Who is Molly (MoLi)?
Have you ever seen Molly? She can be seen in rural areas on dusty roads. She is colourful, strong and determined. Molly is a Mobile Library (Mobile Library).
In 2007 the Mobile Library Project was introduced by the FSDoE as a strategy to improve literacy levels. Mobile libraries are rendering a service to schools without libraries. The mobile libraries are donated by the South African Primary Education Support Initiative (SAPESI, www.sapesi-japan.org). They operate from the District Teacher Development Centres (DTDC). In 2012 a suggestion was made to analyse the impact of this project on schools (e.g. possible improvement of ANA results), teachers (e.g. improved reading instruction, attitude towards reading) and learners (e.g. improved reading skills, with possible effect on other subjects, and attitude towards reading: “reading is fun”). To achieve this, a partnership was established with VVOB.
Research skills
The Multi Year Programme 2014-2016 agreed upon by the Free State Department of Education and VVOB focuses on strengthening the skills of provincial and district officials in leadership for effective continuing professional development, professional development for mathematics and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). The needs assessment of officials has shown that district officials need support with research and M&E skills, especially skills that can be directly applied to the daily practice of officials and educators.
Practice makes perfect
Building capacity can be done best when it is directly applied to a concrete task at hand. In this case the need for an impact study on the Mobile Libraries in the Free State was the perfect opportunity to build Monitoring & Evaluation and research capacity with 13 FSDoE DTDC officials. Obviously this capacity can later also be applied to other research topics. In view of the need to evaluate the work of the MoLis, and the need to capacitate officials in terms of research skills, a Participatory Action Researh Design was proposed. The research will be conducted via engaging officials and educators in a participatory action research cycle. This is an approach that brings stakeholders together to collaboratively research and reflect on the work of the MoLis, to investigate the value of the Mobile Libraries and to find ways for improvement. This group of people will work as a Professional Learning Community (PLCs). Hence this activity supports and complements DOE’s and VVOB’s interventions towards the establishment of functioning PLCs.
The first step
The first activity in the participatory action research (PAR) took place on 24 and 25 November: DTDC and provincial officers attended a workshop to equip participants with understanding and skills to do PAR and to plan the next steps in the research process.
The first part of the workshop focused on the basics of research and PAR. One session focused specifically on dealing with people in research. The following questions were discussed: What ethical considerations are there? How should confidentiality be taken into account? How to create a platform where all stakeholders have the same level? These insights and understandings were immediately linked and applied to the research at hand.
The second part of the workshop then addressed the research design. The main and secondary research questions were identified. Then participants explored how they would get data to answer these research questions. To supply these data they developed questions they wanted to ask the MoLi stakeholders, such as the resource coordinators, the library assistants and the teachers. The way forward was discussed and agreed upon. This will be further guided by the workshop facilitators. Regular updates will appear on this website.
The workshop was facilitated by staff from the School of Education from the University of the Free State.
