Research to improve education in Africa

An OU-led research project which takes a play-based approach to learning to improve education in early years education in Africa, has received funding.

Right to Play (RTP), a global organisation based in Canada which seeks to promote the use of play in improving learning for children, has awarded the OU project led by Kwame Akyeampong, Professor of Education and Development in the OU’s Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, $500,000 CAD to support its Partners in Play project in Ghana, which uses play to re-imagine learning by placing emphasis on physical, social, emotional, cognitive and creative skills in the teaching and learning process.

The project aims to improve the quality of education for Ghanaian girls and boys aged 4-12 through a scalable and replicable Learn Through Play (LtP) model. The project will reach 689,920 children, representing three levels of intervention in three regions in Ghana. An additional 2.5 million children in Ghana will benefit from LtP over the next four years

Professor Akyeampong and his team, Dr Eric Addae-Kyeremeh, Dr Jane Cullen and Dr Helen Hendry, will produce evidence to facilitate discussion and learning regarding the project’s best practices among beneficiaries, community members, RTP staff, and institutional stakeholders. The research will also provide evidence for future policy on quality education in Ghanaian schools.

He said:

“This research grant offers us a unique opportunity to contribute to the global research on learning through play. Not much of this research has been the subject of large-scale research in the sub-Saharan Africa context which makes winning this grant so important for The Open University. Winning this grant is also a recognition of the expertise in early years learning in Africa at The Open University”.

Find out more about research in the OU’s Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies