Innovation for Education is a partnership between the Government of Rwanda and the

UK Government

Briefing Session for Shortlisted Organisations

Friday 12 October 2012

Innovation

Innovation for Education: What is it about?

• Innovation

• Evidence

• Impact

Results

• Demonstrate effective and equitable ways to improve children’s learning and educational experience.

Innovation Defined

“Innovation is the creation and implementation of new or

improved processes, products, or services that result in significant

improvements in learning outcomes, cost- efficiency or the

quality of education”

Innovation Defined

“Innovation simply isn’t as unpredictable as many people think. There isn’t a cookbook yet, but we’re

getting there”

Clayton Christensen

11 indicators of innovation capability

1. Innovation Strategy2. Leadership3. Human Capital4. Innovation Management Systems5. Networks6. Incentives and Rewards7. Risk Management8. Measuring, Learning and Adapting9. Resources10. Culture11. Organizational Structure

The Innovation Process

Stage 1:Problem definition

Stage 2: Invention of an idea

Stage 3:Develop-ment of practical solutions

Stage 4:Testing (M&E)

Stage 5:Scaling up

Stage 6:Diffusion and wider adoption

Scope and Key strategies

• Size and scope: 10 Million GBP from 2012 to 2015

• Strategy 1:• Testing innovative projects implemented by civil

society and the private sector

• Strategy 2:• Supporting MINEDUC to become a “Hub for

Innovation”

Eligible Projects

• Innovation for Education will:

• Test new ideas without existing evidence base

• Test ideas piloted in other countries, but not in Rwanda

• Test ideas piloted in Rwanda, but without sufficient evidence base

MINEDUC as a Hub for Innovation

LEADERSHIP

PLANNING FOR SCALE-UP

INFORMATION

NETWORKING &

COLLABORATION

HUMAN & FINANCIALRESOURCES

ORGANISATIONAL SUPPORT

&CULTURE

Create a culture of innovation• Provide training to

support management of innovation

• Supporting staff incentive initiatives

Innovation Awards Staff Appraisal Design

Provide committed & inspiring leadership• Minister as a ‘Champion’ of

innovation• Inspire innovation to deliver ESSP

Planning for future scale-up of innovative solutions• Supporting MINEDUC to

identify cost-effective, high quality solutions for scale-up

Innovation Evidence• Generating evidence of

‘What Works’ to inform MINEDUC programmes

Connecting people, places & ideas• Creating a platform for knowledge

sharing and collaboration – MINEDUC website

• Organising events & workshops – learning and dissemination

• Showcasing best practice both nationally and internationally

Resources• Support thinking on how

MINEDUC could sustain innovation for education

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)

M&E strategy for applicants: material structure

• Concepts and general approach• Methodology• Tools

Caution

Importance of Theory of Change

• This provides the rationale for what links what in how your activities lead to the improvement in education quality (e.g. to improved learning outcomes and improved graduation rates)

• It should show where evidence is low, medium or high for the links

• Hence where the evidence is needed

Outputs: 1. Improved training of primary and junior secondary school teachers 2. More effective teacher educators 3. Strengthened evidence base on teachers’ effectiveness and efficiency

Outcome: More effective teachers

Outcome: Improved student learning

Inputs Outputs Outcomes

5

Red weak evidence Green medium evidence

Pre-service

In-service

Effective new teachers

Effective existing teachers

Improved training

Improved Subject knowledge

Improved pedagogy skills and knowledge

Support to college lectures teaching methods and materials

Multi-media package and support infrastructure for SBTD

1

2

4

5

Key 1. College lecturer needs-based in-service at college:

workshops, seminars, learning material production and teaching support and feedback

supported teaching practice visits and workshops 2. SBTD: multimedia pack focused on daily lessons, in-school support, cluster meeting

support, support by external visitors. 3. Improved pre-service and in-service with:

o Training curriculum focusing on curriculum needs of BE schools o Focus on central tasks of teaching o Guided practice in the field (e.g. teaching practice and trying new methods) o Work in classrooms to improve teaching practice o Teachers learning as a community and sharing practice

Improved student learning: outcomes and amount of schooling

Theory of change

4. Improved teaching methods More group and pair work More student talk Active student involvement in learning More use of learning aids More teacher-student interaction More instructional time Better student and teacher motivation

5. Improved classroom pedagogy: Convey ideas effectively Create effective learning environment for individual students Good teacher-student relationships Enthusiastic and creative teacher Teacher works with colleagues and shares practice.

3

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Monitoring seen as Quality Assurance (QA)–what is happening, are there

problems, take action to improve the quality

• Evaluation is concerned with the outcomes of the projects, and the innovation processes

QA

• Collect data systematically• Report these data back to all

levels• Enable timely action on the

data, at the appropriate level

SchoolSchool-based professional development

Teacher as trainer (TaT)2-monthly

teacher meetings (5

schools)

Sector EOs support TaT

SEO visits schools

Core trainer (CT) support SEOs

SEO holds TaT

meetings 2-monthly

CT holds SEO meetings

3-monthly

Teachers evaluate meetings

TaTs evaluate meetings

SEOs evaluate meetings

Project team

School-based teacher training project activities and

QA information collection and reportingACTIVITIES

QA

Monitoring Target Groups

• End-user responses to project activities e.g. parent mobilisation campaigns, meetings with community education worker, SMCs, students mentor sessions with local volunteer

• Project staff/actors responses to project activities e.g. head teacher mentoring sessions with SEO; project staff with community education workers/local volunteers

• Evidence of response to any need to improve

• Recognition of failure (even if cannot be made successful) with documentation explaining failures

• Parents of students

• Entrepreneurs/parents who set up and/or manage ECD centres

• Private school proprietors

• Partners and stakeholders in schools including SMC/PTA

• Community education workers

• Head teachers

• Local volunteers (to mentor students)

Evaluation

• Provides evidence of –Outcomes in terms of improved quality of education

–the Processes of innovation

Outcome evaluation

• Changes in attitudes and knowledge (e.g. of teachers)

• Changes in behaviour (e.g. classroom practices)

• Improvements in learning outcomes (e.g. students)

Keeping girls in school

• Mentor girls to provide support to deal with issues in schools and give financial skills–More confident girls able withstand pressures

–Money to help stay in school–Better retention rates of girls in school

Improved school leadership

• Coach Head Teacher (HT) and improve school leadership–Improved HT performance–Improved teachers (knowledge and understanding)

–Improved classroom practices–Improved learning outcomes

Teacher training

• Improve subject knowledge and pedagogic skills through materials and support–Better attitudes towards learning

and students–Better knowledge and

understanding–Better classroom processes– Improved student learning

outcomes

Change perceptions of parents to education

• Mobilize, empower and engage parents, and give parenting skills–More interest in own children’s

education–More interest in school’s operation

and performance –Better attendance of teachers and

marking of student work–Better student attendance and

retention

Processes of innovation• Where are pressure points for making the

innovation work?– Involvement and ownership at all levels V– Control of innovation (risk)

• New roles for actors in innovation (e.g. SEOs as HT coaches)

• Links (networks) within education system• Evaluation issues (practical and

methodological)• Do you learn from process?

Special areas

• Web and ICT related work in classrooms– Usage (web statistics)– Interaction (qualitative/hand analysis)– Linking classroom and web/computer

work

• Media research (e.g. for campaigns)– Sampling the listening audience– Projecting samples to population

Budget preparation

Budget Preparation Instructions

• All costs included in the budget should be justifiable• Budget should correspond with the planned

activities in the narrative proposal• Value for money should be given attention: will be

looked at particularly carefully during the proposal evaluation

• One criteria for VfM is the % in relation to direct and indirect costs (70% and 30%)

• Note changes in eligible and non-eligible costs: will be updated soon

• Updated budget format

Eligible Costs

• Project activities • Cost of Staff assigned to the project• Travel and subsistence costs for staff and

other person taking part in the project• Purchase or rental costs for equipment

and supplies (the costs must correspond to the market rates)

• Cost of Consumables

Eligible Costs Continued

• Subcontracting expenditures • Costs deriving from the requirements of

the contract such as;• Dissemination of information• Evaluation specific to the project• Audit• Translation• etc

Non-eligible Costs

• Debts and provisions for losses or debts • Depreciation costs• Interest costs • Item already financed • Purchase of land or buildings• Currency exchange losses

Ref. to Application Guidelines

Budget line items (Budget template)

• The budget contains main line items and sub line items and both must reflect project needs.

• Line items should be self-explanatory and if this is not the case additional explanations should be given in notes to detailed budget

• The categories of the main budget need be detailed out in the activity budget breakdowns. Titles of detailed breakdown sheets and main sheet should correspond

NOTICE

• Refer to disclaimer in the Application Guidelines: Page 23

Contact Details

Address: 3rd Floor, Office 311, MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru – Kigali

Email:  innovation.rwanda@gmail.com

Web: www.mineduc.gov.rw/innovation

Tel:  +250 786340061