local languages. Producing in multiple languages involved working with the Local Language Boards. The Language Board is appointed by district council, following guidelines of NCDC. Its members include teachers and they are trained and mandated to do translations. Where any translation is needed, the Chair of the relevant Language Board is contacted, and the board assigns a translator. It is important to use the Language Board or else other translators’ work might be queried and programmes be rejected. One issue that has arisen has been the dialect of the actors. Sometimes this has presented difficulties to listeners, as different dialects of the same language are used in different districts. Some children have reported this as a comprehension issue. Whilst it might have been desirable to include multiple actors for each language to represent local dialects and cultures, the project had to be pragmatic and it was felt this was the best that could be achieved within budget and time constraints. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 36 C A S E S T U D Y. South Sudan – GESS. Selecting languages to reach as many of the most marginalized children as possible. Since 2013, GESS has been using radio to reach parents, girls, teachers and the community as a whole with a view to improving understanding and the recognition of the value of girls’ education, raising awareness and removing barriers to education. GESS produced a factual magazine programme in 9 languages – simple Arabic, Toposa, Lotuko, Zande, Bari, Nuer, Dinka, Acholi and Madi. These were selected through a thorough consultative process considering 64 local languages from 10 states. The consultation process comprised several stages of selection, and choices were made so as to reach as many of the most marginalized as possible. Poor educational indicators were noted, cultural knowledge was taken into account; for example, which language would be most appropriate for tackling negative practices and radio coverage. Language was also important in the selection of the radio stations for broadcasting. States selected the one or two most suitable languages and then GESS cross-referenced the data with its own experiences and surveys of need and, finally, the national Ministry for Gender and the Department of Inclusive Education were asked to agree the language or make the final selection. In some cases, there are enough similarities in one language that it can be well understood by those who might more normally use another national language. 4.1.4. Considering girls and safety. Before listening to this programme, Education provides an opportunity to tackle harmful barriers to I never cared about the gifts girls’ empowerment. You might want to include messages that challenge harmful social norms and promote both the reduction of that my children were given violence against girls and gender equity within your educational radio and I never asked who was giving programmes. Alongside crises such COVID-19, it is recognized that them. After listening I began school closures increase children’s risk of abuse, early marriage, child thinking that maybe these people labour and rape. In Uganda, these issues were addressed mainly in want something in exchange and parents’ radio programmes, more directly than in the programmes might even impregnate my girls. directed at children. Content encouraged better understanding of violence and violence to children, supported children to speak up, and So, I talked to them about not promoted information about referral pathways (local government and accepting gifts from strangers. village pathways). Key messages were also embedded in scripts for children’s programmes, such as advice that if they feel they have been — Parent. abused they should speak to any adult they trust. In Nepal, STEM II Eastern Equatoria Torit, South Sudan worked alongside the local governments’ distribution of 30,000 leaflets (GESS - Stories from the field) to the communities in the project area to reinforce the safeguarding messages in radio programmes. During 2020, of course, many educational radio programmes incorporated public service messages to help keep citizens safe through the COVID-19 pandemic. In South Sudan, these provided accurate and useful information, to help people adopt healthy behaviours to save lives and help stop the spread of the virus. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 37 Reflection task. Public health scripts regarding COVID-19. Read this PSA script from South Sudan, which includes three PSAs: PSA 1 Topic: Parents supporting learning at home. PSA 2 Topic: Social Distancing – Children. PSA 3 Topic: Washing hands – Children. – How does this compare to public health messages that you have broadcasted? – Who do you think this script targeted? – Do you think it was effective? – How might it need adapting for your context? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 38 Reflection task. Maximizing access and equity through educational radio. It is challenging to respond to differentiated learning needs through educational radio. Children may be tuning in with very different starting points, and you may have a mismatch between curriculum standards and pupil levels in your particular context or with a subset of learners. Do you feel that you have been able to respond to this challenge successfully through your educational radio programme, or, is this an area that now needs further strengthening? – You might like to review the approach taken in the SESIL project in Uganda (read the case study here). This project supported the government’s roll-out of national educational radio programmes, choosing to enhance offerings in appropriate local languages, and ensuring support materials (e.g., Braille materials) were distributed to children with visual impairments. – In contrast, the STEM II project in Nepal took a targeted approach to a subset of learners (girls revising for formal school examinations). Content was pitched to the learning needs of the slowest learners so that all girls’ needs were met (read the case study here). As you read the case studies and reflect upon your own experiences consider the following points: – Were differentiated learning speeds and abilities considered when developing radio content? What data or information was helpful in supporting this? – What operational challenges are evident in ensuring access and uptake of radio lessons by children with additional needs, or more marginalized children? – What approaches were tested in content development, or through additional support and outreach measures? Do you think these would work well in your context or would you need to adapt? – Has language of instruction been an important consideration? What language(s) were lessons broadcasts in, and were a mixture of languages used? What factors drove broadcast language choice? Do you think these were the right choices in this context or would you consider an alternative approach? – Have choices around equity and access had a notable impact on the learning outcomes of the programme? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 39 4.2. Quality and support. 4.2.1. Maximizing pupil interaction with radio content. For some children, particularly those not yet able to read, radio can be a great way to deliver content; it can also positively engage learners’ imagination. Auditory stimulation can be achieved through songs, jingles, sound effects, etc., which are particularly effective for engaging younger, pre-literate learners. IRI is built to facilitate interaction between the pupil and the radio, but without peers or a teacher the level of this interaction is much harder to achieve in home settings. Below are some points to consider in making your radio content more interactive. Promote a positive listening environment in the home. Being surrounded by the noises of family, life and a world outside whilst trying to hear a potentially crackly radio is not the ideal listening environment to aid learning. Many households will need some practical guidance on how to set up a learning space for children to be able to engage with their radio lessons. At design stage, you might use surveys to find out about the environment in which children will be listening. Sensitize parents to release children from chores, set up a space similar to a classroom with a flat surface to write on and materials for writing where possible, and create a space free from disruption; there could be a reminder at the start of every session or the message could be conveyed in radio programmes aimed at adults/ parents. Messaging can be reinforced through SMS, newspaper, and paper materials. The adaptations below, provided by EDC 22 , present a good overview of solutions for improving learning conditions for children listening at home. Original Structure. Adaptation. Listeners are gathered in classes Listeners gather in community settings with as many members as appropriate. and will complete activities in If public gatherings are problematic, listeners participate with family. Older relatives pairs and small groups. roleplay as classmates. A teacher is present to guide Parents / older siblings roleplay as the teacher and oversee the participation of the learners. participation. Provide radio-based training for facilitators. Create support system via website, hotline, short code text, WhatsApp groups, community radio programming. A blackboard is on hand to Find other surfaces to write on, including flipcharts, cardboard, notebook paper, write out assignments. or the earth. Listeners in classrooms enjoy Sensitize parents to: a quiet listening environment • Release children from chores during broadcast time free from distraction. • Setup the learning space to mimic a classroom as much as possible • Protect the space from interruption by siblings, neighbors, or animals Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 40 Fun and engaging presenters. Along with developing good content and scripts consider how to identify ‘good teachers’ to voice your radio programmes - the script is only as good as the telling of it.23 Alight Pakistan identified experienced teachers from private and public schools in Pakistan to prepare scripts. Effective teaching practices can help listeners to be actors in their own learning process, and not just an audience. A good teacher can deliver the content clearly, slowly, with humour and enthusiasm. You might want to think about the pace of speech, posing questions, using pauses for students to consider the material, drawing on play and games, and the use of practical exercises and encouragement of problem-solving using real-life scenarios. Children respond positively to motivation and reward. You can consider ways for the teacher to provide praise and feedback. In Liberia, Rising Academies Network research has indicated that audio delivery is effective – the challenge is getting the children to listen and maintain concentration. The more interesting and engaging the lessons the easier that is. Rising has found that two people in conversation works better than an individual talking. Inclusion of songs and student voices also has a positive effect. Rising want to do research that looks at the difference a moderator (be that teacher/ facilitator or parent) with a small group of children might make. Hooks to draw children in. Consider what ‘hooks’ might draw children to the programme, e.g., a routine they can identify with; a ‘theme’ or ‘act of fun’ they can engage with; or an activity they know they have to take forward and will get feedback on at the next session. In Pakistan, the Alight programmes linked to children’s textbooks: for example, at the end of a programme the presenter would say something like “Now go to page 23 and do the exercise at the bottom of the page.” Later, Alight developed a workbook to accompany the radio programmes and to provide extra practice for children enrolled in the NFE centres. Involving pupils. Pre-recorded content can be delivered as ‘live’ sessions, in which interaction is built into its structure through call-in and quiz sessions. Students with access to phones might call and engage with facilitators/teachers during the broadcast – the chance to discuss what they are learning with a peer or a teacher can be particularly helpful for any children who are struggling to keep up. Half the programme can be dedicated to this. Pre-recorded content can also be made available to use on-demand, distributed as podcasts, on YouTube or directly in memory cards etc. In Nepal, the STEM II team recognized that there would be benefit to repeating the radio lessons and therefore posted the lessons to Facebook to make that possible for at least some of the girls to access. In Liberia, youngsters can also text or call into the radio programme. Such messages are recorded and analysed, and are often about clarity, speed or expressing thanks. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 41 C A S E S T U D Y. Uganda – SESIL. Interactive and relevant content engages children to want to listen in week after week. The radio lessons in Uganda are built on a set of principles for remote delivery that aims to make the lessons as stimulating and interactive as possible, so that the children want to listen to every episode. To address the challenge of weak-interaction, the radio programme includes story-telling, songs, counting games, local references and connections to daily life. Children use the songs during the lessons and are encouraged to use them outside the lessons too. Initially, the radio programme started with two host teachers. Following feedback, it changed to have children, as well as the teacher, to make it a more realistic and engaging ‘lesson’ setting. In the broadcast, the children answer the question the teacher asks. Also, a call-in was added at the end of each broadcast. The dialogue and direct instructions prompt pupils to reflect on questions and where possible discuss with their older siblings. Older siblings are encouraged to be listening to the broadcasts to provide this face-to-face support to the pupil while they are listening to the broadcast lesson. ‘Homework’ is given to the children to practice before the next lesson, and to encourage participation across the household. This homework is being differentiated: for example, if a Year 1 pupil is practising additions of single digit numbers, older children are given two- or three-digit sums to practise. 4.2.2. Parental and caregiver support. Any form of self-directed distance learning is challenging for students and families, and radio is no exception. Many children are not used to listening to the radio – although often their caregivers are – and children need to be prepared to engage with this medium, with help from parents and caregivers. Social norms, behaviours and beliefs all play a part in how learning is supported in the home. Many caregivers have expressed concerns that radio learning is not feasible, due in part to cultural expectations on girls within the home. Girls’ additional cleaning, cooking and care responsibilities limit their availability for radio-based learning. Parental and caregiver buy-in is a key enabler. Even when parents and caregivers want to support radio learning, many will find playing that supportive role very hard, either due to other household and livelihood commitments or because of their own challenges with literacy and numeracy. C A S E S T U D Y. Nepal – STEM II. In Nepal, STEM II provides teaching and learning on life skills and safety for girls. When the medium of delivery changed to radio in the home this broadened the audience of these key messages for girls’ education and empowerment. Now, information can also be provided to parents and they can see/ experience at first hand what it is the girls are learning. It also offers the opportunity for boys to engage with the learning content and some SEN youngsters might find it easier to access than going into school. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 42 Promising solutions to engage parents and caregivers. Identify technology bottlenecks. How can you help – is there a way to provide radios or batteries to those without? How can we support households with limited radio signal or those that find it difficult to tune in to the required radio station? Can you facilitate sharing of devices between families? This is something GESS found effective in South Sudan. Communication with parents/caregivers is critical. – Think about the messages that might help parents see the value of supporting education and learning at home, especially for girls. – Can you time radio lessons to fit household schedules? Respect and accommodate competing demands on time. – Think about how best to communicate clearly and simply to parents about when radio lessons are available and how to listen in. Use channels I quarrelled with my children parents are already engaging with: for example, all the time when I used to see use advertisements in popular local newspapers them reading books and I would and consider working with community leaders. give them a lot of work just – Identify the most effective way (e.g., SMS/WhatsApp, to keep them busy, but after radio, or newspaper) to provide caregivers regular, listening to the radio, I reduced low-tech, text- or voice-based prompts on how to the workload so they can support children’s ongoing learning through radio. concentrate on their books Provide opportunities for parents to ask their own questions as well. and I check that they study and not play. Accessible and engaging radio content can — Roberta Lino. reduce demands on parents. Eastern Equatoria Torit, South Sudan (GESS – stories of change from the field) – Creating stimulating content for learners, pitched appropriately for each age group, is critical to keeping their attention and engagement. – Don’t expect children to have resources (e.g., paper or books) in their home. Design the learning content to be completed without resources. Where possible provide workbooks to accompany the radio programme but ensure these can be distributed to all children’s homes. – Provide complementary learning sources (including counselling or psychosocial support, helplines and radio phone-ins). Let parents know how to access these. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 43 C A S E S T U D Y. Venezuela – Fe y Alegría. Creating ‘little schools’ at home. The radio sessions delivered by NGO Fe y Alegría include tips and advice to parents on how to support their children in remote learning, and how to accommodate their home to make it easier for children to study. Content is geared to parents and caregivers, who must take an active role in the education of children. For this, Fe y Alegría drew on its experience with adult literacy programmes to create appropriate content and messaging. The aim was to empower the family as a whole to enable students to listen to the radio and engage with its content. Its teaching teams have devised tools that promote children’s learning through activities they can perform at home, together with parents. This is not limited to foundational skills, but also includes life skills, physical exercise and games (singing, dancing, etc.) as a means for children to develop autonomy during the learning process. C A S E S T U D Y. Uganda – SESIL. Helping parents/caregivers with practical and accessible ways to support their children. Parents/caregivers are not teachers. Without support, they may very likely lack the ideas, skills or confidence to support their children with remote learning. In Uganda, SESIL supported government to develop a caregiver support radio programme. This aimed to sensitize caregivers to the educational radio programme and provide tips and advice on how they could support their children’s learning. Providing guidance to caregivers over radio is a more accessible medium than written guidance for caregivers with limited literacy skills. Scripts for the parent/caregiver radio programme include reminders of the education radio programme transmission times and advice on organizing and supporting children’s home listening, including how siblings can support. The parent/caregiver programme provides ideas for caregivers who may be struggling with home learning and also encourages the sharing of good practices and what has worked well for others. The programme reinforces positive role models for children and encourages parents to be open to questions from their children, which further helps to strengthen their relationships around learning, and forms a safer environment for children. All broadcasts are targeted at the most disadvantaged households so do not assume that there are any resources at home. Parents are also encouraged to engage in the children’s educational radio programme. Firstly, there is a call-in after each lesson where caregivers can call in with any questions they have. Relevant questions are then addressed in the next radio programme, providing an opportunity to tackle practical challenges as well as learning points. Secondly, caregivers are encouraged to support ‘homework’ after the lesson. This is a simple task requiring no resources. Parents and older siblings are encouraged to support the pupils - for example, “try practicing counting to five with someone in your home.” Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 44 Receiving SMS messages in Sierra Leone. Photo: Rising Academy Network Follow-on resources. A whole package of approaches can be used to support parents and carers. Rising Academy Network has used mobile phones to complement radio lessons through: SMS engagement nudges, messages to families to remind them of schedules, a hotline service for student and parent queries, and also working with teachers to support regular check-ins with children, thus minimising the reliance on parental support. They developed phone call scripts to help teachers cover a number of topics, from wellbeing and safeguarding to access troubleshooting: https://www.risingacademies.com/onair Demystify the role parents are expected to play – EDC outlines some quick solutions for helping parents take on the role of home teachers: https://www.edc.org/sites/default/ files/WB-IAI.pdf Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 45 4.2.3. Community listening groups. Community listening groups offer an interactive and stimulating learning environment. Look for safe ways to set up facilitation for learners, peer learning and discussion, perhaps through a shared radio space, and small groups coming together to learn. Have you considered how parents or caregivers, relatives, older siblings or perhaps a community member might be able to roleplay a teacher and help facilitate learner participation 24 ? In Liberia, Rising on Air found that parents often Teaching Aids, Content, organize children to listen in small groups – with the and Guidance. youngsters from next door or with their cousins and so The Ubongo Toolkits platform on. This is particularly important for the earlier grades is being constantly updated and here the parents remained as part of the group; with (free-of-charge) teaching indeed, the material was designed on the basis that aids, content and guidance for caregivers to use at home to parents would be actively involved and available for the support learning for kids, covering early grades. Anecdotal evidence of this is seen through different subjects and themes. many photos of groups of young children huddled round the radios. In Nepal, STEM II encouraged communities to discuss the topics of the life skills broadcasts among themselves. Anecdotal evidence indicates that family and community groups got together to listen to the programmes, for example, mothers and daughters. Further support was also available as some schools opened their libraries and created spaces for the girls to spend time together and find their teachers for questions. In Pakistan, Alight worked with the education department, and instructed the 60 teachers at the NFE centres in Gilgit-Baltistan to listen to the programmes, tell children about them and to meet a few children each day to talk about what they’d learnt. In Venezuela, strong community organizations have been used effectively in helping to disseminate learning materials to children, particularly in more remote communities. This has enabled reach to out-of-school children that might otherwise have been hard to access. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 46 C A S E S T U D Y. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – IYDA. Working with community volunteers. Prior to COVID-19, the IYDA project had recruited 130 youth volunteers. These literacy volunteers are older youth who have graduated and, with some training, are able to provide support to youngsters in school with after-school tutoring sessions and extracurricular activities, in normal times. These volunteers supported the radio learning of out-of-school youth. When the IRI was broadcast on the radio, these volunteers followed up to make sure the beneficiaries had been listening, had understood and had the opportunity to ask questions. They would also act as facilitators or ‘fixers’ as necessary. An example of this is where a student had no access to a radio, a volunteer would take the student to another home or village where they would have access. Youth volunteers were also able to pull work from the work manuals used by students in formal schooling for the listeners to use as homework in support of the IRI. They were able to provide feedback on what learners could and couldn’t do and played an important role in monitoring and improvement. The project was recognized when it received visitors from the government and the provincial ministry who saw the youth volunteers at work. They appreciated the value of the role these youth volunteers play and proposed to other actors to use the same approach. The officials noted the value of the feedback and interactions the volunteers were able to provide – something which other programmes did not have, making it much harder to know what was happening in the field. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 47 C A S E S T U D Y. South Sudan – GESS. Pivoting community radio in response to COVID-19. ‘Our School’ is played on 32 partner radio stations across South Sudan. In October 2020, GESS reached a total of 2,915 individuals from 52 school communities through family listening groups. Children and adults Before COVID-19, a key component of the listen to community radio established GESS project was an educational broadcasts in South Sudan. Photo: GESS radio programme that supported girls’ enrolment and learning in school and tackled some of the barriers that girls face. Small community groups were brought together to listen to a broadcast or to an audio recording (when timings were potentially tricky, or radio coverage was not sufficient). Groups of around 15 adults would discuss the messages in the broadcast. These community members would then enact and spread the key messages from the show more widely. With COVID-19 and school closures, some messages became less relevant. The team quickly reviewed their materials and selected those episodes that retained most relevance – one about using the school holidays wisely lent itself to the new situation, for example. It was possible to pivot and piggyback broadcasts without starting from scratch. ‘Our School’ is broadcast once a week and repeated again the week after. Following the broadcast, the radio station encourages discussion via call-in. Parents, girls and others raise issues, make comments and ask questions. Trained facilitators steer the radio conversations. During COVID-19 these open discussions reflected concerns and advice relating to the pandemic and school closures, in addition to the behavioural change messaging around girls’ education. Discussion reinforced the messages in the broadcast, enabling parents to hear, reflect and respond to other parents’ and community members’ concerns. Different generations are now listening and learning together. GESS encourages families to listen together, and as a result more groups are being reached - girls, young women, parent/ carers and others in communities. This was supported through distribution of radios and audio equipment, which have been shared and passed from one family to another. Listening together enables a greater level of sharing in understanding and a collective development of ideas around the value of educating girls. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 48 Reflection task. Quality and support. When you designed the programme, did you do any kind of assessment or study to find out about the environment in which children will be listening? If you did, how did that affect the decisions you made about your programme? The questions below are intended to help steer your reflection. If you didn’t, how might you go about developing this contextual understanding now?” You might want to review the experiences of a couple of case studies to help reflect on this. For example, in South Sudan, the GESS project was able to piggyback and build upon partnerships and community networks that were well-established before the COVID-19 crisis. You can read the case study here. In Venezuela, the NGO Fe y Alegría already had existing radio programmes for adult literacy and some experience of working with early childhood and primary education. This meant they were able to adapt very quickly to a new radio audience. You can read the case study here. – What was done to help make the listening environment conducive for learning? Is there any evidence of whether differences in listening environment has affected children’s ability to listen – and to learn? – Were activities geared towards preparing children that were unfamiliar with the radio? Were parents central to this? Did you notice discernible differences in need and success across ages or subjects? – Were attempts made to sensitize parents/caregivers to the purpose, schedule and expectations of educational radio broadcasts? If so, what were the key messages and do you think this successfully created a more conducive learning environment for children? Have there been any unanticipated benefits (e.g., parents listening to and benefitting from broadcasts themselves)? – Was the radio learning time supplemented by anything else? E.g., helplines/hotlines to assist with any problems related to accessing radio broadcasts? – Was piggy-backing other local initiatives a viable option to help reach more children and parents? E.g., working with community groups, religious leaders, other civil society organizations or the private sector? – What were the key cost decisions, and how was value for money achieved? What impacts did this have on reach, quality, and delivery and, ultimately, students’ learning? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 49 4.2.4. Teacher engagement. IRI programmes are not designed to replace the teacher. They are typically designed for use with both learners and their teacher together. They often include teacher training to prepare the teacher to facilitate radio learning effectively. In a context where the teacher cannot act as the facilitator, for example, during COVID-19 and school closures, it remains important to consider how teachers can be engaged in children’s learning outside of school, through radio. Teachers need to feel that the radio programme is complementing their own efforts to meet learning goals for all children. Teachers’ voices and experiences can add value to the radio programme. Below are five ways to include teachers in educational radio: Involving teachers. Involve teachers in design, development, Interesting examples of production and evaluation of the radio programme. how to engage teachers in remote learning can be found The day-to-day interactions that teachers have with pupils by searching (*teachers) in in the classroom provides them with a unique and critical the World Bank education understanding of education reality. Any radio programme continuity stories database. should seek to bring this into the design, implementation and evaluation in order to best meet pupil needs. In Nepal, the project selected teachers for the four core subjects (maths, science, English and Nepali). These teachers had responsibility for preparing the content and were given support in the distance learning and radio methodology, being advised on when to summarize, the correct speed of dialogue, pronunciation and so on. The teachers were fully involved in discussion/ planning regarding appropriate content of the broadcasts during the workshops. In some countries, teachers have been included in radio hotlines so they can answer questions posed by pupils related to their radio learning. Teachers are well placed to The crisis has brought local teachers clarify misconceptions and aid understanding. In return, together, where we take turns to teachers strengthen their understanding of how children prepare and deliver lessons through can learn outside of school, through radio. the radio station. Train teachers as facilitators of radio learning. — Shanti Kandel. a secondary school teacher from Nepalgunj, Some radio programmes will be designed to be teaches lessons in Nepali at the local radio implemented with a facilitator, often a teacher. The teacher station every Sunday. will support learners to participate in activities delivered Source: Nepal steps up remote through the radio programme. This does not require a skilled learning during COVID-19 teacher and is well suited to untrained or volunteer teachers. The teacher will require some orientation, which could be provided through face-to-face training, a teacher radio programme before the learner programme, or a written guide. EDC provides more guidance on this from their vast experience training teachers and facilitators to support IRI. 25 Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 50 Encourage teachers to listen to radio content to support their own subject knowledge and pedagogy In Sierra Leone, Leh Wi Lan School Support Officers were no longer going into school to coach teachers and instead set up WhatsApp groups for teachers professional discussion. They reminded teachers to tune into the educational radio programmes and then held a discussion on the content. By listening to radio, teachers are able to sharpen their subject knowledge, especially useful for teachers who are untrained or are not subject specialists in the subject they teach. They can listen to good examples of learner-centred pedagogy. A facilitated discussion forum enables teachers to reflect upon what they observed, what could work well in their own classroom and any challenges they might face. Deliver teacher professional development over radio Many teachers have been trained entirely through radio or have participated in one-off radio TPD sessions. Evidence shows radio broadcasts can successfully train teachers in student-centred pedagogy26 . During COVID-19, Rising on Air developed a radio-based teacher professional development programme. It aims to deliver continuous professional development to teachers whilst schools are closed and builds skills and motivation, so they are ready to resume teaching when schools re-open. The course contains six modules and can be seen on the Rising on Air website (https://www.risingacademies.com/on-air- teacher-professional-development). Help teachers monitor learning and build the bridge between home and school learning During COVID-19 many projects recognised this as a desirable outcome but did not have the time or resources to address it. Maximizing learning time through fun and engaging opportunities both at home and at school is desirable in any context; it is all the more important when schools cannot provide required education to students either because they are temporarily closed or for other reasons. For a teacher to effectively support their student’s learning and help them progress it is beneficial for them to be able to engage with radio learning taking place in the home. This might be on an individual level through marking pupils work and talking to them over the phone. Or it might be at a cluster level, perhaps holding a learning review with a parent representative from the class and/or community. Radio programmes can assist by making any learning data available to teachers; the teacher may review individual learner progress or it might just be a snapshot of what is happening nationally so they have an understanding of levels of participation and where there is learning progress and gaps. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 51 Reflection task. The role of teachers in educational radio programming. Have you considered the following? – COVID-19 has potentially changed the role of the teacher. What measures have you undertaken to define this change and convey your expectations of this changed role to your teaching force? – Do your teachers understand the potential role remote learning could play in enhancing and reinforcing learning, even after the return to the classroom? – Do your teachers understand which parts of the curriculum (SLOs) are covered by the radio programme in your country and what they need to do to reinforce them? – Do they understand what will not be covered? – Have you given or do you intend to give them guidance about how to accelerate learning so children can catch up on learning loss? – How have you assisted them in that understanding? Is there a teachers’ guide? Is there a module in your Continuous Professional Development programme explaining and supporting this? Will you introduce remote learning into pre teacher training courses? – How do your teachers learn about what is being provided as support to communities and parents, so they gain some understanding of the learning taking place outside of the classroom and are able to refer to it in their own teaching? – How have you or will you encourage teachers to see a critical new role for themselves and their profession going forward? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 52 4.3. Assessment and evaluation. A successful educational radio programme should consider how it will use evidence to continuously adapt and improve. The Principles for Digital Development 27 are a useful reference for creating, adapting and improving radio programming. 4.3.1. Collecting and using evidence. Data gives you a picture of what is happening and where to look next to find out more and improve. If the data tells you children are not listening, you might want to find out why; if it tells you learning is improving in a certain location, you might want to find out why, and build on the success. Reach and listenership. Radio stations can provide data on number of listeners and when they are listening. Unlike other technology platforms, though, it can be difficult to measure engagement with the content. Just because the radio is playing doesn’t tell you who is listening, if they are learning and why (or why not). For this reason, feedback loops are advisable to better understand listener behaviours. Feedback loops. Who is listening to your programme, who they are listening with, and what do they think about the programme? From this, you can assess whether your radio programming is achieving its objectives. Where possible, feedback should be sought from learners, parents/caregivers, teachers/school, community members and leaders. It can be captured during both design and implementation phases and the findings used to adapt the programme where relevant. During COVID-19, face-to-face interviews or focus groups were not possible in many contexts meaning feedback was collected remotely, through SMS surveys, phone calls or toll-free hotlines. CASE STUDIES. Nepal – STEM II. In Nepal, the STEM II project ran periodic surveys. Data from the third and fourth assessments indicated that 70% and 76% of respondents, respectively, did indeed listen to the project radio messages. Liberia – Rising on Air. In Liberia, early initial results from a random control trial (with Rising on Air and Centre for Global Development) has indicated that 60% of sampled youngsters are listening for an hour a day equating to two lessons – one each of two subjects. Uganda – SESIL. Research on listeners in Uganda showed the poorest children were twice as likely not to have heard lessons. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 53 Reflection task. Feedback loops. – Look at the Rising on Air Liberia case study. Consider when, how and with whom they built feedback loops. What is the impact of this? – Have you been getting feedback on your radio programme? At what points did you get feedback? Are there more opportunities to get feedback and usefully use and share the feedback? – Think about the diversity of your listeners. How can you ensure you reach as diverse a group as possible for feedback? How will you ensure all respondents are empowered to contribute feedback? C A S E S T U D Y. Uganda – SESIL. Being data-driven. In Uganda, the educational radio programme is continually adjusting based on weekly surveys and research. Two hundred calls per week are made by district support staff to households to monitor and evaluate the radio uptake. Questions are asked to better understand access to radio and seek parents’/caregivers’ perceptions on children’s learning and participation. Learner safety and wellbeing is an important aspect and parents are also asked about learner safety and violence in the community. The calls are randomized as far as is practical. The aim was to get feedback from as many people as possible as quickly and frequently as possible so findings can be used to improve the radio programme. Survey results are presented in a weekly dashboard for review by the project and stakeholders. Radio content is developed for a full academic year so there is opportunity to use feedback to amend and improve the next batch of scriptwriting, to adjust programming, inform the Ministry’s and local government’s planning and decision-making etc. Broadcasts have been changed to be more interesting to learners. This includes small, specific changes like the selection of stories appropriate to children’s ages. Changes have been structural: the programme changed from an accelerated curriculum (grouping P1-P3 together) to an individual grade curriculum, as this was deemed more suitable to learners’ needs. Over time, children’s and parents’ voices have been increasingly incorporated. Some children are included as presenters alongside the teacher, and answer questions rather than the teacher. A call-in has been added at the end of each broadcast. Parents mainly phone in and they can ask questions; questions are usually about the learning content presented. In the associated parents programme, calls can be challenging, e.g., what alternatives are there to beating children? SESIL has not measured pupils’ learning, but in terms of keeping children involved in learning, it has been successful. Children are understanding it and feedback from parents is generally positive. So, overall, the SESIL project is supporting the government’s educational radio programme to achieve its learning objective. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 54 4.3.2. Assessing learning. When radio is used for distance learning, it can be challenging to measure learning outcomes. Radio is effective for communicating expectations and setting assessment tasks or questions, but not so adept for diagnosing what learners can do and understand or for giving feedback to individual learners. Educational radio may broadcast content at a specific time every day and follow a sequence. Without some form of accompanying individual assessment, there is a danger that some learners will just continue listening in sequence, regardless of whether they have understood the content or developed the skill. For remote learning to be successful, content and delivery mechanisms need to contain elements of assessment and feedback so that learners remain motivated, are able to progress and don’t feel isolated. For educational radio this can be built into the content or structure of lessons but then supplemented through other media, as in Venezuela. C A S E S T U D Y. Venezuela – Fe y Alegría. Formative assessment in Escuela en la Radio (School on the Radio). Short formative assessment tasks have been included in each block of learning. Each small session of 15 minutes ends with wrap-up activities to allow the children to check their learning, draw conclusions, present an analysis, explain and summarize what they have learned, or capture it using strategies and resources such as concept maps or drawings. These small assessment exercises are captured in writing by the children. Parents are encouraged during the radio programme to check these exercises with their children and to give them feedback. In addition, a teacher is available once a week to answer questions and provide guidance on how the student should continue learning. Parents and children can either participate in these sessions in person as they are organized in the school, or they can call a national phone number that has been put in place for voice messages and calls, for questions or comments. Children were also able to prepare some homework and send them by voice message or WhatsApp. Teachers then responded and gave feedback and guidance for further learning. A common approach is to do this via phone calls, and a resource developed by the Centre for Global Development can support you with this: Practical Lessons for Phone-Based Assessments of Learning28 . A key challenge with using phones is that it is limited to households with a mobile phone and network coverage. This means that voices from the poorest households may not be included. An alternative approach is through combing radio lessons and printed manuals with support from community-based learning volunteers as was successfully tried by the IYDA project in DRC. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 55 Gathering evidence on learning is useful to inform the next phase of learning. If schools are re-opening or groups of learners are going back to school, understanding if and what they have learned can inform where the curriculum should resume. Similarly, evidence on what has worked can be used by government to develop a strategy and plan for resilience planning and continued remote or blended learning: more on this below. F U R T H E R D E V E L O P M E N T. Practical considerations for assessing learning are further developed in Remote Learning Resource Pack 7: Assessment. EXAMPLE. Sierra Leone – Rising Academies. Assessing learning using the phone – Rising Academies experience. Rising has done some assessment of numeracy and literacy over the phone in Liberia and elsewhere. In Sierra Leone, it found children to be ‘moving forward’, which was a better-than- expected result. More evaluation work is required, however, in order to attribute it to radio or other elements of intervention (SMS, phone tutorials, etc.). When the children get back to school more assessment of learning will be done. For some simple examples of an assessment tool see Rising & EdTech Hub - How-to Guide: Delivering High Quality Radio Learning_(2020) Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Developing an effective radio programme 56 5. Managing your costs to achieve value for money. Radio is generally considered one of the most cost-effective distance learning modalities – particularly when compared to other technologies like television or digital (requiring investments in laptops or tablets, connectivity, electricity, etc.). It has the capacity to deliver at scale and to people with limited literacy. Fixed costs remain the same, no matter the number of listeners. Audio content can be repurposed and reused. Does educational radio represent good value for money in your context compared to other compelling investment choices in the education sector? Below are some important considerations relating to radio costs. Broadcast infrastructure. Radio broadcasting is well established in many countries. Broadcaster fees and the wider broadcast policy environment will impact on upfront costs. Depending on how open the broadcasting sector and communications regulatory environment will determine cost competitiveness 29. Broadcast fees can become expensive when trying to provide national coverage. This is the reason Leh Wi Lan was only able to cover the costs of broadcasters whilst schools were closed, and it was no longer a priority when schools reopened. A more sustainable model you might be able to consider would be to create a long term partnership with broadcasters where high quality content is provided for free, a large number of listeners are regularly tuning in and advertising provides a source of revenue so that broadcaster fees can be reduced. Another option could be to support your education ministry or department to build its own recording studio and radio station; this is what happened in Sierra Leone in response to Ebola. In Liberia, the government is now also looking at its own radio station. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Managing your costs to achieve value for money 57 C A S E S T U D Y. Nepal – STEM II. Working in partnership to secure funding. In part Mercy Corps were able to re-allocate some project funds to pivot their COVID-19 response and new educational radio programme. A collaboration with Good Neighbors International helped increase the budget envelope, in addition to improvements to quality of the educational radio recordings. Establishing partnerships with the radio stations was also critical. Mercy Corps reached an agreement with local radio stations to subsidize the broadcast costs. Broadcasters were persuaded that providing community messaging on health and safety during the pandemic was an essential social investment. Also persuasive was the rationale that supporting children’s education during school closure was an important future investment, and by working with local teachers to create the lesson content it ensured both relevance and low-cost. These factors - alongside the fact that this content once created would be available for future use - convinced broadcasters to subsidize costs. Radio content. The planning, writing, testing and production of radio content has upfront costs, including training the scriptwriters and actors. In Nepal, STEM II teachers were paid for their input on radio work. In Liberia, Rising Academies supported the Ministry of Education by being able to provide skilled curriculum writers who could deliver quickly and recorded the content in their own make-shift studio. This filled a gap whilst government sourced emergency funding. In Sierra Leone, the European Union (EU) provided the funds for content development workshops. Once a series has been developed, the materials should be made open source and the lessons can be broadcast over and again with minimal recurrent costs 30. The use of off-the-shelf lessons is the cheapest option, with costs increasing according to how much time and effort is required to make changes to editing the content, e.g., editing to align with curriculum changes, update, add culturally contextual references and music, etc., before testing and producing it. EDC 31 advises that cutting out content is cheapest, then overdubbing, and adding in new content the most expensive. Supplementary materials and additional support. Printing and distribution costs are considerations for supplementary paper-based resources. Purchasing and distributing audio devices may also be important, with additional cost considerations for children with SEN. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Managing your costs to achieve value for money 58 You can think about what’s already in place and consider piggybacking on other local initiatives as a good way of keeping distribution costs down and yet still be able to reach children and parents. Are you able to work with community groups perhaps, religious leaders, or other civil society organizations or businesses with an established local presence? Can some materials or information be distributed without physical delivery? Broadcast schedules for example can be communicated via SMS texts and community radio announcement to keep costs down. C A S E S T U D Y. South Sudan – GESS. Pivoting and pragmatism to achieve value for money. Finance for and the cost of activities played a significant role in decisions about what GESS would do in the face of COVID-19. The costs - of both time and money - of producing high quality lessons and broadcasting them through radio was prohibitive (the early grades reading programme alone would cost over $3 million) and would have required GESS to sacrifice lesson quality or other parts of their programme to fund this. Decisions were taken that GESS was best placed to support the successful roll out of Government education radio programmes, rather than create their own materials. Priority was given to existing project components and making them resilient to school closures – focusing on teacher incentives, the purchase and distribution of radio equipment, and pivoting community engagement and radio programming to support the national effort. GESS supported the costs of broadcasting and provided equipment to make listening possible in family and community groups. GESS found new ways to reach hard-to-reach communities using audio and trained local facilitators, thereby improving the quality for the listener. They distributed wind-up radios saving the costs of batteries. Families were encouraged to share equipment – passing radios from one to another. Supporting national efforts of the Ministry of Education. If you are not already working within government, it is desirable to work with the Ministry of Education from the outset. This might include participating in government working groups, aligning to the national strategy and supporting the ministry by filling funding or implementation gaps they might have. This will help ensure alignment and avoid duplication of efforts and funds. Where collaboration with government has not been possible at the outset, another opportunity is piloting and developing educational radio programmes that can then be absorbed by the Ministry of Education or indeed the skills and lessons learned can be incorporated into the ministry’s national approach. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Managing your costs to achieve value for money 59 C A S E S T U D Y. Nepal – STEM II. Supporting government to scale up from targeted success. In Nepal, the government itself turned to distance learning in response to the closure of schools and, given its head start, the STEM II team was able to assist. Having quickly taken the initiative to use radio as the mode of instruction, once they recognized it as the most viable means under the circumstances, STEM II was then able to share experiences gained. They worked collaboratively with government and non-government institutions through the National Distance Learning Cluster and the Regional Distance Learning Cluster to establish further solutions. C A S E S T U D Y. Pakistan – Alight. Complementary programming. In Pakistan, approximately 6 months into the pandemic, the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training (FMOFPT) contacted Alight to say that they wanted to broadcast the radio programmes to complement the remote learning programmes the Ministry were broadcasting on television. They signed an MoU with Alight and programmes have been broadcast in all provinces by Radio Pakistan – as “Radio School”. Around the same time, the Literacy and Basic Education (L&BE) Department in Punjab requested that teachers in 11,000 nonformal education centres (managed by L&BE) use the radio programme to help children catch up and practice skills they might have forgotten and to prepare them for promotion to the next grade. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Managing your costs to achieve value for money 60 6. Integrating with other remote learning approaches. The challenge for educational radio – or any form of remote learning, is to engage, motivate and support children when they may be struggling, feeling isolated and tested by demands of self-study. Throughout this pack solutions and options are presented that involve other forms of supplementary remote learning. What might be feasible in your context? For children in higher grades who are learning more complex content, supplementary materials such as workbooks and reference materials may be particularly important to support their learning. In Sierra Leone, Leh Wi Lan had already distributed pupil handbooks aligned to the secondary school curriculum. Radio content was later aligned to this also. The handbook then allowed pupils a way of revisiting and practicing what was covered on the radio in their own time and at their own pace. These materials are also available on the ministry’s ‘E-learning portal’ setup with free zero-data access during COVID-19. Children with SEN may be wholly reliant on supplementary materials and support to engage with radio content. E.g. sign language interpreters, or written transcripts for children with hearing impairment. In Uganda, supplementary learning materials were provided in Braille for children with impaired eyesight. All children and their caregivers are likely to benefit from preparation tips and schedule reminders, which may or may not be best delivered via radio, but also through SMS, WhatsApp messaging, local newspaper inserts, school, local council or shop noticeboards, etc. It is easy to underestimate this need. In Pakistan, despite a TV announcement by the Prime Minister, Alight found very few people initially knew about the national educational radio programmes. The Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training (FMOFPT) subsequently rebroadcast them alongside a communications plan to ensure provisional education departments knew about them. Replicating classroom interaction and enabling teacher-student feedback and encouragement through SMS, telephone hotlines, email, social media or virtual helpdesks, and video messaging are all good options. Teachers can be engaged to lead question and answer sessions. In Liberia and Sierra Leone, Rising on Air used mobile phones to support learning through SMS messages and a hotline for parents and pupils. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Integrating with other remote learning approaches 61 Young girls listening together to Muallim Radio, Alight Pakistan Photo: Alight These supplementary approaches are best achieved in partnership with other local stakeholders. OPDs, NGOs, health workers, local businesses etc., can all help to directly support children or distribute materials. The challenge arises in co-ordinating efforts so that timings align and Innovations in delivering they reach all children without duplication. If a radio lesson is materials support materials to hard-to-reach dependent, the materials need to arrive on time, or risk confusing and learners during a pandemic. potentially losing learners who feel they cannot keep up. Deliver to small local businesses If materials are being piloted it is important to map out provision and or local government offices that ensure the same children are not receiving multiple learning platforms remain open, let communities know to travel and pick up their whilst others are receiving none. The Ministry of Education is well copies. Local bus companies positioned to manage this co-ordination but can be supported by might be able to help deliver, or partners. In Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary mobile companies such as bottling Education established an Education Emergency Taskforce with companies, drinks deliveries or ‘continuous distance learning’ as one of its 5 priority pillars with shop delivery trucks. Innovation the purpose of co-ordinating partners to advise and support the might also take the form of low government’s COVID-19 response and recovery. cost inserts in local newspapers or digitized materials if that works locally, and text-based communications. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Integrating with other remote learning approaches 62 7. Looking ahead. In 2020, countries around the world introduced remote learning as a crisis-response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For many children, the re-opening of schools will not mean an immediate or full return to pre-COVID-19 patterns of education. There are at least three scenarios in which remote learning has an important role to play. Learning gained from experiences during the COVID-19 crisis/coping phase can be applied to each of these scenarios. Using remote learning to help children back into school. As children return to school, they may need additional support to catch up on learning, or regain confidence using knowledge and skills learnt before the pandemic. Development of educational radio programmes during the crisis presents a significant resource which can be leveraged for use both in the classroom and remotely to support catch-up and mitigate learning losses. This may be most pertinent for specific geographies or particular groups of learners and may change over time. The involvement of headteachers and teachers prior to re-opening is critical in preparing for re-opening. Understanding who had access to educational radio, and who did not, can underpin effective re-enrolment. Formative classroom assessment – this can be just an informal survey – will help teachers to adjust instruction to the students’ level and to provide constructive feedback to students, which is crucial for learning recovery. Large-scale assessment is best suited to support informed system-wide decision-making to support schools and students, including to inform resource allocation to schools and students who need it the most even in the context of tight fiscal space due to economic repercussions of the pandemic. High- stakes examinations, which are often used for certification of studies or selection to the next level of education, may need to be adjusted in the context of school reopening.32 In Sierra Leone, a teacher survey is gathering information on teacher awareness of the educational radio programme and how it is being used by pupils. This is being used to ensure teachers are better informed for when schools reopen. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Looking ahead 63 Integrating or blending remote learning into education systems. Remote learning experiences gained during the pandemic have brought forward discussions on the potential for different teaching modes and methods within national education systems. Now that teachers and students have been exposed to new delivery modes and methods, such as educational radio, there is an opportunity, as the pandemic subsides, to integrate remote learning with face- to-face instruction. Investments in educational radio programmes should not be wasted. Radio broadcasts can be repeated and made available via open access sites, such as online radio archives, so they can be easily reused. There is an opportunity to think about new pathways for learning for children and young people, particularly for more marginalized or hard-to-reach children and young people. Consideration will be needed to provide guidance and incentives for teachers and educators to integrate educational radio broadcasting into lesson plans once schools reopen. C A S E S T U D Y. Venezuela – Fe y Alegría. Planning for the future – reaching remote learners and sustaining blended learning. Fe y Alegría were able to produce Escuela en la Radio very quickly in response to the COVID-19 crisis. After almost a year, they are now in a process of review. To strengthen the design and delivery of what this engaging educational radio programme for early childhood and primary aged children, and to sustain it into the future, Fe y Alegría recognize several areas for deeper focus, and reflection: – Monitoring and evaluation of the programme, both for access and learning outcomes. – Involve families more in the design and implementation of the radio programme – Further improve interactivity between children, teachers and the family – Engage a larger number of teachers in designing and producing the content, including covering local languages to better reach indigenous communities. For this, Fe y Alegría recognize a teacher training need. – Build teachers capacity to incorporate the radio lessons into their daily work, to complement their classroom-based teaching. The media have communicated Escuela en la Radio, and multiplier effects are evident – other states and community radios have reached out to collaborate. By tailoring their offer to the indigenous communities’ needs, and making sure part of what is offered is in relevant local languages, they will be able to reach more children from vulnerable groups and indigenous communities. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Looking ahead 64 Post pandemic, this presents a real alternative to both reach out-of-school children and to consolidate a blended-learning offer for all children, with attendance in formal school and radio lessons in complement. In some locations, schools cannot have a teacher working every day, so radio lessons are potentially able to cover those days that a teacher is not available. Fe y Alegría and UNICEF are now in conversation with the Ministry of Education to plan for the future. Broadcasting through the national radio channel would mean reaching all 24 states easily, and a blended learning strategy after the end of the COVID-19 crisis offers sustainable learning opportunities to more children. C A S E S T U D Y. South Sudan – GESS. Looking to the future. The Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MOGEI) plan is to reopen schools to all in April 2021 – two months into what would have been the new school year. Options under discussion include: – Children may repeat a year. – The first six months teaching might cover the lost year’s curriculum and the second six months cover the next year’s curriculum. – The school timetable could be extended. Expecting extra work from teachers is very difficult in current circumstances. Rocketing inflation has meant the value of teacher salaries has decreased very significantly. Many teachers have migrated to their home villages where they can grow crops to eat etc. to carve out a subsistence living. Other solutions will most likely be needed and there may be an ongoing need for radio and audio supplements. Responding to constraints experienced in 2020 will be important. – Reaching learners where the community environment is unconducive to learning is one challenge. Patiently sitting, listening and then discussing learning points has proved difficult in some rural settings, particularly where education levels are low and the social value of education is not established. Pre-recorded programmes may be preferable to radio programmes, so that they can be stopped at any point for discussion or clarification. – As the national radio stations’ reach is not as good as it might be, further consideration should be given to the expanded use of local stations. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Looking ahead 65 Remote learning to create resilience. The potential for new shocks to children’s learning is ever present. Partial and ongoing school closures mean that remote learning will continue to be a necessity for many children and young people for the foreseeable future. Beyond the current pandemic, the climate emergency, conflict and economic turmoil are just a few of the shocks that will affect children’s learning in the coming decades. Remote learning could help education systems, schools, educators, children and their families become more resilient – both in terms of continuing education and withstanding shocks more generally. Educational radio has proven that it can be mobilized quickly to meet a global crisis and could continue to form an integral part of any national education system to help increase resilience to future shocks and emergencies. Many educational radio programmes aired during COVID-19 were not created from scratch; they built upon work that had already been started and were then re-purposed for the context of COVID-19. We suggest that education ministries consider using the extensive educational radio content developed during COVID-19 beyond the short term as has proven effective in DRC, Sierra Leone and Liberia. C A S E S T U D Y. Uganda – SESIL. In Uganda, SESIL’s priority was to align with the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and to support NCDC to develop materials for lower grades. These grades had been neglected in early discussions based on budget. Working through NCDC meant the programmes could go nationwide and cover every child in the country. NCDC produced materials quickly. It was important to support and not to compete with or undermine the government effort. It was decided it was better to do this than to pursue potentially higher international standard programme designs separately, which would not have the same reach as an activity of NCDC and MoES. Over time, focus is on strengthening the system so the next round of materials are improved. This helps ensure good value for money, building the system and materials to support greater resilience to any future emergency response. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Looking ahead 66 Reflection task. Are there things you could invest in now to better prepare for the future? 1. Review and further develop existing radio content. What is the ongoing process for updating? Where will this be stored for future use? Who needs to be involved? 2. Review educational radio capacity gaps and your essential design, development, and delivery networks (with broadcasters, script writers, producers, teachers); what investments are needed for this to work more smoothly? 3. How well did community mobilization work? Are there lessons to draw? Have potential collaborations and partnerships emerged that could be harnessed? Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — Looking ahead 67 Key Resources. Get more guidance. • World Bank Group (2020), Education Radio Knowledge Pack. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/351561596545287034/EduRadio-KnowledgePack-WorldBank.pdf. • Rising Academies and EdTech Hub (2020), How-to Guide: Delivering High Quality Radio Learning. https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/DU497D8A. See and listen to example radio programmes. • UNESCO, National Learning Platforms and Tools. https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/nationalresponses. • Global Digital Library (GDL) Radio. https://gdlradio.org/. • Rising Academies, Rising on Air. https://www.risingacademies.com/onair. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — References 68 Read more research and expert advice. • EDC, Audio Now! Responding to COVID-19. https://www.edc.org/audio-now. • Damani, K. and Mitchell, J. (2020), Radio: Rapid Evidence. EdTech Hub. 10.5281/zenodo.3948149. EdTech Hub, 2020. • Humanity and Inclusion (2020), Guidance Note 4, TV and Radio Learning 10 tips for supporting TV and Radio lessons. https://inee.org/system/files/resources/IE%20series%20of%20briefs%20%234%20tv%20radio_ENGLISH.pdf. • McBurnie, C. (2020), ‘Using Interactive Radio Instruction to mitigate the educational impact of COVID-19: a curated resource list’ (EdTech Hub Helpdesk Response No. 6). https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/A3T2DQ4D. • GRID3 (2021), Using data analytics to improve radio coverage and enhance education access during disease outbreaks in Sierra Leone. https://grid3.org/news/radiocoverage-educationaccess-sierraleone • Center for Global Development (2021), Teaching and Testing by Phone in a Pandemic. https://www.cgdev.org/publication/teaching-and-testing-phone-pandemic • Center for Global Development (2021), Sierra Leone - Distance Learning During COVID-19 (Qualitative Research - Final Report). https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/CGD-background-paper-sam-kpakra-sierra-leone-distance-learning.pdf. Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — References 69 Endnotes. About UNICEF’s remote learning 12. The Universal Design for Learning, available from Resource Packs. https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for- learning-udl 1. UNESCO, National Learning Platforms and Tools. Available from: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/ 13. Groeneveld, C., Kibga, E., & Kaye, T. (2020). Deploying educationresponse/nationalresponses an e-Learning Environment in Zanzibar: Feasibility Assessment [Technical Guidance]. EdTech Hub. 2. World Bank Group Education Radio Knowledge https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3941727 Pack. Available from: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/ en/351561596545287034/EduRadio-KnowledgePack- 14. Richmond, S., (2020), Repurposing-Established-Radio- WorldBank.pdf Audio-Series, EDC. Available from: https://main.edc.org/ sites/default/files/Repurposing-Established-Radio-Audio- Series.pdf Why use radio for remote learning? 15. Principals for Digital Development - see: https://digitalprinciples.org/ 3. Ho and Thukral (2009) referenced in Damani, K. and Mitchell, J. (2020), Radio: Rapid Evidence. EdTech Hub. 16. Rising on Air - available from: 10.5281/zenodo.3948149 EdTech Hub, 2020 https://www.risingacademies.com/onair 4. UNESCO, Statistics on Radio. Available from: 17. EDC, Audio Now - available from: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes- https://www.edc.org/audio-now and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world- radio-day-2013/statistics-on-radio/ 5. Burns, M., (2020) School, interrupted: 4 options for Developing an effective radio programme. distance education to continue teaching during 18. GSMA (2018) Women continue to be left behind: COVID-19, Global Partnership for Education: Education Sizing the mobile gender gap in 2018, Mobile for for All Blog. Available from: https://www.globalpartnership. Development, available from https://www.gsma.com/ org/blog/school-interrupted-4-options-distance-education- mobilefordevelopment/programme/connected- continue-teaching-during-covid-19 women/women-continue-left-behind-sizing-mobile- 6. EDC – Zambia ‘Days of the week’ audio can be accessed gender-gap-2018/ here: http://idd.edc.org/resources/audio/days-week 19. The Universal Design for Learning, available from 7. Refer to McBurnie, C. (2020). Using Interactive Radio https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for- Instruction to mitigate the educational impact of learning-udl COVID-19: a curated resource list (EdTech Hub Helpdesk 20. Humanity and Inclusion (2020), Guidance Note 4, Response No. 6). Available from: https://docs.edtechhub. TV and Radio Learning 10 tips for supporting TV org/lib/A3T2DQ4D for a full review of the benefits of and Radio lessons. Available from INEE website: educational radio. https://inee.org/system/files/resources/IE%20series%20 8. UNESCO, Statistics on Radio. Available from: of%20briefs%20%234%20tv%20radio_ENGLISH.pdf http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes- 21. Ş endağ et al., 2012, cited in Damani, K. and Mitchell, and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world- J. (2020), Radio: Rapid Evidence. EdTech Hub. 10.5281/ radio-day-2013/statistics-on-radio/ zenodo.3948149 EdTech Hub, 2020, available from: 9. World Bank Group Education Radio Knowledge Pack. https://edtechhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ Rapid-Evidence-Review_-Radio-1.pdf 22. Christina, R. and Richmond, S. (2020), Learning at Preparing educational radio programmes. home in times of crisis using radio, EDC. Available from https://www.edc.org/sites/default/files/WB-IAI.pdf 10. Groeneveld, C., Kibga, E., & Kaye, T. (2020). Deploying an e-Learning Environment in Zanzibar: Feasibility 23. McKenna (1993) looks at the role of humour and play Assessment [Technical Guidance]. EdTech Hub. in learning, while Rodero (2012), Ş endağ (2018) and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3941727 Elekaei (2019) discuss various ways in which stimuli affect attention and their effects on the learning process. 11. World Bank Group Education Radio Knowledge For further information, see Damani, K. and Mitchell, J. Pack. Available from: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/ (2020), Radio: Rapid Evidence. EdTech Hub. 10.5281/ en/351561596545287034/EduRadio-KnowledgePack- zenodo.3948149 https://edtechhub.org/wp-content/ WorldBank.pdf uploads/2020/09/Rapid-Evidence-Review_-Radio-1.pdf Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — References 70 Endnotes. 24. See Ubongo’s Response to COVID-19: Supporting Caregivers and Kids to Learn at Home, Blog, (2020). Available from: https://www.ubongo.org/ubongos- response-to-covid-19-supporting-caregivers-and-kids- to-learn-at-home/ 25. Richmond, S., (2020), Repurposing-Established- Radio-Audio-Series, EDC. Available from: https://main. edc.org/sites/default/files/Repurposing-Established- Radio-Audio-Series.pdf 26. Ho, J., & Thukral, H. cited in McBurnie, C. (2020). Using Interactive Radio Instruction to mitigate the educational impact of COVID-19: a curated resource list (EdTech Hub Helpdesk Response No. 6). Available from: https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/A3T2DQ4D 27. Principles for Digital Development, available from: https://digitalprinciples.org/ 28. Noam Angrist, Peter Bergman, David K. Evans, Susannah Hares, Matthew C. H. Jukes, Thato Letsomo, 2020. “Practical Lessons for Phone-Based Assessments of Learning.” CGD Working Paper 534. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. https://www.cgdev.org/ publication/principles-phone-based-assessments-learning Managing your costs to achieve value for money. 29. Damani, K. and Mitchell, J. (2020), Radio: Rapid Evidence. EdTech Hub. Available from: https://edtechhub. org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Rapid-Evidence- Review_-Radio-1.pdf 30. Richmond, S., The Case for Learning by Radio: Teacher support, wide accessibility and hands-on experience in the classroom, EDC. Available from: https://www.edc. org/sites/default/files/Case-Learning-Radio.pdf 31. Richmond, S., (2020), Repurposing-Established- Radio-Audio-Series, EDC. Available from: https://main. edc.org/sites/default/files/Repurposing-Established- Radio-Audio-Series.pdf Looking ahead. 32. Luna-Bazaldua, D, Levin V, Liberman, J, (2020), Learning in the time of COVID-19: the role of learning assessment in reopening schools. World Bank Education for Global Development Blog. Available from: https://blogs. worldbank.org/education/learning-time-COVID-19-role- learning-assessment-reopening-schools Remote Learning Resource Pack 2: Radio — References 71