Solution Name:
Edukans Q-card: improving school quality
One-line solution summary:
Edukans Q-card is a digital school assessment tool to pinpoint areas of improvement. Easy to use, cost-effective, providing maximum impact
Pitch your solution.
The Edukans EDU Q-card is a digital monitoring tool which assists stakeholders to assess the quality of the provided education and giving control over the improvement process back to schools.The approach of the tool enables a school to assess and improve its own standards across various educational areas and involving all stakeholders: government, teachers, management, learners, parents and community.
The EDU Q-card evaluates five crucial educational areas in order to achieve better learning outcomes: 1. an appropriate learning environment;
2. effective learning processes;
3. quality teaching by motivated and well-trained teachers;
4. competent school management;
5. active parents and community involvement.
The success of the Q-card is because of direct support, comprehensive and effective training, a short feedback loop, on-the-spot written reports which are made online or offline.
The Q-card can be easily upscaled and used by the entire spectrum of educational organisations. Being supportive to government departments, universities, teaching institutions and schools.
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Good quality education is expected to eventually break the cycle of poverty in all developing countries. Education helps individuals to succeed in their professional careers, stimulate healthy life styles, close the gender gap, and promote human rights. Governments and schools in developing countries struggle to measure and improve education quality. To be able to do so, education professionals (school-managers and inspectors) need practical tools to measure education quality and provide useful feedback for quality improvement in the school and in the classroom. In practice, comprehensive, practical and easy to use tools are often lacking. Existing tools used by school inspectors to monitor school quality are often too complex to use and fail to provide meaningful feedback to schools. In the light of this, Edukans designed a new, quality, assessment tool which is practical, interactive and easily accessible: the EDU Q-card.
The Edukans Q-card is a tool which assists stakeholders to assess the quality of the provided education and giving control over the improvement process back to schools quickly and cost effective. If used by stakeholders, they will detect the problem, will start working on it, causing effect in every classroom across the globe, reaching over 1 billion children in schools.
What is your solution?
The Edukans EDU Q-cardtargets primary and secondary schools following a hybrid bottom-up approach. The tool offersguidance for assessing, monitoring, and improving education and the quality of schools.The success of the Q-card is a hybrid solution which consists of direct support, comprehensive and effective training, a short feedback loop and on-the-spot written reports which are made online or offline. So it can be even used when schools are remote and have low connectivity.
With the bottom-up approach the Edukans Q-card aims to help schools to improve their learning conditions from classroom to community. On top of the continuous improvement that is provided, it requires engagement of parents, teachers, school management, school inspectors and teaching training colleges.
The EDU Q-card evaluates five crucial areas of good education in order to achieve better learning outcomes.The Q-card facilitates the dialogue between all stakeholders and sets the first steps into action for example by supporting teachers to adapt their pedagogy. The instrument encourages schools to formulate a school improvement plan.
After first use, the EDU Q-card can be used to do regular monitoring of the implemented educational adaptations. The tool is simple to adopt, easy to integrate in existing systems and cost-effective.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Let's face an uncomfortable truth. Education systems in many countries are failing, amplified by the COVID19 crisis. By 2030, half of the world’s children will be failing to learn – most of them in Africa and the Middle East. How can we expect these children to succeed without knowing how to read and count properly?
No teacher in the world wants his or her learners to fail. We need to stop expecting better outcomes with the same approaches. We need to understand why education isn't working and how we can achieve better learning outcomes for children. The Edukans EDU Q-card digital monitoring and assessment tool is the solution to access this understanding and to achieve this goal.
Edukans strives, as an international non governmental organization, to fulfill United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4. Providing high-quality, equal and inclusive education to children (and youth); which is accessible to girls and children in a vulnerable situation. After the pandemic it is of importance that the disruption in education is mapped out and strategically approached to make sure that primary and secondary school learners receive the support they need to develop the skills and competencies they need to thrive in the 21st century.
Edukans has over 15 years experience in supporting quality education in developing countries. Our mission is to provide high quality education that equips learners in shaping their future with confidence. We prioritise active rather than passive learning so that learners come to own what they are taught. Edukans believes in the power of an individual’s own talents; in skills such as critical and creative thinking to achieve solutions. And especially in the positive benefit of taking personal responsibility throughout the learning process.The Edukans EDUQ-cardassessment tool is developed especially for use in developing countries.
Edukans understands that the greater the number of key education partners involved in the project, the higher the chance of success.That is why the Q-card tool is developed in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam, together with the stakeholders that use it, which are: regional and national education departments, school inspectors, teachers, teacher training institutes and schools.Edukans tries to perfectly sync with the needs of these stakeholders.The Edukans Q-card is scientifically validated and is past testing and pilot stage and is ready for upscaling. The insights gathered in the pilots demonstrate that the addressed domains of the Q-card are seen as relevant and are profoundly valued by the stakeholders. These domains are: active learning, differentiated teaching and qualified teachers, good leadership and cooperation within schools.
The Edukans EDU Q-card tool and indicators ensure that inspection and the school’s own practices are perfectly coordinated. Based on the agreed evaluation, the school chooses three areas for improvement that can be monitored with extra care and attention by the inspectorate.
The Q-card also requests parents to participate in the education policy and choices of their childrens school. Such involvement has a significant positive effect on the children’s motivation and reduces drop-out rates.
The Edukans Q-card provides comprehensive and effective answers to the questions asked by teachers and commits them to action. Schools who are already working with Q-card are very enthusiastic:
‘The EDU Q-card is a very good innovation within our system, because it helps with the supervision of the teacher, the school administration, the pupil, the parents and the entire community. It’s very important to use this system.’- saysNorah Kaddu, teacher, Centre Coordinating Tutor, Uganda, Nakasongola
Edukans believes that understanding the problem is the first step in addressing it and solving it.The Edukans EDU Q-card assessment tool offers clarity and perspective on the education challenges that need to be faced by 1 billion young learners today, especially those in developing countries.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Increase the engagement of learners in remote, hybrid, and physical environments, including strategies and tools for parental support, peer interaction, and guided independent work.
Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.
Edukans EDU Q-card helps all young learners to have access to quality, safe, and equitable learning environments.
The tool facilitates the increased engagement of learners by especially creating awareness amongst stakeholders of the importance of effective teaching and learning. Resulting in lowering the dramatic dropout and raising completion rates.
The EDU Q-card can be used in low-connectivity settings. To make stakeholders aware of the physical safety and mental health of learners, social and emotional wellbeing indicators are part of the tool. Other indicators are on teaching and learning which are very relevant to provide support in creating equitable classrooms.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Amersfoort, Netherlands
What is your solution’s stage of development?
Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth.
Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.
Based on a study by the University of Amsterdam, 15 years education experience and the track record of international NGO Edukans the EDU Q-card was developed.
A focus group study was carried out to examine the content validity of the Q-card. The focus group included representatives from different groups of education professionals. During the study, further valuable information was obtained in three aspects:item relevance and clarity;missing concepts and overlapping items; instrument appearance and design.
The digital instrument was pre-tested in 400 schools in different countries.The extensive testing of the EDU Q-card confirmed the validaty and reliability of the tool.The tool is continously assessed and refined. All those that have been using the Edukans Q-card are pleased with its results and effect.
The Edukans EDU Q-card is ready for further development and upscaling.
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Dik Verboom
