The Issue of Quality in Early Education - Research Paper Example

Name Instructor Course Date OUTLINE Provision of quality education at the earliest levels of education helps to maximize human value, because it is when a person’s capacity for learning is formed. However, ensuring universal quality education has generally been difficult to achieve in developing countries such as those in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. Challenges faced include inadequate numbers of teachers, insufficient training, scarcity of infrastructure and learning materials and extreme poverty. To deal with the challenge, various IGOs, MNEs and INGOs have stepped in to assist national governments. The aim of this paper is to examine the roles of the Inter-American Development Bank, an IGO, and the United Nations Children's Fund, an INGO in handling the issue of education quality within the LAC region. Its objectives are to identify the strategies applied by each of the two in handling the quality of early education, to examine any complementarities in their efforts and to outline the role of citizen participation in the processes. In The Inter-American Development Bank, there is a brief introduction of the bank basing on a journal article and published book. There is the provision of a policy outline of the bank’s objectives regarding quality of early education and the measures sought in seeking the objectives, as provided by the bank’s corporate website and Annual Review Reports. Under the ‘activities’ section, there will be a revisiting of the four exact strategies pursued in implementation of the measures, namely; ensuring efficiency in education-related investments, training of staff and promotion of policies that ensure inclusion of marginalized people, specifically the poor. For this reason, the bank funds curriculum reviews, professional development, implementation and review of accreditation and standards, identification of needy schools and construction of more educational centers. With reference to the bank’s website, the paper reviews the various programs that are current or have been done by the IDB in line with the objectives. This section relates closely with the paper’s aim as it provides an extensive insight into the IDB’s priorities in ensuring improved early education as an IGO. In the United Nations Children's Fund section, one organizational publication and a book are used in identifying the goals and policies of UNICEF with regard to improvement of quality in early education. The fund’s website and books are used in explaining how it manages its projects, especially in its collaborative, for instance working with the EFA Global Action Plan under UNESCO, the United Nations Girl’s Education Initiative (UNGEI) and various government agencies. UNICEF’s main objective is identified as the pursuit of learning readiness for children getting into elementary school, and UNICEF helps this through the support of initiatives that promote proper schooling. The others include investment in teacher training, adoption of more effective teaching models and enhancement of national capacity for such improvements. There is also the actual improvement of infrastructure and supply of learning materials. A number of related UNICEF activities in the LAC region are then provided. It is concluded that the activities of the two organizations are however complementary and that citizens have a contributory role in the entire processes, as they need to own, accept and facilitate the changes that are brought. This section helps to understand how UNICEF has been trying to change the situation in its target area, and offers an insight into how such an organization, which, unlike the IDB is not a monetary lender can directly contribute to improvement of educational quality. Introduction Access of children quality education is one of the major objectives in most global development goals set so far, as this is assumed to be essential in the development of human potential, talent, personality and ability (UNESCO 12). The reality however is that quality in education has remained elusive for millions of children, especially in developing nations. Even for countries approaching universal primary completion, pre-school and elementary education still encounters certain quality limitations, and this is evident in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, where countries are all either middle or low-income (Jolly 36). The earliest school years are significant to the future advancement of any child, hence the need for delivery of quality at this stage. According to Barbarin & Wasik, quality education at this level has the role of promoting holistic development of every child because it has the ability to ensure better academic performance in later years, reduce the rate of transmission of poverty from one generation to another and also lead to savings on resources spent by children who need placement for special needs or simply repeat classes (23). Quality in this case relates to the provision of a good, universally recognized foundation to education. It involves proper methods of teaching, well-motivated and trained teachers, availability of adequate teaching and learning material, proper physical infrastructure such as classrooms, water and sanitation. Education will also need to be affordable and accessible to all (Pianta & Barnett 41). Statement of the Problem The quality of learning in the LAC is inadequate. According to UNESCO, past student assessments have indicated that student performance in Latin America and the Caribbean is considerably low when compared to more successful countries or even those with similar GDPs per capita in other regions (8). There is also inequality among students that come from various socioeconomic groups. Early education is faced with various challenges. Because the age group carries children from diverse developmental stages, the countries generally find it difficult to address the entire category equally and simultaneously (Suen 33). A good educational foundation is necessary at this stage. However, according to UNESCO, many children get through the system without acquiring the necessary basic numeracy and literacy skills, which is wrong (19). Early education in the LAC region is faced with the challenge of inadequate teachers. There needs to be well trained and motivated teachers, with enough resources to aid instruction. The numbers however are not enough so that when combined with lack of adequate training and absenteeism, there is a great compromise on learning. In addition, learning materials are at times scarce, with many schools having few, outdated or worn out textbooks while teachers lack materials for lesson preparation, and ICTs are not well adopted. Poverty further worsens the situation, so that even in instances where primary schooling is made free, the few charges and expenses on uniforms and books remain unreachable to many. Shortages in furniture and classrooms also often lead to overcrowding, which limits the ability to learn (Korner 46). There is the problem of poor foundations in learning. Many young children are unable to benefit from early childhood education, considering that if they are unable to learn how to write and read during the earliest grades, they end up with a handicap even as they progress towards higher levels, in which numeracy and literacy are the learning tools rather than the ends (Garcia & Kayser 31). According to Gale, many of them struggle, taking longer to graduate, and some even give up and stop schooling. Primary schools tend to focus more on later grades, often to prepare the students for the sitting of high-stake examinations (7). In order to address the challenges faced in provision of early education, there have always been collaborative efforts by country governments with various development partners, including International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs). According to UNESCO, these usually offer support to state programs, provide inputs into policy frameworks, offer funding to government initiatives or in some cases implement their own programs aimed at alleviating the issues (26). Among the IGOs and INGOs that have been active in the LAC region are the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Objectives of the Study This paper provides an explanation of the strategies adopted by the Inter-American Development Bank, an Intergovernmental Organization, and the United Nations Children’s Fund, an international Nongovernmental Organization, in addressing the challenge of ensuring quality in early education within the Latin America and Caribbean region. The specific objectives with regard to the strategies are: a. To investigate the strategies applied by the IDB as an IGO dealing with the challenge of early education quality in the LAC region b. To investigate the strategies applied by UNICEF, an INGO in dealing with the challenge of early education quality in the LAC region c. To establish the complementarities of the two organizations’ efforts d. To outline the role of citizen participation as a facilitator of the organizations’ success in their effort in ensuring better quality in early education The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) The IDB provides the largest amount of development financing in the Caribbean and Latin America. It provides financing to state corporations entities in 26 out of its 48 owner-member countries in the form of loans (Lennon 585). It has strategic public-private partnerships aimed at provision of better educational services. In its policy, it identifies four main targets with regard to early education and ensuring effective learning (Tussie 13). These are: I. Ensuring that every student is ready to learn The bank believes that access to good early education exposure not only guarantees readiness to learn, but also gets rid of gaps associated with socioeconomic impacts on cognitive development. To achieve the objective, measures applied include: i. Pursuing investment in the expansion of ECD and elementary programs targeting rural and poor segments of the population ii. Encouraging establishment of comprehensive approaches to quality assurance in ECD and elementary education II. Ensuring that education services are set against high quality standards IDB supports the setting of appropriate goals to guide activities within respective education systems. It therefore supports countries in the development and implementation of policies which enable education systems to ensure improvement of outcomes from student learning and maximizing quality of education. In order to meet this objective, the bank: a. Generates useful and clear standards which are then shared with schools b. Aligns curricula with the student standards so as to guide teaching c. Aligns evaluations with teacher training, standards and available materials III. Ensuring there are effective teachers attending to the children There is the belief that teacher effectiveness contributes a lot to inequity reduction and learning outcomes for early stages of education. In seeking the objective, the bank through its programs aims at: a. Improving teaching as a career so as to be able to attract, motivate and retain the best b. Enhancing the role of administrators and leadership in improving teacher effectiveness c. Ensuring training support for all stakeholders in teaching as a profession d. Provision of knowledge on the best ways of improving teacher effectiveness IV. Ensuring that each school has enough resources for the students’ learning needs The bank believes in the importance of how educational resources and materials are used above even the investment itself. It stresses on guiding how investments in infrastructure are conducted, and also the incorporation of technology in enhancing learning. IDB supports education systems which prove that they are investing resources well towards this objective. Further, the bank: a. Invests finances into the promotion of effective learning outcomes and teaching b. Finances projects that seek to ensure provision of infrastructure such as buildings, electricity and furniture c. Supports efforts at leveraging ICTs as an approach to improvement of learning outcomes while ensuring that all those involved are well trained d. Supports the alignment of teaching materials and textbooks with curriculum targets e. Invests in seeking to apply technology in enhancing learning outcomes Activities The bank provides financing for education-oriented projects that seek to enhance the integration of children’s education into the general development strategies of its member countries. There are three main avenues through which this is done. i. Ensuring efficiency in investments that promote education. The bank strives to stimulate and provide greater strength to national educational planning efforts, especially with regard to reforms in teaching methodology, administration, content and systems so that more positive outcomes are achieved ii. Training of staff. The bank offers assistance in the provision of scientific and technical expertise that will enable better management of education sectors in the respective countries iii. Promotion of equality. The bank supports all efforts geared towards maximizing the fairness of education access to all within their populations, especially the marginalized poor The IDB supports any initiatives aimed at incorporating ICTs into education, and their application in educational design, evaluation and implementation. The identification and choosing of education-related projects to be supported is guided by cooperative relationships that are established between the bank and the technical entities of the host countries. The bank also assists in the preparation and design of each project as long as the target nations qualify and express commitment to betterment of education quality. It funds: a. Reviews of curricula and their links to primary education b. Provision of professional development support to teachers and other education providers c. The strengthening of institutions, especially ministry programs and non-governmental organizations that are engaged in promotion of education and infrastructural development d. The implementation and review of accreditation and standard mechanisms e. Identification of schools to be worked on as part of educational improvement programs f. Construction of more centers, classrooms or purchase of to maximize learning IDB seeks to create, put in place and regulate early education standards. In Trinidad and Tobago for instance, the bank offers support to the government’s strategic plan, the Vision 2020, and also the corporate plan set out by the Ministry of Education with regard to emphasis on the provision of maximum quality of education to every child. This approach to support is replicated as a matter of policy, and through such programs, the bank commits itself to long-term technical and financial support provision (IDB 24). As late as August 2015, IDB had helped to finance Pre-school radio science in Paraguay. It had earlier also financed an evaluation of learning environments for Early Childhood schools in Jamaica, establishment of early childhood education standards for Haiti, implementation of a Sustainable Business Model in ECD centers for vulnerable parents and children in Ecuador and provision of support to the national Early Childhood Strategy in the Dominican Republic. IDB has further financed the development of a Day Care and Early Childhood Development System in Costa Rica, and in Chile, an improvement and expansion program for Early Childhood Education. This is in addition to Brazil, where it funded a similar improvement and expansion program for elementary education and Early Childhood education. In Bolivia, it was responsible for a consolidation of Preschool Quality Services (iadb.org par. 6). The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) UNICEF has always sought to assist countries as they pursue educational goals, focusing on aspects within which it has a good track record, comparative advantage and clear mandate. The principles are considered instrumental in seeking the fund’s belief that it is possible to fulfill the right to good education for every child, everywhere (United Nations 6). It offers support to nations in the Latin American and Caribbean region as countries seek to boost effective learning and teaching for all children and youth. The main goal is to ensure that every child, irrespective of their race, sex, ethnicity or socio-economic status is able to get into the first grade of education while well-prepared to learn and possessing all the basic competencies that are needed to ensure maximum benefit from the education system (Suen 4). As its policy guideline, UNICEF commits itself to; i. Operation within education frameworks of the respective countries ii. Reinforcement of existent tools and mechanisms iii. Provision of support and getting into seamless and interlinked partnerships iv. Focusing on inter-sectoral work and recognition of the need to ensure a ‘whole’ child UNICEF performs its mandate in collaboration with a number of other bodies. For instance, there is the Education for All (EFA) Global Action Plan, under UNESCO which offers technical support in the development of country education plans and monitoring their progress. Through linking with EFA, it manages to systematically fit its initiatives into the national plans and priorities of different countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region. There is also the EFA Fast-Track Initiative, by the World Bank which offers support in drawing of credible sectoral plans for education and provides funds where necessary in ensuring better primary education. It also uses this platform in sourcing funding for identified projects (UNICEF 8). UNICEF works with the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). This is part of the fund’s own operations and offers technical support and advocacy in seeking gender equality and parity within the various countries’ education plans. UNGEI enables UNICEF to marshal resources and influence of a variety of partners in gender issues. In ensuring the success of quality education, it further engages in the management of post-crisis and emergency situations. The fund tries to create safer learning spaces for the children and basic supplies or facilities that will enable them to learn uninterrupted. It also seeks emergency preparedness for countries that are exposed to conflict or natural disasters, in addition to building capacity through offering training in disaster prevention, prediction and preparedness (United Nations 11). Activities UNICEF pursues learning readiness for schools. It recognizes that much of the inadequacy seen in early primary and early education in general is due to many children starting school past the proper age and being inadequately prepared for grade-school. Because of this, rates of class repetition are high and many children drop out, a factor that stretches scarce resources while perpetuating an under-education cycle (UNICEF 14). UNICEF provides support to many actions aimed at improving readiness for school, and these include establishing working partnerships that assist countries in promoting parenting education, supporting community-based initiatives or development programs dealing with early childhood care and providing preschool programs which are linked to primary schools and are serious about school readiness basing on national standards (United Nations18). UNICEF pursues quality education. The fund seeks to correct this by investing in teacher training, facilitating curriculum revisions and supplying learning materials where necessary. UNICEF advocates for adoption of a packaged and holistic approach aimed at lasting results, unlike past approaches that involve single-factor interventions. It promotes actions aimed at improvement in quality of education for instance supporting LAC countries and their external partners in introducing child-friendly school models, training and enhancement of national capacity for application of child-friendly models and establishment of standards that promote national-level quality in education (unicef.org 7). The United Nations through UNICEF has been actively involved in the strengthening especially of public educational facilities within the LAC region. It has contributed a lot to the renovation of existing schools, and also in the building of new ones. For instance, in Bolivia, it was part of the “Indigenous Girls Educational Project”, which was responsible for the building of boarding schools to accommodate over two thousand female students. In Colombia, it was also part of the “School Going to the Child” campaign, where it actively funded the building of schools in areas faced with conflict, hence providing thousands of children with the chance to go back to school after civil strife. In Haiti, the fund managed to build 55 schools and facilitated the improvement of water and sanitation availability in 75 more schools (United Nations 11). UNICEF has been active in ensuring that elementary schools have enough textbooks, in addition to other instructional materials. It has for instance been running a program called “Educate your Child”, which is credited with providing books and even libraries to such schools in Cuba. In Brazil, it was a major supporter of a project named “EducAmazonia” which aimed at the improvement of quality in provision of early education. This was mainly targeted at rural areas in Para, one of the Amazonian states. This was in recognition of the fact that schools in this area are often very isolated in the country, along the rainforest tributaries. There was also the “Textbooks for All” program in Ecuador in which there was the provision of over 400,000 textbooks to children located in seven different provinces (Gale 35). UNICEF promotes the role of teacher training in ensuring better early education. In Brazil for instance, the fund was instrumental in launching a comprehensive program for the training of elementary and early childhood teachers. In this, there was a strong emphasis on the application of new Information and Communication technologies (ICTs). Its employees have also been working with the Ministry of Education in Brazil to establish education standards in the country. UNICEF has further been an active promoter of curriculum. For instance, it was behind the revision of instructional methodologies in Guyana in which one of the targets was to boost the transition rates from pre-primary to primary school and beyond (Jolly 27). Promotion of school enrolment is an important area in ensuring quality. The Integrated Early Childhood Development Program in Bolivia was supported by UNICEF, ensuring expansion of pre-school education. UNICEF was also behind a nationwide Argentinean program that sought to strengthen the attendance of pre-school and primary school, especially in areas that were marked as having high dropout rates. There was further a program named “Chile Crece Contigo” translating to “Chile Grows with You”, aimed at raising the number of pre-school facilities among the poorest neighborhoods, achieved with the backing of UNICEF. The ministry of education in the country also established a partnership with UNICEF to assist dropouts, with a new focus on family involvement in school. Here, teacher-parent councils were set up in almost every school district within the country. UNICEF has further been a partner with the Guatemalan government in the facilitation of more funding of schools, targeting poor children (Gale 36). Discussion From the study, the important lessons learned include the fact that mere enrolment does not imply that better education is ensured. There is need for greater effort towards ensuring the improvement of whatever is learnt, hence the need for investment in quality of teachers, infrastructure, provision of adequate and up to date learning materials and realignment of curricula to ensure relevance in a changing world. It has also been notable that ensuring proper delivery of education during pre-grade years is important, as it has an effect on the person and his or her academic attainment throughout life. However, most schools in the LAC wrongly place more emphasis on higher educational levels, as a way of achieving examination performance targets, without remembering that such performance should be addressed more at the foundation level. There is need to have the most qualified teachers handling the initial four years of school so as to create better foundations for future years. Citizen participation is an essential aspect in dealing with the challenge of low quality in early education. The projects that the organizations, especially UNICEF directly get involved in target community schools. Issues to do with later dropout from school are community ones, so that the input of local parents and other stakeholders is necessary in identifying the solutions. The recognition of this fact is exemplified in UNICEF’s efforts together with the government aimed at encouraging family involvement in controlling dropout rates in Chile. The creation of teacher-parent councils specifically for such purposes and not just administration of schools is an interesting component of strategy. IGOs and INGOs involve themselves in community oriented ventures. UNICEFs efforts in donation of books, building of classrooms and creation of awareness are issues that need community participation, if they are to succeed. The organization in this case acts as a change agent, but there is no way in which success can be achieved without acceptance from the target population. There is always the need to ensure that the community owns the projects. Considering this, citizens need to be fully involved in decision-making and even in doing the actual implementation work. They have the role of recognizing the relevance of whatever measures are being put in place and supporting them, because they are aimed at improving the chances of future development. Even in the policy measures by national governments, decision-making that relates to project design needs to incorporate citizen input. This will ensure that everything that is pursued relates to the actual needs of the child population, at least in terms of prioritization. This is more the case because resources are usually scarce. Most importantly, it is notable that if quality in early education is not checked, poorer children are likely to be lesser achievers, spend more years in school or even quit school. When they grow up, they will subsequently tend to earn less and engage more in crime and delinquency. The entire LAC region will suffer because its growth and competitiveness will rely heavily on the ability of workforce generations that are well-educated and optimally productive. Quality in early education is therefore one of general public hence citizen interest. Citizens have to contribute in terms of the little resources, whether financial or manpower, so as to ensure greater success in the programs. Conclusion The issue of quality in early education is unquestionably significant. From the findings of the study, the role of IGOs and INGOs in handling it is also considerably great, especially because LAC region countries are generally weak economically and require support. The activities of IDB and UNICEF are complementary. This is because they seek objectives that are essentially similar, and engage in support of the governments as they seek to improve the quality of early education. Both emphasize on ensuring that actual learning takes place. They also focus on the training aspect, as the quality of instructors is considered necessary in ensuring better outcomes. Support for government projects and policy is also another area of similarity for the two. There is also the idea of strategic public-private partnerships where the IDB applies community-based models in identifying the appropriate beneficiaries. UNICEF also encourages such partnerships and works with other bodies. The two organizations however differ in terms of the capabilities that they bring in. The IDB for instance has the financial capability, so that it engages in the disbursement of funds targeting certain national programs. This is unlike UNICEF which has to source for the funds from partners before implementation. UNICEF however has the advantage of being able to directly engage in projects within communities. Many of the programs that it has implemented involve the rallying of communities, finding resources and implementing, for instance doing the actual construction of infrastructural facilities in schools. IDB on the other hand is mostly focused on policy, so that it funds national educational reforms and strategies. UNICEF on the other hand seeks to influence the policies, implying that each organization’s weakness is covered by the other’s strength. Works Cited Barbarin, Oscar and Wasik, Barbara (eds). Handbook of Child Development and Early Education: Research to Practice. New York: Guilford Press, 2011 Gale, Laurence. Education and Development in Latin America. New York: Routledge, 2010 García, Hortense and Kayser, Ramirez. Educating Latino Preschool Children. San Diego: Plural Pub., 2011 iadb.org. Early Childhood Development. Accessed on 8 April 2016 from IDB. Inter-American Development Bank Annual Report: The Year in Review. Washington, D.C., 2015 Jolly, Richard. UNICEF: Global Governance That Works. London: Routledge, 2014 Korner, Anton. Regional Monitoring Report on Progress toward Quality Education for All in Latin America and the Caribbean. Panama: UNESCO, 2012 Lennon, E. Regional Development Banks: C. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Yearbook of International Environmental Law, 24.1 (2014): 585-587 Pianta, Robert and Barnett, Steven. Handbook of Early Childhood Education. New York: Guilford Publications, 2015. Vaillant, Denise. Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Education in Latin America. Prospects, 41.3 (2011): 385-398 UNESCO. Early Childhood Care and Education Regional Report: Latin America and the Caribbean. Moscow: UNESCO, 2014 Unicef.org. Early Childhood Education and School Readiness. Accessed on 8 April 2016 from UNICEF. UNICEF at a Glance. New York: United Nations Economic and Social Council, 2009 United Nations. The UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2014-2017. New York: UN Economic and Social Council, 2013 Suen, Anastasia. UNICEF: United Nations Children's Fund. Westport: Greenwood Publishing, 2010 Tussie, Diana. The Inter-American Development Bank. Boulder: L. Rienner, 2012 Read More