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Are we making a difference? Outcomes of an early education programme in Pakistan. (2010)
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CIES 2010 Are We Making a Difference? Outcomes of an Early Education Programme in Pakistan Sadaf Shallwani Aga Khan Foundation March 1, 2010 Shallwani, S. (March, 2010). Are we making a difference? Outcomes of an early education programme in Pakistan. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society, Chicago. Contact: Sadaf Shallwani, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education / University of Toronto. http://sadafshallwani.net
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Shallwani, S. (March, 2010). Are we making a difference? Outcomes of an early education programme in Pakistan. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society, Chicago. Abstract: The Releasing Confidence and Creativity (RCC) programme focuses on improving access to quality early education in Pakistan. The programme involves the collaboration of a range of local technical and community-based organizations that can mould the implementation of the programme to their contexts. This has resulted in a localized and contextually appropriate model of early education delivery. Currently, the RCC programme supports over 250 government and community schools, mainly through teacher training and the provision of learning materials for the early grades (pre-primary and early primary classrooms). The RCC core research study examines the results of the RCC programme on various outcome indicators, by collecting in-depth information on a sample of RCC schools and comparison non-RCC schools. Data are collected annually on a range of indicators, including school facilities, enrollment rates, attendance rates, retention rates, promotion rates, class sizes, and teacher-child ratios. In addition, pre-primary learning environment quality is being assessed, as well as children’s literacy and numeracy skills at the end of Grade 1. The presentation will share findings from Year 1 of this ongoing research study. Preliminary analyses indicate significant differences between RCC and non-RCC schools on key indicators such as retention rates and promotion rates. These results are promising for RCC, and provide evidence for the panel’s overall notion of reaching quality through contextually appropriate approaches to education.
Transcript of Are we making a difference? Outcomes of an early education programme in Pakistan. (2010)
CIES 2010
Are We Making a Difference?
Outcomes of an Early Education Programme in Pakistan
Sadaf Shallwani
Aga Khan Foundation
March 1, 2010
Shallwani, S. (March, 2010). Are we making a difference? Outcomes of an early education programme in Pakistan. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society, Chicago.
Contact: Sadaf Shallwani, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology,
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education / University of Toronto. http://sadafshallwani.net
RCC Programme
• Releasing Confidence and Creativity: Early Childhood Development Programme in Pakistan (since 2003)
• Works with schools, families, and communities to enhance the contexts in which children aged 0-8 years are growing up
• Based on global ECD vision, but emphasizes contextualization through collaborative and localized work
RCC Model
Objective 1: Expand the access and improve the
quality of teaching/learning in pre-primary and
early primary classes (with an emphasis on
reaching girls and poor communities). Creating
awareness and mobilizing communities– Establishing pre-primary classes
– Recruiting and training teachers for pre-primary
– Training early primary teachers
– Providing, or training the teacher to create, low-cost learning materials for the classroom
– Establishing or maintaining basic facilities for young children
RCC Research
Research Objective:
• To examine RCC’s progress on Objective 1
Methodology:
• Stratified random sample of RCC schools and comparison non-RCC schools
• Data collection– School profiles
– Classroom environment and teacher practices
– Learning achievement in Class 1
RCC Research
Preliminary analyses:
• Government schools in Sindh (n = 36)
• School profile data: Outcome indicators
– Use of pre-primary curriculum
– Attendance rates in pre-primary and Class 1
– Retention rates in pre-primary and Class 1
– Promotion rates in pre-primary and Class 1
• Gender disaggregated
RCC Research
• National ECE curriculum
• Is a pre-primary curriculum being used?
– RCC schools: 18 out of 18 using one
– Non-RCC: 6 out of 18 using one
Differences between children at RCC and non-RCC schools
RCC Research
RCC Non-RCC Sig.
Pre-primary attendance rate (%) 81.7 44.8 n.s.
Class 1 attendance rate (%) 68.2 46.0 p < .05
Pre-primary retention rate (%) 87.4 85.5 p < .05
Class 1 retention rate (%) 89.2 81.7 p < .05
Pre-primary promotion rate (%) 66.5 54.3 p < .01
Class 1 promotion rate (%) 74.85 66.6 n.s.
RCC Research
• Differences between children at RCC and non-
RCC schools were more significant for girls.
– pre-primary girls’ retention rates
– pre-primary girls’ promotion rates
– Class 1 girls’ attendance rates
• Retention rates were affected by an RCC by
Area interaction
– in urban areas, non-RCC schools had significantly lower
retention rates than RCC schools
RCC Research
• RCC seems to be having an impact on aggregate
indicators of outcomes for children
• Girls seem to be benefitting from RCC
• Lack of choice in rural areas
• Need multiple regression analyses which take into
consideration multiple factors, including covariates
• Need to look at more in-depth data (classroom
quality, children learning outcomes, etc.)
RCC Research
Comments, thoughts, discussion…
