Collaborating in a big way for the littlest ones: the road to revise Senegal’s pre-primary curriculum

Written by Fabiola Lara (Save the Children) and Pape Sow (Executive Assistant to the Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs at the Economic Community of West African States, formerly Save the Children)

Photo Credit: Save the Children

Many roads as of late seem to start at the onset of COVID-19 but this one starts much earlier. In March 2019, Save the Children led a Ready to Learn (formerly ELM)[1] training for Save the Children staff and Ministry of Education inspectors in Dakar, Senegal. One year later, COVID-19 was upon us and, while we were all thinking about what future lies ahead for us, we were especially concerned for young children, the “littlest” ones, and how the pandemic would impact future learning outcomes and opportunities for quality pre-primary education.

Recognizing the impact that pre-primary education has on future grades and lifelong learning, in March 2021, through a World Bank-funded project known as Investing in the Early Years for Human Development Project in Senegal (PIPADHS), Save the Children, in close collaboration with the Government of Senegal, set out to revise the national pre-primary curriculum for all three levels of pre-primary – petite section, moyenne section, and grande section. This project focused on children ages 3-5 years old, reaching a total of 122,352 children (16.3% of the general school-aged population, with young girls representing 49.8%). It was a massive undertaking, as the last time that the pre-primary curriculum had been revised was in 2008.

As part of the curriculum revision process, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis was completed early on to identify priorities for the revision and ways to make the curriculum responsive to present-day global challenges, as well as Senegalese society. A benchmarking study[2] was then completed to assess curricula from countries in the Africa region and to understand regional pre-primary priorities. The study outlined commonalities in curricula across Ghana, Rwanda, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. A key finding of this study was that, while these five countries had many differences, the following were central themes. The curricula were:

• Competency-based. This means that the curricula are designed with the goal to develop general or specific competencies among children – in some cases, these competencies are cross-cutting across various levels of education.

• Focused on various learning domains. These include literacy, numeracy, social-emotional development, etc. Some are holistic in nature (i.e. not only focusing on ‘academic’ domains) but others have more narrowly defined domains such as science and technology.

• Structured around different themes or topics. These include topics such as “me and my family”, “the world around me”, “my country”, etc.

• Standard-based. They include specific achievement standards for the children from each age group.

• Inclusive of a detailed list of activities. This offers support to teachers in order to help children achieve standards outlined.

• Inclusive of guidance around schedule and timing. The curricula contain an indication of how much time should be allocated to each theme, how long the periods should be, etc.

• Inclusive of assessment guidance. The curricula provide some guidance around child assessment.

Soon after, a series of workshops were conducted to define the new learning domains and format of the newly-revised curriculum across the three levels of preprimary. Technical teams were established to work on the different sections of the curriculum according to the following new learning domains: Language and Literacy, Mathematics, Discovery of the World, Social-Emotional Development and Overall Well-Being, Psychomotor Development, and the Arts. Save the Children’s two evidence-based technical approaches, Ready to Learn[3] and Social Emotional Learning Foundations (SELF), were integrated as part of the revision process. Ready to Learn provides caregivers and teachers with guidance on how to support the development of foundational emergent literacy and math skills among young children (ages 3-6 years) while SELF focuses on promoting social engagement, self-management, and emotional awareness in young children.

Some key milestones of the project included:

1. From May 2021 to August 2021, the new set of learning domains were proposed and refined, development of technical materials for all three preprimary levels was completed, and objectives for pilot testing of portions of new curriculum was finalized.

2. From November to December 2021, Ministry Inspectors participated in a training of trainers (ToT) led by Save the Children based on the new curriculum. Following the ToT, teachers in three regions of Senegal (Fatick, Saint-Louis, and Kolda) received training from Ministry Inspectors in preparation for the “mini-pilot.”

3. On December 2021, a “mini-pilot” was conducted to test different portions of the curriculum – mainly language and literacy as well as mathematics as these were the two areas that were identified as lowest achieving in learning outcomes for preprimary children.

4. From March 2022 to April 2022, adaptations were made to the curriculum materials to include lessons learned from the “mini-pilot” and more finalized versions of the curricula were completed for further technical review.

Feedback from the “mini-pilot” was promising – the materials were well received by teachers but further modifications were identified. Upon delivering the curriculum in April 2022, the Ministry of Education and Save the Children had discussions on conditions for successful implementation going forward:

1. Need for effective leadership that is capable of transformation and supported by professionals driving a social and political demand for change. This includes capacity building activities in all areas to ensure adequate planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the progress of the desired change.

2. Adopt a system approach that not only favors learners and the classroom but also integrates essential contributions of the school, inspections, training institutions, the Education, communities, and families.

3. Real change is based on rigorous planning and implementation, a solid database, effective evaluation and a continuous learning system. This means not only creating the possibility of influencing the content of the strategies proposed but also facilitating conditions conducive to their gradual up-take. An evaluation of the new curriculum after two years of scaling up and the lessons learned from this exercise will guide the consolidation and sustainability of the transformation system and enable us to verify our hypotheses of change.

4. Finally, increase provision of the necessary resources for successful implementation of the desired changes. All changes have a cost. It will be important to rigorously evaluate them and ensure that the necessary resources are put in place at each phase of the change implementation process.

Currently, the Department of Preschool Education (DEPS) is leading further revisions to the preprimary curriculum across the three levels and last month, teachers were trained on the new curriculum to be implemented in the following seven of the 14 regions of Senegal: Matam, Tambacounda, Kolda, Fatick, Kaolack, Kaffrine, and Diourbel. The implementation of the new curriculum is expected to produce critical insights on what is working and how the revised curriculum can be improved to further address the needs of children. This is a pivotal moment to shape future generations of children in Senegal and to provide them with the skills they need to thrive as they progress through the school system and beyond into adulthood.

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[1] Save the Children. 2018. Ready to Learn: Common approaches. Retrieved from: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/ready-to-learn-2-pager.pdf/

[2] Chakhaia, Lela and Abimpaye, Monique. 2021. Overview of Pre-primary Curricula in Selected Countries in Sub-Saharan. Save the Children US: Washington, D.C.

[3] Amente, A., Yenew, A., Borisova, I., Dowd, A. J., Pisani, L., Dang, S., & Anís, K. (2017). Save the Children’s Emergent Literacy and Mathematics Initiative: Supporting Educators’ and Parents’ Efforts to Improve Young Children’s School Readiness. YC Young Children, 72(4), 31-34.

Virtual, Low-Tech Approaches for Transient Young Children and Families for Resilience Building and Positive Parenting during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Written by Fabiola Lara (Save the Children, BEC Early Childhood Education Working Group Co-Chair)

If there is anything that these past 20 months have taught us all it is to be flexible and nimble. That is exactly the approach that Save the Children took in a recent project entitled “Reducing the effects of toxic stress in young children on the move through positive parenting and resilience building in Iraq and Colombia” funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). The one-year project ended in September 2021 and was designed at the start of the pandemic when there was still so much uncertainty about what lay ahead. Given the focus on transient young children ages 0-5 years and their families, one question was clear – “How could they continue to be supported during COVID-19 social distancing measures and reduction of services?”.

Evidence points to the importance of the early childhood years and positive caregiver-child relationships, particularly in uncertain times. Opportunities for play, exploration, and bonding relationships between caregiver and children enable children to become resilient and better cope with frustration, fears, and worries they may experience later in life.[i] At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, children on the move were (and continue to be) at further risk of facing significant, negative impacts on their health, learning, wellbeing, and safety in addition to those they may already be facing from forced displacement.[ii] Added stresses on families, particularly during “stay at home orders” and quarantines, has led to increased cases of domestic violence.[iii]

As part of this project, two main technical approaches (Save the Children’s Resilience Building and Transformative Male Caregiving approaches) were adapted and implemented for conflict-sensitivity and responsiveness to the changing dynamics and needs of the intervention communities in Iraq and Colombia. Both approaches, first piloted in El Salvador, were adapted for delivery using WhatsApp (calls and group chats) as well as standard phone calls and SMS text messages. In Iraq, the approaches were implemented in Bardarash and Gawilan camps to access 500 Syrian refugee families and in Colombia, 360 Venezuelan migrant families living in informal settlements in La Guajira.

As part of the Resilience Building approach, primary caregivers (largely women, but some men as well) in both countries were convened in 12 virtual caregiver group sessions that covered topics spanning self-care, managing emotions, setting goals and routines, protecting children from harm, and bonding across various activities with children. For the Transformative Male Caregiving approach, men gathered in male-only groups for ten sessions that covered parallel topics as the Resilience Building approach but also focused on goal-setting and reinforcing positive behavior that supports individual and family wellbeing. In between sessions, caregivers shared audio, video, and photo footage in chat groups of their engagement with their co-parenting partners and children such as family activities, reflections, and achievements. Additionally, expectant, new, and long-time male caregivers received key messages and nudges via SMS messages on topics related to self-care, support to children, and support to co-parenting partners. Primary caregivers (both men and women) received activity kits with games to complete, together with their children, to reinforce positive and playful caregiver-child interactions.

Initially, Save the Children faced some challenges, in both Iraq and Colombia, during implementation as the majority of caregivers were not accustomed to using smartphone-based platforms or were using them for the first time. Once caregivers received support and became more familiar, other challenges emerged. Regular access to data network connection was not always guaranteed as constant movement of families and periods of limited- to no- communication (between staff and families) occurred. Additionally, men were initially not accustomed to convening in a support-group setting and therefore their participation was difficult to secure. In both contexts, Iraq and Colombia, men typically associated any support related to children and caregivers as exclusive to women and thus would often refer their wives or encourage them to attend.

Despite these setbacks, the project produced meaningful gains and garnered positive feedback from families. Though barriers to network connection persisted and families continued to move (and in some cases, return), both men and women regularly shared positive changes and the impact the project had on their own lives. In both Iraq and Colombia, men reported feeling closer to their children and observed positive changes in their children’s behavior now that they were more engaged in children’s lives, thanks to their participation in the sessions.

“I always depended on my wife to raise and tutor my children. I was the person they feared. After joining the transformative male caregiving sessions, I feel that I am now using my time more efficiently for my children. I have a closer relationship with them now and they are no longer afraid that I will beat them. Instead, they run to me when I arrive home. I see that my children feel happier and I have almost stopped smoking too.”

— Salim (Syrian refugee father, Gawilan)

Men also reported that their motivation to continue participating in sessions was due to how critical it was for family unity. Project staff reported that men also naturally became a source of support to each other and would encourage other men within their group to keep participating and, in some cases, would show up to others’ homes (as restrictions allowed) to listen in on sessions together, which further reinforced their commitment to participating.

During group sessions, women shared that having a space to connect with other women allowed them to seek support outside of their families and find mutual encouragement from other women in similar circumstances. They also reported higher engagement from their husbands/partners in household tasks and responsibilities resulting in them feeling less stressed and more supported.

““I am now pregnant with my fourth child and my husband is a completely different person now than he was with our other three children. He is so attentive to my [individual] needs but also helps with the children, even does washing, cooking and other household chores.””

— Marta (Venezuelan migrant mother, La Guajira)

Through the feedback gathered from caregivers regarding the changes they were experiencing in their own lives throughout their participation, it is clear that this project and its approaches addressed critical needs of families on the move. Learnings from this project emphasize the need for adaptable, flexible delivery options to reach families during movement as well as the importance of addressing all caregivers, both men and women. The burden can no longer fall on one caregiver and strategies that directly address one caregiver while indirectly reaching the other fall short of addressing whole-family approaches that emphasize family harmony and commitment to wellbeing. The International Education industry needs to ensure that both men and women are equally supported because, in doing so, children and caregivers have the most to gain– leading to healthy, positive home environments that can mitigate stresses and adversity factors. More investment in the early years (especially as it relates to the intersectionality between gender, early learning, well-being and child protection) is critical, particularly for children and families in humanitarian and crisis settings. Program implementers need to make sure that these families continue to be supported and that innovative approaches address the dynamic nature of their situations. 

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[i] Bunce, Maureen; Rickards, Anna. 2004. Working with Bereaved Children: A Guide. Children’s Legal Centre

[ii] United Nations. Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on children. 15 April 2020. Retrieved from:

https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/policy_brief_on_covid_impact_on_children_16_april_2020.pdf

[iii] Human Rights Watch (9 April 2020). COVID-19’s Devastating Impact on Children. Retrieved from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/09/covid-19s-devastatingimpact-children

Girls Inspired to Use Digital Approaches to Enhance Education Transitions

Written by BEC member World Vision (Zayid Douglas, Alisa Phillips, Janelle Zwier and Danielle McCadden)

World Vision believes in fostering girls’ agency and safe education transition for them to create bright futures for themselves.  In the past year and a half, when girls have experienced school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed the importance of harnessing a broad range of high- and low-tech distance learning approaches that are locally relevant and sometimes locally made from locally available materials.  We have used these methods to reach girls across the different education transitions, from pre-primary to primary, continuing through to secondary and Technical Vocational Education and Training. 

Young children, up to the age of 5, go through the most rapid brain development.[1]  Strategic investment in quality pre-primary education for young girls and boys is, therefore, critical to positively impact an individual’s lifelong learning outcomes and societies overall.[2]  To improve girls’ and boys’ life outcomes, we recognize that there is urgent need to increase quality programming that incorporates health, nutrition, safety and security, responsive caregiving, and early learning.[3]  Investing in this type of holistic pre-primary programming  that is play-based supports girls’ readiness to primary school and is essential for their development and success in primary school and beyond.  Children enjoy ‘playing to learn’ by using manipulatives [4]and interacting with their environment.  The pre-primary level is also a time of transition for both girls and boys as they meet new peers and learn to listen and follow new routines and instructions from teachers. The Rwanda Care and Comfort for Children on the Move project[5] emphasizes play, responsive caregiving, and positive parenting to support the development and transitions of young children.  In this project, technology plays a key role by using audio sessions, developed in partnership with Sesame Workshop, that deliver playful parenting messages to caregivers for them to actively engage in their children’s learning. 

Most of World Vision’s education programming and advocacy efforts focused on girls is done at the primary and secondary school levels.  We know that beginning in the early grades, peer-to-peer learning and mentoring is important for girls to build their self-esteem and agency to succeed throughout school.  Even at an early age, it’s important to motivate girls to be inspired to achieve more than what social norms might dictate.  The All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD), a partnership of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision and the Australian Government, advances EdTech innovation and research to improve reading outcomes for marginalized children in low-resource contexts. Through one innovation supported by this partnership, we learn about the story of a brave young girl named Grace.  Grace doesn't hesitate to experience new things and explore a new world as she takes a journey to space, something she's always dreamed about.  (To learn more about the author and the story of Grace in Space - go to the Global Digital Library [available for free download].)

Even as primary school-aged girls like the character Grace aspire to attend school and complete their education, they often experience increased home responsibilities, household chores, and greater and differing expectations about their role in the family as they age.  In primary school, we also begin to observe how gender dynamics influence cooperative or peer learning in the classroom.[6]  Even if girls can use technology in the classroom, access to technology outside of school time is not always afforded to girls, due to systemic and structural barriers that must be removed for girls to reap its benefit.[7] 

It was especially important to remove barriers to learning for secondary school girls during school closures due to COVID-19. In many cases, this not only involved improved hardware and software required for accessing technology, but also raising awareness with caregivers on the role of distance learning, the importance of using the technology, and the benefits of girls’ and boys’ (continued) learning while not being able to attend class in person.

Photo Credit: IGATE 2021

The World Vision-led Improving Gender Attitudes, Transition, and Education Outcomes (IGATE-T) project[8], funded by UK Aid through the Girls’ Education Challenge, revealed that there are entry barriers to digital learning related to girls’ lack of, or low foundational, literacy and numeracy skills, which often co-exist with the presence of less educated caregivers. Literacy and numeracy are essential for accessing digital skills; given the crisis of learning, particularly around literacy, this typically adds an additional layer of marginalization for girls.  The IGATE-T endline found that in some communities, students with uneducated caregivers were less likely to be supported to attend community learning. These caregivers were least likely to engage with learning activities disseminated via WhatsApp. 

However, girls like 13-year-old Esnath still found a way to access learning and motivate other girls to continue their education, even in the face of these obstacles.  When schools closed in Zimbabwe, the IGATE-T program applied many strategies, building networks of community volunteers and girl peer leaders to remotely deliver literacy, numeracy, and life skills content using WhatsApp—eventually supplementing with print material.  Intermediary community members and teachers worked to contact girl peer leaders and add those with access to phones to WhatsApp groups.  Still, very few could access WhatsApp, even if they had access to a mobile phone—thus broadcast SMS was added.  As a result of the outreach efforts by dedicated community members and teachers, 39% of peer leaders (382 of 977) were reached with these mobile platforms, most were of secondary school age.

During this time, Esnath was an instrumental peer leader in Chivi district, Zimbabwe.  She mobilized girls to attend community learning circles during school closures. Esnath shared, “At Nehanda CLC I am the secretary of peer leads and my duties are as follows; I lead on discussions and share some sessions. One of the sessions I did is on Peer Pressure, I told my friends not to get married early and finish school.’’ Esnath works closely with the champions at the center and refers girls who may need assistance and counselling.  She also maintains reading and study material that she shares with 9 other girls in her village.

““As a Peer leader I make sure that other children wash their hands before and after collecting their reading cards as I write their names down. I also select lessons on the radio for others to listen””

— Esnath

Evaluation findings confirmed that girls like Esnath who participated in peer learning sessions accelerated both their leadership and literacy skills. 

In the IGATE-T project, while the focus was on increasing girls’ primary school completion and increasing secondary school access, retention, and learning outcomes, not all girls were able to successfully make the transition to secondary school.  For girls who do not transition to secondary or do not complete due to multiple barriers, including pregnancy, vocational training and non-formal learning offers them an alternative.  In these cases, there is potential for skills development via coaching and support, peer facilitation, non-formal routes to qualifications, and opportunities for last mile delivery of quality content.  In all cases, access barriers, including gatekeepers to technology or resources, need to be addressed. Removing these barriers and making smart investments in technology-enhanced learning can open up new worlds of ideas, role models, and networks of support to often-isolated girls and young women.

When vocational training sessions for out of school youth disbanded abruptly in Zimbabwe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attempts to group and network out-of-school adolescents and young women remotely were difficult, as only 30% could be reached and put into WhatsApp support groups—versus 53% for boys. The majority had to be reached via intermediaries, including project community volunteers (who were also vital in recruiting the WhatsApp support group members, while around 12% of out of school adolescents and young women were no longer traceable.  These WhatsApp support groups and intermediaries firstly provided social support and maintenance of communication channels for alternative content delivery and dissemination of adapted resources (e.g., business skills consolidation guides), followed by mobilization and support for transition opportunities,[9] including modified vocational training courses (due to COVID).   These groups have evolved to become a lifeline in helping maintain girls’ social capital through ongoing networking and coaching, independent of the project.

Example of exchange between mentor and girl peer leader on topic of assertiveness and peer pressure.

Across the world from Zimbabwe, the USAID-funded Puentes project in Guatemala’s Western Highlands makes a concerted effort to introduce skills-based, educational, and entrepreneurial opportunities to youth ages 15 to 24—utilizing technology as a bridge to these groups.   With the advent of COVID-19, Puentes further expanded their education and training programming offerings with increased transmission of information and education through means such as using virtual platforms to teach courses virtually and provide guidance and support via text message—easing access, and removing barriers, to such life-enhancing information. For several years, Puentes has also provided courses via radio, and recently rolled out a web-based version of its core skills curriculum.  The increased flexibility and accessibility of such information has further supported youth with atypical schedules or those who are some distance away from Puentes centers. Youth with families, like Yesenia, a young mother who dropped out of secondary school when she became pregnant, are given the chance to continue their life skills education and training—giving them a new lease on life. In the words of Yesenia, they are given “…. the opportunity to focus on (our) goals and to dream.” Financial challenges brought on by the pandemic have driven some of Puentes’ older adolescent girl and female youth participants to engage in new livelihoods opportunities, often to generate income to support themselves and their families. Some are utilizing social media platforms such as Facebook to launch their small businesses.  

This all goes to show that through a wide range of digital technologies, girls across various age groups can be equipped to continue their education and training in both formal and informal spaces and live out their dreams.

In most places that World Vision works, girls still face a variety of hurdles that impact their ability to successfully transition between childhood and adolescence, and from adolescence into adulthood. This includes the risk of gender-based violence, including child marriage, and other barriers that leave them with limited schooling and skills-building opportunities as they age. We need to ensure that girls can safely access the digital technologies they need to support and enhance their pursuit of education and learning opportunities. We need to call on global actors to continue their investment in education programming that breaks the barriers limiting girls from living out their full potential. If passed by the US Congress, the Keeping Girls in School Act would mandate that USAID and US Department  of State  address various barriers including normative barriers that limit girls from pursuing quality secondary education including those that dictate girls’ interactions with technology . We are in this together. We must work to make sure that our girls stay connected to those resources and aids that help them stay on the path to a bright future.

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[1] Joan Lombardi on Getting the Most Bang for the Buck: Quality Early Education and Care, 2011
[2] Stepping up Early Childhood Development:  Investing in Young Children for High Returns, Dendoba, Amina, Sayre, Rebecca, Wodon Quentin, Elder, Leslie, Rawlings, Laura, Lombardi, Joan, World Bank, CIFF, 2014. 
[3] Early Childhood Development Coming of Age:  Science through the Lifecourse, Advancing Early Childhood Development:  From Science to Scale, Vol. 389, Issue 10064, January 2017.
[4] Manipulatives are defined as a hands-on approach where a learner uses objects to perceive an educational concept, etc.
[5] A Gift from the United States Government
[6] White Paper:  Learning through Play at School, Parker, Rachel, Thomsen, Bo Stjerne, The Lego Foundation, 2019. 
[7] EdTech Hub, Clear evidence, better decisions, more learning.  Girls’ Education and EdTech:  A Rapid Evidence Review, July 2020, Webb, Daniel, Barringer, Katie, Torrance, Rebecca, Refugee Support Network, Mitchell, Joel, Edtech Hub
[8] The IGATE-T Project since inception, has reached 40,928 primary and lower secondary girls in rural Zimbabwe.
[9] These transition opportunities include modified vocational training courses (due to COVID), standard operating procedures, attachments, part time continuing education, and start-up support.