Preparing Children for Primary School

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Child-to-Child: A Promising Approach

Education SectionProgramme DivisionUNICEF, New York

Initial Working Draft prepared byCassie Landers (ECD Consultant)

Revised and finalised byAbhiyan Jung Rana (Education Programme Officer)

Cream Wright (Global Chief of Education)

February 16, 2007

Preparing Children for Primary SchoolChild-to-Child: A Promising Approach

Draft Concept Paper

Table of Contents

I. Introduction and Rationale…………………………………………………………… 3

II. Intervention Overview………………………………………………………………… 7

III. Country Selection……………………………………………………………………..12

IV. Program Evaluation...……………………………………………………………..…13

V. Roles and Responsibilities…………….……………………………………………15

VI. Proposed Project Phases..…………………………..……………………………..16

Annex I and II

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I. Introduction and Rationale

UNICEF supports countries and contributes to achieving the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) through its Medium Term Strategic Plans (MTSP). In the latest MTSP (2006-2009), programming priorities are strategically organized around five Focus Areas as follows:

Focus Area 1. Young child survival and development Focus Area 2. Basic education and gender equality Focus Area 3. HIV/AIDS and children Focus Area 4. Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse Focus Area 5. Policy advocacy and partnerships for children’s rights

This latest MTSP for 2006-2009 reflects an organisational shift in the approach and management of UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) programming. In the previous MTSP (2002-2005) ECD was one of five organisational priorities. It combined elements from health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, into an Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) programme, managed through the ECD Unit in the Programme Division. This integrated approach, while grounded in theory, proved difficult to implement within governments’ existing vertical and sectoral Ministries. The current MTSP (2006-2009) therefore organises ECD within two of 5 new organisational Focus Areas that are more clearly sector driven, while still requiring major cross-sectoral implementation strategies. Elements of ECD are contained in Focus Area 1 (Young Child Survival & Development), which concentrates on the needs of very young children and seeks to integrate child development components into existing health, nutrition and water and sanitation programmes. Additional elements can be found in Focus Area 2 (Basic Education & Gender Equality), which concentrates on the later years of development, particularly in terms of children’s developmental readiness and their preparation for starting school at the prescribed age, with appropriate competencies.

Within this programming framework the main concern in dealing with ECD as an integral part of Focus Area 2 (Basic education and gender equality) is reflected in targets set for improved developmental readiness of all children for a successful and on-time start to primary school, especially for girls and marginalized children. This is the first Key Result Area (KRA) in a logical chain of 4 inter-related result areas that include: reducing gender and other disparities in relation to increased access, participation and completion of quality basic education; improving education quality and supporting increased school retention, completion and achievement rates; restoring education in emergencies and post-conflict situations, and helping to safeguard education systems against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. While progress has been made in most of these areas, ECD is currently the weakest link in the chain of 4 inter-related result areas in terms of overage children in grade 1, children reached by ECD programmes, national budget allocations to ECD, and the priority assigned to ECD in national policies and plans.

Investing in ECD programs: What do we know? During the past decade economists, behavioral scientists, educators, neuroscientists, and biologists have all recognized the importance of the first six years of life. Early childhood programs can improve the well being of young children especially in the developing world where a child has a four in ten chance of living in extreme poverty and 10.5 million children a year die from preventable diseases before age five. It is a time of tremendous brain growth that lays a foundation for later learning. What, how, and how

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much children learn later in school largely depends on the social and emotional competences and cognitive skills they develop in the first few years of life. The impact of such programs on participation in primary school education and beyond is well documented. Preschool experiences in the United Kingdom for example, were shown to result in improved intellectual development independence, concentration and social skills during the first three years of primary school.

Studies in several developing countries point to links between participation in early childhood programs, primary school enrolment and better results over at least three to four years, particularly for disadvantaged children. In a poor district of Nepal, 95% of children who attended an early childhood program went on to primary school, as opposed to 75% who did not. Children attending the program had significantly higher marks on exams at the end of grade 1. The Turkish Early Enrichment project in low-income areas of Istanbul, comprising preschool and support to mothers, resulted in 86% of the children still being in school after seven years, compared with 67% for non-participants. The higher an African country’s pre-primary enrolment ratio, the higher its primary school completion rate and the lower its primary repetition rate. It is more cost-effective to institute preventive measures and support for children early on than to compensate for disadvantage as they grow older.

In spite of the increased recognition of the importance of learning in the early years, in most developing countries far too many children still do not have access to any form of early education programs before starting school. As indicated in Table 1, while approximately 78% of children in industrialized countries are enrolled, only 10% of the preschool population is reached in West and Central Africa. There are, however, marked regional differences in trends dating back to the 1970s. In Latin American and the Caribbean, which has witnessed the strongest increase, three quarters of countries now have pre-primary GERs above 75% while in sub-Saharan Africa, despite a steady increase since the 1970s, half the countries have ratios lower than 10%. In the Arab States, coverage has been fairly stagnant since the 1980s. GERs have expanded noticeably across Asia. In South and West Asia most countries now enroll between one-third and one-half of their children in pre-primary education. (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Regional trends in pre-primary gross enrolment ratios, 1970/71 to 2003/04

Developed/transition countriesLatin America/Caribbean

East Asia/PacificSouth and West Asia Arab StatesSub-Saharan Africa

01020304050607080

1971

1976

1981

1986

1991

1999

2004Gr

oss

enro

lmen

ts ra

tios

in p

re-p

rimar

y (%

)

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Note: The broken line signifies a break in the data series due to a new classification.Source for the figure and the data in the above paragraph: EFA GMR 2007

It is important to recognize that there are large disparities within countries. With a few notable exceptions, children from poorer and rural households and those socially excluded (lacking birth certificates), have significantly less access to ECD programs than those from richer and urban households. The children most likely to benefit from ECD--those most vulnerable to malnutrition and preventable diseases--are the least likely to be enrolled. Moreover, the youngest children have been neglected. Almost half the world’s children have no formal programs for children under three years of age.

Related to low ECD enrolment rates is the impact of late primary school enrolment. As shown in Table 2, 49.7% of first graders are overage in East and Southern Africa. Starting school at a late age and also lacking the needed early learning skills, most of these children are likely to drop-out early or lag behind in progression and learning achievement. This in turn undermines the results achieved in school retention, completion and learning achievement rates.

Investment in early childhood yields very high economic returns offsetting disadvantage and inequality especially for children from poor families. Although research is limited, especially in developing countries, returns to investing in ECD programs are positive, and indeed generally higher than those to other education interventions. Returns to ECD investments are reaped over a longer period than those targeting older children, youth or adults. Furthermore the skills acquired in ECD programs are a foundation for all further learning. In spite of the high rate of return of investing in early childhood programs, world wide public expenditure per pre-primary pupil is 8.7 % of GNP/capita as shown in Table 3.

The provision of good-quality early childhood programs are essential for all children, but particularly important for the poor and vulnerable, to compensate for disadvantage. As the Noble Laureate James Heckman observes, “It is a rare public policy initiative that promotes fairness and social justice and at the same time promotes productivity in the economy and in society at large. Investing in disadvantage young children is such a policy.”

Table 1:

484947

373836323332

1718 16 18 1817

1010 10

61 6161

79 7978

373837

020

4060

80P

erce

nt

CEE/CIS EAPR ROSA MENA ESAR WCAR TACR IND World

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Database, October 2006

Pre-primary gross enrollment rate

Total Male Female

Comments: UNESCO data. Almost all countries are covered and the numbers for pre-primary GER are therefore representative for the regions and the world as a whole.

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Table 2:Share of children in first primary grade who are overage, ca. 2000UNICEF region Overage first-graders (%) Regional primary-age

population covered by countries with data (%)

CEE/CIS 17.0 18.2EAPR 30.2 15.7ROSA 0.0MENA 33.8 22.1ESAR 49.7 22.9WCAR 42.1 38.3TACR 19.1 10.4IND 0.0World 35.6 12.8Data source: UNICEF, MICS surveys, ca. 2000. – Weighted by population of primary school age.

Table 3Public current expenditure per pre-primary pupil as % of GNP/capita, ca. 2004UNICEF region Average expenditures per

pre-primary pupil (% of GNP/capita)

Regional population of pre-primary age covered by countries with data (%)

CEE/CIS 20.1 17.1EAPR 1.2 15.0ROSA 11.6 1.5MENA 7.2 8.0ESAR 1.6 17.6WCAR 6.4 5.8TACR 9.0 52.6IND 14.5 43.0World 8.7 16.4Data source: UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007 database, http://gmr.uis.unesco.org/selectindicators.aspx, 21 December 2006. – Weighted by population of pre-primary age.

A Promising Solution

It is clear that additional efforts and strategies are urgently required to make the type of break through that would yield a sound ECD foundation for basic education. Clearly if the current weaknesses in ECD are not addressed in an effective and comprehensive manner, progress in the other key result areas of basic education and gender equality will continue to be severely compromised. Programming efforts in Basic Education and Gender Equality will continue to support all the current channels that promote effective and efficient ECD interventions. In addition serious efforts will be made to open up additional channels for supporting ECD in developing countries through cost effective and efficient interventions.

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This concept paper outlines one of the most promising alternative channels in the quest to provide cost effective and efficient interventions in ECD in developing countries. It is a viable intervention channel that is based on two simple and self-evident assumptions.

(a) Apart from (or in addition to) their primary care givers (usually parents), young children below school age are influenced most by other children; typically older siblings, playmates or “minders”, with whom they interact on a daily basis.

(b) By working with these older siblings, playmates and minders, who are already in school, the education system can build on this natural phenomenon to influence child development and school readiness in a more systematic manner.

These assumptions are the basis on which a child-to-child approach is being advocated as an additional channel for interventions to support ECD in terms of development and school readiness. The proposed interventions will enable older children already in school to provide much needed support to younger children before they start school, in order to help them develop early learning competencies and get them ready to start school at the right age. There is already a successful and well-known precedent in the development and implementation of a child-to-child model, and this approach will seek to build on it.

Child-to-Child is best known as a model developed by the Child-to-Child trust in London and widely adopted by developing countries as a means of promoting health education through children. Child-to-Child activities are usually integrated within broader health education programmes but are distinguished by the direct and active involvement of children in the process of promoting health education through their interaction with younger children or children of the same age group in their families and communities. The proposed new approach will draw on these same principles to address the key challenges of providing ECD opportunities for the great majority of children in developing countries who are not likely to have access to any of the existing range of ECD services in the foreseeable future.

Recognizing the relative lack of formal pre-school learning and other ECD opportunities for most children in developing countries, this approach seeks to enable primary school children to serve as a potential resource in meeting the needs of younger children during a critical period in their development and preparedness for school. The overall goal is to ensure that all eligible young children are enrolled in primary school at the appropriate age and arrive with the necessary skills, enthusiasm and confidence to become successful learners. The success of the approach will be gauged on the basis of contemporary knowledge about what works for quality ECD interventions to support children and their families, as well as on the impact it has on timely enrolment, retention rates and progression through the primary education cycle.

II. Intervention OverviewA. Goals and Objectives

In an effort to provide preschool early learning opportunities within the home and community, child-to-child materials and methods will be integrated into ongoing primary school activities. Building on the natural phenomena of school children playing with and caring for young children, the proposed intervention hopes to foster a rhythm of schooling by preparing preschool children and their families for on time school enrolment, readiness and success.

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The overall goal of the initiative is to increase both the child’s readiness for school as well as the school’s readiness to receive and foster optimal learning environments for its youngest students. More specifically, the initiative aims to:

Increase both girls’ and boys’ on-time enrollment in primary school;

Ensure that children arrive at school with a strong foundation in language, early literacy and numeracy as well as the social and emotional skills required for learning;

Decrease early drop-out rates and enhance overall primary school performance.

In addition the intervention will promote the following outcomes for older children, parents/families, teachers and schools:

Primary school children will increase awareness of and skills for promoting early learning, cooperative learning and life skills, and increased self-esteem;

Parents/families will increase awareness and knowledge of the importance of child development, gain skills for promoting early learning opportunities, as well as promote positive health, safety and nutrition practices. Understand the importance of on time enrolment;

First grade teachers will develop enhanced child centered teaching and learning methods;

Teachers will increase awareness of the importance of early childhood on later learning, enhance quality of teaching/learning methods and materials. Positive student outcomes will increase confidence and satisfaction;

School systems will foster linkages/partnerships between school and home; recognized the needs of its youngest learners, create child friendly learning environments and raise the educational standards.

In an effort to achieve these goals, two interventions are planned; Helping the little ones: Helping my own learning and Ready for School. As illustrated in Figure 2, for children in the early years of primary school Helping the little ones: Helping my own learning is a series of developmentally appropriate games and learning activities that can be used with preschool siblings and children. This series of age specific games is designed to enhance the social, language, motor and thinking skills of young children during the first five years of life. In addition, these fun learning games and activities will develop communications and life skills as well as support and reinforce the older child’s understanding of basic numeracy, language and early literacy skills.

Ready for School is a series of interactive learning games and activities with particular attention to the basic building blocks of early numeracy and literacy for children prior to school. It is a one-year intervention designed to be used by children in the upper primary school years with children during the year before they enroll in school. Since the official age of entry will vary from country to country the materials are flexible and designed to

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be used with children from 4-6 years of age. It is anticipated that many of these activities can also be used to enhance both the teaching and learning environments in the first year of primary school.

For both interventions illustrated in Figure 2, the learning materials and proposed implementation design are inherently flexible and will be readily adapted in response to the particular needs and circumstances of the selected communities, schools, teachers and families.

Figure 2: Schematic diagram: A Child to Child Approach to School Readiness

Community/Homes

Children entering school on time and better prepared

B. Intervention Strategy I: Helping the little ones: Helping my own learning

This intervention includes a developmentally appropriate series of play based early learning activities that can be used by children in the early primary grades to enrich the overall development of their younger siblings and/or other preschool children in the community. These activities will not only provide stimulating age-appropriate learning activities for the very youngest learners, but will also reinforce many of the social and

Helping the Little Ones: Helping my Own Learning (0-5) year olds) yyear oldyear olds)

Getting Ready for School (4-6 year olds)

Intervention 1

Intervention 2

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Primary Schools

Early primary school children

Later primary school children

emotional skills needed by primary school children in their first few years of schooling. Thus both the younger children and older children will have enriched developmental outcomes.

For the youngest children, learning occurs in natural contexts and child-centered play based, interactive learning. Their development during the first five years of life can therefore be enriched through the naturally occurring interactions involved in playing appropriate games with school-aged siblings and other older children. The underlying principal of this approach is to support an additional channel for delivering ECD services by strengthening a naturally occurring interaction between older and younger children.

The series of learning activities in this strategy will include simple individual activities to support and guide children’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. A framework and a suggested series of age appropriate activities will be designed. These can be easily adapted and adjusted to meet a wide variety of country contexts and settings. They are short, simple and require very little material resources. They build on and stress the concept that infants and young children are learning from the moment of birth, especially through stimulation and play. Older siblings and other children who interact with these young children can and do play an important role in how and what these youngest children are learning.

The activities will focus on four different aspects of early learning and development. Activities for Understanding and Communicating will help children develop both their understanding of words, gestures, directions, questions and routines. Talking about stories and books will be an important component of these activities. Activities for Exploration and Problem Solving will focus on how young children explore and figure things out. Activities that address concepts of color, size, matching, weight and number as well as anticipating consequences and solving problems will be included. Activities for Interacting with and Understanding Others will help children develop important social skills such as recognizing and respecting others. In addition these activities will help children express who they and what they are feeling. Activities for Moving and Doing will include games that help children combine movements as well as the coordination of fine motor and self help skills. Fun activities related to health, nutrition and safety will be embedded within each of these developmental themes.

For each of the four developmental areas, the activities will be sequenced into three age groups; 0-1 years, 1-3 years, and 3-5 years. Each activity also will indicate what skills the child will use and develop further, as well as a short simple description of what to do and the materials needed for the exercise. Working in close collaboration with the Child to Child Trust, country teams will ensure that all activities and materials are grounded in the local context and culturally familiar norms. Suggested examples of the types of activities to be developed within each developmental domain can be found in Annex I.

In an effort to build on and strengthening the existing school curriculum, the activities will be embedded into the school curriculum. By developing and utilizing these activities school children will also have opportunities to strengthen and use their emerging reading, writing, and numeracy skills. Important communication and social skills required to understand and respond to the needs of other children will also be enriched. School children will be strongly encouraged to take materials home and play with their younger siblings and other younger children in their communities, as part of their school activities (homework).

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Teacher’s Guide/Training Workshop: A teacher’s guide will be provided, highlighting how each activity supports early thinking, motor and language development of young children. Suggestions on how learning games can be used for children at different ages and stages will also be included. In addition, teachers will be able integrate the methods and skills of early learning and development into their everyday classroom teaching to encourage pupils to follow these examples. Thus the programme will reinforce the early learning skills of both the school aged and younger children. Training workshops will be organized for teachers so they can better understand how to select and utilize age appropriate activities in order to promote the optimal learning potential of young children.

C. Intervention Strategy II: Ready for School

Building on the sills highlighted in intervention I, this intervention is envisaged as a 1-year program designed to reach children a year before they are eligible to enroll in primary schools. Communities participating in the proposed initiative will identify eligible children the year before the required school enrollment age. Older children, who are close to completing primary school, will be paired with one or several of these eligible children. Through a series of weekly activities and monthly workshops, help them prepare for starting school at the right age. In addition, these materials can also be used to support and strengthen the learning environment of children already enrolled in first grade particularly those requiring additional help.

The early learning activities in this intervention strategy are more advanced specific and sequenced than those developed in Intervention I. They will focus specifically on a graded series of early numeracy and literacy activities. In this regard the intervention will include the development of materials for a package such as: Children’s Early Learning Pack: An all-inclusive learning pack to help young learners get ready for school. The older children participating in the project will receive an early learning kit filled with activities to foster the skills of early literacy and numeracy. The activities will include pictures, games, etc, that encourage children to experiment with common everyday objects, solve problems, and draw conclusions. They will be designed to capture children’s natural curiosity, enthusiasm and motivation to learn, while also reflecting what is known about emerging literacy and numeracy in the early years. They will also be fun and exciting while building children’s sense of competence and self esteem.

The numeracy activities will be designed to help children connect mathematical concepts with real life situations. Children will use everyday objects to solve problems, estimate size and shape, etc, thereby becoming familiar with numbers, quantities and counting. The literacy activities will focus on the four components of emerging literacy including: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Children will explore through songs and poems, make up stories, create books and read together, build sight vocabulary, explore sound symbol relationships, and draw and talk about ideas. The scope and sequence of these early literacy and numeracy skills are outlined in more detail in Annex II.

Young Facilitators’ Guide to School Readiness: It is envisaged that a step-by-step simple guide will be developed to accompany the activities contained in the learning kits. This guide, designed specifically for use by older children in their role as young preschool facilitators will explain the purpose of each learning activity, how it should be used and why it is important for children who are about to start school within a year. Suggestions on how to expand/simplify each activity to meet individual learning needs

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will also be included. The intervention will also include development of a more general Young Facilitators Guide in the form of a clear and easy to use guide for young preschool facilitators and their younger learners. For each of the interactive learning sets, the guide will include workshop activities to help the older children use the early learning materials most effectively. Finally the intervention will include development of a series of training workshops for primary school teachers. These Teacher Training Workshops will be designed to help teachers prepare the young preschool facilitators for their role. Schools may be grouped together in clusters so that children, teachers and communities can support each other in this new approach. Using participatory methods, these workshops will review the basic child development concepts in simple terms with an emphasis on the development of early literacy, and math concepts. Teachers will engage in hands-on activities to become familiar with the activities contained in each set of materials.

D. Communication/Advocacy Strategy

The primary objective of the communication strategy is to mobilize communities in support of the child-to-child program. This will be achieved by raising awareness of communities, families and teachers on the importance of early learning for school readiness and on time school enrolment, and providing them with the child-to-child model as a potential solution. The expected outcome is for parents to enroll and send their children to school on time, children coming into school more ready for learning, and children staying on in school and not dropping out.

Template materials will be developed by HQ in consultation with country offices, and will be adapted, printed and disseminated locally. Formative research will identify key messages and stakeholders. These will complement the child-to-child material that will be developed as part of programme implementation.

A global communication strategy will be drafted, in which further definition of objectives and target audiences, deliverables, timeline, budget, partnerships, monitoring and evaluation will be expanded.

As a secondary layer of outcomes, the communication strategy will seek to also increase awareness of the importance of school readiness and on-time entry among other stakeholder such as the policy makers, ministry of education, national NGOs, etc.

III. Country Selection and Implementation Strategy

Approximately six countries representing different geographical regions will be identified and invited to participate during an initial pilot phase. Factors to consider in the selection process will include for example:

Low levels of primary school enrolment High level of overage children enrolled in primary school Low preschool coverage and absence of other early learning opportunities and

programmes such as community-based child care and development. Poor retention rates, weak learning achievement and high levels of drop out

within the early years of primary school Previous experience with child to child programs and activities

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Interest and commitment of Ministry of Education and Teacher Training Institutes

Since a major objective of Key Results Area I (KRA 1) of Focus Area 2 (FA2) is to improve disadvantaged children’s readiness to start primary school on time, the country selection process will also consider opportunities to build on girls education initiatives. Communities affected by HIV/AIDs will also be strongly considered.

UNICEF county offices interested in participating in the proposed Child-to-child pilot initiative will be further explored through discussions with both UNICEF staff as well as country partners. It will be important to elicit the commitment of the Ministry of Education as well as teacher training institutes in order to sustain the initiative after the initial pilot phase. Working within the broad conceptual framework described in the previous section, each country and participating communities will adapt and define a specific implementation strategy. In addition, a team of educators, designers and child development experts will work together to will develop, adapt and review the most appropriate learning materials and training manuals for piloting the child-to-child model. Necessary revisions and adaptations will be made as the pilot proceeds and a team of outside consultants working in close collaboration with in-country partners will implement training workshops for teachers and young preschool facilitators. Countries will receive ongoing monitoring, evaluation and technical support throughout the duration of the initiative. In-country capacity building at all levels of the program will be given highest priority.

IV. Program Evaluation

In order to determine the effectiveness of the pilot Child-to-Child School Readiness intervention to increase on-time enrolment and school preparedness, a case control quasi-experimental research design is proposed. A common framework and shared set of culturally appropriate measures will be identified/adapted and used across participating sites. Using both qualitative and qualitative measures the evaluation will address issues related to program outcome, impact, and process. A sampling framework will be designed in order to determine the size of the sample needed in each country to achieve the expected outcomes.

A. Outcome

Children’s outcome will be measure by the age of school enrolment as well as school readiness. Since preschool children’s knowledge and skills are directly related to their health status and the conditions in which they live, outcome measures will be controlled for variation in child’s health, nutrition, and family care environment. Data on the developmental themes emphasized throughout the child-to-child materials will be collected and include:

Language Development Listening and Understanding Speaking and Communicating

Literacy Phonological Awareness Book Knowledge and Appreciation

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Print Awareness and Concepts Early Writing and Alphabet Knowledge

Mathematic Number and Operations Patterns and Measurement

Social and Emotional Development Self Concept Self Control Cooperation

Approaches to Learning Initiative and Curiosity Reasoning and Problem Solving

The evaluation will identify and adapt a school readiness tool that can be easily and readily applied across participating countries. In an effort to determine both a sensitive and practical school readiness instrument, the following characteristics will be considered:

Easy to administer—teachers or surveyors who receive only minimal training in how to administer it.

Concise –relatively short duration Low cost the assessment must be of low cost and require nothing more than

cheap materials available locally Technological simplicity –items administration must require nothing more than

materials that are readily available in the country Ease and objectivity of scoring—the assessment must be such that it can be

scored easily and objectively so that reliability from one score to another is assured.

Covers a broad spectrum of development or the whole child.

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 any exposure to the materials. 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. Additional information on each of the participating communities will provide insight into the particular set of family social and cultural factors impinging on the quality and quantity of the existing educational system.

In addition to the readiness of the children upon entry into formal school, a sub sample of communities will be selected to participated in a long term follow up to determine if the program has had any long term impact on children’s progress and performance through out the first three years of primary school.

B. Impact

In addition to assessing children’s outcomes, the evaluation will also determine the impact of the program on parents, teachers, child educators, and communities. Through

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a variety of both quantitative and qualitative methods, insights into the following questions will be obtained:

Did the program 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 its youngest learners? Did they change as a result of the program?

Were there changes in community regarding the needs of young children and their families evident as a result of the project?

C. Process

Using both qualitative and quantitative indicators (interviews, focus groups, self-administered questionnaires, surveys, observations) the evaluation will also determine if the program was implemented as planned. Information collected will attempt to provide insights into the supply, adequacy and quality of program inputs including:

Quality and effectiveness of the children’s learning materials/activities; Effectiveness of the teacher and student teacher training; Ability of the system to provide adequate and effective supervision and

monitoring; Adequacy of the duration and intensity of the intervention; Effectiveness and suitability of the child to child concept in promoting early

learning; Efficacy of implementation strategies; Linkages between child-to-child early learning activities and first year school

curriculum.

An external evaluator will be identified to provide ongoing technical expertise in all aspects of design, instrument development and implementation as well as data analysis. Working in close collaboration with UNICEF HQ and the Child-to-hild trust, a preliminary task list is identified as follows:

Develop overall evaluation design Determine sample size (# of schools/children) Develop/implement baseline survey (case/control) Identify/adapt school readiness instrument/tool Determine/review relevant existing data sources Design/implement community profile/survey Develop necessary tools/instruments to monitor/assess the quality of program

implementation and as well as impact on older children, parents, teachers and schools

Develop training module for implementing data collection process and procedures in-country

Conduct the evaluation training at the Training of Trainers conducted by Child to Child Trust

Analysis of Baseline: pre and post in both case and control communities/schools

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V. Roles and Responsibilities

The proposed initiative is envisaged as a partnership between UNICEF country offices and other in-country partners, UNICEF Regional Offices, UNICEF HQ (Education Section and ECD Unit) and the Child-to-Child Trust in London. The proposed roles and responsibilities for each of these partners are outlined below. This preliminary delineation of activities will be further refined and adjusted during the planning phase.

A. UNICEF HQ: Education Section and ECD Unit: Develop the concept of the initiative Develop and design partnership with Child-to-Child Trust (PCA) Define country selection criteria/select participating countries Develop the child outcome framework Work closely with the Child-to-Child Trust in the development of the materials Prepare evaluation design, methods and tools Develop a communication campaign Provide overall management and co-ordination of both implementation and

evaluation Work closely with selected countries in initiating the pilot Develop Phase II replication strategy for roll out to a larger number of countries

B. Child-to-Child Trust: Provide Technical Assistance:

o Materials development based on the child outcome frameworko Technical support to countries in the piloting.

Conduct material development trainings at country level (each selected country) Conduct teacher trainings after country specific materials have been developed Provides implementing partners with follow up support, supervision and monitoring

C. UNICEF Regional Offices: Provide overall coordination, management and back-stopping for pilot countries Manage technical/financial support to countries as appropriate for piloting Develop advocacy and dissemination strategy to support the C-t-C model

D. UNICEF Country Offices Select implementing partners Identify pilot communities/schools Translate/adapt/refine all learning materials Replicate and distribute materials Provide project management and coordination at country level Manage project budget/secure adequate funding Co-ordinate program monitoring and evaluation efforts in collaboration with UNICEF

HQ and evaluation consultantE. National Governments Collaborate closely with UNICEF at all stages of the project. Ensure timely integration of program and materials into the school curriculum Provide support advocacy and community awareness Develop collaboration with selected Teacher Training Institutes

F. Implementing Agencies Coordinate day-to-day operations

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Provide ongoing supervision and follow-up Implement program monitoring/evaluation tools

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VI. Proposed Project Timeline

ACTIVITIES LEAD RESPONSIBILITY TIMELINEConcept NoteOnce finalized, to be shared with the UNICEF country offices to garner interest to be part of the pilot

Education Section, UNICEF January 2007

Children’s Outcome Framework (school readiness characteristics)Two sets:

- children 0 – 4 years old- children 4 – 6 years old

Education Section, UNICEF January 2007

Set of activities to promote school readiness based on the children’s outcome framework:Two sets:

- children 0 – 4 years old- children 4 – 6 years old

CtC Trust April/May 2007

Template Materials and Roles Six sets:Materials for pre-school children

- children 0 – 4 years old- children 4 – 6 years old

Materials for school children- children in grades 2 – 3- children in grades 4 – 5

Materials for teachers- teachers of grades 2 – 3- teachers of grades 4 – 5

CtC Trust June/July/August 2007

Country level material development and implementation planning workshops (based on template materials)

- Piloted in 5 selected countries

UNICEF and CtC Trust- UNICEF selects pilot countries and mobilizes local teams- Trust facilitates workshops

Sept/Oct 2007

Finalize materials, translate, adapt and print locally CtC Trust and UNICEFWorking with UNICEF country offices

Nov/Dec 2007

ACTIVITIES LEAD RESPONSIBILITY TIMELINEand local partners

Country level training workshop for teachers of selected schools

- 5 selected pilot countries- 15 – 20 selected schools per country

CtC Trust Jan-March 2008(To align with the school calendar)

Advocacy CampaignTo include:

- advocacy note- country campaign plan- implementation of advocacy campaign

Education Section, UNICEFwith UNICEF Department of Communication

To be launched before field launch of the pilot

Monitoring & Evaluation Strategy and PlanTo include:

- M&E strategy and plan note- Consultancies to support the country M&E- External evaluation agency on board (baseline and post

intervention)

Education Section, UNICEF with UNICEF Evaluation Office along with a consultant with child-to-child expertise

On-going. To be initiated before the launch of the pilot

Implementation Phase UNICEF: M and ECtC Trust: Follow up support and looking at mainstreaming

April 2008 – August 2009

Mainstreaming in pilot countries and expansion to other countries

UNICEF and country level local partners

September –December 2009

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Annex I: Helping the little ones: Helping my own learning

Examples of Suggested Activities

Understanding and Communicating Happy Sounds Pictures Around the Room Peek-a-boo Listening and Answering Finger Play Songs Patterns Familiar Sounds Puppet Play Children’s Picture Book Listening to Stories Acting and Miming Stories Letters Sounds, and Pictures Writing My Name

Activities for Exploration and Problem Solving Counting Twos Look at Numbers of Things How Many Things in a Container? Nesting Toy Count Textured Shapes Finding Colors Counting things here or at home Upside down Pictures Matching Game Looking at the World Around Us Puzzle Place

Activities for Interacting with and Understanding Others What am I feeling? My special friends Songs with Names Taking Turns This is me This is my family My things your things Can you do what I do? Things that make me happy What do you mean? Words for getting along with others Words for feelings Words for how things are used Sharing Likes and dislikes

Activities for Moving and Doing

Kicking bells Face Socks Holding Blocks Reaching Turn and Find Bean bags Blocks and Containers Hide and Seek Drop in Boxes Nesting Cups Scribbling Making pictures or models with natural materials (sticks, clay etc.) Jumping down Hoping, skipping, and counting Obstacle course Try a toss

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ANNEX II: Fun with Letters and Words: Scope and Sequence of Learning Outcomes:

Learn the sound associated with certain letters. Emphasize the sound letters make as words are written. Help children make sense of print by talking with them while writing. Help children listen for and repeat the initial sound in his name.

Learn letters in their name, sounds associated with those letters, and how to recognize their name. Words are made-up of groups of letters; letters represent sounds; words begin with the letter on the left and ends with the last letter on the right. Learn to recognize words to familiar songs and poems.

Listen to and discuss family stories. Through interesting discussions children will understand how “stories” work.

By conducting interviews children learn how to ask questions to gather information. Use information to create books and stories to share with family and friends.

Practice making letter-sound connections. Pronounce words as they are written. Emphasize sounds at the beginning, middle and end of each word.

Understand all the reasons why we read and write. For example to remember information (make a list), communicate information (write a letter), learn new information (read a paper).

Learn new words and understand how words are organized into complete sentences. Learn to organize thoughts and make them understood. Learn to express their ideas and stories as well as understand the ideas and stories of others.

Recall events, retell stories and speak in complete sentences help children master prerequisites for learning to read.

Think about and discuss how to identify and discuss children’s questions about going to school

Fun with Numbers: Scope and Sequence of Learning Outcomes Understand that a number represents a set of objects; practice counting,

ordering, and comparing groups of objects. Learn to count, write, identify and represent numbers 1 to 5.

Count sets of object to 10 and identify the numerals 1 through 10. Sort groups of

objects and practice observing, describing, and making distinctions between the characteristics of objects. Practice counting to 10.

Order sets of objects and learn how to compare the relative differences between them— longest to shortest, lightest to darkest, more to less, lightest to heaviest.

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Recognize, create and extend patterns. Understand that a pattern is a form of ordering that repeats itself. Make predictions.

Understand the geometry is the study of shapes and spatial relationships. Provide children opportunities to relate math to the real world by looking for and naming different shapes.

Explore numbers one through 20. Understand that the number 12 is represented by one group of 10 plus 2 ones, 15 is represented by one group of 10 plus 5 ones.

Add two sets of numbers together to get a total. Play with sets of objects and counting to find the total number

Practice adding to and taking away from sets of objects.

Review math activities from the previous eight sets. Observes the ways children’s approaches differ now from when they did the task earlier. Make up number riddles to challenge children to think about numbers from one to twenty.

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