Jolly Phonics in Amhara Region, Ethiopia

The dedicated Together We Learn team, in and out of country, have been collaborating with the Regional Education Bureau for several years piloting Jolly Phonics. After impressive results it was agreed that Jolly Phonics, a fast track English reading and writing programme, would be rolled out to 200 schools in Amhara region, across 8 centres. Together We Learn, in partnership with the Amhara Regional Education Bureau and Jolly Futures, trained Grade 1 teachers in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia in October 2022.

The talented Ethiopian trainers Elsa Kebede and Zemene Mersha were able to ensure that the training was accessible for all teachers through translation into Amharic where needed. The teachers rated the training highly and reported enjoying being active participants during the sessions. A sample of teachers, before and after the training, completed a skills test. The results indicated a significant increase in teachers abilities to identify and count sounds in words as well as explain the key skills for reading and writing.

The Regional Education Bureau (REB) supported the rollout by catering for the venue, teacher transport and feeding which maximised the impact of the training for the 400+ Grade 1 teachers who attended. The strong support from REB has continued post training through their diligent monitoring and mentoring. The training team sensitised REB Officials in Jolly Phonics as well as how to use the revolutionary smartphone monitoring app, the Jolly Monitor.

During the Jolly Monitor App training the Officials were shown how to observe a lesson as well as conduct reading assessments with pupils. In the past three months there have been an impressive 154 school visits. The on-going monitoring and mentoring of these teachers has increased the impact of the training.

Pupil Books for 24,000 Grade 1 Pupils and classroom teaching materials for 400+ teachers were generously donated by Jolly Learning Ltd, the publisher of Jolly Phonics. These materials were distributed to all schools after each cohort of teacher training.

Together We Learn have used the data collected in the Jolly Monitor App to identify areas where teachers needed refresher training. Zemene Mersha has been moving around Amhara Region delivering a two day refresher training for each cohort of Grade 1 teachers previously trained in October 2022. This training has addressed any matters arising with the application of Jolly Phonics and then reinforced the second stage of the programme where teachers are introducing the alternative spellings for the 42 basic sounds. During this second stage of the programme teachers are encouraged to scaffold their grade 1 pupils to be able to independently read and write English, at a basic level, by the end of the academic year.

We are very grateful to the support from all the key stakeholders. We recognise the generous donation from Jolly Learning Ltd, the commitment from the Regional Education Bureau and the passionate training team. Together We Learn are grateful to the Waterloo Foundation, the Baillie Gifford Foundation and the Alan and Nesta Ferguson Trust for their funding support for the project.