Good school study process evaluation: Exploring delivery, adoption and reach of the good school toolkit intervention in Ugandan primary schools

Introduction: Results from the Good Schools Study cluster randomised controlled trial indicate a 42% reduction in physical violence from teachers to students at school. The aim of this analysis is to explore delivery and... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction: Results from the Good Schools Study cluster randomised controlled trial indicate a 42% reduction in physical violence from teachers to students at school. The aim of this analysis is to explore delivery and adoption of the Toolkit by schools and the extent to which different actors in the school context were engaged in the intervention; to help understand how the Toolkit has such a large impact and why the impact may differ between students and schools.
Methods: We draw on data from our 2014 cross-sectional trial endline student (n=1921) and staff (n=283) surveys conducted in 21 schools receiving the Toolkit and process data collected prospectively during 18 month Toolkit implementation. Process data: Delivery: Raising Voices program implementation data, school-led Toolkit activities, Adoption: School level observations; Reach: survey data on individual Toolkit exposure. Associations between Toolkit exposure and physical violence from staff are explored using logistic regression.

Results: Process data shows some variation in number of reported school-led Toolkit activities reported by the schools, similar levels of Toolkit exposure across schools and variation level of physical violence in schools post intervention. Findings suggest an increased number of school-led activities may lead to more student exposure to the Toolkit and that individual students that are more exposed to the Toolkit have a 24% reduction in odds of experiencing physical violence from staff in last week (aOR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.67-0.86) and teachers that report more exposure to the Toolkit have a 23% reduction in odds of reporting use of physical violence against students in last term (aOR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.60-0.99).

Conclusion: Students and staff with higher levels of engagement with the Toolkit, show higher reductions in violence, supporting the idea that the Toolkit might work by improving mutual understanding through knowledge and participation in the Good School Toolkit activities.