Executive Summary
Compared to students of the same age who have done all their schooling in conventional classrooms, Speed School learners perform better in literacy and numeracy, have higher school retention rates, and are recognized as having greater socio-emotional skills. Playful, activity-based instruction and abundant no- and low-cost instructional materials help learners develop not only key skills but also a love for learning. The program’s success is due in large part to Speed School’s holistic teacher support model. By focusing on teacher practice and agency, the model supports facilitators to draw on their creativity and initiative to design and deliver effective, stimulating lessons and to grow professionally. School-based collaboration, action research, and communities of practice help effective practices spread into conventional classrooms within the “Link Schools,” i.e. those that host Speed School classes, while school leaders and local authorities play a central role in implementation, purposely expanding the program’s reach and impact within the broader education system.
Key Findings:
- Speed School’s training model emphasizes practice over theory. During workshops, learner-centered instruction is modelled, and Speed School facilitators and conventional classroom teachers all have opportunities to apply what they learn through repeated lesson planning and practice. They also have many opportunities to critique and receive critique from their fellow facilitators. These are all proven strategies, key to effective teacher professional development (Hennessy et al., 2022). With a focus on foundational skills, facilitators are also encouraged to draw content from the local context while using locally sourced materials, stories, and cultural references to enliven and deepen learning.
- Collaboration at the school level brings great value to the Speed School model. When at least two Speed School facilitators are placed in a school, they engage routinely and enthusiastically in peer-to-peer learning, shared problem-solving, and mutual support. At the same time, Geneva Global provides training to teachers from conventional classrooms, and trains and encourages school leaders to support teacher development, including by establishing and actively promoting the operation of communities of practice. A whole-school approach strengthens professional relationships and accelerates the spread of truly competency-based, learner-centered pedagogy across classrooms.
- Work through middle-tier actors to enhance scale and sustainability. Despite having distinct models in Ethiopia and Uganda, Speed School works closely with school leaders, teacher trainers and supervisors, and local authorities, all of whom are middle-tier actors who offer unique capacities to facilitate collaboration, broker knowledge, provide instructional direction to school-level practitioners, and scale innovations (UNESCO, 2023). These actors not only train and mentor teachers in Link Schools but also transfer Speed School practices to other schools for which they are responsible. By actively embedding the approach within government systems, Geneva Global aims to promote long-term ownership, policy alignment, and the institutionalization of effective teaching practices at scale.
The Speed School experience offers valuable lessons for not only supporting out-of-school learners but also for improving teaching at scale, particularly in low-resource settings. Read the full case study on Education.org.
