Educational Capacity Building in Fiji

Dear Supporters, 

The GVI Fiji team have been at both Navunisea District School (NDS) and Dawasamu District School (DDS) since the start of the new school year, working with all of the children to assess their reading levels. 

Prior to school starting, the volunteers were trained on how to administer the reading record assessments consistently through a combination of demonstrations, paired role-plays and observations.  Staff and volunteers with previous experience of reading record testing at NDS last year, paired up with new volunteers so that the testing process was carried out as fairly and consistently as possible.  

Testing the Students

During the test, one volunteer was responsible for reading and asking comprehension questions, while the other took notes. Using these notes the volunteers were able to assess which level the children could read independently, thus assigning them a reading level. Children often read several books until the appropriate level was found, sometimes this process was carried out over two days so that the child was not out of class for longer than 30 minutes at any time.

We were able to identify non-readers and mechanical readers. A non-reader is a child that doesn't yet know the English sounds and can't blend letters to make words. A mechanical reader is a child who is unable to comprehend what they have read. 

For these children, a different test has been formed, which assesses their knowledge of letters and sounds, blending these sounds to read words as well as basic comprehension of these words. The test was administered in the same way as the reading record testing.

We are now able to say that all children at both NDS and DDS have been tested for the first time since January 2016.

What does it mean? 

Going forward, we are working towards creating a rotation of different reading tests that can be read with children at both schools at the start of each term, in January, April and August. This will enable us to monitor the progress of each child in the school, putting in place targeted interventions if necessary for particular students. This data will also be frequently shared with class teachers at both schools, making them more aware of the work GVI do in Dawasamu and the impact it has.

This information is incredibly valuable for class teachers as well as future volunteers, as it shows which phonic phase the children have learnt up to and where they need more practice.At the end of the academic year we will be able to see if there is a positive correlation between the children attending reading groups and their progress in reading record tests, and reflect and adapt our education programme accordingly.

Thank you for your support of this project!

With Gratitude, 
GVI Fiji