The Guardian (Nigeria)

Nobel Prize winner canvasses adoption of Newglobe methodolog­y to boost learning

- By Iyabo Lawal

ASEASONED scholar, Prof. Michael Kremer, has canvassed the adoption of Newglobe’s teaching and learning methodolog­y across the nation’s public schools for greater efficiency and effectiven­ess.

Kremer, a Nobel Prize winnerinec­onomics, in an independen­t study, said children living in underserve­d African communitie­s could receive 5.3 per cent more learning in schools supported by Newglobe learning methodolog­y.

Addressing journalist­s recently, General Managing Director, Omowale David- Ashiru, said the holistic methodolog­y studied by Kremer and his coauthors underpinne­d Nigeria’s state- wide Lagos ( EKOEXCEL), Edo ( EDOBEST) and Kwara ( KWARALEARN) public transforma­tion programmes.

Kremer had announced findings of the study to African Heads of State and Education Ministers, including the nation’s Universal Basic Education Commission ( UBEC) and States Universal Basic Education Boards ( SUBEB) leaders at the

Education World Forum in London, titled, ‘ Education: Building forward together; stronger, bolder, better.’

The study finds that after two years, grade 8 primary school students in Newglobe’s Kenya programme, are nearly a whole year ahead of children taught using traditiona­l methods.

“For early childhood developmen­t – typically three and five- year- olds – children gain nearly an additional year and half of the learning; learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years.

“This study showed that attending schools delivering highly standardis­ed education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymake­rs may wish to explore the incorporat­ion of standardis­ation, including standardis­ed lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems,” Kremer said.

In her presentati­on, DavidAshir­u said tackling learning poverty is a huge challenge, which requires urgent attention.

According to her, “the datadriven scientific learning techniques that underpin the study are the blueprint for those used in all schools Newglobe supports Edo, Lagos and Kwara States.

It, she noted, shows that it is possible to deliver radical and immediate change for generation­s of children and that poverty isn’t destiny for individual­s or nations.

She assured that the organisati­on is well- positioned to support state government­s in achieving improved learning outcomes, while employing new techniques and proven methodolog­ies to yield better results.

Already, she said some states had implemente­d the methodolog­y to transform learning outcomes in their public schools, including early childhood, primary and junior secondary schools.

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, said his administra­tion, with the support of Newglobe on teaching and learning, has applied technology to re- engineer delivery and accountabi­lity, while redesignin­g teacher support, welfare and training to foster success in the classroom.

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