In-service training and education in early childhood development Caribbean Community (CARICOM) II Inter-American Symposium Policies and Strategies for transition Valparaiso, Chile, 28 th May 2009 Sian Williams

2 The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Commonwealth of Dominica, Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Jamaica, Belize, Haiti, Anguilla, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Netherland Antilles

3 Presentation in summary Caribbean context of diversity and similarities Regional collaboration is effective, coordinated through CARICOM Curriculum reform is ongoing but is not sufficient on its own Action needed to support training in pedagogy for early childhood practitioners

4 Context: emphasis on teaching Early childhood ‘programmes’ predate abolition of slavery - established by the Moravian and Methodist Churches in the late 1700’s to evangelize children from 3 Emphasis on reading the bible before they went to work on the estates from ages 6 to 8 Strong commitment to teach basic skills - reflected in the modality of whole group instruction and the formality of arrangements

5

6 Context: need for custodial care Mid 20 th century, women’s work moved out of the home and the yard away Private and charitable interests provided care Early childhood programmes today reflect this duality: keeping children safe while the parent is at work AND providing the children with instruction to get them ‘ready for school’

7

8 The programmes today An informal sector - 87% operated by church, charities, private interests Access determined by location and ability to pay, vulnerable excluded Little incentive or capacity to change the way of doing ‘business’ Quality of practitioners limited by: Low status, poor terms and conditions Education level Access to early childhood training

9 Caribbean crossroads Multi faith, multi ethnic, multi cultural societies – Amerindian, African, Indian, European, Middle Eastern, Chinese settlement over centuries Internal migration to urban areas bringing oral languages and cultural diversity Immigration in last decade increasing linguistic diversity and cultural diversity Practitioners need tools and understandings to cope with the programme realities

10 Regional evidence propels advocacy Children from lower socio economic status perform significantly less well; the gap widens through school Longitudinal research in Jamaica (Samms- Vaughan 2003) Learning environments provide few resources accessible to children and inhibit adult child interaction Surveys in 10 countries (Williams, Brown )

11 Collaboration on common priorities,  Caribbean Learning Goals and Outcomes 0 to 8: wellness, resilience, valuing culture, effective communication, intellectual empowerment, and respect for self, others and the environment  CARICOM service standards provide ‘essential requirements for achieving desired outcomes for children’s development and well being’  CARICOM qualifications framework – includes dispositions and requirements for practitioners

12 Regional Guidelines for Developing Policy, Regulation and Standards

13 Caribbean Learning Goals and Outcomes

14 Curriculum reform is ongoing Several examples in the region of curricula reflecting interactive methodologies Require organisation of what we do and how we do it: learning spaces; small groups; opportunities for interaction with practitioners BUT requires confidence; management skills; understanding of how children learn; support

15

16

17 Effective pedagogy is essential Where children are enabled to make choices about what they do and to work in small groups at least 50% of the time language and cognitive development are enhanced at age 7 Where teachers and caregivers support children’s learning in small groups, they are more able to support and respond to children’s individual needs, abilities and diverse languages ( Highscope/IEA2007 )

18 Priorities for training in pedagogy How to engage parents and enable continuity between home and school How to organise the learning space How to ensure respond to individual children How to address gender differences How to ensure use of mother tongue How to implement positive discipline and help children resolve conflicts

19 Attitudes to children have to change Connection to school is critical to child outcomes Believing in children succeeding is contagious for their success Combatting disadvantage Connection to an adult has to be consistent: Caring about children Making sure children don’t get ‘lost’

20 Early childhood pedagogy in transition Early childhood trained teachers provide more appropriate pedagogy in Grades 1 & 2 e.g. organisation of learning environments, working with parents, facilitating children’s choice of activities (Davies 2004) A case study undertaken in 2008 to explore the factors that led to a primary school using early childhood pedagogy

21 Jamaica Case Study findings (1) Quality of school leadership critical in the recruitment of and support for early childhood teachers in Grade 1 & 2 Improvement in Grade 1 Literacy and numeracy test scores – 20% higher results – after recruitment of early childhood trained teachers (Davies 2008)

22 Jamaica Case study findings (2)  What does the early childhood teacher do that is different?  His or her focus is child development  Children say learning in Grade 1 is doing things which are ‘fun’ - playing, doing games, reading stories. Parents say children are happier and less bored  In Grade 2, children say they like learning new things, parts of the body, singular and plurals. Parents say children are learning

23 Jamaica Case study findings (3)  Teachers observe that early childhood training enables effective response to children’s learning needs through play and making learning fun  Principal observes that early childhood trained teachers bring life to what they do (e.g. dramatisation), arrange the learning space/classroom dynamically to generate excitement and focus on work with parents (Davies 2008)

24 Policies and strategies for in service training  Strengthen leadership of primary schools to support early childhood pedagogy  Implement early childhood pedagogy in Grades 1 and 2 of primary schooling  Focus on key elements of pedagogy in training  Ensure training results in attitudinal change  Undertake case studies of successful transition and use of early childhood pedagogy

25 Policies and strategies (2)  Establish training and development with a ‘seamless’ qualification structure  Encourage membership of early childhood practitioners in teaching unions, professional associations  Facilitate formal recognition and classification of early childhood practitioners in the public service  Participate in transition planning, primary schools and early childhood facilities, including joint orientation processes for parents and children