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Learning and Teachingin the Upper Primary Grades

Patience Sowa, Ph.D April 2019

Children “entering the adult world in the 21st century

will read and write more than at any other time in

human history. They will need advanced levels of

literacy to perform their jobs, run their households, act

as citizens, and conduct their personal lives. They will

need literacy to cope with the flood of information they

will find everywhere they turn. They will need literacy

to feed their imaginations so they can create the

world of the future. In a complex and sometimes even

dangerous world, their ability to read will be crucial.

Continual instruction beyond the early grades is

needed.”

–International Reading Association

Learning and Teaching in Upper Primary - Overview

▪ Why upper primary?

▪ Learning

▪ Teaching

Learning and Teaching – Why Upper Primary?

Children are not learning

▪ 617 million (58%) children and

adolescents are not achieving minimum

proficiency levels (MPLs) in reading and

mathematics (UIS)

Central and Southern Asia

▪ 81% will not meet MPLs by end of

primary.

Sub-Saharan Africa

▪ 88% will not be able to read proficiently

by end of primary.

Why Upper Primary?

▪ Upper primary often overlooked, but significant stage of education.

▪ If we are to achieve SDG goal 4 of quality basic education, and if we

are to sustain the learning gains made in early primary, we cannot

afford to ignore teaching and learning in these grades.

Learning in Upper Primary

Factors which influence Learning In Upper Primary

▪ Developmental

▪ Sociocultural and Socioeconomic

▪ Multilingual

Learning in Upper Primary - Developmental Factors

Developmental Characteristics of UP Child

Physical Development Enormous physical changes,

puberty, growth spurts

Social and Emotional

Development

Independence, search for identity,

peer groups and influence (sense

of belonging and inclusion)

Cognitive Development More reasoning especially

abstract reasoning, logical

thinking about experiences

Metacognitive

Development

Grow in ability to think about

thinking; more proficient in

monitoring their learning,

intellectual curiosity DelGuidice, 2018; Tompkins et al. 2016

Upper primary

children

Ages: 8-12/13

Grade levels: 4-6/7

Learning in Upper Primary – Sociocultural and Socioeconomic Factors

▪ More responsibility

– Child-care, child labor

▪ Water sanitation and hygiene –

absenteeism for girls –(Miiro et al, 2018)

▪ Child marriage

▪ Academic failure, dropout – (Ampiah &

Adu-Yeboah, 2009; Zuilkowski, Jukes, & Dubeck, 2016)

▪ Educational systems need to make

space for these issuesSadia – Unicef Togo

Learning in Upper Primary – Multilingual Factors

▪ Multilingual nature of LMI countries

– In sub-Saharan Africa over 2,143

languages spoken –Paul, Simon & Fennig, 2018

▪ Language Policies

– Early-exit MT language programs.

– Use of international languages as

LoTL starting from grades 3 or 4.

– Are children ready?

What Does This Mean for UP Learner?

▪ A holistic approach to teaching and learning

– Students at the center of teaching and learning.

▪ Focus on social and emotional learning- “All learning is social and emotional” (Fisher, Smith & Frey, 2019).

▪ SEL infused throughout the curriculum and school.

▪ Safe, nurturing and inclusive schools

▪ Quality curriculum and teaching

▪ Engaging family and community

– participate and actively engage in learning and school activities

– are considered partners in the educational process.

– Schools are welcoming places and resource sites places for parents, families and

community.

– Help keep children in school.

Teaching in Upper Primary – Curriculum and Teachers

▪ Literacy and Language

▪ Numeracy

▪ Teachers and Teaching

Teaching in Upper Primary – Approaches to Literacy and Language

“A continuum of language skills including

reading, writing, speaking, listening,

viewing, visually representing, and critical

thinking (of texts), applied in a social

context to enable a person to function

effectively in his or her group and

community.”

▪ Emphasis on integrating 4

language skills, and viewing

▪ Reading comprehension.

– Focus on meaning, skills, and

strategy instruction

▪ Interventions (5 CR, 4 skills)

▪ Careful, purposeful scaffolding

▪ Emphasis on writing genres

▪ Metacognitive strategies (self &-

peer assessment)

Teaching in Upper Primary– Approaches to Literacy and Language

▪ Additional/international language

teaching

approaches

– English, French, Portuguese, etc.

▪ Bilingual teaching approaches

– Code-switching

– Translanguaging

▪ More access to a variety of texts

and text genres- Multiliteracies

(multimodal, digital, etc.)

Teaching in Upper Primary – Approaches to Teaching Numeracy

▪ Skills and problem - solving

▪ Related to real - world situations and every day life

▪ Sequential and spiral approach building on prior knowledge

▪ Explicit instruction

▪ Metacognitive strategies

▪ Creative thinking, reasoning, risk-taking, imagination, and invention—

▪ Modeling, presenting multiple examples of the problem, and solution

▪ Teaching and Learning mathematics in the LoTL (CBI, or CLIL)

– Teachers provide learners with and promote opportunities to use and develop all

four language domains and viewing while building content knowledge and skills

Teaching in Upper Primary - Mathematics and Language Learning

▪ How would you explain the following mathematical terms to English language

learners?

Everyday Words Math Terminology

Table Table

Even Even

Operation Operation

What does this Mean for the Upper Primary Teacher?

▪ Subject Matter Teachers

▪ Preservice - Need to prepare subject

matter teachers (content knowledge,

pedagogical and pedagogical content

knowledge)

▪ Assessment as learning. Students

self-assess, monitor and are

responsible for their own learning.

▪ Proficiency in the LoTL

▪ Professional Development

▪ A variety of consistent, sustained

ongoing PD focused on subject

matter and teacher needs, UDL

In 2016, an estimated 85 per cent of

primary school teachers worldwide

were trained; the proportion was only

71 per cent for Southern Asia and 61

per cent for sub-Saharan Africa (WB)

What does this Mean for the Upper Primary Teacher?

SEL for teachers and students

▪ Understand developmental stage

▪ Teachers as role models for SEL,

▪ Teacher motivation

Supporting and Easing Transition

▪ Providing continuity through

developmentally appropriate curricula

▪ Preparing children for transitions

▪ Planning among P3 and P4 teachers.

▪ Involving parents and community in the transition

Why Upper Primary Now?

▪ There is a learning crisis

Children are leaving school with little if

any proficiency in literacy and

numeracy.

▪ Our goals

– to sustain learning gains and improve

learning outcomes

– to achieve SDG 4.

– to bridge gap between primary and

secondary.

– create lifelong learners

▪ More investment, more time,

resources needed.

Selected References

Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Baker , S., Lesaux, N., Jayanthi, M., Dimino, J., Proctor, P., Morris, J., &

Gersten, R. (2014). Teaching academic content and literacy to English

learners in elementary and middle school. IES Practice Guide. NCEE 2014-

4012. What Works Clearinghouse

Clegg, J., & Afitska, O. (2011). Teaching and learning in two languages in

African classrooms. Comparative Education, 47(1), 61-77.

DelGiudice, M. (2018). Middle childhood: An evolutionary-developmental

synthesis. In Handbook of Life Course Health Development (pp. 95-107).

Springer, Cham.

Earl, L. M. (2012). Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to

maximize student learning. Corwin Press.

García, O., & Wei, L., Eds. (2014). Translanguaging in education:

Principles, implications and challenges. In Translanguaging: Language,

Bilingualism and Education. 119-135. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765_8

Griffith, D., & Slade, S. (2018). A whole child umbrella. Educational

Leadership: The Promise of Social-Emotional Learning, 76(2), 36–38.

Harris, T., & Hodges, R. (1995). The literacy dictionary: The vocabulary of

reading and writing. Newark, DE; International Reading Association,

Literacy online. Retrieved from http://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/Literacy-

Online/Planning-for-my-students-needs/Effective-Literacy-Practice-Years-1-

4/Approaches-to-teaching-reading

Miiro, G., Rutakumwa, R., Nakiyingi-Miiro, J., Nakuya, K., Musoke, S.,

Namakula, J., ... & Weiss, H. A. (2018). Menstrual health and school ENISCUS):

A feasibility study. BMC Women's Health, 18(1), 4.

Numeracy K-12 Policy, Department of Education, New South Wales, Australia:

http://numeracyskills.com.au/teachers-role

Paul, L., Simon, G., & Fennig, C. (2016). Ethnologue: Languages of the

world. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.

Sherris, A. (2008). Integrated content and language instruction. CAL digest.

Tikly, L. (2016). Language-in-education policy in low-income, postcolonial

contexts: Towards a social justice approach. Comparative Education, 52(3): 408-

425.

Tompkins, G., Campbell, R., Green, D., & Smith, C. (2014). Literacy for the 21st

century. Australia: Pearson.

Ampiah, J. G., & Adu-Yeboah, C. (2009). Mapping the incidence of school

dropouts: A case study of communities in Northern Ghana. Comparative

Education, 45(2), 219-232. DOI: 10.1080/03050060902920625

Zuilkowski, S. S., Jukes, M. C., & Dubeck, M. M. (2016). “I failed, no matter how

hard I tried”: A mixed-methods study of the role of achievement in primary school

dropout in rural Kenya. International Journal of Educational Development, 50,

100-107.

More Information

Thank you !

Patience Sowa, Ph.D

Snr Research Education Analyst

RTI International

psowa@rti.org