Embrace technology to improve teaching and assessment of learners

 

For years, capacity challenges in education have exerted immense pressure on national education policies and curricula. The need for effective testing and assessment programmes, particularly in the context of Africa’s diverse and complex linguistic landscape remains critical. Addressing these challenges requires a fresh approach, one that embraces technology as a key enabler of sustainable educational outcomes.

One way for schools and teaching institutions to ease capacity challenges is to continually incorporate technology into teaching and assessment of learners. Technology, which has become a crucial part of our daily lives, offers unmatched potential for information gathering and dissemination. This potential is important given the multi-lingual reality across the continent, making embedding technology within assessment and testing programmes a necessity to sustain positive outcomes to transform its youth into global citizens.  

The Covid-19 pandemic further exposed and exacerbated education gaps globally, but the impact was severe in less developed regions like sub-Saharan Africa. While attempts to continue teaching were made, the limitations in teaching and assessing students, especially in environments with limited school resources, were evident. Stakeholders did their best to find equitable solutions, and it was those institutions that successfully integrated technology that saw the greatest benefits.

On this evidence, there is a clear need for employers to engage in a regular and open dialogue with educational authorities and institutions. Supporting this requires a holistic and collaborative approach to educational reform, the need for assessments to set standards, which is a common thread around the world.

Africa is a young, vibrant, and linguistically rich continent with over 1.5 billion people and more than 3,000 language varieties - making it the most linguistically diverse region in the world - and this presents a unique backdrop for exploring the complexities of language assessment. Approximately 70 per cent of the population is under 30 years of age, and this generation is now leveraging their linguistic diversity to embark on a new era in innovation, trade, and education to create opportunities for themselves and their communities.

It was against this backdrop that the British Council held its flagship New Directions Conference in Language Assessment in sub-Saharan Africa in September 2024. The conference served as a platform for stakeholders from around the world to interact and share ideas on education policy and assessment, especially as it relates to Africa’s complex linguistic environment. One of the key themes explored was how African governments can leverage the potential of technology to support and enhance the effectiveness of available teaching and assessment mechanisms.

Despite its proven impact on teaching and assessment, technological adoption remains below the global average in many sub-Saharan Africa countries. In fact, a 2019 study conducted in the Mbeya, Tanzania, found that despite the progress made in expanding digital infrastructure, there are significant disparities in connectivity, device availability, and digital literacy, which disproportionately affect marginalised communities, limiting their ability to leverage technology for language acquisition. However, promising initiatives, such as community-driven programmes, strategic partnerships, and mobile-based learning platforms, demonstrate potential for enhancing language proficiency and promoting inclusive access to educational resources.

Further, the research underscores the importance of a holistic, multifaceted approach, including investments in infrastructure development, teacher training, and the creation of contextualised digital content that aligns with local linguistic and cultural dynamics.

Mr Adhikari is the Director of Examinations in Nigeria at British Council. Mr Parry is the Director of English and School Education for sub-Saharan Africa at British Council