EQUALITY INSTRUCTION TOWARDS ACCESS AND BASIC EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT (QITABI) & QITABI 2 LEBANON

The QITABI activity, implemented between September 2014 and February 2020, focused on improving Arabic reading outcomes for children in grades 1 to 4 in 260 public schools, enhancing the physical learning environment of schools, and equipping 300 schools with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) resource rooms and supplying 100 school buses. QITABI 2, a follow-up activity (2019-2024), is implemented through a consortium led by World Learning Inc., with several additional partners, including International Rescue Committee (IRC), who leads the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) component, and American Lebanese Language Center, who leads the development of French reading and writing materials. QITABI 2 focuses on improving student performance in Math, SEL, and three languages (Arabic, English, and French) for students in grades 1 to 6 of all 887 public schools and some private schools. The QITABI activity implicitly fostered social and emotional development and well-being of young children by creating a safe classroom environment and establishing positive teacher-student relationships. This laid the groundwork for QITABI 2's full-fledged and explicit SEL approach. QITABI's definition of learning outcomes has expanded from literacy skills applying the Balanced Learning Approach (BLA) to one that is inclusive of social, emotional, and cognitive skills using the Holistic Learning Approach (HLA). QITABI's contextualization process has been comprehensive and intentional. After finalizing the SEL skills and competencies framework through an empirical study with teachers and principals, the SEL scope and sequence currently being used will be revised and measurement tools will be designed accordingly. QITABI supported social and emotional development of children by establishing a child-friendly classroom environment and improved teacher-student relationships. QITABI has worked through the national education system, ensuring sustainability of the activity. QITABI 2 is supporting the institutionalization of SEL into Arabic, English, French, and Math curriculum across all six grades in basic education, as part of the national curriculum reform. The QITABI 2 team is working closely with CERD and MEHE-DOPS and has finished identifying and mapping SEL-related objectives within the current curriculum. SEL was incorporated into the QITABI activity mainly through the following key entry points: by supporting teacher instructional practices through training of trainers and teacher mentors, by integrating with Arabic lessons through leveled classroom libraries, and by creating a safe and caring classroom structure using circle times. QITABI trained 19 CERD trainers and 41 Arabic language MEHE-DOPS mentors on QITABI's EGR (Early Grade Reading)-BLA training curriculum. QITABI also supported the trainers and mentors in planning and conducting the trainings for 1,060 teachers across 260 schools. QITABI 2 uses stand-alone, focused SEL lessons and partnership across family-school-community contexts as additional entry points to integrate SEL in addition to the above. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the team successfully created SEL-integrated Arabic, French, English, and Math instructional e-learning materials for grade one through six, aligned with the CERD's 13-week condensed curriculum. The instructional videos were also supplemented with respective teacher training materials as well as stand-alone SEL-e-learning materials. The sustainability of QITABI was ensured by working through and building capacity of the existing government structures rather than creating a parallel system. In addition to the training, teachers received regular coaching support throughout the year. QITABI's teacher professional development component was implemented mostly through the existing MEHE-DOPS and CERD structure to ensure sustainability of the approach. Building on QITABI's success in strengthening the national education system, QITABI 2 is institutionalizing some of the earlier efforts.