Challenging Barriers to Girls’ Education

Bukola Oyinloye, Faith Mkwananzi and Patience Mukwambo

Education systems foster equity when they intentionally create equal opportunities and provide equitable resources for all learners, regardless of their personal characteristics or background. They move beyond equity and towards inclusion when they recognise and address the diverse experiences and needs of different types of learners and foster their wellbeing (OECD, 2023), while they also provide quality when they are equitable, inclusive and attuned to the attitudes, norms and power dynamics that influence girls’ education.

However, despite significant progress in improving girls’ access to education, challenges remain around the quality of the education girls receive once they secure access (Unterhalter et al., 2014; Sperling and Winthrop, 2016; UNESCO 2020; Psaki et al., 2021, 2022). Addressing constraints in relation to girls’ education therefore remains a priority for governments and development actors globally. However, to do this successfully it is essential that there is a thorough understanding of the intrinsic, pedagogic, systemic and societal barriers that girls face in accessing equitable, inclusive, quality education (British Council, 2017).

Drawing from the British Council’s work in Africa, including research conducted with teachers and school leaders in Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria and Tanzania and a stakeholders’ report from Kenya, this chapter aims to contribute to that understanding. It outlines the key barriers to equitable, inclusive, quality education in four key areas that influence children’s development and learning: the classroom; the school environment; households and communities; and the policy and legal environment.

Key Findings

Inclusive classrooms

Inclusive classrooms provide positive intellectual, social, emotional and physical spaces for children to learn (Ambrose et al., 2010). They are characterised by supportive pedagogy and classroom management, with teachers avoiding gender stereotyping in their actions and stereotypes removed from the curriculum and learning materials. Evidence from the research in Africa suggests that teachers have mixed views about the creation of inclusive classrooms.

Most wanted to have an inclusive classroom and sought to create an inclusive atmosphere; however, some were unable to do so because

their own attitudes and beliefs unconsciously reinforced gender stereotypes or because they lacked resources to enable different teaching and assessment practices.

Inclusive school environment

Inclusive schools promote gender parity in enrolment and achievement, eliminate gender stereotypes and provide girl-friendly facilities, curricula and processes (Sperling and Winthrop, 2016). This includes specific practices such as providing girl-friendly spaces, adequate hygiene and sanitation, support for menstrual hygiene management, sex and life skills education, adequate childcare arrangements for teenage mothers and initiatives to address school affordability. The research evidence suggests that teachers and head teachers value the provision of environments like these, but often this does not translate into practice. Generally, teachers and head teachers were unaware of government sexual and gender-based violence guidelines and there was little training in gender mainstreaming. Budget was limited for provision such as girls’ sport and toilet facilities, while school documents rarely contained explicit gender equality statements. Teachers, head teachers and students all knew about school-related, gender-based violence, but there were limited mechanisms, such as safeguarding, in place to address it.

Inclusive households and communities

Inclusive households and communities hold supportive attitudes and cultural practices around girls’ education and make educational decisions that advantage girls. The research evidence reveals that girls’ schooling is constrained by a combination of intersectional challenges relating to poverty and cultural perspectives and practices, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. High poverty levels meant a lack of money for school fees, uniforms, school supplies and, in extreme cases, hunger and famine. Sometimes, girls supplemented family incomes through hawking and petty businesses. Specific to rural and semi-urban areas were cultural perceptions that girls’ education is of less value than that of boys, parental neglect and child marriages. These challenges resulted in absenteeism and lower completion rates for girls.

Inclusive policy and legal environments

Legislation underpins frameworks for inclusive systems (UNESCO, 2017), while policies attempt to guide what happens in classrooms, schools, households and communities. The research evidence highlights the existence of legislation and policy demonstrating the importance of supporting girls’ education in the classroom (e.g. in relation to gender discrimination), the school environment (e.g. physical safety) and households and communities (e.g. culture, safety). However, the findings suggest that, although considered important, the creation of inclusive schools and girl-friendly spaces is hampered by a lack of knowledge, resources and, in some cases, policies.

Recommendations 

Clarifying understanding

Evidence of mixed perceptions of inclusive practices suggests limited understanding among educators of terminology used in relation to girls’ education and inclusion, which in turn highlights limited training around gender and education. There is a need for greater clarity in the way gender and education are discussed in policy documents, guidelines and documents by international development actors. Relevant classroom or school-level examples of what specific terms mean in practice should be included in such documents.

Collective reflection on gender and education

The findings highlight the challenges teachers and school head teachers face when creating inclusive school environments, not least because teachers are often working on their own. Collective reflections around gender and education should be mainstreamed at the school level, into everyday conversations between teachers (both female and male) and school head teachers, as well as with communities. This will show teachers that the work they are doing is part of a collective action, potentially encouraging them to persist with their efforts. The integration of gender and education issues into school policies and codes of conduct could also help address school-related, gender-based violence, the elimination of which increases girls’ participation rates and enrolment (Sperling and Winthrop, 2016). In contexts where children undertake paid work or have family responsibilities, flexible learning schedules can encourage girls’ enrolment.

Providing training and support on policies

Evidence suggests limited knowledge and understanding of existing national policies and limited school-level implementation. For new policies or updates to existing policies, governments should provide training for school head teachers and, where possible, teachers, who can then sensitise other teachers at the school level. It is important that training is accompanied by adequate and relevant resources, as well as support on how best to apply these resources in a way that promotes inclusive, girl-friendly schools and classrooms. In contexts where school-level policies exist, these should be integrated with national policies.

Building strong school community relationships and partnerships

The findings highlight a range of household and community barriers to girls, including poverty, cultural practices and sexual and other forms of abuse, with some teachers attempting but failing to address issues on their own. Authentic, continuous engagement with communities will help schools to identify ways in which they can better support communities to address barriers to girls’ education. Developing relationships with trusted community leaders and working in partnership withthem to sensitise communities about practices that adversely affect girls’ education can help transform existing power dynamics that currently deprioritise girls’ education (GEC, 2023).

 • Oyinloye, Mkwananzi and Mukwambo wrote on behalf of the British Council.