Next week, GC-DWC faculty and staff will be presenting at the Comparative and International Educational Society (CIES) 2023 Conference in Washington, D.C. Panel presentations will cover key program learning priorities in the global south, including tools to support innovative pedagogy, practical ways to measure social and emotional learning outcomes in adverse environments, and lessons learned to increase access to quality pre-primary education. To learn more about this year’s CIES events visit their website.
Creating Learning through Play Experiences for Children: Tools to Support Playful Pedagogy
February 20, 2:45 to 4:15pm EST
Presenters:
PALICE Childrens' Experience of Learning through Play (CELP) - Nikhit D'Sa, University of Notre Dame; Martin Ariapa, Luigi Giussani Institute of Higher Education; Carolina Maldonado-Carrefio, Universidad de Los Andes.
PALICE Formative Observation and Reflection Assessment - Angela Pyle, OISE, University of Toronto; Brian P Dooley, FHI 360; Rafael Eduardo Contreras Gomez, FHI 360; Carina Omoeva, FHI 360; Jennifer Zosh, Penn State University, Brandywine.
Measuring support for children's engagement in learning: psychometric properties of the PLAY toolkit - Matthew Jukes, RTI International; Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Global TIES for Children, New York University; Margaret (Peggy) M Dubeck, RTI International; Jonathan Stern, RTI International; Casey Moran, New York University
There is a growing consensus among educators around the world that play occupies a central place in the child’s learning and development. From birth through early years, to pre-school, primary and beyond, children learn and experience the world through play and experimentation. After over a decade of interest in scripted lesson plans and didactic instruction, there is a renaissance of interest in play and playful pedagogy for children of all ages. Numerous efforts are underway at this time, seeking to create stimulating, playful learning environments for children, and support educators with practical, hands-on tools to support playful pedagogy in contexts where play is not traditionally part of the school experience. In parallel, there are investments in the development of tools that allow observers and educators better understand children’s learning through play experiences, as well as their relationship with developmental and learning outcomes.
This panel showcases the development validation efforts for two sets of tools in support of playful pedagogy. The first – Play and Learning in Children’s Eyes (PALICE) is a formative toolkit, created with the express objectives of strengthening teacher’s Learning through Play practice, by giving them agency and deeper insight into the experiences of children in their classrooms. The second - Playful Learning Across the Years (PLAY) project – is a set of externally administered measures designed to measure how settings – particularly adult-child interactions in those settings – support children’s self-sustaining engagement in learning. Both sets of tools are designed for use with multiple age groups from early childhood to primary grades, and are intended for use in middle- to low-income settings. The development of the tools took place in 2021-2022, and both sets of tools are slated to be ready for dissemination in early 2023.
Social Emotional Learning and Soft Skills Measurement: Where We Are, and Where We Want to be
February 22, 3:15 to 4:45pm EST
Panelists: Nikhit D’sa and Jeongmin Lee, the GC-DWC; Silvia Diazgranados, International Rescue Committee; Karla Giuliano Sarr, EnCompass LLC.
Improving education for a more equitable world must acknowledge the centrality of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as foundational to children's success within and beyond the classroom. When children and youth have the chance to develop SEL competencies, it creates opportunities for all learners- regardless of gender, ability, or circumstance- to thrive, which is essential for advancing equitable educational improvements.
This panel will examine the state of SEL measurement to highlight what we have learned, how more is being learned, and how how SEL measurements can improve.Understanding the critical role of the 2018 USAID Education Policy, which explicitly recognized the importance of SEL to learning and wellbeing, USAID has produced several key documents to support the integration of SEL into education programs, such as the Social Emotional Learning in USAID Basic Education Programs: How-to Note and Best Practices on Effective SEL/Soft Skills Interventions in Distance Learning. These resources have enabled staff and partners to increasingly incorporate SEL components across the education continuum. While progress has been made on how to measure SEL, which is described in the evidence brief Why and How to Factor Environment in Measuring Social and Emotional Learning and Soft Skills, learning among practitioners, academic institutions and donors is not always documented and shared. Further, key SEL measurement challenges require coordinated effort by many stakeholders to advance the measurement agenda at the sector level. This panel will share findings, reflections, challenges and promising practices on how to continue improving work on SEL measurement within the education sector.
Lessons on implementing and measuring evidence-based SEL interventions in complex environments
February 22, 1:30 to 3:00pm EST
Panelists: Shwetha Parvathy and Nikhit D’sa, the GC-DWC; Liza Castillo and Ricardo Enrique Enrique Martinez, Catholic Relief Services; Allyson Krupar, Save the Children; Catherine A. Maloney, University of Notre Dame.
Social and emotional learning, as defined by the CASEL framework, is the process through which children, youth, and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of five key competencies: 1) Self-Awareness -- Knowing what you are feeling in the moment; 2) Social Awareness – Practicing empathy so understand what others are feeling and being able to take their perspective; 3) Self-Management -- Managing one’s emotions so to persevere in the face of setbacks and frustrations; 4) Relationship Skills -- Establishing and maintaining healthy relationships, managing conflict, and seeking help when needed; and 5) Responsible Decision-Making – Making decisions based on an accurate consideration of all relevant factors and the likely consequences of alternative courses of action. Social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions, whether in school or informal settings, build skills that young people can use to be successful at school, at work, and in life. In this panel, presenters will discuss and share examples of SEL interventions, with a focus on generating and using data to inform the practices of SEL.
In this panel, presenters will discuss evidence-based, social and emotional learning programs. Interventions are best when they are rooted in evidence and adapting based on data-driven decision-making. SEL interventions are no exception. Systematic reviews of SEL provide clear evidence of what works within various intervention designs.
Starting Early, Starting Strong: Pre-primary Education for All
February 22, 1:30 to 3:00pm EST,
Panelists: Kate Schuenke-Lucien, the GC-DWC; Leah Anyanwu, the Lego Foundation; Heidi Rosbe, IRC; Eileen Dombrowski, Inclusive Development Partners.
Access to high-quality pre-primary can help address equity issues by providing critical early learning opportunities to the most marginalized and vulnerable who are less likely to have rich home learning environments. Pre-primary education can be an effective means of addressing the critical gaps in skill levels that already exist between the wealthiest and poorest children at the beginning of primary school and which often widen over time (Alcott 2017; Reardon 2012). Thus, children who are among the most marginalized and vulnerable can benefit the most from access to high-quality early learning programs.
Yet despite pre-primary education’s clear advantages, 175 million children in low- and middle-income countries(LMIC) cannot access pre-primary education. In low-income countries only one in five children attend pre-primary (UNICEF, 2019). This situation was further exacerbated by the pandemic, when pre-primary classes were rarely prioritized for reopening and remote learning opportunities did not reach most young learners (State of the Global Education Crisis, 2021). Unfortunately, the children most likely to find themselves without access to pre-primary are those already marginalized or vulnerable due to specific factors including poverty, ethnicity, disability, crisis and conflict and location. On average, the poorest children in low-income countries are eight times less likely than children from the wealthiest families to attend an early childhood program (UNICEF, 2022). The lack of access to early learning opportunities means that most children in lower and middle income contexts may enter primary school without the cognitive, social-emotional, and language skills needed to reach their potential.
In this panel, speakers will highlight programs and research focused on increasing access to high-quality pre-primary education to the most marginalized and vulnerable learners in a number of contexts. Presenters will discuss different program models which work with a variety of stakeholders in an effort to ensure that programs meet the needs of local communities.