Core components of teaching at the right level

Teaching at the right level is an evidence-backed approach that has successfully helped millions of children in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa to master foundational literacy and numeracy skills – and is being scaled up in a growing number of contexts.

When designing and planning for large-scale implementation, there is a tendency to adapt or eliminate programme components to reduce cost or adjust for new contexts. However, if critical components are eliminated or adapted inappropriately, the at-scale programme could fail to achieve intended impact. Thus, we need to pinpoint the core components of teaching at the right level to inform programme design, adaptation and implementation.

In this synthesis, we codify the core components of teaching at the right level using a novel approach to bring multiple types of evidence together. We combine impact evaluation evidence on teaching at the right level programmes, evidence from related programmes and relevant academic disciplines such as cognitive science and educational psychology, and implementer insight based on interviews with multiple teaching at the right level implementers.

We identify nine core components of teaching at the right level, at three levels of the education system:

Core components of the pedagogical programme in the classroom

• Focus on a streamlined set of foundational skills
• Regular assessment to identify current learning levels
• Aligning instruction to current learning levels
• Interactive instructional techniques
• Localised, low-cost, well-aligned range of instructional materials

Core components of pedagogical support

• Ongoing coaching for teachers
• Practice-based training for teachers and coaches

Core components of the authorising environment

• Government guidelines on integration into the school calendar
• Prioritisation in resourcing and in government officials’ time