Knowledge briefs for the implementation of Call to Action 3

Highlights

These briefs are part of a series about social and behaviour change in education. It is meant to make you think out of the box, reflect, ponder, and get inspired about the potential that social and behaviour change in education presents to ensure every child can learn in a safe and enabling environment. Rather than being a guidance, the briefs provide a snapshot of programmatic thinking and case examples, as well as a collection of resources, which you can use to continue exploring and unleashing the potential of Social and Behaviour Change in Education.

SBC in Education: Ending violence in, around and through schools

Schools and education systems are central to ending violence against children in all settings. The education sector has a key role to play in addressing harmful social and gender norms, behaviors, stereotypes, and unequal gender and power dynamics that may be reproduced in schools and education systems and communities beyond. This brief provides case examples on how Call to Action 3 on shifting social and gender norms and promoting behavior change and the application of a whole of school approach, can advance violence prevention and response in, around, and through schools.

SBC in Education: Education in Emergencies

In communities with large numbers of displaced people, adults and children alike often exhibit symptoms of traumatic stress. Violence

against children - and between children - may be more prevalent due to fear, ongoing traumatisation, and insufficient access to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). This knowledge brief seeks to showcase how we can better address this through a coherent social and behavior change approach building on cross-sectoral interventions among organisational partners in support of affected children, families, and educators in emergencies. It provides two case examples of emerging work in Egypt and the Central African Republic (CAR) on applying social and behavior change strategies to advance education in emergencies and protracted crises.

SBC in Education: Teaching and Leading

Teachers are key for the student learning experience. This knowledge brief offers an illustration of innovative, emerging initiatives to improve teacher quality by supporting teachers and changing teacher behaviors. It offers insights to how social and behavior change can advance transformative teaching and learning. The case illustrations offer insights into the ways that engaging teachers in values deliberation can address conscious and unconscious biases, and innovative training can shift teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, mindsets, expectations, and behaviors.

SBC in Education: Early Childhood Development (ECD)

This knowledge brief illustrates how using social and behaviour change approaches can advance ECD and improve foundational learning. The brief offers innovative and proven insights on how to support young children to develop cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial skills that are essential for well-being and learning achievement in the early childhood and primary years by using an evidence-based approach to learning through play. The examples show interventions that apply across the socio-ecological framework, and effectively integrates the individual, caregiver, community, and institutional/teacher level support for early learning. Pre-primary education systems also hold an immense potential to tackle gender inequalities and address harmful social and gender norms and stereotypes before they are absorbed by the youngest learners – hence creating the grounds for changing deeply rooted social systems that uphold inequalities.