Scaling inclusive home-based early learning initiative

 

An engaging interactive environment in early learning boosts children’s creativity, critical thinking, self-expression, teamwork and overall development. Evidence underscores the crucial role of play in providing these interactive experiences. Play is an opportunity for all children, including those with disabilities, to learn skills and abilities, have fun, and feel included, supported and cared for. Responding to this evidence, countries are moving away from traditional learning through rote methods and have started to encourage learning by inquiry and through play. However, adult-centric pedagogy is still prevalent, partly because many teachers do not possess the skills to support play-based learning, especially for children with disabilities.

This project builds on lessons from previous research to contextualize play-based learning by including teacher mentorship and support, particularly for child-to-child play and interactions for all children, including those with multiple disabilities. The project’s objective is to generate evidence on inclusive play-based approaches that strengthen a smooth transition from pre-primary to primary school in Uganda, Ghana and Liberia. The project will develop evidence on scaling inclusive teacher support programs. It will expand opportunities for children with complex disabilities to benefit from play-based early learning. It will also develop actionable insights to inform the development or revision of policies related to early childhood care and education, emphasizing the importance of inclusive, play-based learning approaches.

This project is funded under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, a joint endeavour between the GPE and IDRC to connect expertise, innovation and knowledge to help low- and middle-income countries build stronger education systems and accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal on education.