Evolution of a programme to engage school students with health research and science in Kenya

Abstract

Facilitating mutually-beneficial educational activities between researchers and school students is an increasingly popular way for research institutes to engage with communities who host health research, but these activities have rarely been formally examined as a community or public engagement approach in health research. The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya, through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach involving students, teachers, researchers and education stakeholders, has incorporated ‘school engagement’ as a key component into their community engagement (CE) strategy. School engagement activities at KWTRP aim at strengthening the ethical practice of the institution in two ways: through promoting an interest in science and research among school students as a form of benefit-sharing; and through creating forums for dialogue aimed at promoting mutual understanding between researchers and school students. In this article, we provide a background of CE in Kilifi and describe the diverse ways in which health researchers have engaged with communities and schools in different parts of the world. We then describe the way in which the KWTRP school engagement programme (SEP) was developed and scaled-up. We conclude with a discussion about the challenges, benefits and lessons learnt from the SEP implementation and scale-up in Kilifi, which can inform the establishment of SEPs in other settings.

Initiating a network to support engagement between health researchers and schools: recommendations from an international meeting of schools engagement practitioners held in Kilifi, Kenya

“…Comparing a range of engagement activities between universities and schools, they argue that the deeper the engagement per student, the more 'meaningful and direct' the interactions will be, but at greater resource costs per student (including researcher time). At our workshop, while 'deep' activities such as YPAGs 19 and attachment schemes 11 , involved prolonged engagement over an extended period of time with low student to researcher ratios, wider activities such as one-off lab-tours for considerably larger student groups (see for example Davies,Mbete et al 27 ) and the OUCRU Viet Nam National Science magazine initiative (see Table 1), involved much larger numbers (the latter 40,000 students) for considerably shorter interactions. Some activities described in this article could be argued to be both wide and deep simultaneously.…”

“…This broad range of goals have precipitated a range of engagement approaches in Africa, from community bazaars to deliberative discussions and community advisory boards 10 . More recently, health research institutions have explored engagement between researchers and local schools as a means of addressing some of the goals of community engagement 11 .…”

“…The term 'school engagement' is frequently used to describe the degree of investment a student has in their school 12 ; however, in this article, 'School Engagement' with health research describes a range of activities which facilitates learning interactions between health researchers and primary and secondary school teachers and students. School Engagement approaches have included: attachment schemes and pre-university summer schools for students 11,13,14 ; establishing long-term involvement of individual scientists with schools to enhance science lessons 1,15 ; in-school education resources, coupled with school visits to institution laboratories to facilitate interactions between researchers and students 11,16,17 ; and Young Persons' Advisory Groups (YPAGs), which can potentially facilitate the incorporation of the unique perspectives of young people into research implementation [18][19][20] . The goals of these approaches vary considerably from raising student awareness of health and research and gaining their insights into research, to stimulating an interest in science and research careers and demystifying the work of scientists.…”

Initiating a network to support engagement between health researchers and schools: recommendations from an international meeting of schools engagement practitioners held in Kilifi, Kenya

“…This broad range of goals have precipitated a range of engagement approaches in sub-Saharan Africa, from community bazaars to deliberative discussions and community advisory boards 10 . More recently, health research institutions have explored engagement between researchers and local schools as a means of addressing some of the goals of community engagement 11 .…”

“…The term ‘school engagement’ is frequently used to describe the degree of investment a student has in their school 12 ; however, in this article, ‘School Engagement’ with health research describes a range of activities which facilitates learning interactions between health researchers and primary and secondary school teachers and students. School Engagement approaches have included: attachment schemes and pre-university summer schools for students in Kenya and the USA 11 , 13 , 14 ; establishing long-term involvement of individual scientists with schools in Australia to enhance science lessons 1 , 15 ; in-school education resources, coupled with school visits to institution laboratories to facilitate interactions between researchers and students in Kenya and the UK 11 , 16 , 17 ; and Young Persons’ Advisory Groups (YPAGs), which can potentially facilitate the incorporation of the unique perspectives of young people into research implementation in the UK and USA 18 – 20 . The goals of these approaches vary considerably from raising student awareness of health and research and gaining their insights into research, to stimulating an interest in science and research careers and demystifying the work of scientists.…”