Meet Safari - A Teaching at the Right Level Success Story
After his family fled to Uganda to seek refuge, Safari fell far behind in school. Now, thanks to the Teaching at the Right Level approach, he has the skill and confidence to lead readings at his local church.
As a young refugee in Uganda, Safari struggled to stay in school, much less keep up with his grade level. The transition from a French-speaking school to an English-speaking one was difficult. In a foreign country with little support for refugees, Safari found himself falling further and further behind his peers.
Things changed when Safari was introduced to the Rise Up program, which provides additional learning support for refugee children and prepares them to transition to the mainstream school system. At the heart of the Rise Up program is the “Teaching at the Right Level’s (TaRL)” approach, a methodology that emphasizes meeting students at their current learning level rather than enforcing often unrealistic expectations based on grade level or age alone. TaRL classrooms assess and place students according to their current learning level, not their age. And they allow children the opportunity to express themselves through playful, engaging activities that also teach numeracy and literacy skills.
After just 6 months in the program, Safari’s learning outcomes have significantly improved. In June 2023, Safari successfully transitioned to formal school, where he continues to progress. He is no longer a “beginner” in English and has graduated to “paragraph-level” proficiency.
When we met Safari and his family during our June 2023 visit, they expressed just how thankful they were for the Teaching at the Right Level approach. “It has transformed Safari’s life,” his mother told us. Once unable to participate in his new community, Safari now has the English language skills and confidence to speak publicly at church gatherings.
Safari’s is just one of many success stories of the Teaching at the Right Level approach, and it’s a story we are delighted to share with you through the power of film.
The benefits of the TaRL approach to education include:
- Increased access to education for out-of-school children;
- Increased levels of engagement: students first learn in a language they know and progress with individualized goals that are realistic and achievable;
- Improved numeracy and English language skills;.
- Reduced risks associated with child labor;
- Increased enrollment in mainstream education, particularly in communities where government outreach has proven insufficient;Increased social cohesion and improved relationships among children and parents from diverse nationalities.
Your support for the Teaching at the Right Level approach helps ensure that promising but under-resourced children like Safari get the educational support they need so they can confidently express themselves and enrich their community.
More about Teaching at the Right Level Africa
Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) is a not-for-profit organization that supports governments and organizations across Africa to accelerate children’s foundational skill learning using the evidence-based TaRL approach.
The problem: children are in school but not learning
Educational systems are not well prepared to meet the requirements of pupils who are the first in their family to attend school or who join the school system without having acquired early-learning skills in childhood. Children who miss learning milestones in the early grades often never catch-up, regardless of how many years they spend in school.
The solution: teach students at the right level
At the classroom level, TaRL is a teaching approach that assesses children using a simple testing tool and then groups them according to their learning level rather than their age or grade. For a period of the day, children in middle-upper primary focus on foundational skills using an accelerated learning methodology. They are then regularly assessed rather than relying only on end-of-year examinations.
At the system levels, the TaRL approach works with education policymakers to reorient the system toward effective learning.
