Evaluating ICT for Education in Africa - Royal Holloway, University of ...

ecause the children could forget what they had previously learnt butexternal factors of government agenda and EuroTalk schedule meant that itwas unavoidable. In order that control schools did not forfeit potentialeducational benefits as a result of their position within the study it wasensured that these five schools received the intervention three months afterthe test schools once the control period was complete.Three significant challenges were encountered in designing andimplementing the baseline survey in Malawi. First, regular explanation wasrequired to ensure that the staff in the schools understood that they could notselect the most academically capable children for the baseline test. In Mbinzi(02/10/07) a teacher suggested that the students chosen at random from theclassroom were not appropriate and that I should pick more capable ones. Mycolleague, Paola Masperi, Manager of EuroTalk (07/03/08), noted the linkwith their perceptions of the rationale for the tests and explained:„Because the teachers understood the children were beingtested they tried to push forward the best performing ones ... alot of this is due to the inspection culture, it is how they arerated and how their performance is measured.‟Because of this tendency, it was always necessary for me to be present whenthe selection of students was taking place. This was confirmed by OstarChagamba, Coordinating PEA for Zomba (05/03/08) when he was asked toevaluate the monitoring and evaluation process and noted:„Make sure that you do not let the teachers choose the childrenfor the test because they will pick the best students, those thatdo best in class – you need to choose them yourself.‟Second, it was more difficult than anticipated to locate the same childrenbetween pre- and post- test baselines due to them transferring schools orbeing absent. Despite considerable efforts to locate them, only 80 of theinitial 120 children were present for the second test. This was exacerbated bythe fact that teachers, as at Chingombe (05/03/08), expressed surprise thatthe baseline required the same children for both pre- and post- tests. This164