Ghana.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) formally requested EPG to support the design of a new contract-managed Public-Private Partnership (PPP) pilot to promote innovation in management practices and improve learning outcomes in poor performing government schools. The pilot became known as the Ghana Partnership Schools (GPS) project.

EPG collaborated with key officials from across the MoE to co-design the GPS pilot project and lay the foundations for its successful implementation. This included looking at the system-wide enabling environment for a PPP, such as accountability mechanisms and visibility of school performance across the system.

In February 2019, implementation of the GPS pilot was paused by the MoE following concerns raised by the teacher’s unions. As the pilot paused, EPG expanded its technical support on accountability mechanisms by partnering with the MoE, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the RISE programme at the University of Oxford to develop an Accountability for Learning Framework to outline the accountability relationships involved in the provision of basic education. The resulting framework examined key system-wide processes that focus on accountability for learning, such as: school inspections; national large-scale assessments; school monitoring and supervision; and the Education Management Information System (EMIS).

Additionally, EPG and education researcher Dr. Joanna Härmä were jointly commissioned by the IDP Foundation to undertake a study exploring the school and household-related factors that might be influencing learning disparities between government and private schools in Ghana.

EPG drafted a report entitled ‘The Ghana Partnership Schools: Reflections on the past and future’ to provide key recommendations to the government in reviving plans to pilot the GPS project in future. EPG also finalised the summary report exploring learning disparities between government and private schools in Ghana.

EPG delivered the final draft of the Accountability for Learning framework to the Ministry, accompanied by a technical report and further recommendations to assist in strengthening the alignment of the accountability system to learning.

Lastly, the MoE’s National School Inspections Authority (NaSIA) requested that EPG support the development of a new School Certification and Licensing Policy, covering School Licensing, Certification, and Accreditation for both private and public pre-tertiary schools.

Led by NaSIA, EPG has supported the policy development process of the School Certification and Licensing Policy through coordinating the drafting process, and facilitating regular consultations with the External Technical Working Group to review and provide feedback on several drafts, before finalisation.