Ghana Education Evidence Summit
 “Towards Quality Education in Ghana: Using Evidence to Achieve Better Learning Outcomes”
28 March 2017
Call for Papers Announcement

Introduction

Better utilization of evidence in policy and practice can improve learning outcomes.

In the last decade, rigorous field research has yielded a number of important lessons on how to improve learning outcomes. However, existing evidence and its implications for policy decisions are not always readily known among policymakers and practitioners. Meaningful engagement between researchers and policymakers remains limited. As Ghana strives to improve efficiency and enhance quality education delivery, fostering dialogue between researchers and policymakers is critical.

The Ghana Education Evidence Summit will bring together policymakers, researchers and practitioners to: a) share evidence that has been collected about education in Ghana; b) identify ways in which evidence can be used for better decision-making; and c) develop a research agenda to fill the gaps in the existing evidence.

Summit Structure and Goals

The summit will include plenary and panel presentations, roundtable discussions, and workshops to share knowledge on existing evidence, develop skills for identifying quality research, promote evidence-based policy decisions, and develop a research agenda for the education system in Ghana.

The specific goals of the summit are to:

• Share results of high-quality research from practitioners, researchers, and academics doing work in Ghana
• Develop skills for assessing research quality and understanding the implications of research on decision-making
• Provide input for the creation of a research agenda for basic and secondary education delivery in Ghana
• Lay the groundwork for an evidence-sharing space through an online platform on the MoE website

Summit Themes

The summit will be based on the following cross-cutting themes:

• Targeting: scholarships, district grants, school feeding
• Efficiency: how to make gains with minimum resources
• Performance: improving educational outcomes with limited resources
• Skills development
• Private sector provision in basic education

Research Areas

The research areas for consideration include:

• Early grade education
• Languages in education
• Science and mathematics education
• Technical and vocational education
• Teacher education and development
• Curriculum development and implementation (pedagogy)
• Leadership, supervision, accountability and community Involvement

Event Program

Please find at the bottom of this page a concept note for the Summit (PDF download), which includes an outline of the event program.

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Call for Papers

The Ministry of Education is therefore calling for proposals for presentations on research relating to the aforementioned topics.  Authors of accepted proposals may be invited to present their work at the Ghana education evidence summit scheduled to take place on 28^th March 2017.  

All academics, researchers, and practitioners are invited to submit proposals for presentations.

Selection criteria

The criteria for selection include the following:

• Research done in Ghana
• Results available – although the research may or may not have been published yet
• Empirical research
• Rigorous methods (e.g. if causal inference is made, it should be highly credible and rely and reasonable assumptions; if a quantitative descriptive study is done, rigorous sampling should be done, etc.)
• Lessons can be drawn for the whole system (e.g. the data may not be based on a nation-wide representative sample, but the findings need to be relevant to Ghana at large, and have the potential to directly inform government policies and programs)

Call for Papers Timetable:

Timely submission of the papers is critical to the success of the program. The procedures and timetable enumerated below will apply.

1. Proposal Submission Date
   
   Submission of proposals is due on 1st December 2016. Proposals should also be classified based on the topics outlined above. Each paper will be screened to assure its quality of exposition and relevance to the call. The Committee may require further editing of the presentation to bring it to an acceptable standard.

2. Approval of Proposals

By 16^th January 2017, all authors will have been notified as to the results of this screening process.

3. Making the Presentation
   
   Selected authors will be invited to present their findings on 28th March 2017. Each invited author should make every effort to attend the Evidence Summit and present his/her paper in plain, non-technical language, and with clear policy conclusions. Authors based outside of Accra will be provided with accommodation and reimbursement for domestic transportation. Authors based in Accra will be provided with reimbursement for local transportation. These authors will be contacted in advance of the meeting. Presentations will be made on a panel of 1 or 2 additional authors who have written papers within a similar topic. Presentations are expected to be up to 12 minutes long.

4. Submission Guidelines
   
   Proposals must be no more than 5,000 words and should be submitted online at https://goo.gl/forms/mjzZiIxklMLz24MK2. Submissions should be prepared with the following sections

• Title and author
• Name of institution
• Submit abstracts (max 300 words) with keywords (max 5)
• Policy recommendations for Ghana
• Which thematic area research fits into
• Which research area research fits into with short justification
• Type of research
• Type of data (primary, secondary)
• Methodology

Questions may be addressed to Bridget on bkgyamfi@poverty-action.org. Your participation in this summit will help shape the use of research evidence in Ghana and promote evidence informed policy dialogue.