Global trends in Early Childhood Education 17 May

Global trends in Early Childhood Education 17 May 2018, Moscow, Russian Federation SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO Yoshie Kaga, UNESCO Headquarters

UNESCO & Education - Transforming lives through education “Since wars begin in the minds of men and women, it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace must be constructed" About UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR • Specialized agency in the UN system • 195 Member States and 10 Associate Members • Five sectors: Education, Social & Human Sciences, Culture, Communications & Information, and Natural Sciences. • UNESCO is the sole UN agency mandated to cover all aspects of education; and leads the SDG 4 Steering Committee 2

8 years ago. . . UNESCO World Conference on ECCE (WCECCE 2010) In Moscow Russian Federation Investing against Evidence: the Global State of ECCE (UNESCO 2015) main follow-up publication of WCECCE SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 3

From MDGs to SDGs For all countries Framed in 5 P’s: People, Planet, Peace, Prosperity, Partnership 10 targets within SDG 4 on Education SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 4

Education at UNESCO - At the heart of the new Global 2030 Agenda 10 targets to achieve SDG 4 and the Education 2030 Agenda Primary & secondary Youth & adult literacy UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR ECCE GCED & ESD TVET & higher & adult Learning environments Skills for work Scholarship Equality & equal access Teachers 5

Education at UNESCO - At the heart of the new Global 2030 Agenda SDG Target 4. 2 “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education” UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 6

SDG Target 4. 2 global and thematic indicators “Readiness” Participation Provision 8. Proportion of children under 5 years of age Global who are developmentally on track in health, indicator learning and psychological well-being 4. 2. 1 9. Percentage of children under 5 years of age experiencing positive and stimulating home learning environment Thematic indicator 10. Participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age) by sex Global indicator 4. 2. 2 11. Gross pre-primary enrolment ratio Thematic indicator 12. Number of years of (i) free and (ii) Thematic compulsory pre-primary education guaranteed indicator in legal frameworks SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO Wide conceptual support Currently tracked via ECD Index from UNICEF’s MICS for ages 3 & 4 -years but work is needed to examine alternatives; basis to develop a set of questions for use across surveys Concept of organized learning is challenging; significant data challenges in some regions; some overlap with 11 7

Global trends in ECE SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 8

Focus on: Participation Legal provision “Readiness” Quality assurance Governance and funding SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 9

Participation • Globally, participation rate in ECE is growing globally • Yet, there are inequities in participation both within and between countries and regions From UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2017 and UIS database UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 10

Evolution of gross pre-primary enrolment (2000 -2016) 90 80 70 Worl 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 World Arab States Central and Eastern Europe Central Asia East Asia and the Pacific Latin America and the Caribbean North America and Western Europe South and West Asia Sub-Saharan Africa 2016 Source: UIS database

Globally, 69% of children were in school or preschool one year before official primary entry age, in 2015. Regionally, 95% in Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe and North America; 83% Eastern and Southeastern Asia; 42% in sub-Saharan Africa UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 12

Participation rate in organized learning one year before official primary entry age (2000 -2015)

Richest-poorest & urban-rural divide in attendance to organized early learning of 3 - and 4 -year-olds, among 52 LMICs For example, in Serbia and Nigeria, 80% of attendance is for the richest children, and 10% for the poorest For example, in Tunisia and Turkmenistan, the urban-rural gap in attendance rates exceeded 40 percentage points

Legal provision • 33% of countries stipulate at least one year of free preprimary education in 2015 worldwide • 21% of countries stipulate at least one year of compulsory pre-primary education in 2015 worldwide From UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2017 UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 15

35 % of countries guaranteeing free and compulsory ECE in legal framework worldwide 2015 or more recent year (UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2017) Free at least 1 year Free at least 2 years Compulsory at least 1 year Compulsory at least 2 years Free and compulsory at least 1 year Free and compulsory at least 2 years 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 World

70 % of countries guaranteeing free and compulsory ECE in legal framework, by region 2015 or more recent year (UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2017) 60 Free at least 1 year Free at least 2 years Compulsory at least 1 year Compulsory at least 2 years Free and compulsory at least 1 year Free and compulsory at least 2 years 50 40 30 20 10 0 Caucasus and Central Asia Eastern and South-eastern Asia Europe and Northern America Latin America and the Caribbean Nothern Africa and Western Asia Pacific Southern Asia Sub-Saharan Africa

“Readiness” As measured in UNICEF MICS-ECDI • Children are least likely to meet early literacy and numeracy conditions, compared to socio-emotional skills, physical health and approaches to learning • The level of “readiness” correlates with income per capita, though there are exceptions From UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2017 UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 18

Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) • Targets children between 36 to 59 months • Measures 4 domains of child development q early literacy and numeracy q socio-emotional skills (good behavior, ability to pay attention) q physical health (basic motor skills, lack of chronic sickness) q approaches to learning (ability to follow simple directions, do things independently) • 10 questions in the 4 domains addressed to parents • Considered “developmentally on track” when children meet the conditions of at least 3 of the 4 domains SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 19

Findings of MICS-ECDI data from 58 LMICs, 2011 -2015 • Less than 2/3 of children found “on track” in countries including: – Congo, Nigeria, Malawi, Nepal, Bangladesh • In about 44% of the countries, 80% or more children found “on track” including: – Viet Nam, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Thailand, Belarus, Serbia • The indicator generally correlates with income per capita, though there were exceptions – Algeria, Jordan and Iraq scored lower than Ghana despite being significantly richer • Children were least likely to meet early literacy and numeracy conditions – less than 1/3 do so in most countries; this score is strongly influenced by participation in organized learning – In Palestine, 58% of 3 - to 4 -year-olds attending organized learning in 2014 met these conditions, compared to 9% of those who were not • Basic socio-emotional skills strongly correlates with the overall ECDI score SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 20

Quality assurance in ECE • Countries’ quality standards and monitoring tend to focus on easily observable aspects; but some systems cover more • Quality assurance vis-à-vis private provision is a critical globally From UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2017 UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 21

Countries, especially lower income ones, are only beginning to establish ECE standards and monitoring mechanisms. There is tendency to focus on observable components, e. g. infrastructure, instructional materials and pupil: teacher ratios. • Only 14 out of 34 low- and middle-income countries reviewed under the World Bank SABER-ECD in 2010 -2015 had an ‘established’ set of ECE standards (on educators, learning and curricula, infrastructure, service delivery and accreditation). Of those 14, only 5 countries (e. g. Mauritius, Samoa) had compliance monitoring mechanisms SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 22

Private provision monitoring is critical, as private enrolment has risen to 41% globally. • Swaziland: public and private providers follow identical registration and accreditation procedures. The ministry of education’s strategies to encourage compliance include (1) annual quality assessment by the governing board, (2) centre activity monitioring by inspectors, (3) internal programme assessment by staff and a steering committee. • Norway: municipalities run public KGs (46% of all KGs) and are responsible for approving and monitoring private KGs. Both are assessed against legislated minimum standards and a framework plan for content and tasks. Non-complying KGs can be ordered temporary or permanent closure by municipality. Government website shows standard compliance and parental satisfaction data for each KG SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 23

Some ECE quality assurance and monitoring systems go beyond to assessing educators’ preparedness and work. • Chile: Its national teacher evaluation system has 4 components: (1) selfevaluation, (2) assessment by the school head, (3) peer assessment based on a structured interview questionnaire, (4) a portfolio (involving full day visit and video-recording of class). Educators are assessed every 4 years against a set of standards “Good Teaching Framework”: they can be rated unsatisfactory, basic, competent, outstanding. Municipalities receive financial support for professional development for the lowest two levels. SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 24

Governance and financing • Move toward integration and cross- or multi-sectoral collaboration • Less government funding goes to ECE compared to primary and secondary; aid funding for ECE is insufficient UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 25

Governance • Countries are moving toward integrated ECCE governance. In most cases, the Ministry of Education is the responsible ministry. • OECD countries with data that have integrated the responsibility for ECCE or have instituted an integration curriculum for ECCE are Australia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden (OECD, 2017) • 68 countries had national multi-sectoral Early Childhood Development (ECD) policies in 2014, up from only 7 in 2000 SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 26

Financing • Aid to ECD has increased in recent years — from U$1. 3 billion in 2002 to US$6. 8 billion in 2016 – due to large increases in the health and nutrition. Health and nutrition account for 95% of ECD ODA increase. Only 1% of all ECD aid funding goes to preprimary education (Their. World, 2018) 4500 4000 3500 Constant 2013 PPP$ • Pre-primary receives the lowest level of government expenditure per pupil, compared to primary and secondary (Burnett, 2016) Global government expenditure per pupil, by level of education, 2014 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Pre-primary Primary Secondary Tertiary Source: Burnett 2016 SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 27

UNESCO’s actions SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 28

U Development and implementation of the OECD-UNESCO Joint Initiative: Survey of Teachers in Pre-primary Education (STEPP) Reinforcing ECCE component in Education Sector Planning (UNESCO IIEP, UNICEF, GPE, 2014) and building capacity of planners Documentation of innovative pedagogical approaches in ECCE in Asia and the Pacific (UNESCO-ARNEC with UNICEF and OMEP) UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 29

U Cooperation with UNESCO Chair on Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Development (Goteborg University) UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR Collection of good ESD practice in early childhood (2014) 30

U International Symposium, ECCE: Cradle for Social Cohesion, March 2018, UNESCO, Paris, France Psychosocial support and early education for young refugee children and their families, UNESCO Beirut Photo: UNESCO Beirut c. Rawpixel. com_Shutterstock. com Resilience through Play, OMEP-UNESCO joint initiative in selected African countries UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 31

U Cross-national study on the integration of ECCE within education “Caring and Learning Together” (Kaga, Bennett, Moss, 2010) The third high-level regional ECCE policy forum in Asia and the Pacific, Nepal (June 2018) Participation in the global ECD Action Network (ECDAN) launched by the World Bank and UNICEF UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 32

Conclusions • Renew commitment to ECE, especially the most disadvantaged • Need more and better investment in ECE • Harness the “strengths” of ECE to achieve the SDGs • Generate more evidence for policy and practice; from rhetoric to concrete implementation • Forge partnerships for synergy, innovation, local experimentations within and across sectors and stakeholders SECTEUR DE L’ÉDUCATION – UNESCO 33

Thank you! Спасибо! For further questions, please write to y. kaga@unesco. org UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 34