Abstract
Worldwide, pedagogical culture in schools is didactic, emphasizing one-way knowledge flows, limiting student learning. We study innovations at teacher training institutions in Uganda to reverse this towards a “culture of learning.” Teachers are trained to apply scientific approaches to improve their practice. A coordination structure generates spillovers to transform system-level practice. With these ingredients in place, change takes place through three steps. First, the initial training empowers teachers to use action-research to continuously improve their pedagogy, fostering dynamic, learner-centered, environments both inside and outside the classroom. Second, teachers form communities of practice, where collective reflection leads to a shared analysis of effective practices, enabling continuous improvement and adaptation. Finally, as communities grow and are coordinated by key actors, the program catalyzes a systemic shift, attracting untrained schools and teachers to participate. This embeds a culture of continuous learning that improves and grows independently, benefiting students on a larger scale. Our research seeks to understand how effects of this intervention, dubbed the "Learning to Learn" (LTL) approach, spread and sustain change over time. In this light, we ask: What density of teachers must be trained for effects to spread? How do the extent and speed of spillovers depend on a “coordinator”? What conditions cause a culture of learning to emerge, with dynamically increasing effects on learning? Our design involves randomizing characteristics of the implementation process at three levels: clusters (groups of schools), schools, and teachers. Answers will inform future scale-up plans beyond a single context, including how many teachers to target, what coordinating structures support impact, and conditions of long-lasting change.