Profiles

Access to early childhood education has increased over the last two decades, with global enrolment rates showing gender parity in access among boys and girls. Despite this gender parity in access, the pre-primary education system does not always deliver on its potential to tackle gender inequities and address harmful gender stereotypes while they are being absorbed by the youngest learners. As such, this research explores the ways in which pre-primary education can become more gender-transformative at a system level and presents 11 key strategies to support this goal. The strategies are organized around five interconnected action areas: planning and budgeting; curriculum; workforce development; family and community engagement; and quality assurance. These strategies can help governments and policymakers to proactively incorporate gender-responsiveness into the design and implementation of their pre-primary education policy and programming, following a system-wide perspective.

Este estudo “Hora de Ensinar” combina e reforça a base de evidências sobre o absentismo dos professores do ensino primário em Moçambique.

Support from caregivers is critical for children’s learning both at home and at school. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of education systems globally created additional expectations for parents to support their children’s learning at home. This particularly affected the most marginalized children as the crises exacerbated already existing inequalities in education. This document introduces the approach and purpose of a set of resources to support the marginalized caregivers of children with disabilities with inclusive education. It presents lessons learned from proof-of-concept pilots in Armenia and Uzbekistan, followed by step-by-step guidelines on how to adopt and adapt the resources for education ministries and others who want to implement them in their education system.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have collaborated in the third round of the Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures, administered by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and OECD to Ministry of Education officials. The questions covered four levels of education: preprimary, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary. While the first two rounds of the survey were implemented during the periods May–June and July–October 2020, respectively, the third round was implemented during the period February–June 2021. In total, 143 countries responded to the questionnaire. Thirty-one countries submitted responses to the OECD (“OECD survey”) and 112 countries responded to the UIS (“UIS survey”). Seven countries responded to both surveys. In these instances, the more complete set responses were used in analysis.

This paper presents a new estimate that pre-primary school closures in 2020 may cost today’s young children US$1.6 trillion in lost earnings over their lifetimes. Children in middle-income countries will be most greatly affected. However, most low- and middle- income countries are leaving pre-primary education out of their responses to COVID-19. This paper also draws lessons from evaluations of accelerated, bridging and remedial programmes on how introducing or expanding these transition programmes in the early years can mitigate the long-term impact on learning from pre-primary school closures.

This Time to Teach study collates and strengthens the evidence base on primary school teacher absenteeism in Mozambique.

The Government of South Sudan, through the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) and its development partners, has made efforts over the past decade to rebuild South Sudan’s primary education system. Challenges to the delivery of education have persisted, both within the education system and external to it.

The first years of a child’s life are critical to building the foundations of learning that help them succeed in school and beyond. Investment in early childhood education results in positive returns, not only for individual children, but also for building more efficient and effective education systems. Recent analysis estimated that every US dollar spent on pre-primary education results in US$9 of benefits to society. This brief summarizes the key findings and observations from a report on the remote learning options – be it online, television, radio, paper- or mobile-based – that countries around the world have made available for pre-primary students and their families while schools are closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report was informed by the joint UNESCO-UNICEF-World Bank survey of national education responses to COVID-19 and emerging good practices from 10 country case studies.

This paper examines the remote learning options that countries around the world have made available for pre-primary students and their families while schools are closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights trends, gaps and emerging good practices that are supported by existing evidence.

Some countries are starting to reopen schools as others develop plans to do so following widespread and extended closures due to COVID-19. Using data from two surveys and 164 countries, this research brief describes the educational strategies countries are putting into place, or plan to, in order to mitigate learning impacts of extended school closures, particularly for the most vulnerable children. In addition, it highlights emerging good practices.

A few weeks ago, after his last day at kindergarten, my son wanted to show me his portfolio. Marveling at the delightful collection of drawings, crafts, photos and teacher notes, I couldn’t believe how lucky we are that he got to experience a full year of kindergarten, in spite of COVID-19.Since we moved to Florence, Italy, at the end of last summer for my work as a researcher with UNICEF Innocenti, we have been under some degree of restriction to contain the spread of COVID-19. Kindergartens have however, for the most part, stayed open.A drawing by Dita Nugroho's son.My nephews, who are the same age, but live in one of many cities around the world where pre-primary* schools have remained closed over the past year and a half, have not been so lucky. They tried different online kindergarten programmes with mixed results and had little to no real-life interaction with children their age. This contrast reflects what was happening around the world. A survey of 143 countries found that while pre-primary students in high-income countries lost fewer instruction days in 2020 than older students, the opposite was true in low-and-middle income countries.A new UNICEF Innocenti research brief, It’s Not Too Late to Act on Early Learning, which I wrote together with colleagues at UNICEF and Inter-American Development Bank, examines the cost impact of these closures, how countries are responding and what can be done to support this group of young children as they prepare to start primary school.Here are some key findings from the brief:#1: The cost of pre-primary school closures is significant…Pre-primary school children in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) lost an average of 106 instruction days in 2020, more than the days lost in primary and secondary schools.A wide body of research tells us that quality early childhood education can have both short- and long-term impact on children’s futures – in schooling outcomes and beyond. Millions of children have and are missing out on this opportunity due to COVID-19 closures. A wide body of research tells us that quality early childhood education can have both short- and long-term impact on children’s futures – in schooling outcomes and beyond. Millions of children have and are missing out on this opportunity due to COVID-19 closures.Building on earlier work done by at the Inter-American Development Bank, the brief estimates the lost pre-primary school days in 2020 can cost at least $1.6 trillion globally in future earnings. Children in middle-income countries are likely to be the hardest hit because, like my nephews, they experienced longer closures. On average, the impact of pre-primary school closures in 2020 is equivalent to over 2.5 per cent of middle-income countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or close to two-thirds of average government expenditure on education among this group. In comparison, the impact on high- and low-income countries is estimated to be around 1 per cent of GDP on average.#2: … but pre-primary education is often left out of responses to COVID-19Although they missed out on more in-person learning days compared to older students, pre-primary students in low-and-middle-income countries were often left out of their countries’ responses to COVID-19. In 2020, the youngest learners were less likely to access distance learning during closures. When schools reopened, they were less likely to return to in-person learning. Countries were also less likely to be assessing learning losses and introducing remedial support measures at this level. And while many countries reported increased total spending for the education sector, this was less likely to be the case for the pre-primary sub-sector. It is important to note here the low starting point of spending at this level, with more than a third of countries investing less than 2 per cent of their education budgets on pre-primary education. Donor spending on the sub-sector is similarly low and prone to volatility. #3: It’s not too late to support the children who missed out on pre-primary learningA recent joint statement by UNICEF and UNESCO called for schools to be last to close and the first to reopen. The brief echoes this call, highlighting the high cost of inaction and limited degree of pre-primary students’ participation in learning continuity activities while schools are closed.Its first recommendation: Prioritize the reopening of pre-primary schools, so less children miss out on important early learning experiences.Reopening school doors alone, however, will not be enough. The children who missed out on pre-primary learning opportunities are not starting school on even footing compared to those before them. Addressing this gap in the early years of schooling will be easier and cheaper for education systems to do, before these children remain or fall further behind. The brief presents key lessons from programmes that have successfully prepared children who missed out on a full pre-primary program for school. Specifically, these were:accelerated programmes (usually run in the holiday period before primary school)bridging programmes (usually run just before or at the start of primary school)remedial programmes in the first two years of primary schoolThese were referred to as “transition programmes” in the brief, as they are often used while countries are preparing for or transitioning to universal pre-primary access. An accelerated curriculum can inform the development of full pre-primary curriculum and can also be harnessed to respond to future crises. Evaluations show that even short, low cost transition programmes can support children’s readiness for school. They can be led by trained teachers or volunteers, but ongoing supervision and support or coaching for educators is beneficial in either case and can be done by linking with existing systems. Engaging families and the local community can help reach the most vulnerable children and support programme sustainability. Many families around the world would share my family’s sentiment that we can’t forget about the young children, like my nephews, who missed out on pre-primary learning opportunities because of COVID-19. Luckily it is not too late nor impossible to help them catch-up. *Pre-primary education is defined as organized learning programmes for children aged 3 years and up to the start of primary education.Read the full reportWatch this webinar on prioritizing pre-primary education in school reopeningDita Nugroho is an education research consultant at UNICEF Innocenti, where she focuses on early childhood education. Follow Dita @ditanugroho13 on Twitter, and for more updates from UNICEF Innocenti, follow @UNICEFInnocenti.