1. Overview and initial findings
Improving young children's learning in economically developing countries: A scoping review
Overview and initial findings

2. Scoping reviews – exploratory systematic research
describe the nature and extent of research in a broad area
identify gaps and directions for future research
serve as translational research, showing how findings can be applied to improve policies, practices and outcomes
provide a basis for systematic reviews or meta-analyses
RIGOUR
Systematic Review
SCOPING REVIEW
Literature Review

3. Rationale
Early learning (starting from birth) has lasting effects on lifelong learning
Economically developing countries are investing more in early learning
Research can guide investment in fit-for-purpose interventions
REVIEW QUESTION
What effective interventions have been implemented recently in economically developing countries to improve children’s learning in the years before school?

4. Research process
319
ERIC
131
PsycINFO
247
SCOPUS 21
A+ Educ. 26
Grey lit. 42
Secondary*
786 unique references
The most common reason for excluding studies (n=59) was because there were no measures of the impact of the intervention on children’s learning.
All abstracts reviewed by two reviewers
222 studies selected for inclusion*
Categorisation of studies
121 studies in categories of interest*
To focus at system level, we excluded studies focused on a specific pedagogy, or a specific cohort of children.
Full-text data extraction

5. Number of studies Argentina 2 Colombia 3 Mexico 7 Senegal 1 Bangladesh10 1 7 5 6 3 9 1 1
Image: Wikimedia Commons 2008 1
Number of studies
Argentina 2
Colombia 3
Mexico 7
Senegal 1
Bangladesh 10
Columbia
Mozambique
Solomon Islands
Bolivia
Costa Rica
Nepal
South Africa
Botswana
Ecuador
Nicaragua
Turkey 9
Brazil
Ethiopia 5
Pakistan
Uganda
Cambodia
India 6
Paraguay
Uruguay
Chile
Indonesia
Peru
Vietnam
China
Jamaica
Philippines
Zambia
* Excludes studies in multiple countries

6. Categories of included studies
From Rao, Sun, Chen and Ip’s 2017 effectiveness review
Category
Description n
Child-focused
Intervention provides a program for children 36
Parent-focused
Intervention provides training and support to parents 37
Comprehensive
Intervention involves wider community participation 4
Income
Intervention primarily provides income support to families 8
Two additional categories were important for our review
Category
Description n
Quality
Intervention involves enhancing the quality of a program 21
Comparative
Study compares two or more interventions 5

7. “Fitness-for-purpose”
What problems did the interventions aim to address?

8. Preschool/ECEC: From access to equality and quality
Some interventions addressed access to preschool/ECEC (n=11)
More studies were concerned with inequalities in access (n=17)
Many studies identified the quality of preschool/ECEC programs as a concern (n=17), especially in countries where ECEC is being “scaled up”

9. Children ready to learn: Overcoming the effects of disadvantage
Interventions often responded to the effects of poverty on early learning (n=17), especially (but not only) cash transfer programs
Many interventions responded to the effects of health issues on early learning (n=14), especially programs for very young children

10. Home environments for learning: Addressing family resources and attitudes
Several interventions responded to concern about the quality of the home learning environment for young children (n=8)
Others identified the need to improve parent-child interactions (n=6)
Only a few considered cultural practices that affect early learning (n=4)

11. A framework for ECD interventions

12. Questions?