Conference Learning

1. Conference Learning Supporting Children’s Holistic Learning & Development: Homes, Communities and Schools International Early Childhood Care and Development Conference 5-7 November 2012 Jakarta Brenda Lisenby Chief Rapporteur

2. …we don’t need to be hopeless. We don’t need to be unhappy. The good news is that we [can] reduce the risks, increase protective factors and introduce interventions in the early years… Dr. Jenna Hamadani, Head of Child Development Unit, Int’l Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh Keynote Address

3. Conference Goals • Develop understanding of holistic learning • Provide a platform to share research findings • Promote networking to increase partnerships and collaboration in support of children’s early learning and development • Convene a stakeholder consultation regarding the post-2015 global policy agenda

4. Learning Strands • Holistic learning and development (11) • Families and communities (18) • Learning and assessment (5) • Professional development (5) • Inclusive policies and innovative financing (4+2) *45 presentations and workshops

5. Concurrent Session 1 • The research presented looked at the situation of migrant workers and their children; the project tries to address needs of the migrant community through advocacy (help local people accept the valuable contributions of the migrants to the economy and trying to get a migrant documentation program going) and by providing direct interventions

6. Concurrent Session 2 • In a discussion of parenting education, strategies to mobilize fathers were highlighted and include getting community leaders to facilitate the training, as well as involving youth of both genders to expose them to PE • In another model of parent education, neighborhood mothers were trained to facilitate neighborhood childcare and rotate the task among themselves—simple and sustainable in that particular context

7. Concurrent Session 3 • Healthy Start, program that promotes optimal development for young children is a cost-effective on the community-based model, yet faces challenges of maintaining standards across sites • Compared a government program and a community-based program and found that both were effective in various ways, but need to understand how to scale up the best practices

8. Concurrent Session 4 • Optimizing child development through strengthening the mother’s view, which was integrated with existing health promotion; this Sri Lankan project was able to share responsibility with government and local resources to ensure sustainability • A second Sri Lankan project also integrated with health promotion via midwives and other health care providers, but seeking to address the psychosocial needs of children under 5

9. Concurrent Session 6 • Play! • This topic generated a lot of interest has discussion focused on definitions of play from both adult and child’s perspective—even when adults think they are making learning “playful”, the children do not perceive it as play and learning is not as enhanced as in situations that children consider to be “play”

10. Concurrent Session 7 • Discussed what determines parental choice for ECE; it seems that a big challenge is helping parents understand the difference between literacy and developmentally appropriate ECCE; economic constraints limit the support parents give to ECCD centres • Concluded that parents can change, but need ongoing support to make and sustain changes for optimal impact on child rearing practices and child development over time

11. Concurrent Session 8 • Issues of school transition, noting that the most vulnerable are language minority and students with disabilities—teachers, schools and communities not “ready” to receive differently-abled children, resulting in repetition of grades or lack of access to education • Impact of teacher disposition on quality, discussion focused on the adaptation of the ECERS to measure quality in the local context

12. Concurrent Session 11 • Examined the challenges of including children with SEN—parental understanding and community support is lacking; educating parents and community needs to be integrated with policy-level support • The surprising realization that before we can effect any change in systems or behaviors of others, we ourselves must first be transformed—willing to accept the challenge of creating an inclusive environment and reducing competition/comparison among children

13. Concurrent Session 12 • Reached the conclusion that TV in and of itself is not bad, it is all on the way you use it; can be a great tool for learning, but requires careful planning and supervising to make it an interactive experience, not simply a passive entertainment; we should not be afraid of it because of the potential bad; there is much potential good • Emphasized the need for effective training to support a teacher’s use of various media in the classroom; simply giving a guidebook is not enough

14. Concurrent Session 13 • Looked at community-based ECCD and preschool models and made the following recommendations in regards to the post-2015 global goals discussion: • to have a min requirement of standard for ECCE • teachers need to be accountable to the local community for preschool education • public and private ownership model for of preschool education

15. Concurrent Session 14 • Creative ways to communicate the importance of ECD to parents—as our bodies are hungry and need food, our brains are “hungry” and need to be fed by stimulation in all domains • The use of a “happiness calendar” to track the “happiness” of each family member and reflect on what causes the happiness to increase and decrease—the reflection process causes individuals, especially fathers, to change behavior as they realize the impact they have on the family’s “happiness” • Discussion regarding participatory ECD programs highlighted the challenge of trying to integrate ECD into existing ECE systems, because “development” is more holistic a concept than “education”

16. Concurrent Session 15 • Highlighted quality considerations on ECCE and its impact on primary performance • As the importance of ECD is now widely supported by research, need to make this a slogan for the post-2015 global agenda ************* • What could that slogan be? “…the transformative power of ECD…” Ms. DivyaLata, Welcoming Remarks

17. Concurrent Session 16 • Grappled with the questions of what is school readiness – e.g., language domain, motor skills, emergent literacy and numeracy, etc. – and what tools are best to measure it? • Looked at the challenges of providing ECD in multi-lingual environments and in post-conflict situations

18. Concurrent Session 17 • Examined the benefits and challenges of portfolio assessment methods, particularly in low resourced rural areas • Looked at inclusive vs specialized settings for children with disabilities—teacher interaction patterns (focus on task completion rather than child ability) and parent perceptions (not comfortable with the children with disabilities sharing classrooms with their child—are barriers to effective inclusion of children with special needs

19. Concurrent Session 18 • Presented a funding proposal that may be able to promote effective partnership between government and public or private companies that establish a Corporate Social Responsibility scheme in order to facilitate increased ECCD enrollment

20. Concurrent Session 19—Workshop • Engaged the subject of how to develop a framework for measuring learning from early childhood through post-primary years, particularly at the global level • Discussion centered around: • The desirability of globally measurable goals • The importance of cultural appropriateness • The undesirability of “prioritizing” any one developmental goal over another

21. Concurrent Session 20 • Timor-Leste is developing an inclusive language policy in a multi-lingual society; discussion focused on the process they are using to develop and linguistically appropriate materials • Looked at children living in prison with incarcerated mothers—the question raised was why can’t the children leave the prison? Because they would be even more vulnerable

22. Concurrent Session 21 • A research project found that children who participated in 1 year of preschool performed significantly better in primary 1, but exhibited little difference from the non-preschool peers by primary 2—so within this context, what is the role that preschool programs play? • Examined the challenges of teaching reading within a trilingual environment, with discussion focusing on the competence of teachers trained to teach reading within such an environment

23. Concurrent Session 22 • Presented a model of ensuring school readiness and smooth transition to primary 1 and discussion points focused on the various understandings of school readiness across cultures importance of fathers • Looked at developing critical thinking skills in 4-5 year olds and discussed how these skills may vary across cultures

24. Concurrent Session 23 • Highlighted the importance of protecting children and discussed the myths and facts related to child abuse • Adults are responsible for creating safe environments and protecting all children, and all levels of caregivers should be trained • Research across cultures highlighted responsive teaching and caregiving (parents) as important for promoting optimal development of young children

25. Concurrent Session 24—Workshop • Coming together to learn how to create low cost materials, easily reproducible in the local context, especially resource-constrained settings in rural areas • Participants took away 4 samples, which included a big book, a math book and bag, and a poster illustrating learning objectives

26. Concurrent Session 25 • Examined the empowerment of early childhood teachers and the training necessary to make them critical, reflective practitioners, able to cope with diversity in their classrooms • Examined a curriculum designed to foster cognitive development through mediated learning environments, especially beneficial to children at high risk

27. Concurrent Session 26 • Looked at the process of developing a framework with reference to every child’s right to ECCD, with discussion focusing on the budgeting necessary to realize its implementation • Examined one country’s integration of various government entities at multiple levels and other institutions to provide ECCD services and ensure sufficient funding

28. Thank you!