Using Emerging Technologies to Improve English Skills for Women Teachers and Teachers With Disabilities in Rural Rwanda

Purpose The research focuses on how women teachers and teachers with disabilities in Rwanda access and experience the online component of a large-scale donor-funded English language improvement program. Design/Approach/Method The research takes a qualitative case study approach, with 61 participants interviewed in 10 schools in three rural and border districts in Rwanda, in addition to 16 system-level actors. The research team is diverse, with the majority based in Rwanda, and includes experts on gender and disability. Findings Findings indicate that while participants gain confidence and improve their spoken English in the classroom, the complexities of their lives and needs are not easily addressed through donor-funded, large-scale TPD. Well-intentioned adaptations result in unintended consequences that further marginalize teachers or that require localizations and cost-sharing. Originality/Value The study presents the lived experiences and voices of those most marginalized teachers, women, and those with disabilities in accessing emerging technologies and the challenges they face in striving to balance the imperative to study within entrenched social norms around gender and (dis)ability.