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The role of parental involvement in pre-primary education in Ethiopia

Mon, April 15, 1:30 to 3:00pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Atrium (Level 2), Boardroom C

Proposal

One of the key indicators of the commitments of the educational reforms of the government of Ethiopia is the introduction of adoption of a National Policy Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in 2010. In this framework, parental education, health and early stimulation, community-based preschools, and community based non-formal school readiness programs have been recognized as the four pillars of the policy. As a result of the introduction of this policy, the enrolment of pre-schoolers increased from 4.2% in 2008/09 to 45% in 2016/17 (MoE-EMIS, 2017).

Enrolment of preschool children soared following the introduction of the O-Class (school readiness program) – a one-year program attached to primary schools. This rapid expansion indicates that parents had high demand for pre-primary education for their children, with further pressure created as a result of enrolment of children younger than the official age of six years. Initial evidence indicates that O-Class teaching largely involves repetition rather than more age-appropriate methods. It also shows large variations in learning of basic concepts.

In this context, this paper assesses the nature, type and extent of involvement of parents in preschools and the overall development of their children. Drawing on a systems framework developed during the ELP research program in Ethiopia this paper finds that, although parental education is one of the four pillars of the ECCE policy framework, there is a big gap in its implementation at national and sub-national levels. Qualitative data were collected through interview and focus group discussion with parents, preschool teachers, principals, and Woreda (district) education officers in four regional states of Ethiopia: Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, SNNP, and Tigray. Parents’ involvement in schools was observed through their contributions in kind such as fencing the school compound, building additional classrooms, paying salaries of some teachers, and taking care of teachers’ children before and after school hours. On the other hand, there were no training manuals for parental engagement and neither were teachers or Woreda (district) education experts engaged in supporting parents on how to contribute to the cognitive and socio-emotional development of their children.
The paper proceeds to discuss options to use a theory of structural cognitive modifiability and mediated learning experiences (as proposed by Feuerstein et al. 2015) when developing a guidance manual for parental engagement in early learning service delivery. It suggests that strengthened parental engagement may be achieved through home-based or centre-based (i.e. through the rapidly expanding O-Class) interventions, thereby increasing parental involvement and improving child development in the early years.

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