Teach For Nigeria

Teach For Nigeria's Vision

"One day, every Nigerian child will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education"

Teach For Nigeria's Mission

To mobilize leaders who will drive the movement towards educational equity and excellence in Nigeria

Teach For Nigeira's Core Values

• Sense of possibility
• Respect and humility
• Excellence
• Integrity
• Leadership
• Innovation

Edikan Mbang is the Head of Impact and Learning at Teach For Nigeria (TFN). In this role, he is broadly responsible for driving the evolution of TFN as a learning organisation and ensuring that TFN's strategy is informed by robust analysis, data, and evidence. Specifically, he is responsible for the design and implementation of an effective evaluation framework needed to measure the effectiveness of the Teach For Nigeria Fellowship programme and provide the basis for evidence-based programme improvement.

The Team Lead, who is the Head of Impact and Learning, has team of 4 personnel who are implementing the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Strategy that he develops, and so, he is able to joggle overseeing the implementation of the internal MEL strategy and the LEAP project.

Teach For Nigeria School Leadership Development Programme focuses on equipping public school leaders to drive holistic transformation in schools.

Problem Description:

Across the globe, schools are grappling with a multitude of complex issues that hinder their ability to provide quality education. Inadequate leadership and management practices within schools have emerged as one of the significant obstacles to achieving positive change and improvement. School leaders are often burdened with administrative tasks, leaving little time and capacity for instructional leadership and strategic decision-making.

Furthermore, school leaders face the challenge of adapting to the rapidly changing educational landscape. They must navigate shifting curricula, technological advancements, diverse student needs, and evolving teaching methodologies. Without the necessary skills and support, school leaders may struggle to lead their schools effectively through these changes, resulting in stagnant or declining academic performance and a lack of innovation.

Additionally, the leadership gap in education disproportionately affects schools in underserved communities. These schools often struggle with limited resources, high student populations, and complex socio-economic challenges. School leaders in these contexts face unique barriers, such as inadequate professional development opportunities, limited access to mentoring or peer networks, and insufficient support systems.

The consequences of ineffective school leadership are far-reaching. Students receive subpar education, leading to achievement gaps, low graduation rates, and limited future opportunities. Teachers experience low morale and limited professional growth opportunities, impacting their job satisfaction and retention. Moreover, communities suffer from the perpetuation of educational inequities, hindering social and economic development.

Solution Overview:

Teach For Nigeria addresses this problem through its school leadership development program specifically designed for school leaders in public schools (assistant/head teachers, principals, education officers). This program equips them with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to lead transformative change within their schools and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

The program focuses on key areas essential for effective school leadership, including instructional leadership, data-driven decision-making, fostering a positive school culture, strategic planning, staff development, community engagement, and leveraging technology for enhanced learning outcomes. It incorporates evidence-based practices, best-in-class resources, and case studies from successful school leaders and organizations.

The program offers a blended learning approach, combining online modules, workshops, coaching sessions, and peer learning opportunities. This provides school leaders with flexible and personalized learning experiences tailored to their needs and contexts. Collaborative networks and communities of practice are established to facilitate ongoing support and knowledge exchange among participants.

By equipping school leaders with the necessary skills and support, the program aims to enable them to effectively lead transformative change within their schools. The anticipated outcomes include improved school climate, enhanced teacher professional development, strengthened school-community relationships, improved student learning outcomes, and ultimately, the narrowing of educational disparities.

• We conducted pre-post assessments to assess the knowledge and skill levels of these school leaders and postive changes in their knowldge levels as well as in their mindsets were recorded

• We have also conducted in-depth case studies on select schools that have undergone our school leadership development program. These case studies have provided rich qualitative data, including interviews with school leaders and teachers. The findings illustrated the transformative changes that have occurred in these schools, highlighting specific strategies that the school leaders employed in improving instructional practices in their schools, deepening community involvement with schooling and overall, the challenges they encountered along the way - which informed the iteration of our content by partnering with an external consulting organisation. 

The findings, especially in the first year, showed positive changes in mindset, skills, and knowledge of the school heads as well as in their practices back at school. 

• Over 450 teachers and over 45,000 learners have been reached through our empowered school leaders
• Over 30 projects were carried out including the construction of an almost two-hectare perimeter fence, renovation of three blocks of classrooms refurbishing of some school’s sickbays, entrepreneurial training for parents in the community, introduction of technology into the classrooms, etc.
• The development of the school leaders’ mindsets, and leadership skills as evident in the solutions they are creating in their school communities
• Changes in the school climate where teachers and students are reporting increased support for learning and increased physical and emotional safety in schools among others.

These findings led to scaling up on the number of school leaders to recruit as well as the expanding the list to cater to education officers, who now want this program scaled up even more.

Teach For Nigeria recognizes the importance of strengthening the evidence base for the School Leadership Development Program to demonstrate its effectiveness, impact, and inform future program enhancements. This is because there is no depth or well-defined evidence building strategy for the program.

A structured formative research would enable TFN to tailor the leadership development program to the specific needs and contexts of the schools. It would help identify the key areas where transformative skills and knowledge are lacking and inform the iteration of the program's content design, structure, and delivery methods.

Beyond helping with building immediate evidence of the program's impact, it would allow for an ongoing monitoring and evaluation for the program as it progresses. A structured feedback loop can then be created to generate insights into the program's effectiveness and need for improvement and ensure its alignment with the evolving needs of school leaders and their respective schools over a long time. 

It will, ultimately, allow for us to scale this work beyond Ogun State, Nigeria, where it currently operates.

1. To what extent did the program improve school leaders' knowledge and skills in key leadership areas?

2. How did the program contribute to enhancing instructional leadership, data-driven decision-making, and strategic planning among school leaders?

3. What impact did the program have on school culture, staff development, and community engagement?

4. What changes were observed in student achievement and educational disparities as a result of the program?

The output expectation from this research is a comprehensive research report that provides insights and findings based on the evaluation questions articulated above. The report should include:

1. Introduction and Methodology:
   - Clear overview of the research objectives, evaluation questions, and methodology used.
   - Explanation of the data collection methods, sampling approach, and any limitations.

2. Contextual Analysis:
   - Detailed analysis of the educational context, including school demographics, challenges, and existing leadership practices.
   - Examination of relevant policies, regulations, and local conditions that may influence school transformation efforts.

3. Evaluation Findings:
   - Presentation of quantitative and qualitative data collected to address the evaluation questions.
   - Analysis of the data to provide a clear understanding of the current state of school leadership and its impact on school transformation.
   - Identification of key themes, patterns, and trends emerging from the data.

4. Program Effectiveness:
   - Assessment of the effectiveness of the school leadership development program in addressing the identified needs and challenges.
   - Analysis of the program's impact on school leaders' knowledge, skills, and practices.
   - Evaluation of the program's contribution to positive changes in instructional leadership, data-driven decision-making, school culture, staff development, community engagement, and student achievement

5. Recommendations:
   - Actionable recommendations based on the evaluation findings to enhance the program's effectiveness and impact.
   - Suggestions for program modifications, adjustments, or additions based on the identified strengths and areas for improvement.
   - Guidance on potential strategies to sustain and scale the program's impact in the long term.

6. Conclusion:
   - Summary of the key findings and their implications for school leadership development and school transformation efforts.
   - Conclusion that aligns with the evaluation questions and provides an overall assessment of the program's effectiveness.

The research report should be clear, well-structured, and supported by evidence from the data collected. It should provide a comprehensive analysis that can inform decision-making, program enhancements, and further research efforts related to the school leadership development project.

Also, a concise powerpoint summary of the study, the findings, and recommendations should be developed to be used for engagement with non-technical audiences.a

To put the outputs of the research into action, Teach For Nigeria will follow these steps:

1. Review and Internalize the Findings: We will thoroughly review and internalize the research report, ensuring that all team members have a clear understanding of the evaluation findings, recommendations, and implications.

2. Stakeholder Engagement: We will engage key stakeholders, including project staff, school leaders and teachers, in discussions and workshops to share the research findings. This will allow for a collaborative understanding of the outcomes and encourage stakeholder buy-in for implementing the recommended actions.

3. Action Planning: We will also facilitate a structured action planning process to identify specific strategies and steps to address the recommendations provided in the research report. This will involve breaking down the recommendations into actionable tasks, setting timelines, and assigning responsibilities to ensure accountability.

In the short-term the SLD program will benefit from the output of the research through the following ways:

• Program Iteration: Based on the research findings and recommendations, we will revise and enhance the school leadership development program. This will involve updating the program content, delivery methods, or incorporating new components to address the identified gaps or challenges.
• Professional Development and Training: We will provide targeted professional development and training sessions for project staff, school leaders, and other stakeholders to build their capacity in implementing the recommended strategies. This will ensure that everyone involved has the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively carry out the proposed actions.
• Monitoring and Evaluation: We will establish a monitoring and evaluation framework to track the progress of the program modifications and actions taken in response to the research findings. This will include setting up data collection mechanisms, defining indicators, and establishing regular reporting cycles to assess the impact of the implemented changes.

In the medium to long-term, TFN's School Leadership Program will benefit through the following ways:

• Continuous Improvement: Teach For Nigeria prides itself in being a learning organisation. So, we will foster a culture of continuous improvement by regularly reviewing and analyzing the program's performance and outcomes. We'll use the monitoring and evaluation data to inform ongoing adjustments, refinements, and iterations of the program to maximize its effectiveness and impact, overtime.
• Knowledge Sharing: We will share the evidence of the success of the program based on the iterations done from the recommendations and garner the support needed to scale the work beyond Ogun State.