Evaluation of the South East Asia Primary Learning Metric Programme (SEA-PLM)

Key Facts 

Client: UNICEF East Asia Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) 

Duration: 2019-2021 

Geography: Southeast Asia Regional 

Partners: Cambridge Education/Mott MacDonald 

Solutions:  Evaluation, Assessment 

Across the Southeast Asia region governments are prioritising the improvement of learning outcomes in schools. While many countries in the region have participated in international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), there was a perceived need for a regional assessment to facilitate conversations on learning within the region. To fulfil this need, the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) and UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) developed the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metric Programme (SEA-PLM), a regional large-scale assessment to measure learning outcomes of Grade 5 students in literacy, numeracy, and global citizenship. For the first round of SEA-PLM, six countries (Cambodia, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam) took part, with results being published regionally in late 2020.  

Before moving into planning for the next round of SEA-PLM, UNICEF EAPRO commissioned a regional evaluation of the programme. The purpose of the evaluation was to focus on the national and regional experiences of SEA-PLM’s relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and likely impact as a programme. Cambridge Education/Mott MacDonald were contracted for this evaluation, and they sub-contracted Oxford MeasurEd to lead on case studies for Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as regional data collection and final synthesis.  

Key Activities: 

• Conducted a literature review on the policy impact of ILSAs 

• Developed a theory of change and an evaluation framework 

• Conducted qualitative data collection to reflect key stakeholders’ views and experience of the programme.

• Produced case study reports and final regional report