Adapting pedagogy to cultural context

Jovina Tibenda · Matthew Jukes · Yasmin Sitabkhan

2021년 9월 · RTI Press

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This paper argues that many pedagogical reform efforts falter because they fail to consider the cultural context of teacher and student behavior. Little guidance exists on how to adapt teaching practices to be compatible with culturally influenced behaviors and beliefs. We present evidence from three studies conducted as part of a large basic education program in Tanzania showing that some teaching activities are less effective or not well implemented because of culturally influenced behaviors in the classroom, namely children’s lack of confidence to speak up in class; a commitment to togetherness, fairness, and cooperation; avoidance of embarrassment; and age-graded authority. We propose ways teaching activities can be adapted to take these behaviors into account while still adhering to fundamental principles of effective learning, including student participation in their own learning, teaching at the right level, and monitoring students as a basis for adjusting instruction. Such adaptations may be made most effective by engaging teachers in co-creation of teaching activities.

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Senior Program Specialist

Education

MA, Educational Administration, Ohio University

Bachelor of Science in Education, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Jovina Tibenda is a Senior Program Specialist with expertise in research, design and development of activities aimed at building capacity, informing learning and engaging government stakeholders in evidence-based policy for decision-making. Other areas of expertise include Social and Emotional Learning and gender-based violence prevention, behavior change communication, educational measurement and assessment, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

She currently provides technical support to the USAID-funded Tusome Pamoja project in Tanzania, implemented by RTI. She has a deep-rooted knowledge of the Tanzanian education sector and supports activities targeting capacity building for providing a safe school environment and gender-based violence prevention. She also leads efforts in the development and validation of Group Administered Literacy and Mathematics Assessments and supports efforts to help government officials strengthen their use of research findings for evidence-based decision-making about program planning and implementation.

Her past experience includes serving as the director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research under the USAID Tanzania Marketing and Communication Project (T-MARC). Ms. Tibenda also contributed to evidence-based policy change around mother to child transmissions through collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) and provided capacity building training and assistance to local implementing partners on proper research, analysis and use of data for decision making.

Ms. Tibenda is fluent in English, Kiswahili and Kihaya.

Fellow, Education and Evaluation

Education

BA, Physics, University of Oxford

MSc, Experimental Psychology, University of Sussex

DPhil, Early Childhood Development, University of Oxford

Matthew Jukes is a Fellow and Senior Education Evaluation Specialist at RTI International. He has 25 years of academic and professional experience in evaluating education projects, particularly in early-grade literacy interventions and the promotion of learning through better health.

Dr. Jukes’ research addresses culturally relevant approaches to assessment and programming in social and emotional competencies in Tanzania, improving pedagogy through an understanding of the cultural basis of teacher-child interactions, and frameworks to improve evidence-based decision-making. He is Principal Investigator of the Playful Learning Across the Years (PLAY) measurement project and Research Director of the Play Accelerator research program, both funded by LEGO Foundation. Dr. Jukes is also the Research Director of the Learning at Scale research program. His research also contributes to improving academic and social-emotional learning through RTI’s projects to support the Tanzanian education sector.

Previously, Dr. Jukes was an Associate Professor of International Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Senior Director of Global Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at Room to Read. Dr. Jukes has also applied his research to work with the World Bank, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNESCO, USAID and Save the Children.