ESRC – FCDO Raising Learning Outcomes (RLO) programme. A synthesis of outputs produced from Call 2: ‘Challenging Contexts’

This paper synthesises the evidence produced by five projects funded under Call 2 for challenging contexts. This synthesis is based on review of the available literature produced by the RLO-funded projects across the second call as well as relevant outputs from the Impact Initiative. It forms the second of three such syntheses, with the other two focusing on ‘Effective Teaching’ (Call 1) and ‘Accountability’ (Call 3). These syntheses aim to present common and differentiated findings across the RLO research grants – focusing particularly on what the research tells us regarding how to improve learning outcomes, how these findings are situated within the wider literature on education and improving learning outcomes, and the policy lessons and achieving impact emerging from this analysis. The syntheses focus specifically on important cross-cutting themes such as gender and girls’ education, education for children with disabilities, and education systems. Table 1 summarises the evidence discussed within this synthesis paper. Figure 1 illustrates the geographic spread of where the projects under this theme are based.