Patani Malay students in the MTB BE teacher education programme at Yala Rajabhat University.( Thailand) © Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Thailand
Monitoring and evaluation. In Papua New Guinea, a group of people involved in development programmes once described the importance of“ starting small and growing slowly”. They had seen what happens when implementers move too quickly and fail to evaluate progress frequently. Programmes that started with great excitement soon ran into trouble and then failed. A Papua New Guinean who had observed that problem commented that,“ When programmes are started and then fail, it leaves the local community very discouraged. It would be better not to start at all.”
The same is true for MTB MLE programmes. Wise implementers build monitoring and evaluation into every part of the programme and use what they learn to strengthen and sustain it.
Part Two of the Policy Makers’ booklet describes evaluation results from several MTB MLE programs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Those evaluations focus on students’ progress in learning. Student assessments are essential, of course, but monitoring and evaluation of other parts of the programme are also necessary for sustainability.
In successful MTB MLE programmes initial planning is followed by initial implementation and then an evaluation of the programme to that point— sometimes called“ process” or“ formative” evaluations. Programme plans are adapted to build on the strengths and overcome the problems that are identified in the evaluation. This cycle continues as the programme expands to higher grades in each school, to additional schools in the same language community and then to additional languages.
Following are examples of evaluation questions that can help guide the monitoring and evaluation process.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
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