Opportunities and Challenges in Household-Based Assessment of Life Skills

Abstract

AbstractHousehold-based assessments (HBA) in education are novel. Conducting household-based learning assessments has long been associated with non-government organisations as evidenced in India, other parts of South Asia, East, West and Southern Africa, and the Americas. The use of HBA to measure life skills expands the use of this approach that was long characterised by assessing foundational literacy and numeracy skills. Experiences from the Assessment of Life Skills and Values (AliVE) by the Regional Educational Learning Initiative (RELI) reveal that opportunities for using HBA to measure life skills are immense. Through a collaborative initiative, ALIVE as a process delivered a tool that was used across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda mobilising stakeholders among policymakers, education researchers, teachers, civil society organisation leaders, local partner organisations and citizen assessors from areas where a sample of adolescents aged 13–17 was identified, selected and assessed on the value of respect and life skills of self-awareness, problem solving and collaboration. This household-based assessment approach reveals that despite the immense opportunities, there are also challenges. This chapter provides the context of ALiVE, traces the process of implementing ALiVE using the household-based approach, and discusses the opportunities and challenges associated with using HBA in measuring life skills. These opportunities include the ability to capture a larger range of children than can school-based assessments, the liberalisation of assessments, the inbuilt advocacy and technology opportunities, the deepening of external accountability systems, and engagement capabilities. Among the challenges discussed in using HBA for measuring life skills is the need to identify and define the purpose, the complexity of identifying groups to assess, the logistical challenges in implementation and associated costs, difficulties in scheduling, and the reality that still not all children will be reached. Despite this set of challenges, HBA demonstrate the opportunities that exist outside school to provide data at large scale for reporting and advocacy.