Understanding ECD through Practice An Exploratory Study with ECD Teachers in Sindh

Besides parents, teachers are deemed as most important contributing factor in bringing about any meaningful transformation in early childhood related programs. Hence, in RCC program capacity building of teachers is a critical part of program success, as teachers are perhaps the most visible catalyst for change in the classroom/school. It is endeavored that through training and follow-up, teachers will gain understanding of child centered concepts and new pedagogical techniques that allow children to explore their self-confidence and creativity in a safe environment,

instigating a positive change in classroom environments and in student achievements and enrollments. The teacher training programs by the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan (AKES, P) and Teachers’ Resource Center (TRC) entailed a framework that emphasized more on the deeper understanding of ECD concepts and related practices instead of focusing only at the mere transference of mechanical training components in the classroom. Observations and reflections from the field do indicate that these models of teacher development have helped in creating better understanding amongst teachers along with generating creativity not only in children but the teachers as well, resulting in a vibrant learning environment.

This research further explores the notion of how successfully the ECD concepts have been implemented in the classroom/schools since capacity development of the teachers in ECD concepts has been one of the fundamental tasks in the RCC programme. AKF with the financial assistance of the USAID and technical support of partner NGOs invested substantial resources to develop the capacity of RCC school teachers and ECD support teacher (known as community teacher), selected from the community. Teacher Resource Center conducted training for HANDS and SOCIETY whereas AKES, P conducted training for their RCC school teachers. Through intensive training workshops, ensued by field based support and follow up visits, ECD concepts and their implementation techniques were communicated to teachers. Although, the documentation at different levels such as the reflections on the training process, the reports of implementing partners’ continuous interaction with schools and the comparative analysis of baseline and the monitoring data, suggests that the capacity building initiatives have helped the teachers to understand ECD concepts and the corresponding teaching methodologies. For example a considerable improvement can be observed in the monitoring data vis-à-vis teachers’ administration of child-centered pedagogy as compared to baseline. However, hitherto, no study was conducted directly with teachers to explore/document their perception of learning ECD concepts, the articulation of these concepts and their experiences of translating these concepts into classroom practices and their impact on children’s learning/development1. This study attempts to explore all these areas. Some of the findings of this study are summarized in the following sections along with the methodology and sampling details.

SEF’s undertake research initiatives in order to influence policy decisions. This component has been designed to inspire and communicate systematic research .

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