Rwanda – Dr. Adrienne Barnes-Story, a Literacy and Pedagogy Specialist at the Learning Systems Institute (LSI), is the Principal Investigator for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Tunoze Gusoma (Schools and Systems) Activity. Dr. Barnes-Story, Dr. Ana Marty and Dr. Marion Fesmire are working to support the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) In conjunction with FHI 360, Save the Children and the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB).

The USAID Tunoze Gusoma (Schools and Systems) Activity aims to ensure that the Kinyarwanda literacy environment for all pre-primary and lower primary schools and classrooms is high-quality and inclusive and utilizes best practices in the teaching and learning of foundational literacy skills.

In the third quarter of 2024, the LSI team saw continued progress towards the project goals. Among the accomplishments, pre-primary teacher preparation and professional development systems were improved to develop emergent literacy. A total of 48 teacher guides for Early Childhood Education are in procurement for teacher training colleges (TTC) and the pre-service team began developing refresher training materials for an upcoming training.

In late April and early May, the Pre-service Coordinator conducted monitoring and mentoring visits at TTCs, which included classroom observations and reflection sessions. Notably, the Pre-service team collaborated closely with the in-service Tunoze Gusoma team to develop a proposal to revise the Teaching Methodologies and Practice (TMP) Kinyarwanda modules for lower primary and pre-primary instruction.

In April, the Teaching Practice Advisory Group (TPAG) held a one-day meeting to validate the School Attachment (SA) Model Pilot findings. The SA Model Pilot findings were compiled in an 11-page document and organized by strengths, challenges, implications, and recommendations for each SA Model element. This document was shared in the dissemination event the following week. The event was attended by 32 people, including the TPAG members and MINEDUC officials. The attendees agreed that the SA Model should be scaled up across the 16 TTCs and Tunoze Gusoma should schedule a conversation with leadership from the Rwanda Basic Education Board and NESA to move the scale-up forward.

"We think this model can fix several issues we have been struggling with in the old model," said Jeanne d'Arc Mukabatesi, the Principal at TTC Muhanga.

The integration of information and communication technology is progressing as well. The pre-service team continues to use a WhatsApp group for the TTC tutors who participated in the Foundational Literacy Course or the Pre-primary Pedagogical Training. Tutors are using the Communities of Practice to share their pedagogical approaches and provide examples of integrating their learning into their instruction by utilizing teaching and learning materials made from locally available resources.  

"This was a great quarter for the project,” said Dr. Barnes-Story. “We are gearing up for additional trainings with TTC tutors and continued collaboration with REB and the TPAG to expand the School Attachment model to include years 1 and 2 of Teaching Practice."

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