Blog

Children playing together as part of the CUP's learning activities

Struggle, adaptation, and hope: Reframing catch-up learning beyond external solutions

by Claire Hedges, Janelle Zwier, Ale Okada, Margaret Ebubedike.

How can children’s and communities’ experiences drive foundational learning programmes that are rooted in their realities? How can schools and communities be helped to figure out and define what is meaningful and effective for the children they nurture—building belief, capacity, and a shared sense of success and what this can look like for different children? What tools and structures can be co-created or surfaced to help explore possibilities beyond constrained notions of 'localisation' or externally framed 'problems'? And what is the role of formal education systems in embedding, scaling, and sustaining these innovations—and how open are they to transformation?

Teacher Education in sub-Saharan Africa - TESSA

by Dr Kris Stutchbury and Emeritus Professor Bob Moon

2025 marks 20 years since Teacher Education in sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA www.tessafrica.net) was launched by an OU-led consortium of institutions from 9 countries. The TESSA Open Educational Resources (OER) remain relevant and useful as Governments all over sub-Saharan Africa realise the benefits of teacher-led ‘communities of practice’ as a mechanism to support teacher professional development.

a photo of a drawing showing a sketch of a line of discovery of a midwife

I never thought I'd be sitting here writing poetry about abortion, but here I am.

by Martha Nicholson (The Open University, UK)

Co-producing knowledge is often proposed as way to ‘build bridges’ and establish equitable partnerships between academic institutions and research participants in the health system. But how might the co-production of knowledge and policy-relevant recommendations with health professionals work in practice?

a photo of a woman holding her hand to her face, on her fingers she has written you are not an object

Does it matter if it’s true or not?

by Dr Jane Doka (The Open University, UK)

I had just finished data analysis and was about to write up my findings for my study, which explored the education experiences of six girls in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) who were characterised as ‘marginalised’. These girls had been recruited onto a vocational education and training programme by an international organisation, which sought to improve their lives through training them in skills for their livelihood.

Better collaborations to support children’s learning and development: how do we recognise learning teams?

by Dr Alison Buckler (The Open University, UK), Freda Wolfenden (The Open University, UK)

How can the expertise of diverse actors be harnessed to ensure all children can access productive learning opportunities that support their aspirations? Over the past seven years we have been exploring this question with our partners at the Learning Generation Initiative (LGI).

Striking a balance between the individual and the community through an extended understanding of marginalisation

by Dr Jennifer Agbaire (The Open University, UK), Dr Kris Stutchbury (The Open University, UK) and John Phiri (World Vision Zambia)

Joseph is a volunteer teacher in a rural community school in Zambia. The school has recently been upgraded to a Government school as part of efforts to raise the status and improve the conditions of such schools which serve some of the poorest and most marginalised populations in the country. Joseph set up the school several years before.