Abstract
Accelerated learning programmes (ALPs) provide a fast-track second-chance opportunity to complete formal education, enabling disadvantaged children and youth to catch up with their peers. In 2005, after a preliminary pilot phase, the Government of Iraq, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) implemented an ALP initially in 10 of Iraq’s 18 governorates with the intention of providing an estimated 50,000 out-of-school, often traumatised and disenfranchised children aged 12–18 years with an opportunity to complete the six-year primary cycle in three years. This experience generated some insights which may still be of practical use today in other conflict-ridden countries and regions. In order to highlight how the lessons learned just over 10 years ago are relevant to similar situations elsewhere today, this article discusses the findings of an independent evaluation of the programme in 2008. The available evaluation data imply that this ALP addressed a significant need and was appreciated by the target group, with 75 % of learners stating that they liked the ALP very much. Around 90 % of ALP graduates continued either in secondary education, or studying in other programmes, joined an apprenticeship scheme or found employment. Both survey and interview data suggest that this ALP did more than create educational opportunities for young persons; it also helped young people obtain a confident perspective for their own future. Consequently, this made them less vulnerable to participation in subversive activities (such as, for example, being recruited into militias). This is a lesson not just relevant to Iraq at the time, but to a wide range of unstable contexts across the world.
Résumé
Le potentiel des programmes d’apprentissage accéléré (PAA ou ALP/Accelerated Learning Programmes) pour les pays et régions déchirés par des conflits : les enseignements tirés d’une expérience en Irak – Les programmes d’apprentissage accéléré offrent une seconde chance à des enfants et des jeunes défavorisés de terminer rapidement leur scolarité formelle, leur permettant ainsi de rattraper le retard qu’ils ont pris sur leurs pairs. En 2005, au terme d’une phase expérimentale, le gouvernement irakien, en partenariat avec le Fonds des Nations unies pour l’enfance (UNICEF), mettait en place un programme d’apprentissage accéléré, initialement dans 10 des 18 gouvernorats du pays, en vue de permettre à quelque 50 000 enfants âgés de 12 à 18 ans, souvent traumatisés, privés de leurs droits et en rupture de scolarité de suivre le cycle d’études primaires en trois ans au lieu de six. Cette expérience a fourni quelques éléments peut-être encore utiles aujourd’hui sur le terrain dans des pays et régions secoués par des conflits. Afin de montrer dans quelle mesure les leçons qui en ont été tirées il y a un peu plus de 10 ans restent pertinentes ailleurs actuellement dans des situations comparables, cet article se penche sur les résultats d’une évaluation indépendante du programme, réalisée en 2008. Les données d’évaluation disponibles indiquent que le programme d’apprentissage accéléré dont il est ici question répondait à un besoin important et que le groupe cible l’a apprécié, 75 % des apprenants ayant indiqué qu’ils l’aimaient beaucoup. Quelque 90 % des diplômés du programme ont poursuivi leur scolarité dans le secondaire, ou dans le cadre d’autres programmes, ont commencé un apprentissage ou trouvé du travail. Les données ressortant de l’enquête et des interviews indiquent que le programme n’a pas simplement offert à des jeunes des possibilités de s’instruire, il les a aussi aidés à avoir confiance dans leur propre avenir, ce qui les rend moins susceptibles de se livrer à des activités subversives (par exemple en se laissant recruter par des milices). Cette leçon ne vaut pas uniquement pour l’Irak de l’époque, elle peut également s’appliquer à un vaste ensemble de situations instables dans le monde entier.
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Notes
UNICEF ISCA was at the time located in Amman, Jordan, in line with the withdrawal of all United Nations (UN) offices from Iraq following a bombing incident in the UN complex in Baghdad in 2002.
Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, Cambodia, DRC, Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Myanmar, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
This is slightly different for ALPs in the United States, for which some research data are available, usually emphasising the positive results of instances of implementation of ALPs.
The term grey literature refers to reports, working papers and other items not published by professional book or journal publishers. Items of grey literature are not usually circulated to (or known by) many readers beyond those affiliated to the institution that produced them, and therefore such items are at times difficult to track down.
While the term “graduates” usually applies to attaining academic qualifications, we use it in this article to refer to those who have completed accelerated learning courses.
The coalition, formed among the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland, sent in a combined force of troops in an attempt to disarm Iraq of alleged weapons of mass destruction.
The reason for these back-and-forth translations was to ensure that no intended meaning was lost in the translation.
Teachers and principals were also surveyed but, considering the focus of this specific article, their responses are not included here.
Unless indicated otherwise, the base of the percentages is the number of respondents with valid responses to specific questions.
To be clear, while this finding might be indicative, this does not necessarily mean that fewer females than males actually graduated from the Iraq ALP.
Besides opportunity costs (loss of potential earnings) arising, for example, when learners would give up work to attend ALP classes, some funds would normally also be needed to cover direct costs associated with participating in the programme, e.g. transport, stationery, etc.
“An EMIS can be defined as ‘a system for the collection, integration, processing, maintenance and dissemination of data and information to support decision-making, policy-analysis and formulation, planning, monitoring and management at all levels of an education system. It is a system of people, technology, models, methods, processes, procedures, rules and regulations that function together to provide education leaders, decision-makers and managers at all levels with a comprehensive, integrated set of relevant, reliable, unambiguous and timely data and information to support them in completion of their responsibilities’” (UNESCO 2008, p. 101; quoting Cassidy 2006, p. 27).
An EMIS had in fact previously been established in Iraq (Waite 2003), but this was destroyed during, or possibly just after, the 2003 invasion.
A cash transfer programme is a kind of welfare programme, where beneficiary families are given monetary incentives to cover basic needs such as school books or to offset opportunity costs.
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Bilagher, M., Kaushik, A. The potential of Accelerated Learning Programmes (ALPs) for conflict-ridden countries and regions: Lessons learned from an experience in Iraq. Int Rev Educ 66, 93–113 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09826-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09826-1