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Presentation
How early learning interventions respond to diverse international contexts: a scoping review
Organisation Mondiale pour l’Education Préscolaire (OMEP) Conference (2018)
  • Jen Jackson, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)
  • Kashfee Ahmed, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)
  • Toby Carslake, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)
Abstract
As the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) generate increasing interest in quality early childhood interventions, a challenge remains in identifying which programs achieve outcomes for children in diverse international contexts. This paper focuses on programs to support children's learning: one of the three components of holistic child development identified in the SDGs. The paper presents findings from a scoping review of recent research on interventions to support children's learning in economically developing countries. Building on Rao, Sun, Chen and Ip's 2017 systematic review of the effectiveness of such interventions, it explores in greater detail what can be learned from recent research about the relationship between intervention and context. It explores how contextual factors are considered in the selection and design of initiatives, in their targeting and implementation, and in the measures used to report on their impact. A total of 133 studies are reviewed, including child-focused, parent-focused and comprehensive programs. The paper identifies several exemplars of studies that articulate a strong connection between program and context. However, it concludes that there remains scope for the relationship between intervention and context to be given greater prominence in impact studies—especially in identifying factors that contribute to the success of an intervention—to build a stronger evidence base for guiding efforts towards the SDGs.
Keywords
  • Early childhood education,
  • Intervention,
  • Scoping review,
  • Programs,
  • Developing countries
Publication Date
June, 2018
Location
Prague, Czech Republic
Citation Information
Jen Jackson, Kashfee Ahmed and Toby Carslake. "How early learning interventions respond to diverse international contexts: a scoping review" Organisation Mondiale pour l’Education Préscolaire (OMEP) Conference (2018)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/syedakashfee-ahmed/1/