Reopening the Future: Prioritizing Pre-primary Education

Health is a complex area and so requires a holistic approach. In Nepal, evidence was used to reshape early childhood development policies to facilitate better coordination across the multiple ministries responsible for service delivery to ensure that every child from 0-5 years received the minimum early childhood development services.

53 per cent of children in low- and middle- income countries cannot read and understand a simple text by the end of primary school-age. In low-income countries, the learning crisis is even more acute, with the learning poverty rate reaching 90 per cent. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 191 countries have implemented country-wide school closures, affecting 1.6 billion learners worldwide.

This paper summarizes the recent UNICEF analysis on investing in early childhood education in developing countries. It provides a benefit-cost analysis of investments in pre-primary education in 109 developing low- and middle-income countries and territories, using data from 2008 to 2019.

A global learning crisis is undermining children’s education and their futures. Pre-COVID, more than half of children in low- and middle-income countries could not read and understand a simple text by age 10. In poor countries, this “learning poverty” rate was as high as 80 percent. Due to COVID-19, an additional 10 percent of children globally will fall into learning poverty. UNICEF Innocenti’s education research looks to address the learning crisis to ensure that every child learns.

During COVID-19 related school closures, at least 463 million children had no access to remote learning (digital or TV/Radio). This crisis not only affects overall learning levels, but increases gaps, with the learning of children from disadvantaged households more deeply affected. Children from disadvantaged households miss learning opportunities because they lack access to remotely delivered instructional content. Children in poorer households are less likely to access computers and the internet, as well as TV, radio, or smartphones. For instance, 2.2 billion – or 2 in 3 children and young people aged 25 years or less – do not have internet access at home. In some contexts, disadvantaged parents are less engaged in their children’s learning. During school closings, children are more dependent on the academic support they receive from their parents, which some may not be able to provide. The pandemic may have, however, led parents of all backgrounds to provide more support. The pandemic has led to uncertainty and disruption. 39 billion in-school meals have been missed during school closures and an estimated 150 million more children were pushed into poverty. This economic crisis, coupled with children’s absence from school and reduced access to services offered through schools, may have increased children’s work. Children who work tend to also be disadvantaged in their learning in school. Even before COVID, the global “learning crisis” was well acknowledged. In many parts of the world, even after five years of schooling, a majority of children could not read a basic text fluently or do simple arithmetic. Pre-crisis, an estimated 53 per cent of children were in “learning poverty” – they could not understand a simple text by the age of 10. It is expected that COVID is leading to an additional 10 per cent of children in learning poverty Even within the same setting, prolonged school closures likely had differential impacts on children of different backgrounds. On top of existing inequalities, the pandemic likely worsened the situation, especially for children whose learning levels were already weak. The above-mentioned factors increase learning gaps, even within the same classroom, which means teachers will face students at different starting points when schools reopen. In response to this challenge and to accelerate the recovery process, it is important for teachers to understand the performance level of students when they return to the classroom in order to design lesson plans appropriate to the students’ current needs. The best tool to achieve this is formative assessment, which helps both teachers and students by giving them feedback about how individual learning is progressing. Formative assessment is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student achievement. Prior to COVID-19, initiatives by UNICEF, Pratham (an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India) and others successfully used formative assessment: In a UNICEF supported program in Assam, India, Pratham worked in partnership with the government schools in Sonitpur district. In 2019, in 200 schools, over 60 days (an hour a day), simple assessment showed that the proportion of children who were able to at least read a simple paragraph increased from 17 percent to 28 percent for Grade 3 children. In Grade 5, the percentage of "readers" went from 45 per cent to 56 per cent.In Papua, Indonesia, UNICEF programming focused on improving early grade reading, using formative assessments to tailor teaching to children’s needs. This yielding a 12 per cent increase in reading comprehension and a 36 per cent decrease in the proportion of non-readers.In Ethiopia, UNICEF’s Assessment for Learning improved teachers’ knowledge of continuous assessment, leading them to reinvent their teaching: they subsequently spent more time actively assessing students, as opposed to lecturing, managing the classroom, or on tasks unrelated to learning. Classroom observations revealed better use of continuous assessment. Communications between teachers and parents increased. Finally, there was substantial positive impact on learning in mother tongue and Mathematics.In Afghanistan, a creative approach to formative assessment involved children using hand signals to answer the teacher’s questions. This is promising, particularly for resource-constrained contexts where other modalities of formative assessment may not be feasible.Students in Daikundi province of Afghanistan respond to their teacher’s question by using hand signals.All this accumulated experience is proving useful now that formative assessment is more necessary than ever. When schools reopen, these tools are essential for identifying children’s learning levels, and to design remediation, compensation, catch up and accelerated programmes accordingly. In Mongolia, after schools were closed from February to September 2020, affecting over 600,000 children, the first month of the new term focused on assessment of learning and remedial lessons and activities. UNICEF supported development and distribution of teacher guidelines for remedial classes covering all core subjects from pre-primary to upper secondary. Teachers used the first classes for formative assessments to gauge children’s learning, and remedial classes were then adapted to the children’s specific needs. Earlier, UNICEF found that most Mongolian children wanted catch-up opportunities. These classes responded to children’s feedback, aiming to reduce stress and anxiety, and letting students ease back into their learning routines. Teachers’ feedback indicated that remedial classes were much needed and helpful, but more time was needed to fully address gaps. Global map of school closures caused by COVID-19Source: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse (February 2021).In Madagascar, national scale up of their summer catch-up programme is being adapted to kick off school reopening, incorporating formative assessment. A similar UNICEF-supported program in Uzbekistan combined remediation and long-term reorientation of instruction, with a focus on teaching at the level of students. It identified priority learning outcomes and success criteria; assessed learning loss and knowledge gaps, favouring methods enabling automated results calculations; and designed catch-up plans for students with the greatest learning gaps. The most experienced teachers led the individual or group catch up sessions. Programme Guidelines have been disseminated across the country. In two provinces, Sri Lanka modelled return-to-school remediation packages including formative assessment, curriculum adaptation, and support for training around individualized learning. Similarly, formative assessment tools developed in Bangladesh and Malawi will also support school reopenings. Much remains to be done. Now more than ever, policy makers must prioritize support to teachers to strengthen their capacity to effectively use assessment. That is why Pratham and UNICEF are currently exploring ways to collaborate in promoting the use of formative assessment in classrooms around the world. Stay tuned…