{"id":754,"date":"2023-04-22T05:53:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T04:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/rumpus\/?page_id=754"},"modified":"2025-06-26T19:59:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T18:59:36","slug":"cup","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/rumpus\/index.php\/projects\/cup\/","title":{"rendered":"CUP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catch Up – foundational literacy, numeracy and social emotional learning skills<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Principal Investigator:<\/strong>\u00a0Dr Ale Okada<\/a>\u00a0(OU)
\nCo-Investigator:<\/strong>\u00a0Dr Margaret Ebubedike<\/a>\u00a0(OU)
\nImplementing partner:\u00a0<\/strong>World Vision
\nFocus countries:\u00a0<\/strong>Chile, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe
\nMembers:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Dr Keetie Roelen<\/a>\u00a0(OU),\u00a0Claire Hedges<\/a>\u00a0(OU)
\nExpert Advisors:<\/strong>\u00a0Prof Kwame Akyeampong<\/a>\u00a0(OU), Prof Peter Gray (External)
\nFunders:<\/strong> USA-WV<\/p>\n

World Vision initiated the\u00a0Catch-Up Programme (CUP)<\/a>\u00a0in response to COVID-19 education disruption.<\/p>\n

CUP focuses on the acquisition of early-grade foudational skills of vulnerable children aged 6-13 who have experienced educational disruption. This includes\u00a0 literacy, numeracy and social emotional learning. The program was developed to help them recover lost learning and return to education .<\/p>\n

The programme is designed to provide safe, play-based, inclusive, enjoyable(fun) and carefully sequenced instruction at the right level that also addresses the SEL\u00a0 social emotional learning of children.<\/p>\n

The three key actions of the CUP project are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Mobilizes communities to support children\u2019s learning.<\/li>\n
  2. Supports the well-being of community facilitators.<\/li>\n
  3. Forges partnerships with schools and teachers to provide holistic support.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Open University is conducting mixed-methods research to evaluate the implementation, effectiveness, relevance, and adaptation of the program in Chile (humanitarian setting), Ethiopia (conflict setting), and Zimbabwe (development setting). The research aims to identify strengths, challenges, and opportunities to improve learning experiences and outcomes for these children.<\/p>\n

    Our Research Objectives are:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Design, support, implement, and validate SELIC (Social Emotional Learning in Context) to ensure relevance and effectiveness<\/li>\n
    • Strengthen evidence of CUP\u2019s effectiveness and adaptability for children\u2019s recovery learning in diverse, low-tech, crisis-affected contexts.<\/li>\n
    • Develop and share proof-of-concept outputs\u2014policy briefs, mobile resources, and reports\u2014to support programme visibility, scaling, and sustainability.<\/li>\n
    • Advance participatory, action-oriented research for continuous improvement through webinars, online briefs, and offline digital resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      \"\"<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      The evaluation methodology, underpinned by equity, diversity, and inclusion, using open educational resources (slides, videos, tools), open research (evaluation articles, research briefs), and open science (evaluation data wih open access ).<\/p>\n

      Responsible Research and Innovation aims to strengthen evidence for CUP in real-world implementation contexts for further adaptations and scale.<\/p>\n

      Dr. Okada and her team\u00a0 also developed a new Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Instrument. The SEL self-reflective instrument was designed for children to reflect on their educational experiences supported by social emotional learning.<\/p>\n

      \u201c<\/span><\/span>CUP<\/span><\/span>\u00a0is helping to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>bridge the gap in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>learning \r\ncreated by\u00a0<\/span><\/span>COVID<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Headteacher in Zimbabwe<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/pre>\n
       <\/p>\n