CUBIC | Save the Children, Bangladesh: Improving Adoption of Play-Based Learning

By Rashi Jaiswal.

Homo economicus or economic man is a human being with infinite ability to make rational decisions and is the central subject of standard economic theory. However, in our daily lives, decisions tend to be influenced by several internal and external factors such as emotions, habits, culture, disposable income etc. These anomalies in general behavior cannot always be explained by standard economic theory. A good example is the project that my team and I worked on for CUBIC – a new Save the Children Inititative, Bangladesh this Spring semester. Save the Children has been actively working with 65 preschools in rural Bangladesh to train teachers in play-based learning methods in an effort to improve learning outcomes in pre-primary education. However, the adoption and implementation of these newly learnt training methods has not been consisten and the client sought our help in designing recommendations to improve adoption.

Standard economic theory would suggest that teachers, who receive training, follow a simple 3 step decision making process (Fig 1) i.e. Learn → Incorporate → Implement, whereby teachers are presumed to be guided by rationality and to follow one step after the other to achieve the intended outcome of implementing new play-based methods in class.

(Fig 1 – Audit Map based on standard economic theory)

But, behavioral economics encourages us to look beyond the rational decision-making process by exploring anomalies that prevent a person from following the logical path. My team and I utilized the ideas42 framework (Fig 2) to define and diagnose the problem. We interviewed the Save the Children team in Bangladesh and primary school teachers in the United States as a proxy for teachers in Bangladesh in order to determine bottlenecks that prevent teachers from following the decision making process in Figure 1. We were mindful of the fact that experiences of teachers in the US are not fully representative of hurdles faced by teachers in Bangladesh.

(Fig 2 – ideas42 framework)

Our research suggested that teachers do not incorporate and implement new methods primarily because of the following factors –

  1. large student to teacher ratio that makes it difficult to manage classroom activities
  2. lack of perceived value of the new methods
  3. lack of resources
  4. lack of time because of other administrative duties that teachers are responsible for

As a result, the actual decision-making process for teachers (Fig 3) becomes a lot more complex than what we saw in Figure 1 earlier. Through our interviews we gained critical insights that helped us determine the bottleneck we would solve for. Firstly, the client mentioned that majority of the teachers are excited to participate in the training program and understand the value of play based methods. Secondly, in most cases resources necessary to conduct play based activities are either provided by the school or Save the Children and the above two factors haven’t been a big barrier in implementing play-based methods. Lastly, the client was interested in finding solutions that are less resource intensive. Hence, we ruled out the first three of the above-mentioned factors and instead decided to focus our efforts on solving for the lack of time among teachers.

(Fig 3 – Audit Map based on behavioral insights)

After identifying lack of time as one of the most pressing pain points that result in the bottleneck of lack of motivation among teachers, we studied cognitive theories and field experiments that analyze motivation. The expectancy value theory confirmed some of our initial findings that teachers in public schools in Bangladesh may not adopt new play-based learning methods because of several factors that can be covered under two categories. First, teachers may not expect to succeed in implementation because of factors such as lack of time to implement new methods and lack of resources provided by school. Second, social factors such as prevalence and normalization of rote learning for generations. And, the self-determination theory helped us understand how to design interventions that result in promoting and maintaining motivation in the long run. The theory recommends focusing on three basic psychological needs—a need for competence, a need for autonomy, and a need for relatedness, also known as the nutrients of motivation.

Based on our findings, we came up with two simple interventions that would resolve the pain point of lack of time. Both interventions are proposed to be carried out in 68 primary schools that Save the Children work with and for the duration of 3 months. And, for the purpose of data collection we recommend leveraging three techniques. Self-reporting by teachers, collecting information from parents by using text messages, and collection of materials utilized by students during activity-

  1. Toolkit with everyday lesson plans – Repurpose the existing toolkit to contain simplified daily lesson plans for the 2.5 hours allocated to play based learning each day in schools. Each lesson plan will include following details – date, activity plan, materials needed and a 3-question survey to collect information on activities conducted and challenges faced. Daily lesson plans would simplify the process of planning for teachers by reducing the time needed to prepare to a large extent.
  2. Weekly newsletter – A text message, showing a photo of a featured classroom with a description of a play-based activity, highlighting the teacher. The intent would be to show a simple and easy way to implement and activity and also allow the teachers to set a goal for themselves to be featured.

While the challenges created by COVID-19 crisis may delay testing of interventions by Save the Children, this project was an exciting opportunity to diagnose a problem by applying tools and frameworks offered by behavioral economics. I am excited to apply these learnings to drive business outcomes by leveraging behavioral insights of the target audience such as customers, employees, etc. as I start as a Strategy Consultant this summer.


Endorsement from Allison Zelkowitz (Director, CUBIC at Save the Children):

“We really enjoyed collaborating on this project with Rashi and Maura – they asked a lot of questions and worked diligently to understand the context in Bangladesh.  Even though our teams were half a world away, Rashi and Maura managed to gain a lot of insights about the constraints and challenges faced by the preschool teachers Save the Children supports.  In the end, we were very happy with the two interventions they developed, and we look forward to further developing and testing these ideas.”



References

  1. Berry, Sheena. “AN ANALYSIS OF PRESCHOOL CLASSROOM SUPPORTS ON CHILD LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT.” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC, 2015, pp. Xi-112.
  2. Glewwe, Paul, et al. “Teacher Incentives.” American Economic Journal, no. Economics , ser. 2, July 2020, pp. 205–227. 2, doi:http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi= 10.1257/app.2.3.205.
  3. Jiying Han & Hongbiao Yin. “Teacher motivation: Definition, research development and implications for teachers”. Cogent Education, August 2016. https://www.cogentoa.com/article/10.1080/2331186X.2016.1217819
  4. Roland G. Fryer, Steven D. Levitt, John List, Sally Sadoff. “Enhancing the Efficacy of Teacher Incentives through Framing: A Field Experiment”. April 2018. https://scholar.harvard.edu/fryer/publications/enhancing-efficacy-teacher-i ncentives-through-framing-field-experiment
  5. Timothy C. Urdan, Stuart A. Karabenick. “The Decade Ahead: Applications and Contexts of Motivation and Achievement”. Emerald Books, Vol. 16B
  6. Ma Wen Ying, Liu Xi. “A New View On Teaching Motivation – Self Determination Theory.” Changchun University, 2016, Vol 13
  7. Francesca Gino. “The Rise of Behavioral Economics and its Influence on Organizations.” Harvard Business Review, October 2017. https://hbr.org/2017/10/the-rise-of-behavioral-economics-and-its-influence-on-organizations

 

 

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