New Lessons: The Power of Educating Adolescent Girls

This document, part of a series called Girls Count, identifies an array of educational approaches for adolescent girls. As a compendium of policies and programmes, it finds that skill development and knowledge acquisition vary enormously by grade level, both within and across countries, due to variations in school quality, and that relatively few programmes are specifically designed with the developmental and learning needs of adolescent girls in mind. This study provides new data and analysis from research on more than 300 past and current programmes and projects. It offers evidence on how proven practices, including scholarships for girls and the recruitment and training of female teachers, can increase the number of adolescent girls attending school, and highlights the paedagogical approaches that enhance learning and employment. It stresses the need for more data from the informal education sector.

The document presents an educational manifesto for girls. The manifesto outlines three developmental and learning phases during adolescence and, within each, identifies learning goals and preferred educational pathways for girls. It shows evidence of a high return for girls from formal secondary school and the lack of evidence of returns from non-formal alternatives, which underlie its preference for formal school at each phase of adolescent development. It also identifies the curricular building blocks that should support girls in their transition to adulthood.

The 10 actions suggested for adolescent girls' education include the following:

1. "Collect and compile data on non-formal education."
   
2. "Build and maintain a global database for education programs for adolescent girls."
   
3. "Expand opportunities for girls to attend secondary school - ...Governments should define basic education as education through lower secondary school, or to age 16."
   
4. "Support the non-formal education system - ...Non-formal schools must be upgraded, certified, and licensed, and pathways should be established from the non-formal to the formal sector, as well as from the formal to the non-formal sector. Baseline surveys should assess educational backgrounds, skills, and knowledge gaps of population subgroups who are potential beneficiaries, in order that educational systems can be designed to address existing needs."
   
5.  "Develop after-school tutoring and mentoring programs in both primary and secondary schools - These programs should support girls’ education and development and enhance their chances of progressing to or succeeding in secondary school. They can provide one-on-one mentoring and ensure that after-school hours are dedicated to study and not to part-time jobs or family obligations. The programs can also provide supplementary training beyond the formal curriculum for the development of skills for social and civic participation - in the process teaching basic health, reproductive health, and financial literacy."
   
6. "Produce curricula relevant to adolescent girls - Adolescent girls in the developing world need to acquire remunerative and marketable skills which are not taught at home, such as facility with computers, fluency in an internationally spoken language, financial skills, and knowledge of social systems. New methods to promote interactive and collaborative learning can help develop critical thinking and decisionmaking skills and instill a habit of lifelong learning - capacities that will equip girls for a rapidly changing world."
   
7. "Offer post-secondary vocational programs - ...it is important to offer programs that support [girls] in making a successful transition to remunerative work and household financial management. Such programs must be based on market assessments and provide relevant, flexible skills for employment and professional growth in an ever-changing global economy."
   
8. "Provide training and ongoing incentives for women to enter and remain in teaching."
9. "Promote easy transitions between non-formal and formal schools."
   
10. Encourage and evaluate innovation - ...To test [new curriculum] effectiveness, research/program partnerships should invest in designing and implementing pilot projects to measure and assess their impact on girls over the short and medium term."
    

Some strategies related to communication and gleaned from the programmes studied include:

• The development of a "virtual" internet-based cultural exchange between girls in the United States and India.
• Literacy classes for mothers, so that they can better support their adolescent daughters’ education.
  
• Campaigns and advocacy against practices that are obstacles to girls' education and well-being, such as female genital mutilation (FGM/C), early marriage, or child labour.
  
• Encouragement for girls to participate in school governance in Swaziland and Colombia.
• "Girl-friendly" curriculum topics that include gender awareness and rights, as well as the right to education.
  
• Men’s clubs to promote positive attitudes towards women’s rights, including girls’ right to education. 
• Flexible hours and mobile schools.
• Math and science clinics and discussions, to encourage girls' interest and success in traditionally male-dominated fields.
  

The authors emphasise the following "Common girl-friendly features":

I. "Demand-side strategies to remove constraints to school attendance

• Scholarships/stipends: Cash and in-kind contributions to girls and/or families for the purpose of school attendance
• Transportation/boarding: Interventions to reduce or eliminate the costs for girls travelling to/from school and ensure their safety
• Advocacy or community engagement in girls' education: Efforts to promote positive attitudes and other community and social resources that support girls in obtaining an education
• Safety policies and training; codes of conduct: Interventions to ensure girls’ safety within the school environment
• Toilets and provision of sanitary supplies: The provision of separate toilet facilities for girls at school and/or the provision of sanitary supplies to adolescent students"

II. "Supply-side strategies to enhance the learning environment

• Recruitment/training of female teachers, para-teachers, and other educators: Training programs that target young women, hiring policies to support women in entering and remaining in the teaching force, and the use of complementary teaching staff - such as para-teachers -  to support girls in large classes
• Gender training for teachers: Training to promote positive attitudes towards the learning capacities of girls and boys, and/or training in teaching methodologies that are effective in engaging and supporting girls' learning"

III. "Supply-side strategies directed at girls’ developmental and
learning needs

• Mentoring, tutoring, and peer support: Activities to support girls’ development and learning needs by engaging them in supportive relationships with peers, older girls, or adults, especially women
• Life skills or literacy training: An umbrella category encompassing a variety of approaches to training girls in skills they did not learn as younger children and that they need for life
• Livelihoods or vocational training: Any training to support girls in developing specific skills that will help them to earn income either as employees or as entrepreneurs"