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Getting Ready for School Programme

A three-year pilot project began in April 2007 in partnership between the Child-to-Child Trust and UNICEF. It supports programmes in a small number of countries worldwide to increase enrolment to class 1 in primary schools and to decrease drop-out, particularly among disadvantaged communities where children have no opportunities to attend pre-schools. Six countries representing different geographical regions have been identified to participate in the pilot. They are Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tajikistan and Yemen.

To find out more about the programme please read the outline below. Christiana Brown, Project Co-ordinator at the Child-to-Child Trust can be contacted on +44 (0)20 7331 5123 or at Christiana.Brown@ioe.ac.uk

To see how Getting Ready for School fits into Unicef’s wider programme intiatives, click here.

Investing in ECD programmes

Early childhood development (ECD) programmes can improve the well-being of young children. Investment in early childhood yields very high economic returns, offsetting disadvantage and inequality especially for children from poor families. Almost half the world’s children under three years old have no formal ECD programmes. Many of these children may drop out early or lag behind.

Child-to-Child approaches and ECD

Child-to-Child approaches provide one of the most promising alternative channels in the quest to provide cost-effective and efficient interventions in ECD in developing countries.

This approach should enable primary school children to meet the needs of younger children during a critical period in their development and preparedness for school. The goal is to increase both the child’s readiness for school and the school’s readiness to foster optimal learning environments for its youngest students. Specifically, it aims to:

• Increase both girls’ and boys’ on-time enrolment in primary school;
• Ensure that children arrive at school with a strong foundation in language, literacy and numeracy and the social and emotional skills needed for learning;
• Decrease early drop-out rates and enhance overall primary school performance.

The initiative promotes the following outcomes for older children, parents, families, teachers and schools:

• Primary school children increase awareness of, and skills for, promoting early learning, cooperative learning and life skills, and increased self-esteem;
• Parents and families increase awareness and knowledge of the importance of child development; gain skills to promote early learning, positive health, safety and nutrition practice; and understand that on-time enrolment is important;
• First-grade teachers develop enhanced child-centred teaching and learning methods;
• Teachers increase awareness of the importance of early childhood for later learning, and enhance quality of teaching/learning methods and materials. Positive student outcomes will increase confidence and satisfaction;
• School systems foster linkages/partnerships between school and home, recognize the needs of their youngest learners, create child-friendly learning environments and raise educational standards.

Two planned interventions

Children in early and middle primary school (classes 1-4) take part in activities with young children in their homes and community. The first intervention is a series of developmental readers, games and learning activities enhancing social, language, motor and thinking skills in the first five years of life.

Children from upper primary classes (4-6 depending on the national system) take part in a one-year programme of school readiness activities with children about to enter class 1. The second intervention comprises structured, interactive learning activities focused on the building blocks of numeracy and literacy. It flows from the first intervention, is fun and exciting, and develops children’s self-esteem.

Evaluation

The evaluation will use both quantitative and qualitative measures to address issues related to programme outcome, impact, and process.

Outcomes for children will be measured by the age of school enrolment and school readiness. Since pre-school children’s knowledge and skills are directly related to their health status and their living conditions, outcome measures will be controlled for variation in child’s health, nutrition, and family care environment.

The pattern of school readiness for groups of children exposed to the Child-to-Child learning materials will be compared against control communities whose first-grade children have not had this exposure. Base-line surveys conducted in both control and case communities will determine the existing levels of on-time enrolment as well as the school readiness of children as they enter school.

Impact on parents, teachers, child educators, and communities will be measured to gain insights into questions such as the following:

• Did the programme change parents’ knowledge, attitudes and expectations of their child’s school enrolment, progress and performance?
• Were there any changes in the knowledge, attitudes and skills of the older children as a result of participating in the intervention?
• Did the materials and training have an impact on teachers’ teaching and learning methods?
• Were primary schools adequately prepared to respond to the needs of their youngest learners? Did they change as a result of the programme?
• Were there changes in the community regarding the needs of young children and their families, evident as a result of the project?

Process evaluation will determine if the programme was implemented as planned, including:

• Quality and effectiveness of the children’s learning materials;
• Effectiveness of the teacher and student teacher training;
• Ability to provide adequate and effective supervision and monitoring;
• Adequacy of the duration and intensity of the intervention;
• Effectiveness and fit of Child-to-Child concepts in promoting early learning;
• Efficacy of implementation strategies;
• Links between early learning activities and first-year school curriculum.