Skills-based approach and learning outcomes' determinants in West Africa

Abstract

This paper analyses skills-based approach implementation effect on learning outcomes in West Africa. Its expansion was made under multiple goals, including skills improvements, which are related to innovation and productivity in economic literature. However, few works have been devoted to its effect evaluation on pupils' outcomes at primary education level. Moreover, the economic analysis has little to say about its contribution to learning quality. To achieve this goal, we estimate a two-level hierarchical linear model where endogeneity bias is corrected by Mundlak estimator adaptation to multilevel data. Our results show the skills-based approach negative impact on achievements, but also, learning disparities related to pupil gender, school location and type, while some institutional factor and family background positively influence student's outcomes.