Nudges to Improve Learning and Gender Parity: Preliminary findings on supporting parent-child educational engagement during Covid-19 using mobile phones

Resource type
Report
Authors/contributors
Title
Nudges to Improve Learning and Gender Parity: Preliminary findings on supporting parent-child educational engagement during Covid-19 using mobile phones
Abstract
Key words: parental education engagement; caregiver engagement; nudges; text messages; schooling; learning; Ghana; gender In this study we evaluate a digital intervention to improve low-literate caregivers’ engagement with their children’s education and development in rural Ghana during the Covid-19 pandemic. The programme was a text-message-based behavioural change intervention for parents / caregivers that aimed to improve caregiver engagement in children’s educational activities, caregiver beliefs about returns to education, as well as children’s learning, enrollment, attendance, and gender parity in education. This household-randomised trial, conducted in the North East, Northern, Savannah, Upper East, and Upper West regions of Ghana, tested four variations of the intervention, varying both duration and a gender-parity focus. Households were randomised to one of five conditions: (i) regular behavioural nudges, 12 weeks; (ii) gender-boost behavioural nudges, 12 weeks; (iii) regular behavioural nudges, 24 weeks; (ii) gender-boost behavioural-nudges, 24 weeks; or (v) control. The interventions were implemented from January to April 2021 (for the 12-week groups) and January to June 2021 (for the 24-week groups). We collected data at midline (April–June 2021) and endline (August–September 2021). Our preliminary results suggest that a short, light-touch, SMS-based intervention can change caregiver behaviours and child outcomes in a rural, low-literate sample. However, the results were complex and intervention effectiveness depended on the caregiver having minimum levels of schooling. For caregivers with no education (65% of the sample), the intervention only increased caregiver expectations on reaching the desired level of education, especially among girls, but reduced educational engagement and some measures of children’s school enrollment and attendance. Educational engagement among Ghanaian caregivers is low relative to peer countries (Bornstein & Putnick, 2012; McCoy et al., 2018). The findings suggest that caregivers may need a base level of capital and resource (e.g., exposure to formal education) to enact the messages and increase their educational engagement with their children. Without this base level of capital, messages may increase caregivers’ aspirations for their children without providing enough support to change educational investments in positive ways. An output of the EdTech Hub, https://edtechhub.org
Report Type
Technical Report
Institution
EdTech Hub
Date
2022-02-18
Language
en
Call Number
0083
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Citation
Aurino, E., Tsinigo, E., & Wolf, S. (2022). Nudges to Improve Learning and Gender Parity: Preliminary findings on supporting parent-child educational engagement during Covid-19 using mobile phones [Technical Report]. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.0083