Counting on teachers

Grade 1 is a pivotal year that shapes how children learn for years to come. But when those foundations are weak, they may struggle to keep up. In Sierra Leone, where only a third of Grade 2 students demonstrate basic numeracy skills, the stakes are high. That’s why in 2024 the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), with support from UNICEF and the Global Partnership for Education, launched an ambitious plan: training every Grade 1 teacher and school leader in the country to implement structured pedagogy – a highly cost-effective approach to improving foundational learning and one of the “great buys” of the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP). 

No matter how carefully designed, any great buys need to put the teacher at the center to succeed. Distributing structured lesson plans and workbooks – one of the core components of structured pedagogy – is a key step, but people need specific training on how to make the most of these instruments. The MBSSE invested nearly $230 per training participant so they would be ready for the new method. Over 12,500 teachers and school leaders across all districts attended a one-week workshop.

Given the significant investment, we wanted to know if it worked and why - and how to make sure the gains last.

Teacher skills improved including for those lagging behind

Over 7,500 teachers and leaders completed a standardized test focusing on key instructional skills and use of a new math toolkit — including structured lesson plans and student workbooks with hands-on activities.

The results are promising: test scores not only improved – from 4.9 to 6.8 out of 9 on average – but teachers with the lowest starting scores improved the most. In addition, gains were consistent across gender, age, and years of experience.

Why it worked: practice, creativity and local leadership

What made the training effective? Feedback from over 5,600 participants highlighted four key elements:

• Mock lessons allowed teachers to practice delivery in classroom-like settings
• Use of everyday objects — bottle caps, stones, sticks — sparked creativity in adapting lessons where standard materials are lacking
• Small group ratios (1 trainer for 15–37 participants) enabled interaction and real-time feedback
• District leaders’ involvement boosted motivation and coordination

This combination of hands-on learning and local ownership was central to the training’s success.

Look beyond the big training event

While average scores improved, 30 per cent of training participants showed no improvement or even a decline on the post-test. Moreover, with high teacher turnover in Sierra Leone, large-scale national trainings can’t happen often enough to reach every new recruit. How can we make sure that training reaches them for the years to come?

Our data highlights a potential solution: engage school principals and district education officers to provide ongoing, local support. These leaders scored consistently higher than teachers on the post-training test. And they can provide a cost-effective, regular and contextualized coaching approach, working around school timetables and engaging with school management committees and parents’ associations.

Real change doesn’t end with the workshop

Training 12,500 teachers was a major achievement — but transformative change requires more than a one-week workshop. It requires a shift from event-based training to embedded, continuous support.

Sierra Leone has shown that it’s possible, even in resource-constrained settings, to improve instructional skills at scale. The next step is to decentralize that support, empower headteachers and local education officers, and invest in peer learning through teacher-led communities of practice. This not only reduces costs but builds ownership and relevance within national education systems. Because ultimately, the success of education reform lies in the hands of teachers in the classroom.

These insights and more will feature in a forthcoming policy brief, while our research will continue to follow the journey of structured pedagogy in Sierra Leone from the training hall into the classroom. This research was made possible through the generous support of the Global Partnership of Education and the What Works Hub for Global Education.