EdData II: Data for Education Research and Programming (derp) in Africa

Successful strategies for developing curriculum and materials for 
multiple grades and languages: Ethiopia case study
In Ethiopia, the USAID READ Technical Assistance project (RTI International 
2013a, 2014a) assisted the Ministry of Education and regional education 
bureaus to revise the L1 (mother tongue) national syllabus for grades 1-8, 
adapt the syllabus for the seven Ethiopian languages most widely spoken as 
L1, and develop student books and teachers’ guides to support the 
development of reading and writing skills in the classroom. Rather than 
selecting a handful of language experts to write the books, materials 
development teams were formed that included teachers, local story writers, 
and language specialists identified by the regional bureaus. These teams 
received intensive training and ongoing support throughout the materials-
development process, which took approximately one year. As a result, more 
than 15 million children will benefit from locally produced, culturally 
appropriate learning materials for L1 reading and writing, while more than 
100 language specialists and educators have gained capacity to develop 
syllabi, scope and sequence and learning materials in L1 languages. The 
government further plans to develop and revise materials in additional 
languages. 

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Strategies to facilitate an efficient materials development process include the following:
•
Language teams can collaborate to develop a common structure and content for teaching 
and learning materials, teachers’ guides, and other supports based on a national 
curriculum, then work separately to translate and adapt them appropriately.
•
Resources can be formatted in a way that allows for multiple languages within the same 
document (i.e., teachers’ guides with information in multiple languages).
•
The capacity of the government, technical experts, and other partners in the country to 
contribute to materials development should also be considered. As noted in the case of 
Ethiopia, capacity developed was an integral part of the process, which required time 
before and during the process of materials development.
•
Schools and community members should be activity engaged in the process as well. For 
example, reading materials can be made by teachers and parents familiar with children’s 
experience and interest, as well as the local context.
As previously mentioned, sufficient, effective instructional time in the early grades is necessary 
to learn to read and write the L1, learn the L2/Lx orally, and learn curricular content. Therefore, 
as part of the curriculum development process, the amount of instructional time available needs 
to be assessed and potentially modified based on the amount of time needed to effectively teach 
target languages and subjects