Effective interventions to strengthen early language and literacy skills in low-income countries: comparison of a family-focused approach and a pre-primary programme in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

Globally, governments as well as international and donor organizations are increasingly emphasizing the need for investment in effective early childhood programmes that can provide an equitable start for all children. Research is scant, however, on the effectiveness of different interventions supporting early language as well as broader school readiness skills in low-income countries. This paper aims to contribute to the literature by comparing the impact of two interventions with high potential for scale-up in Ethiopia: (1) a one-year pre-primary classroom-based model run by the government and (2) a family-based model that engages parents and caregivers in bolstering early language and overall school-readiness skills at home through simple games, in lieu of a standard centre-based programme. No significant differences were found between the gains made by children in the family-based program and the children in the standard pre-primary classes in terms of early literacy, early math, socio-emotional development as well as overall school readiness.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood interventions
• parent education
• emergent literacy
• child development
• preschool
• school readiness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Ivelina Borisova, EdD, works as a Director of ECD Impact and Innovations, at Save the Children. She has worked extensively in low- and middle-income countries developing integrated systems, policies and programmes for early childhood. She provides strategic and technical guidance to a diverse portfolio of countries across Asia, Africa, Middle East and Eastern/Central Europe spanning the full continuum of early childhood, with a focus on achieving equitable access to quality early learning services. She has worked across several countries to build rigorous evidence for successful and scalable early intervention programmes. She is currently involved in key initiatives looking to strengthen the global and national level measures and indicators for child development and learning as well as quality of learning environments. She has published numerous articles and reports, and has presented extensively at conferences, meetings and workshops (academic and non-academic) globally. She holds a Master's degree in Risk and Prevention Science and a Doctoral degree in Human Development and Education from Harvard University.

Ms Lauren Pisani has seven years of diverse experience working in education, as well as a Master's Degree in Education from Stanford University. She began her career in international education with the American Institutes for Research and the U.S. Department of Educations National Center for Education Statistics, where she worked to analyze and disseminate the results of U.S. student performance on international large-scale assessments. During her time at Save the Children, she has been instrumental in the development of the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA), as well as led data collection initiatives and analysis of program results for numerous projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. In addition to frequent conference presentations, her work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals as well as a forthcoming book.

Dr Amy Jo Dowd is the Senior Director for Education Research at SCUS. A graduate of Stanford (MA) and Harvards (MEd, EdD) Graduate Schools of Education, she is passionate about using rigorous research to improve practice in international education and development. She oversees a team of eight applied researchers supporting evidence-based programme teams across the globe to ensure all children learn essential literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills in early childhood and early grades. She led the development and field testing of Literacy Boost and over a decade has encouraged a culture of inquiry and continuous improvement at Save the Children.

Ms Hsiao-Chen Lin is a global early childhood consultant with over five years of experience working in the area of early childhood development. She holds a Master's degree in Special Education/Early Childhood Development from Columbia University as well as a Law Degree from McGill University. She began her career in education as a preschool teacher and special educator working with children from poor and disadvantaged communities and families. She then supported the work of various international organizations and her work took on a broader focus in early childhood education globally. She has led the development of various global publications focused on early childhood as well as contributed to numerous projects in this area.