Researching education outcomes in Burundi, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda: using participatory tools and collaborative approaches

Over the past decade, over 40 million more children, may of them girls, have attended school worldwide (EFA GMR 2010). While this has been cause for celebration in many countries, there are persistent and increasing concerns that, in spite of this significant increase in school attendance rates, children are not actually gaining the knowledge nor developing the skills that will realistically improve their life chances. Though there are many strategies for improving student learning, two influential factors that appear frequently in academic literature are teaching/teacher quality and parental involvement in children’s education (Edge et al., 2009a). However, the criteria defining how teachers and parents best contribute to meaningful child-centred learning remain a subject of active international debate.