Early beginnings for bridging the Quality Inequality Gap:
Junko Miyahara
At Regional Seminar on Quality Inequality Quandary
Lahore, Pakistan
4-5 April, 2012
Contents
I.
Basic rationale for
ECCD
II. Overview of ECCD in
the Asia-Pacific Region
III. ECCD as equaliser:
Experiences from the
region
IV. So what now? : looking
forward…
Children are born learning.
Critical periods for brain development
The early years represent the most
efficient time for optimal returns to occur.
ECCD Trends in the Asia-Pacific
- gaps and opportunities
Percentage of Children under Five
Suffering from Stunting by Region, 2009
% 60
48
50
42
40
34
32
30
22
20
14
10
0
Sub-Saharan Middle East and
Africa
North Africa
Source: WHO data cited in UNICEF, 2009
South Asia
East Asia and
Pacific
Latin America
and Caribbean
World
Children aged 36-59 months currently attending early childhood
education programme
Stunting, poverty, and ECE
80.0
WQ: Richest
70.0
60.0
WQ: Fourth
50.0
WQ: Middle
40.0
30.0
WQ: Second
20.0
WQ: Poorest
10.0
R2 = 0.895
0.0
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
Children under-five who are sufferring from moderate to severe stunting
Source: ECCE Progress Note 2009
40.0
GER in pre-primary education increasing
Proportion of children aged 36-59 months currently
attending early childhood programme, Thailand
80
North
Richest
75
70
Secondary+
Percentage
65
60
55
Male
Female
Urban
Central
Northeast
South
Rural
4th Quintile
Middle
Poorest
Thai
No education
Primary
2nd Quintile
50
45
Other Language
40
Source: MICS, Thailand
Pre-school or pre-primary can be a part of
ECCD but is not all ECCD
Children under five with 3 or more children's
books, Mongolia, 2005
60
50
Richest
College/ University
40
Fourth
Urban
30
Secondary Grade 10
Middle
Vocational
20
Rural
10
0
Second
Secondary Grade 8
Lowest
Primary
No Education
Mother's Education
Urban/ Rural
Mongolia MICS, 2005
Economic Quintile
ECCE experience and survival to last grade
of primary education, Select Countries
Source: Statistical Annex, UIS, 2011.
ECCE is not considered a basic right by
governments. (EFA A-P Report, March 2011)
Public spending on pre-primary education is
negligible
Government spending is negligible.
Resources
Public educational expenditure in pre-primary
as % of total educational expenditure
Source: ARNEC Country Profile – GMR 2008
Thailand
(Source: Murphy, K. (2011) The Life Skills Development Foundation: Promoting ECCD Equity and
Access in Remote Villages of Northern Thailand, draft paper submitted to ARNEC)
…., and are often working with limited resources that are divided between
competing infrastructure projects such as roads, water systems, among
others. As one TAO official admitted, “day
care centres are
long-term commitments as they require ongoing support for salaries, food and supplies,
and that kind of money is difficult to fit into the
TAO budget.” Furthermore, TAOs are typically located in urban or periurban centres, far from the more isolated, rural communities. As a result, remote areas
of the country are often lagging behind their urban neighbours in the establishment of
programs and centres to support child development.
DI. Yogyakarta
Jawa Timur
DKI. Jakarta
Jawa Tengah
Kalimantan Selatan
Gorontalo
Nusa Tenggara Barat
Bali
Kepulauan Riau
Sumatera Barat
Kalimantan Timur
Sulawesi Barat
Sulawesi Selatan
Sulawesi Tengah
Jawa Barat
Sulawesi Utara
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam
Banten
Sulawesi Tenggara
Lampung
Bengkulu
Riau
Kalimantan Tengah
Kepulauan Bangka Belitung
Jambi
Sumatera Utara
Sumatera Selatan
Papua
Nusa Tenggara Timur
Kalimantan Barat
Irian Jaya Barat
Maluku
Maluku Utara
Access - equity
Provincial ECE NER 3-6 Year Olds, Indonesia, 2006
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Source: Indonesia Country policy report, 2008
What does quality ECCD mean?
in association with equity and relevance,
expected outcomes
School Readiness Programme
Cambodia
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
with support by UNICEF-Sida, Kampuchean Action for Primary
Education (KAPE), World Education and Save the Children Norway
Program goal and objectives:
• The SRP aims to provide a bridge between a child’s state of knowledge at
the time of entry into primary school and the Grade 1 curriculum.
• The program seeks to reduce the high rates of primary school repetition
and drop out and increase student achievement.
• The SRP is a readiness course that takes place during the first two
months of a child’s formal education, in order to compensate for the lack
of formal pre-schooling.
Target population:
• Children entering Grade 1 who has no experience in early learning
program (the initial pilot phase in 2004/05)
The programme:
• Modification of curricular content to
focus more on skills that children will
need to succeed in school rather than
the academic content.
• A 14-day teacher training program to
orient new teachers to the program
and child-friendly teaching
methodologies in classrooms
• Physical upgrades of classrooms
(where possible) and enhancement of
the availability of learning aids for
children
• A regular monitoring to support
teachers in their implementation,
• Formalized student assessment for
monitoring and reporting purposes
Impact on Teachers’ Performance
Difference in language scores by topical areas
between experimental group and control group
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
pre-test
post-test terminal test
experiment group
listening and speaking
pre-test
reading
post-test terminal test
control group
writing
total
• As result of the evaluation of the pilot, it was streamlined
into the on-going Child Friendly School Initiative, adopted
by the Ministry as policy in February 2008 and
incorporated in the National ECCD Policy (2010) –
mainstreamed into policy!
Alternative modes of ECE provision
Mongolia
Preschool Enrollment Rate: 76%
59% kindergarten,
17% alternative programs
Rich children are 6 times more likely to attend ECE than poor
Remote west has the lowest ECE participation by far
Ger-kindergarten: community based ECE service
• Ger- kindergarten – Ger is easy to construct
and easy to move - familiar to children & families.
All supplies and materials for ECE center inside
• Inclusive management - all stakeholders are
involved in the process of implementation
• Curriculum - alternative curriculum – includes
72 days/180 hours program implemented;
• Training - 5 days training module developed
and implemented; mobile supervisors (on
horseback) provide support
• Parenting Education - on early childhood
development and child care
▫
Toolkits for parents in video format
▫
DVD programs – series with guidance
for parents on children
▫
Developmental milestones from zero to
6 years in simple language
ECE enrollment in Western Region
81.2
72.1
54.1
48.9
2006
2007
2008
2009
Mongolia - Lessons learned
• Need policy frameworks and budget provision to sustain the
progress
• Investing needs innovation and ideas – not necessarily much
more expensive, but cannot expect to use the exact same
resources and standards. Ger-based care givers receive same
salaries as more qualified care providers in urban centers.
• Independent learning is essential for herder parents – DVDs
and videos are most effective (solar generated power in common
in remote areas)
• Essential to rely on local experts and community networks.
Community identifies potential care givers to receive training –
don’t try to parachute someone into the community or select
care givers from afar.
Learning goals and outcomes
What kind of world do you want to live in?
What is our hope for our young children?
Countries determine National ELDS Domains
– in East Asia and the Pacific
Create an instrument based on the ELDS in
each country
ELDS China
ELDS
Vanuatu
ELDS
Malaysia
Asia-Pacific Early
Child Development
Scales
ELDS
Vietnam
ELDS
Mongolia
ELDS
Thailand
ELDS Fiji
ELDS
Philippines
ELDS Laos
ELDS
Cambodia
EAP-ECDS structure (latest)
1. Approaches to Learning
9
(8 separate; 1 incorporated in
another item)
2. Cognitive Development
22
3. Cultural Knowledge and Participation
10
4. Language and Emergent Literacy
15
5. Motor Development
9
(8 separate; 1 incorporated in
another item)
6. Health, Hygiene and Safety
9
7. Socio-Emotional Development
16
Total
90
Pitfalls for equating quality with outcomes
(Myers, 2006, UNESCO-UNICEF, 2011)
• Be aware that many factors and multiple environments influence
outcomes and it is hard to know how much to attribute to
programmes and how much to family and community
environments. It is hard to sort out whether self-selection to
programs may account for achievement more than the excellence of
the educational process. It is difficult to know to what extent the
early and positive effects of an ECCE program may fade because of
intervening conditions.
• Cautions for placing all the assessment in future. A child lives in the
present and should be entitled to positive and enjoyable experiences
in the immediate environments in which she or he learns and
develops. Outcome is important part of quality but also need to
focus on the structures and processes that characterise services and
programmes is also important.
Systems Matter
(Kagan (2011) at Singapore Child Care Seminar)
Systems Matter
(Kagan (2011) at Singapore Child Care Seminar)
III. Looking forward…
Concluding summary
• Quality is dynamic, complex and contextual.
• The existing literature on quality measurement of ECCD is primary
from the high-income nations, especially from the West (e.g. North
America, Europe). The scope must be broadened considerably to
conceptualize quality in “global” contexts.
• Balance between diversity and coherence - consultations among
multiple stakeholders are critical to come to a certain level of
understanding and consensus towards the vision to be achieved and
measurable indicators. Voices from community, parents and children
should be reflected.
• Caution for not equating quality with outcomes (esp. narrowly
defined outcomes). It’s because many attributes affect outcomes (at
different points in time), and also the whole experience is important
for children in EC period
• Need to look at quality at system level.
Summary – Priority actions in the region
• Working with parents, families and community as they are the
primary educarers for young children
• Finding ways to proving access to good quality ECCD among
children in disadvantaged circumstances and to leveraging
resources
• Establishing or strengthening institutional mechanisms among
stakeholders across sectors and at all levels that facilitate
coordination; and
• Strengthening monitoring and evaluation at all levels and for
improving further course of actions
How should we go about it?
…..in order to ensure all young children
to enjoy their early childhood years,
to learn meaningfully, and
to develop foundational skills, knowledge and disposition for
further learning in the subsequent years in life.
Thank you!
For more information, visit www.arnec.net
What should be the focus of a global education goal
in the post-2015 agenda?
The 1st Regional Consultation: Post-2015 Global Agenda - MDG/EFA
9 November 2011, Singapore
• ‘Learning’, as opposed to education (which has a formal tone)
Learning can catch people’s imagination and interest. Caution that
‘Learning’ tends to be equated with test scores
• Focus on reducing disparity between groups within individual
countries. Cautions as to how we approach disparity and
measurement.
• Focus on the quality of services—outcomes measured by quality
rather than numbers. The challenge is how to develop or articulate
holistic educational development goals that consider psychosocial
aspects of development as well.
Cont’d
• The importance of the brain development window for children
birth to age 2. Need helping all stakeholders understand this
importance. How to get the ministers involved to acknowledge and
claim the need of cross-sectoral collaboration?
• Include indicators that would support the underlying capacity to
learn; indicators in the home setting.
• Early childhood provides a platform for considering transitions and
allowing for a seamless curriculum from preschool through the
early grades.
• MoE is always seen providing formal education, so if ECD is put
into the MoE, then there is a need to re-orient their mindset.
• Universal and free compulsory ECD should be provided for
children birth to age 5 or 8, and the annual budget should be in
proportion to the number of children at each age/stage.
• Public sector is provided an umbrella of government support and
Cont’d
• Parent education. How to measure parent readiness, how to
develop readiness indicators? How to reframe the current practice
so that parent education is not just lectures about what parents
should do, but how to support the learning process of parents.
• Targeting the youngest and most marginalized in terms of
malnutrition. Focusing on ‘target populations’ is one way to work,
and can be effective to certain degrees. But cautioned that we
cannot be sure that just because the nutritional goals are met, then
development will occur. This is a survival goal rather than a
development goal. We need to find ways to do both/and, so that
nutrition and development happen simultaneously and the process
is holistic.
• The importance of considering children affected by disasters and
how to facilitate their learning.
Cont’d
• The MDGs need to be localized MDGs, not globalized MDGs, as
this was important in terms of political commitment.
• What began as linear thinking about global development has
since 2000 developed into a new way of thinking, and with it the
awareness that future goals need to be radically different.
• Plan for going forward: 1. Develop a systematic way to evaluate
the development of young children (countries can define their
own) 2. Apply it 3. Use it to evaluate the whole process and to
develop further.