Implementation and Impacts of a Remote Preschool Program: A Case Study from Lebanon

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

During the COVID-19 global pandemic, continuation of critical services such as health, education and social welfare required a significant redesign in order to shift from in-person to remote delivery. As restrictions and concerns related to in-person services have waned, service delivery providers increasingly recognize the important role of remote services, particularly for its potential in expanding access for populations that cannot use in-person services due to conflict, crisis, or remote geographic location. Preschool programs in crisis and conflict settings serve as a powerful example of such services that can potentially benefit from remote delivery in that they are often challenging to implement in settings characterized by insecurity and instability, yet they provide a critical opportunity for early learning and development during the formative years of brain development, while also serving to mitigate the negative effects of early exposure to violence, displacement and prolonged stress. Delivering preschool programs remotely presents unique challenges given the loss of teacher-child interactions and peer-to-peer child interactions. This panel presents a case study in how one preschool program was adapted for remote delivery; the challenges (and opportunities) that were presented for teachers and caregivers; and the impact of such programming on children with little to no prior early child development (ECD) programming in the year prior to primary school. Program partners for this work began piloting remote preschool programs in Lebanon after COVID-19 lockdowns went into effect in March 2020. Trained preschool teachers deliver this program via group Whatsapp calls to groups of 5-6 caregivers three times per week over an 11-week period with the aim of instructing caregivers in how to do developmentally supportive activities with children at home. Immediately after the shift to remote delivery, program and research partners began qualitative data collection with teachers, teacher aides, and caregivers to better understand this shift as well as the larger context in Lebanon at the time (both related to COVID-19 and to more local economic and social crises in the country). This data along with anecdotal reports to the program team, high attendance rates in the pilot program, and a lack of accessible ECD and early childhood education (ECE) in remote areas of Lebanon led to an internal decision to conduct a mixed-method evaluation of the impact of such programming on families with little to no access to ECE with a focus on children about to start primary education.

In this panel, we will first share the process of adapting a preschool curriculum for remote delivery (paper 1). This will focus on the practical logistics of delivering the program (e.g., adapting content to be delivered via caregivers and training staff for phone-based interactions/teaching) and present monitoring data on implementation quality of the phone calls, program reach, and caregiver attendance. We will then share qualitative findings on teacher and caregiver needs during the - and experiences of - remote programming (paper 2) followed by presenting the impact results from our randomized controlled trial of the remote early learning program (paper 3). Impact findings focus on caregiver wellbeing (depression, anxiety, stress, and efficacy), caregiver engagement with children, and child development (as assessed via a remote adaptation of the IDELA implemented through Whatsapp audio and video calls). We will close with comments from a discussant with expertise in early child development within low-income and conflict-affected studies who will shed light on this work’s connection to the larger field of programming and evaluations in which it lies.

Together, these presentations contribute to the growing body of knowledge on how to design, deliver, and evaluate remote programs, and whether such programs can help children achieve their developmental potential in challenging circumstances.

Sub Unit

• Early Childhood Development SIG

Chair

• Kate Schwartz, Global TIES for Children, New York University

Individual Presentations

• Lebanon Remote Early Learning Program Design and Implementation - Siwar Hashwe, International Rescue Committee

• Impacts of a Remote Early Learning Program on Child Development, Caregiver Perceptions of Play, Caregiver-Child Interactions, and Caregiver Wellbeing - Kate Schwartz, Global TIES for Children, New York University; Lina Torossian, International Rescue Organization; Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Global TIES for Children, New York University

Discussant

• Lauren Pisani, Consultant