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Data-driven early education expansion: Bhutan’s national ECCE study

Mon, April 15, 1:30 to 3:00pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Bay (Level 1), Seacliff B

Proposal

Globally, coverage of early childhood care and education (ECCE) services is expanding, yet many countries still have limited ECCE coverage, and there is limited guidance on best practices for effectively expanding early education programs (UIS, 2014). In 2015, the Kingdom of Bhutan completed a national evaluation of ECCE programs to develop an evidence-based way forward with this process. Results of the study are guiding the Ministry of Education (MoE) in their scale up of ECCE nationally.
This study is a national longitudinal evaluation of ECCE services in Bhutan. This study selected three districts from each region based on the prevalence and diversity of ECCE programming in each district. To understand the impact of various types of ECCE program models across the country a list of all ECCE programs (CSO, community, private, corporate, and parenting programs) was created and a random sample drawn. In addition, a comparison group of children with no access to ECCE programming was included. The non-ECCE sample was selected from the same districts as those that contained only non-center based ECCE services, randomly drawing children from communities where no services were offered.
A baseline assessment was conducted at the beginning of the 2015 school year (March), and a follow-up assessment was conducted at the end of the year (November). In total, 1,189 children were assessed at both the pre- and post-test. The International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) tool was used to measure children’s learning and development (Pisani, Borisova & Dowd, 2018). A caregiver survey was used to gather information about children’s family and demographic characteristics, and during the school year classroom quality data was collected using a modified version of the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) (Harms, Clifford & Cryer, 1998).
Children with access to center-based ECCE services acquired more skills than children without access to these programs. Analyses also suggest that higher quality centers and those with fewer children are associated with stronger learning outcomes. Finally, family wealth and positive home learning environments are significantly positively related to learning gains.
The MoE in Bhutan has committed to scaling up provision of ECCE services for children aged 3 – 5 years across the country. They have also chosen to strengthen the curriculum by incorporating emergent literacy and math. In addition, ECCE facilitators are receiving additional training and a network of ECCE facilitators has been established. Finally, parent outreach programs are being initiated with the aim of enhancing parental capacity to support learning at home.

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