Overview:
The British Council Rwanda, in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada, implemented the Scaling Inclusive Teacher Professional Development in Rwanda (SITPDR) research project as part of the Empowering Teachers' Initiative (ETI). This initiative, a partnership with the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) and SUMMA, aims to revolutionise teacher professional development (TPD) at scale.
Research Objectives:
The SITPDR research project sought to generate evidence and learning on how large scale Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programmes such as Secondary Teachers English Language Improvement in Rwanda (STELIR) can be designed and delivered to ensure equitable access and inclusive participation for all teachers, especially women teachers (WTs) and teachers with disabilities (TWDs). Between March 2024 and April 2026, we worked with the University of Sussex’s Centre for International Education and Development (CIED) to apply a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) lens to explore effective strategies for promoting equity and inclusion in at-scale TPD.
Methodology:
This was a qualitative research project with three main phases to it.
Phase one focused on system level interviews with education stakeholders such as the Rwanda Education Board (REB), District Education Officers (DEOs) and Sector Education Inspectors (SEIs). This was followed by case studies of lower secondary teachers in 10 schools in three districts (Gicumbi, Nyaruguru and Rusizi) where STELIR was first rolled out – with a focus on WTs in public schools and (four) TWDs in special schools. The research team returned to the same schools a year later to talk to these teachers about the longer-term impact of STELIR.
Phase two involved a series of workshops in each district to feedback findings from the case studies to local stakeholders. The research team also held a two-day workshop in Kigali for participants from the case study schools, districts and national level actors to collaboratively act on the findings and produce a ‘Visual Guide to support equitable, inclusive whole school CPD’.
In phase three, we carried out Participatory Action Research (PAR) in nine further schools in Kayonza, Nyanza and Musanze Districts. Researchers worked with school-based mentors to consider changes and ideas from the Visual Guide they thought important and feasible for their schools, adding these to the whole school CPD action plans. The mentors worked with their colleagues to try out these changes in their schools over three months.
Knowledge Sharing and Impact
Findings from SITPDR research show both the impact of the practical changes that STELIR put in place in enhancing equitable access and inclusive participation for WTs and TWDs in a large scale TPD programme, and challenges that may arise in the process. School leaders also made some local changes to support their teachers on engaging regularly with school-based CPD.
The project has produced a number of outputs that discuss the findings and recommendations from the research, see below: