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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