By Cirenia Chavez & Emiko Naka
Access to education can transform lives, open new opportunities, and improve life chances for all. More years of education are associated with higher incomes, better health, and more productive lives.
Globally, 125 million children are not gaining basic literacy or numeracy skills even after spending at least four years in school (World Bank, 2018). In low-income countries, only 14% of students achieve basic math proficiency by the end of primary school; in lower middle-income countries, it’s 37% (2018). The World Bank estimates that in 2022, learning poverty—being unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10—jumped from 57% in 2019 to 70% in poor and middle-income countries. This points to a serious learning crisis that will continue to be exacerbated by the long-term impact of COVID-19 pandemic; (Maldonado & De Witte, 2020), disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable learners (Moscoviz & Evans, 2021; Patrinos et al., 2022).
Disadvantaged learners in the poorest income quintiles of poor and middle-income countries struggled more to acquire learning due to school closures. These challenges likely affect other marginalized groups, including forcibly displaced populations, but we lack clear data on the learning acquisition and needs of forcibly displaced children. There’s even less information on their non-academic skills,1 which are crucial for their overall well-being and success.
Limited evidence on learning poverty in forced displacement contexts
Only a handful of studies have measured academic and non-academic skills among the forcibly displaced. In 2021, UNHCR and Cambridge Education reviewed existing evidence and found just 59 studies from 2012 to 2021 focused on this issue. The review also found that these studies were mostly concentrated in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, and the evidence often was not representative of learners in a given grade. Moreover, most assessments evaluated existing programmes rather than providing a broad view of the state of learning among forcibly displaced populations.
UNHCR’s first holistic learning measurement in forced displacement: key lessons learned
In July 2024, UNHCR piloted a learning assessment in Mauritania to tackle the lack of data on learning outcomes for refugee students. This effort is part of a larger holistic learning measurement project that seeks to address the lack of data on learning outcomes of the forcibly displaced and involves the administration of assessments in three countries, covering both academic skills—reading and mathematics—and non-academic skills, known as Social and Emotional Skills (SEL).2 SEL helps children get along with others, adapt to change, and lead healthier lives. These skills benefit children academically, mentally, and socially by reducing bullying in schools (OECD, 2021). For refugee children who face emotional and psychological challenges, SEL is essential. If children are not happy and well, they are not ready for learning.
In Mauritania, we used Save the Children’s Holistic Assessment of Learning Development Outcomes (HALDO) to establish a baseline on skills acquisition among forcibly displaced children. This assessment, covering five domains including reading, mathematics, and socio-emotional skills, was administered to 400 children in the Mbera refugee camp and 100 students in Fassala. While the assessment results for the three countries will be published at the end of this year, we are reflecting on some key lessons learned from the exercise in Mauritania, which has just concluded:
- Partner organizations need data collection experience and, ideally, experience in administering learning assessments. Our implementing partner in Mauritania, though skilled in providing field assistance and experienced in foundational data collection, lacked specific training in learning assessments and required additional support and training from UNHCR in this area. Future exercises that involve implementing partners with limited experience administering learning assessments should plan for intensive training in this area.
- In-person training is more effective. In Mauritania, our implementing partners received several sessions of virtual training from Save the Children to administer the HALDO tool. However, we found that key aspects of using the HALDO tool needed reinforcement among the enumerators, and these were more effectively addressed through follow-up in-person training. This approach also overcame the challenges of limited internet connectivity and the need for translation during the online training sessions.
- Contextualize and sensitize assessment questions. Though this is common advice for any empirical study, it is especially important in contexts of forced displacement. For example, asking who takes care of children at home caused discomfort among those who recently lost their caretakers. It is crucial to review all questions through a protection lens and consider every scenario to avoid causing discomfort for the interviewee, especially when working with children.
- Randomization can be challenging. Randomization can be challenging in large schools with many students and where learning takes place in open space. To mitigate this, all students were gathered in a common space and participated in activities led by the data collection team, including singing, drawing, and reading exercises, while waiting to be called for the assessment (following the randomized selection).
- Consider cultural norms. The social norms in Mauritania do not allow young girls to be alone with men and boys. Provisions were made so that male enumerators assessing young girls were accompanied by a female colleague. We also found learners in Mauritania were eager and enthusiastic to participate in the assessments, contrary to concerns raised during the training that some children could feel uncomfortable or intimidated about being assessed. Furthermore, we saw no evidence of discomfort among the children when more than one adult was present during assessments, though advice given during training suggested that only one adult conduct the assessment to avoid intimidating the child.
And lastly,
- Uncertainty is a major factor in rolling out assessments. Collecting data in challenging contexts is riddled with uncertainty that should be factored into planning. In Mauritania, frequent electricity outages and unstable internet were common, disrupting data collection. In such cases, if assessments are administered in person, it may be more practical and accurate to use paper-based assessments rather than a wireless mobile device. Weather conditions in Mauritania at this time of year (July) also pose a challenge, with flights often delayed or cancelled.
Despite the challenges, undertaking assessments and understanding the state of learning of forcibly displaced students is of paramount importance. These insights are already informing our future learning assessments. By addressing the issues encountered in Mauritania, UNHCR is refining its approach to ensure better data collection in similar contexts. This knowledge not only informs evidence-based programmes but also ensures children acquire the skills they need to thrive.
Footnotes:
1. For the purposes of this concept note, non-academic skills are equated with socio emotional (SEL) learning. SEL is understood as a set of social, emotional and related “non-academic” skills, attitudes, behaviour, and values that help an individual direct their thoughts, feelings and actions in ways that enable them to succeed in school, work and life (INEE & EASL Laboratory, 2020).
2. There are a variety of terms used to refer to SEL, including 21st century skills, interpersonal skills and others.
