STiR Education is an international NGO that supports education systems to reignite intrinsic motivation, so that every child, teacher and official is motivated to learn and improve. In India alone, we have reached 180,000 teachers and 4.7 million children across 4 Indian states (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu).
India has the world’s largest school system, but despite great progress in access, education quality remains low. Covid-19 has exacerbated this challenge by deepening inequalities in our education system. With schools being shut for around 2 years, we are experiencing the worst learning crisis that the world has ever seen. To overcome this huge learning gap, it’s crucial that the teachers, officials and learners are intrinsically motivated to learn and improve.
Behaviour change. STiR’s work is about changing behaviours and attitudes by reigniting intrinsic motivation at all levels. It wants children to see participation and learning as an active choice and to develop a desire to keep on learning more. Teachers will reflect on how to effectively deploy teaching strategies and also show a desire to constantly improve their classroom practice. It is important that government officials recognise their own crucial role in driving improvement, so they will spend more time in schools supporting and understanding the teachers. It reinforces these behaviours across every activity and uses practical behavioural measures to understand changes.
Iterative improvement. Behaviour change takes time. So STiR’s programme enables incremental improvements at every level that contribute to a system shift. It introduces peer networks for teachers and officials – monthly meetings for small groups of peers to strengthen connections, foster mutual support, and ensure sustainable improvement through learning new strategies to embed into their professional practice. It constantly innovates and tests new approaches to ensure their sustainability at scale, encourage replication of new ideas across geographies and respond to the changing government priorities by tailoring its programme to align with the needs of the system.
Governments and other partnerships. STiR works alongside national and state governments to ensure ownership and long-term sustainability. It initiates deep learning partnerships with the governments, with all activities delivered by existing government officials to build strong ownership. Their teams work together to co-customise and co-design content for each geography, while STiR work closely to ensure that the programme aligns with their policies and priorities. This also helps keep the costs lower than $1 per child annually.
During the pandemic, a case study was conducted alongside the International Institute for Educational Planning of UNESCO (IIEP-UNESCO) which focused on the project in Delhi. Their report found that the programme has had noticeable positive effects since its initial implementation. These were seen through increased teacher collaboration, professionalism in school, and improvements in student outcomes. You can read the full study here.
