Encouraging Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: Implications for Informal Education

1. Encouraging Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: Implications for Informal Education Cities for Children 2010 Miho Taguma Project manager Education and Training Policy Division Directorate for Education, OECD

2. Today’s Presentation Quality matters. But what is quality? What factors can enhance child well-being and learning outcomes? What policies can make a difference in child outcomes, affecting these factors? Next steps

3. Intermediaries bet/ policy and child outcomes Interactions with Environment and Actors Social outcomes Educational outcomes Child Cognitive, literacy, numeracy, phonological Socio-emotional Health

4. ECEC institutions (Staff, peers, etc.) Family daycare (caregiver, peers) Home (Parents , siblings, grandparents, nannies, babysitters, etc) Outside ECEC institutions/Home- parks, museums, zoos, libraries, shopping centres, others’ home, etc. (Communities, peers, other parents, strangers, babysitters, etc) Cognitive, literacy, numeracy, phonological Socio-emotional Health

5. Research says…. (Preliminary findings) Physical Environments • At ECEC institutions • Indoor space (room size vs space per child) • Outdoor space • Environment that stimulates child’s innate curiosity • At Home • Richness of the literacy environment – books at home Child outcomes • Better cognitive development and academic outcomes • Better cognitive development and academic outcomes • Less disruptive behaviour • Less stress/ anxiety

6. Characteristics of Main Actor • ECEC staff • Age (young) and Years of experience (less) • Staff/child ratio and group size • Higher qualifications and training • Motivated and committed to professionalism, viewing it as a long-term career • With sufficient time to plan activities • Attachment to the child • Less stress • (Gender/Ethnic background) • Parents • Socio-economic status • Mothers qualification levels • Mother’s socio-emotional status • Lone parent status • Socio-emotional status (depression) • Parenting behaviour (discipline, neglect, consistent/inconsistent routines, etc) • Cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes throughout the life course • Verbal ability • Depression/ anxiety • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) • Aggressive behaviors • Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD • Poverty • Hygene and sanity • Obesity • Better cognitive development and basic skills • Language • Reasoning • Verbal analogies • Letter identification/ awareness of print • Writing • Better math skills in primary schools • Academic skills (girls but not boys) • cooperative • behave better Child outcomes

7. Engagement between Child and Main Actor • Curriculum and preparation • Sufficient play time “learning through playing” (not too much academic) • Combination: staff-initiated group work and child-initiated free activities (not too staff-initiated • Duration of the curriculum • Variety (different topics, mixed activities) • Focus on foundations skills (social and cognitive behaviour, memory, early literacy, early numeracy, reading & writing, oral communication • Dramas, physical movements, etc. • Health-related matters (using signs, pictures, drama, etc.) • With sufficient time allocated for preparation to plan activities • Pedagogy • Consistent staff behaviour • Staff child ratio • Interactions • Shared thinking, continuous thinking • Asking open-ended Q and asking further Qs based on the child’s response • Parental engagement at home and attitudes towards the child • Interactions; parents and child to engage in together • Early literacy activities at home • Reading to child, reading aloud signs and labels • Telling stories, • Singing songs, • Playing with letters and numbers, alphabet toys, word games, etc. • Visiting library, • Drawing, etc. • Lower participation in SEN • Better word analysis, numeracy, shape recognition in kindergarten (if too much, effects fade out) • Better language development • Better school readiness • Better reading scores (grade 3 & 8) • Lower repetition rates • Higher HS completion Child • Less disruptive behaviour • Less stress/ anxiety (if too much, risk to illness) • Self-confidence • self-regulation • Independent thinking • lower crime rates (age 23) • Increased knowledge about nutrition, hygiene • Less obesity in later years • Less disruptive behaviour • Less stress/ anxiety • Self-confidence • Independent thinking • Better cognitive development and academic outcomes • Better cognitive development • Better readers • Better grades in grade 4 • Pro-social and positive behaviour • Self-esteem • Perseverance and motivation • More participation in learning • Positive engagement with peers and adults

8. Policies to Change the Environment and Actors: 1) ECEC Institutions/ Staff • Pedagogy and attitudes towards the child • Consistent staff behaviour, warm attitudes • Interactions • Scaffolding • Shared thinking, continuous thinking • Asking open-ended Q and asking further Qs based on the child’s response • ECEC staff • Age (young) and Years of experience (less) • Staff/child ratio and group size • Higher qualifications and training • Motivated and committed to professionalism, viewing it as a long-term career • With sufficient time to plan activities • Attachment to the child • (Gender/Ethnic background) ECEC policy – Improving working conditions and provide relevant training

9. Strategies to implement… ECEC policy – Improving working conditions • Raise status of ECEC professionals • Arrange for wage-setting and other terms and conditions • Modernisequalifications and diversify career paths • Offer adequate and needs-based staff support • Monitor workforce supply and assess working conditions • ….etc. ECEC policy – Providing relevant training • Revise teacher education to raise the level of qualifications • Develop continuous, specialised training (vs experience) with support from employers • Age-appropriate language and literacy interventions • Numeracy, experimental sciences • Blending embedded and explicit instructional strategies • Focus on child development (how children learn, see the world, etc.) • Assessment of well-being and learning • Communication with parents • Provide financial support to employed staff for upskilling • Integrate training and qualifications among staff across different levels • Ensure allocating public funding to improve the quality of staff • Provide grants to partnerships providing high quality professional development to staff working with children from low-income families in high need districts • Use recognition of non-formal and informal learning to validate existing competences • ….etc.

10. Policies to Change the Environment and Actors: 3) Home/Parents Social welfare policy Anti-poverty measure Adult education and training policy Equity measures • Home environment • Richness of the literacy environment – books at home • Parental engagement at home and attitudes towards the child • Interactions; parents and child to engage in together • Early literacy activities at home • Reading to child, reading aloud signs and labels • Telling stories, • Singing songs, • Playing with letters and numbers, alphabet toys, word games, etc. • Visiting library, • Drawing, etc. • Parents • Socio-economic status • Mothers qualification levels • Mother’s socio-emotional status • Lone parent status • Socio-emotional status (depression) • Parenting behaviour (discipline, neglect, consistent/inconsistent routines, etc) ECEC policy - Encourage parental and community engagement

11. Frequent contacts between ECEC staff and parents • Home visits • Extended class visits • Parents help with a class activity, or do activities at home, which are consistent / continuity with those in the classroom • Open site – families can visit at any time during the regular hours of operation • Families are included in the governing/ advisory groups • Provide families with information about programmes and services of other families/programmes to help them ensure good health and provide education opportunities for their children • …etc. Strategies to implement… ECEC policy - Encourage parental and community engagement

12. Policies to Change the Environment and Actors: 3) Curriculum • Curriculum • Sufficient play time “learning through playing” • Combination: staff-initiated group work and child-initiated free activities • Duration • Variety (different topics, mixed activities) • Focus on foundations skills (social and cognitive behaviour, memory, early literacy, early numeracy, reading & writing, oral communication • Dramas, physical movements, etc. • Health-related matters (using signs, pictures, drama, etc.) ECEC policy – Broad guidelines and curricular standards with the stakeholders for all ECEC services

13. Strategies to implement… ECEC policy – broad guidelines and curricular standards with the stakeholders for all ECEC services • Clarify the broad (not detailed) goals for ECEC with all the key stakeholders and set out educational plans • Formulate national guidelines – flexible and relevant - after a wide process of consultation – democratic and respectful of parental wishes and educators • Provide training to teachers to implement the curriculum (also to be creative with flexibility given) • Monitor the implementation of the curricular standards • Develop research-based curricular and assessment • Integrate ECEC to develop comprehensive early childhood guidelines/ curricular standards • Ensure curriculum foster smooth transition from ECEC to preschool • Allocate funding to implement quality curriculum • Integrate quality assurance mechanisms for ECEC • Give autonomy to ECEC services ensure giving training concerning pedagogy, curriculum development, etc (see “provide training”) • …etc.

14. Next Steps • Remaining Qs: • What are the success factors/ obstacles for implementation? • What kind of tools, checklists, materials, data can help implement? • Project Phase: • Answer the above questions • Assist countries with the implementation phase • From ‘what’ to ‘how’ • Policy Forum organised at a national, regional, municipality/city level • For more information: miho.taguma@oecd.org