Understanding pre-primary quality in Tanzania: Data from the national MELQO study

• In Event: The Equity Initiative: Expanding Access to Quality Pre-Primary Education Opportunities: Using Data and Research to Document Inequity

Proposal

A current challenge in the equitable access to quality pre-primary education for young children is the current lack of relevant and reliable data on pre-primary education to inform improvement of the education sector in developing country contexts. In 2015, the global Measuring Early Learning and Quality Outcomes (MELQO) initiative was formed by UNICEF, UNESCO, the World Bank, and the Brookings Institution to focus on facilitating feasible, accurate, and useful measurement of young pupils’ development at the start of primary school as well as the quality of pre-primary learning environments, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. A suite of instruments was developed by a collaborating core team of experts for adaptation and use in several countries in 2015 and 2016. The first nationally representative school readiness study utilizing the MELQO suite of instruments was recently completed in Tanzania. As Tanzania has long recognized the importance of early learning and in recent years made efforts to improve the quality of pre-primary education through a new policy, curriculum, and syllabus , the study on school readiness was timely.
The current presentation will report on the quality of pre-primary education environments in both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, as found through the national MELQO study conducted in early 2017, and how this may inform sector improvement. Data on pre-primary education quality was collected from 120 schools and pre-primary classrooms, including classroom observations and interviews with pre-primary and Head Teachers. The presentation will focus on pre-primary classroom findings related to instruction and pedagogy, as well as teaching and learning resources and materials, and how the findings may be used to inform sector improvement in the provision of quality early education.

Author

• Tara Weatherholt, RTI International