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International and Comparative Education

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Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)

Early childhood education

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Analysis Of Early Childhood Education And Learning Outcomes In The Pacific, Dan Cloney, Yung Nietschke, Jeffery Marshall Feb 2023

Analysis Of Early Childhood Education And Learning Outcomes In The Pacific, Dan Cloney, Yung Nietschke, Jeffery Marshall

Early Childhood Education

There is strong evidence supporting early childhood education (ECE) programmes as an effective way to support children to have the best start in life, especially for the most disadvantaged children. When high‐quality programmes are established – where quality is assured, and barriers to participation eliminated – large positive effects are observed that are sustained into adulthood. Indeed, substantial positive returns on public investment in ECE programmes are reported. When low‐quality programmes are taken to scale in the market, however, smaller effects or no effects are observed. This is attributed to failure to get quality right. And when quality is too …


Online Training On Formative Assessment For Early Language, Literacy, And Numeracy (Elln) In The Philippines: Final Report, Rti International Nov 2021

Online Training On Formative Assessment For Early Language, Literacy, And Numeracy (Elln) In The Philippines: Final Report, Rti International

Teacher education

This report describes findings and lessons learned from an online teacher training course in the Philippines. "Becoming a Learning Detective" is a 5-day online course that focuses on the design and use of formative assessment to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes in Kindergarten to Grade 3 (K–3) classrooms. The emphasis is on classroom-based assessment strategies that are embedded within daily teaching and learning experiences, involving an active partnership between teacher and students. The course brings together asynchronous and synchronous elements, as well as whole group, small group, and individual learning experiences. The course was implemented for the first time among …


Survey Of Teachers In Pre-Primary Education (Stepp): Lessons From The Implementation Of The Pilot Study And Field Trial Of International Survey Instruments, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Maurice Walker, Yoshie Kaga Dec 2020

Survey Of Teachers In Pre-Primary Education (Stepp): Lessons From The Implementation Of The Pilot Study And Field Trial Of International Survey Instruments, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Maurice Walker, Yoshie Kaga

Early Childhood Education

The present publication documents the achievements and lessons learned from the first phase of the Survey of Teachers in Pre-primary Education (STEPP) project, implemented by UNESCO from 2016 to 2019, with the participation of seven countries, namely, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Indonesia, Namibia, the Philippines, Togo, and Viet Nam. It is the first international survey for low-and-middle-income countries designed to collect information that is known to affect the quality of pre-primary education from pre-primary teachers and centre heads. The collected information concerns training and professional development, pedagogical and professional practices, working conditions and job satisfaction, and characteristics of pre-primary personnel …


The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Assessing Children’S Acquisition Of Basic Literacy Skills In Developing Countries, Australian Council For Educational Research May 2020

The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Assessing Children’S Acquisition Of Basic Literacy Skills In Developing Countries, Australian Council For Educational Research

Assessment GEMS

The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), administered individually in about 15 minutes, measures the most basic foundation skills for literacy acquisition in the early grades. The assessment was developed by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) through funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank, in addition to resources provided by RTI. In the context of this emerging focus on measuring basic literacy skills, EGRA was developed to provide a battery of assessments of basic reading skills for developing countries to monitor the status of early reading in primary schools. The assessment tool was …


International Early Learning And Child Well-Being Study, Australian Council For Educational Research May 2020

International Early Learning And Child Well-Being Study, Australian Council For Educational Research

Assessment GEMS

The International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study (IELS) assesses children at age 5, measuring key learning and development outcomes. The overall purpose of IELS is to help countries to better support the development and overall well-being of young children through improved early learning experiences. It achieves this by: providing robust empirical data on children’s early learning; identifying factors that enable and inhibit children’s early learning; and informing early childhood education centres and schools about skill levels of five year old children, as well as related contextual factors, which could be used to make more informed decisions about curriculums and …


Integrated Interventions In Early Childhood Education And Care (Ecec) In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz Nov 2019

Integrated Interventions In Early Childhood Education And Care (Ecec) In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz

Monitoring Learning

Integrated interventions combine multiple services or supports across different agencies in health, social welfare, employment services and education. Such interventions are typically larger in scale than those in other categories (e.g. parent- or child focused ECEC interventions), requiring collaboration or coordination of multiple service providers within the community. Integrated interventions are regarded as the most effective way to address young children’s learning and development and break inter-generational cycles of poverty. Four integrated interventions in ECEC were identified for this review (of a total of 109 studies) which required studies to examine links to children’s development outcomes, resulting in available evidence …


Measurement Of Young Children's Learning For Program Evaluation, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz Sep 2019

Measurement Of Young Children's Learning For Program Evaluation, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz

Monitoring Learning

The global commitment to early learning has been expressed in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals Agenda (SDG) (United Nations, 2016) and access to support for early learning is considered a human right for all children, whether provided by the family, community, or institutional programs (UNESCO, 2013). Inadequate cognitive stimulation has been identified as one of the key psychosocial risk factors associated with poor child development – a factor that is modifiable, with the right interventions (Walker et al., 2007). Thus, insights into how early learning supports may be delivered effectively in various contexts are essential. To explore the …


Improving Young Children's Learning In Economically Developing Countries: What Works, Why, And Where? Scoping Review, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz Aug 2019

Improving Young Children's Learning In Economically Developing Countries: What Works, Why, And Where? Scoping Review, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz

Monitoring Learning

This scoping review responds to the increasing interest in improving early childhood education and care (ECEC) in economically developing countries. It examines available research in relation to the question: What effective interventions have been implemented recently in economically developing countries to improve children’s learning in the years before school? As much of the research underpinning ECEC interventions has focused on economically developed countries, it is timely to review available research about the effectiveness of interventions in the economically developing world. The ECEC interventions were categorised as Income supplementation (n=8); Parent-focused interventions (n=37); Child-focused education and nurturing care (n=35); Integrated interventions …


Income Supplementation Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz Jan 2019

Income Supplementation Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz

Monitoring Learning

Income supplementation interventions provide cash transfers directly to the parents/families of young children, with the objective of improving learning and other outcomes. Interventions of this type directly address poverty as the origin of many of the challenges to children’s learning in economically developing contexts. Such programs seek to affect positively child wellbeing and readiness to learn as well as the home learning environments. These effects can be achieved by using the additional income, for example, to support centre-based childcare or school attendance, to buy more nutritious food or to enable parents to spend more time with their children. The eight …


Parent-Focused Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz Jan 2019

Parent-Focused Interventions In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz

Monitoring Learning

The authors conducted a scoping review of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) interventions in economically developing countries between 1998 and 2017, aimed at improving children’s learning in the years before school. The review identified 37 parent-focused studies from 19 countries which provide an evidence base for parent-focused interventions that have both depth and geographical breadth. This policy note outlines characteristics of these interventions which contribute to changes in developmental outcomes for children. It found that of all ECEC interventions, the largest body of effectiveness evidence is available for parent-focused programs.


Buk Bilong Pikinini Literacy Program Evaluation 2018: Evaluation Report, Dan Cloney, Prue Anderson Nov 2018

Buk Bilong Pikinini Literacy Program Evaluation 2018: Evaluation Report, Dan Cloney, Prue Anderson

Early Childhood Education

Buk bilong Pikinini (BbP) provides access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs with a specific focus on English language literacy for children from vulnerable communities in Papua New Guinea. This is highly relevant, given the fact that there is likely an over-representation of illiteracy in disadvantaged households and few opportunities for children within those households to be ready for a school system with English as the language of instruction. Established in 2007, BbP has been in operation for more than 10 years and has opened 17 library sites in that time. This evaluation provides evidence about the likely …


Driving Early Childhood Education Quality In Indonesia, Dan Cloney Jun 2018

Driving Early Childhood Education Quality In Indonesia, Dan Cloney

International Developments

ACER has developed a ‘road map’ for quality pre-primary education and support for parental education programs throughout Indonesia. Dan Cloney reports.


International Developments (No.8) 2018 Jun 2018

International Developments (No.8) 2018

International Developments

In this issue of International Developments we investigate a synthesis of research evidence that identifies the impact of interventions that offer high value in meeting education’s greatest challenges in development contexts. We explore how ACER’s school assessments are playing a part in supporting improvements in teaching and learning, and we examine the benefits of a program to collect evidence of education quality for governments, schools, communities and students in the Pacific region. This issue of International Developments also looks at ACER’s work with partners across South Asia to ensure inclusive and quality education for all, the development of a ‘road …


The Australian Education System: Practitioner Level, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer) Jan 2018

The Australian Education System: Practitioner Level, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Education Analytics Service

This Practitioner level module is designed to ensure that Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) staff members who engage with and lead policy dialogue with international and domestic partners are informed about Australia's education and training system. It is recommended that staff complete the Australian Education System: Foundation level module as background information to this Practitioner level module. Topics covered include an overview of the structure of the Australian education system, how the system is financed, how Australian education compares with other countries, and Australian education tools and data sources.


The Australian Education System: Foundation Level, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer) Jan 2018

The Australian Education System: Foundation Level, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Education Analytics Service

The purpose of this module is to provide an overview of the Australian education system. It provides a foundation to engage in this topic and apply advice from staff with operational or expert levels of knowledge in education. On successful completion you will be able to be an informed participant in multi-stakeholder forums related to Australian education.


Studying Early Childhood Education In The Philippines, Amanda Taylor Oct 2017

Studying Early Childhood Education In The Philippines, Amanda Taylor

International Developments

A recent ACER research report highlights the importance of preschool education for children in the Philippines.