Executive Summary

The Stages of this Project’s Implementation

The project is divided into the following stages:

• Milestone 1 which was the inception phase when CE established working procedures with the Ugandan MoES, agreed on a revised Problem Statement and Project Objectives, and laid out its plans to deliver recommendations for a realistic Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy and implementation guidelines.

• This phase, Milestone 2, has focused on the delivery of primary baseline information on the processes and practices, provisions, models, costs and capacity in providing ECCE services across Uganda; and on producing a detailed documentary review (secondary data) that complements the findings of the primary research, to be able to make independent assessments on the status of implementation of the education sector ECD Policy. This will provide a situational analysis and map the current status of ECCE services and training in Uganda.

• Milestone 3, is the phase will commence in September, following approval of Milestone 2, and will emphasise the process of consultation and consensus-building to conclude with recommendations for a revised ECCE Policy, Guidelines and Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System.

• Milestones 4 and 5 will then culminate with the revised Policy package.

Navigating this Report

The report is structured as follows:

• Section 1 provides an overview of the main learnings that can be drawn from International, Regional and Ugandan literature and experience.

• Section 2 summarises the findings of the research undertaken under this project.

• Section 3 outlines the research methodology adopted and provides comprehensive information on the approach and limitations.

• Section 4 highlights the conclusions on the current status of the policy implementation and possible opportunities for how the ECCE sector could develop in the future.

Key Findings

Section 1: Introduction

In this section, we draw from secondary literature sources to summarise the rationale for investing in ECCE and to provide some examples of good global practice in ECD policy frameworks and service provision (related to Project Objective 2), costing and financing of ECCE (related to Objective 3), and training of ECCE practitioners (related to Objective 4).

1.1 The Rationale for Providing Good Quality Early Childhood Education Services and Training

Early childhood development is internationally defined as the provision of health and nutrition, stimulation and care, safety and protection, and education for children from conception to eight years old. There is now a wealth of research to prove the importance of investing in ECD in order to:

• Ensure children’s brains develop to their full potential. Evidence shows that in the first 5 years of their lives, the physical and cognitive development of children’s brains proceeds at a rapid pace that will not be repeated again during their lifetime. At this absolutely crucial stage of brain development, poor health and nutrition, inadequate care and stimulation, and a stressful environment can lead to a trajectory of poor health and schooling outcomes for the rest of a child’s life, and thus perpetuate the poverty cycle.2 The response must be to stimulate and encourage cognitive development through play, interaction and non-formal, flexible and innovative learning approaches, and not through formalised and organised settings that are traditionally associated with formal education.

• Reduce inequality, increase wages, and ultimately, increase economic growth.3 According to economic research, investing in ECD is ‘one of the smartest investments a country can make’4 and the sooner the investment is made, the greater the returns.

• Improve the efficiency of primary schooling by improving school readiness. There is a close statistical link between low levels of pre-primary participation, inefficiencies in early primary grades and poor cognitive skills. Underage admissions in already overcrowded and poorly resourced primary schools lead to low achievement, grade repetitions and systemic inefficiencies and so costly wastage5

The introduction of pre-primary classes can increase children’s readiness to learn, reduce pressure on early grade teachers and improve children’s chances of progressing through the school curriculum.6 A recent RTI pilot study in Uganda suggests that early entry into Primary 1 (and the possible resulting repetition) is being used as a substitute for pre-primary education due to the lack of pre-primary schooling options. It also indicated that children who attended pre-primary were less likely to repeat in Primary 1.7

• Increase gender parity by freeing older siblings (most often girl children) to attend school, allow young mothers to complete their education, and enable women to take up jobs and generate income for their family. 8

The benefits of quality ECD extend well beyond the child alone. Societies also gain from improved school performance, stronger economies, reducing inherent disadvantage and inequality, and a safer and more inclusive society. 9 10 11 12 13

These benefits are recognised in global commitments, most notably through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which state in target 4.2 that:

By 2030 ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.’

The indicators for Goal 4.2 include:

• participation in organised and supported learning environments (one year before the official primary entry age); and

• number of years of free and compulsory pre-primary education guaranteed in legal frameworks.14

However, gaps in pre-primary enrolment have continued to exist not only among, but also within countries, especially between urban and rural areas. A key reason for such inequality is that despite the broad benefits to society and the economy, many countries, including Uganda, have yet to expand provision of preprimary education and ensure its universal access.15 Furthermore, the evidence is clear that in a private system of provision, poor children tend to receive either no ECCE provision, or at best, provision of much poorer quality of pre-primary education than their peers.16

The 2007 ECD policy of Uganda is based on the recognition that early childhood education is part of the basic education cycle and that all children have the right to basic education. It also indicates an understanding of the benefits of ECCE for success in school and perpetuation of national heritage and values for the future. However, this report will highlight the ongoing bottlenecks and shortcomings that are ultimately hampering Uganda from realising a quality ECCE system and from also achieving the country’s human capital development needed to support Vision 2040.17

1.2 Drawing Evidence and Experience from Good Global Practice

There are five key instances of global best practice in ECCE that emerge from the evidence we have examined and which are relevant to Uganda. These are:

1. Policies should encourage an empowering, interdisciplinary and child-centred approach to the provision of services (including health, nutrition, hygiene, social protection and early stimulation).18

2. The role of parents, families and other caregivers19 should be emphasised in interventions in order to support early child development (including building on positive traditional child rearing practices and cultural beliefs).20

3. Stakeholders must recognise that quality is essential and that poor quality ECD services will not deliver positive child outcomes21 and may even be detrimental to the development of the child; that there is a need for common agreed standards and in-built mechanisms for monitoring and assuring quality; and that there is a balance to be achieved between expanding access and not sacrificing quality. As stated in Uganda’s Constitution the aim is ‘to provide quality educational services to all children including those under the age of compulsory schooling in the country’.

4. The sector should use and build upon existing entry points and delivery platforms (health and nutrition services, social protection systems, community structures, primary schooling).22

5. The Government of Uganda should prioritise the most disadvantaged and hardest to reach to ensure equity and maximum value for investment.23

Practice 1: Taking an interdisciplinary and child-centred approach

In Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Malawi and Lesotho ECD policies have been adopted that integrate services across different sectors, in recognition of the need for a wide range of services in many diverse settings. As well as being interdisciplinary, the needs of young children change as they progress through different developmental stages. The ECD services map in Table 1 below shows the essential interventions across all domains of development, following an age-based continuum. The developmental stages align with those used in the Ugandan National Development Plan life-cycle approach to human capital development, splitting the 0 – 5 years age range into two ranges recognised internationally as differentiated in terms of services. As recognised by the 2007 ECD Policy and the National Integrated Early

Childhood Development (NIECD) Policy of 2016, progress in one domain is a catalyst for development in others.24

Table 1: Essential interventions across the ECD age continuum

Pregnancy 0 – 2 years 3 – 5 years 6 – 8 years

Accesstoplaymaterials andbooks

Early Childhood Care & Education

Food Security & Nutrition

Protectiveand supportive environment

Micronutrient supplements

Preventionoflowbirth weight

Child Protection Accesstosocialservices topreventandaddress riskfactors

Earlyantenatalcare

Preventionofmotherto-childtransmission

Primary Health Care, Sanitation & Environment

Birthpreparation

Mentalhealth screeningand informationtoreduce substanceabuse

Family Strengthening & Support

Maternityandfamily responsibilityleave

Preparationfor parenting

Earlystimulation (caregiverstouch,talk, listenandrespondto children)

Groupprogrammes todevelopsocialskills

Developmentofearly literacyand mathematicsskills

Promotionofexclusivebreastfeeding(0–6 months)andoptimalfeedingsupportthereafter

Growthmonitoringandtreatmentofsevere malnutrition

Birthregistration

Childprotectionservices

Postnatalcare

Routineimmunisation

Screeningfordevelopmentaldelay

Integratedmanagementofchildhoodillness

Accesstosafewaterandenvironmentalsanitation

Accesstoquality educationinearly grades

Careandsupport servicestoaddress barrierstolearning

Nutritioneducation

Schoolnutrition programme

Schoolhealthservices (healthpromotion, screeningandreferrals

Childcareservicesforworkingorwork-seekingcaregivers

Parentingeducation

Appropriatereferralandothersocialsupport(includingsocio-economic strengthening)

Source: Adapted from Berry, L. (2013)25 and National Integrated ECD Policy Action Plan of Uganda (20162021)

In each of the countries mentioned above, there is a lead ministry, which has overall management and governance responsibility for the delivery of the ECD policy, a coordination structure that is replicated at regional and local levels, and the necessary resource to realise policy goals. In terms of both service and training provision in Uganda, there is a lack of clarity over the coordination and leadership of ECD services as a whole and a lack of reliable information about exactly what organisations are available, who is accessing them, and how these are monitored. Structures need to be in place to address these bottlenecks in information and be able to support a fully integrated approach.

Practice 2: The roles of parents, families and communities

ECD policies generally recognise the primary responsibility of the family for childcare and development but also the public sector duty to support the family in this role, especially in situations of rapid socioeconomic change including changing family structures, urbanisation, poverty, political instability and disease. Building on local understandings and priorities for child rearing is essential for contextually appropriate programming and achieving the commitment needed for service take up and for engaging parents in activities that promote their children’s development. Home environment is the strongest predictor of educational outcomes.26 27 In Uganda’s case, there is a need for assessing the most appropriate model for prenatal and 0-to-3 services. As the findings of this report highlight, formalised, organisational settings for the stimulation of children under the age of 3 is expensive and not as appropriate or as effective as investing in the education and support of parents, families and communities to take care of their children independently and at home.

Practice 3: Ensuring quality delivery

While increasing access to ECD has been the primary policy goal for many nations, evidence has shown that the quality of provision is often inadequate. For example, when ECD centre programmes lack qualified teachers, an effective curriculum, and a supportive learning environment, child learning gains may not be realised or sustained into longer-term learning outcomes.28 29 Improving quality is a major challenge, at all levels of education. For instance, Cambodian children who had attended state pre-schools with bettertrained staff and more educational resources performed better on developmental measures than children in either community pre-schools or home programmes. But even where programmes might be regarded as being of poorer quality by standards used in higher income countries, children in disadvantaged circumstances benefitted.30

Since quality has been found to be associated with qualifications and training of teachers/caregivers, and structured and child-appropriate curricula and instruction,31 there is a need to improve the provision of training, support and mentoring,32 assessment and monitoring, and the currency of qualification and accreditation standards.

Countries such as England, New Zealand and the United States (with the National Association for the Education of Young Children - NAEYC), have developed professional standards for early childhood workers, which are usually brief statements describing levels of experience, scales of competence, and ultimately what the practitioner needs to know and be able to do. In these countries, while there are age-specific areas of focus, the profile is on a continuum with other parts of the teaching profession and thus attract similar parity of esteem for early childhood teachers.

In Latin America, many countries have adopted intensive processes of monitoring trainees’ progress once they are practicing professionals, which is passed on to employers after a set period and then becomes part of continuous professional development and staff planning processes. In Honduras, the education of children from birth to six years old is generally carried out in non-formal or non-academic programmes, where the ECCE teacher, facilitator or coordinator is a member of the community. ECCE teachers are somewhat akin to community workers, specialising in work with rural communities. They are normally supported by senior ECCE Professionals assigned to provide them with mentorship and to guide their development.

In the case of Uganda, the ECD Caregiver Training Framework (2012) already contains a set of profiles for each level of qualification. These profiles outline the desirable knowledge and application of knowledge, but, as the findings will indicate, more needs to be done to ensure both the quality of initial training, as well as the practice of ongoing support, monitoring and professional development, to fully realise the potential of these profiles. In turn, until such issues are addressed, the value of qualifications, the status of ECD practitioners in the work-place as a whole, the ability to attract high calibre candidates to the profession, and the opportunities for building career pathways, are all hampered by the perception that training in ECD is of poor quality.

Practice 4: Building on existing platforms

A key consideration for rapid scale up of ECCE services within contexts of competing demands on the fiscus is the use of existing delivery platforms and institutional infrastructure for this purpose. In the context of ECCE for older children and in line with the indicator for SDG 4.2, a Grade Zero has been introduced in a both in in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the world. For younger children (0 – 2 years) education of parents in ECCE practices has been included in health sector initiatives, maximising contacts with the health sector.

In resource-constrained contexts work towards addressing equity issues is necessarily one of progressive realisation towards a comprehensive national system. In some countries the growing, often incompletely regulated, private sector leads to increasing inequities. Strategies often employed to address this involve having equitable government policies targeting the most disadvantaged groups; more effective governance including of the private sector; integration of ECCE initiatives within national policy alleviation strategies and with health and social development strategies33, and building upon existing training and capacity enhancing efforts.

Practice 5: Prioritise the hardest to reach

UNESCO data indicates that across all regions except South Asia, children in the richest households are at least twice as likely – and in some regions three times as likely – to be enrolled in pre-primary school than children from the poorest households.34 These disparities have implications for government policies, pointing to the need to target ECD interventions, and specifically pre-primary schooling, to those children most in need. Current unequal outcomes are problematic not only from a child rights and fairness perspective, but also with regards to economic efficiency. The economic value of ECD programmes is often highest for those least likely to receive services.

In Uganda, as in many other countries in the region and beyond, while policy is guided by the principle of equitable access to ECD services for all children, there are significant challenges in achieving this. While access increased significantly between 2007 (when there was a net enrolment rate of 2.5%) and 2011 (NER 23%), it was unequally distributed with 20% of children in rural areas having access, compared with 52% in urban areas.35 International evidence indicates that in Uganda, as elsewhere, investment in ECD needs to simultaneously address three key aspects: the information deficit, affordability and accessibility. The ECD Policy 2007 and NIECD Policy 2016 have committed Uganda to more effective governance as a strategy and integration of ECCE with health and welfare services. However, there is no clear targeting strategy for the most disadvantaged, even though this group is most likely to benefit from state-driven ECD interventions

1.3 Examining Expenditures on ECCE around the world

Surveys of spending37 on ECCE suggest that such expenditures are funded from a variety of sources. Businesses, NGOs, FBOs, community organisations and the public sector all play a part in funding ECCE programmes, although the mix of these funding sources varies across countries. In almost all countries across the world, parents pay at least some fees, but there is considerable variation in the proportion that this constitutes of overall cost.

The public sector can play four principal roles to varying degrees. They are:

1. As an ECCE service provider. Providing some ECCE Centres/infrastructure/places directly, although not necessarily bearing the full cost of this provision: of the twenty countries for which Levin & Schwartz (2006)38 provide consistent information, twelve have national or local government providing 50% or more of the total number of ECCE places. However, of these, five countries are identified as charging fees while the balance between public funding and fees is undefined in five other cases. Only Cuba has no private sector involvement in ECCE provision.

Research indicates that the wealthier countries of Western Europe and North America have public sector expenditures on ECCE amounting to approximately 0.7% of GDP1 ‘while low and lower middle-income countries spend 0.08% of GDP on pre-primary education’1 – nearly ten times less as a proportion of GDP.

2. As an ECCE funder. Providing grants/subsidies to parents and/or providers to reduce the costs that they would otherwise have to cover from other sources: These may take the form of universal benefits that provide free provision for all children usually for a limited number of hours39 or they may be targeted, as in Sweden, where parents pay fees according to a sliding scale.40 The public sector may also use such payments to encourage behaviour to support children’s development. Of particular interest is a randomised controlled trial in Karamoja, which showed a positive impact on cognitive development of cash transfers linked with pre-school enrolment.41

3. As an ECCE training provider. Delivering and/or subsidising training for ECCE professionals (either provided free or at some cost).

4. As an ECCE regulator. Developing and implementing a regulatory framework within which ECCE providers must operate.