International Consultancy

Action, CASSME, Handspring, Slovenia, Nigeria, Campfire. The British council has contracted CRIPSAT to study the educational impact of the PCOSP programme (1996-2001). The study will examine the impact of PCOSP nationally on schools, teachers and pupils. Issues to be considered include buildings, furniture and material resources, school organisation and management, community involvement, continuing professional developemnt of teachers, pupil attendance and pupil learning outcomes.

During the course of the evaluation data collection mechanisms have been developed, trialled and implemented which aim to quantify the impact of PCOSP in the following focal areas; teacher uptake of training, changes in teachers' attitudes and behaviours, attendance, changes in school organisation and management. The evaluation of classroom effectiveness is being approached through classroom observation and the development and operationalisation of pupil achievement measures. An important aspect of the development of these pupil achievement measures is that teachers have been involved in both the development of assessment tasks and the curriculum sequences against which pupils' performance will be measured. Teachers' involvement has been crucial in terms of the ecological validity of the pupil achievement measures and developing awareness of pupil learning outcomes.