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This paper explores the extent to which the period 2012–2021, when the General Education Quality Improvement Programme (GEQIP) reforms to primary education were implemented in Ethiopia, is one of educational improvement, despite the absence of gains in learning outcomes. It examines trends in access, learning progress in Grade 4 school quality and in equity of access and outcomes across regions and between urban and rural contexts.

Data from several sources are employed including Ethiopian national education data (Education Management Information Systems (EMIS)) and longitudinal school survey data from the Young Lives (YL) and Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) projects. Analysis employs descriptive analysis and regression modelling in a value-added framework. Trends in learning outcomes in mathematics and pupil backgrounds are examined alongside school quality, its measures and predictors.

Access to primary education in Ethiopia has expanded significantly, with some equity improvements. Learning outcomes have declined in most regions, in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) from a mean score of 515 in 2012 to 436 in 2020. Several school and teacher quality indicators targeted by GEQIP improved modestly, including teacher maths scores which improved from a mean of 462 to 507. Improvements have not been sufficient however to outweigh effects of rapid expansion and rising disadvantage, perhaps worsened by shocks including COVID and conflict.

This research contributes to understanding the role of the GEQIP reforms in improving primary education in Ethiopia. It may inform policy on targeted education quality improvement. It informs wider debate on the “learning crisis” especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

This study analysed students’ perceptions of teachers’ behaviours, teachers’ management practices and the use of inputs by teachers and whether these are associated with primary school progression and completion.

School-level fixed effect analysis is conducted using cross-sectional data collected from 4,000 randomly selected primary school-aged students and their schools.

Our findings reveal that students’ perceptions of teachers’ behaviours are associated with the probability of grade progression during primary school, and whether students complete primary school. Particularly important are positive behaviours, like students perceiving their teachers to be engaged and being praised by their teachers while in primary schools. It increased the likelihood of school progression by at least 15%. The use of inputs such as worksheets/written handouts and reading stories/books in the language of instruction were also found to have a statistically significant positive effect on students’ primary school performance. These are important results which hold after accounting for school management, household and child-level factors and regional differences.

Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the teaching practices which pupils perceive as beneficial to retention. While we are unable to conclude that learning is taking place, our contention is that greater time in school could increase the opportunity to learn. In this respect, beyond its policy relevance in improving educational outcomes, the paper contributes to the limited literature on the student–teacher classroom relationships particularly when looking from the perspective of students’ perception of their teachers’ teaching behaviours in developing countries.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role individual innovativeness along with e-learning self-efficacy play in predicting the e-learning readiness of first- and second-year students of an open and distance education institutions in an African context.

Therefore, building on previous related research in this area, a quantitative approach was adopted to address the research questions and to establish whether a statistically significant relationship existed between individual innovativeness, e-learning self-efficacy, the independent variables; and e-learning readiness, the dependent variable. In total, 476 first- and second-years students of the university participated in the four-Likert-type scale survey. The research instrument which comprises 74 survey items was completed by 217 of the students. Statistical tools used for analysing data included both Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficients and t-tests.

It was discovered that a strong positive and significant relationship was observed between individual innovativeness and e-learning readiness of first- and second-year students of the Yenagoa Study Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN); a statistically significant relationship was also found between e-learning self-efficacy scores and the e-learning readiness of the first- and second-year students of the Yenagoa Study Centre of NOUN; there was a statistically significant joint relationship between the three variables under investigation; findings equally revealed that male respondents had higher e-learning readiness than their female counterparts.

Like every other study of this nature, this one also suffers some limitations. First, NOUN is a very large university with over half a million students spread across almost 78 study centres. This means that observation from just one study centre amounts to a very small sample size. This according to Schweighofer, Weitlaner, Ebner and Rothe (2019) jeopardises the generalisability and validity of study results. The authors also maintain that empirical data generated from surveys that usually rely participants' abilities to read and select responses without further interpretation by the researchers suffer from cognitive biases like social desirability. To address the above limitations, detailed studies involving all studies centres of NOUN be undertaken and other qualitative and or mixed research methodologies be adopted in the future.

The implications for this study are that people who are innately innovative will willingly accept technology and by extension, learning in technology-rich environments like those found in like NOUN whose mode of study is blended learning inherently found in open and distance learning (ODL) institution. Therefore, this study is significant as it will provide relevant information to the management and administrators of NOUN, policymakers and regulatory institutions for the development, deployment and implementation of e-learning strategies. Findings will also benefit e-learning initiatives undertaken by similar institutions that adopt the ODL mode of education in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Even though, studies on the antecedents of e-learning readiness have been widely conducted across diverse contexts, studies exploring the associations between individual innovativeness, e-learning self-efficacy and e-learning readiness are relatively hard to come by. The above two variables as predicting the e-learning readiness in the study context are comparatively new. This study thus focuses on the relationships between the individual innovativeness levels, e-learning self-efficacy beliefs of students and their e-learning readiness which ultimately determines their ability to sustain studies in an ODL institution.