LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT This snapshot summarizes preliminary findings related to child development from the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Study in Lao PDR. The ECE Study was initiated to evaluate the Early Childhood Education Project. The results presented here represent data collected on the status of child development prior to the implementation of the project. Data will be collected again after the project has finished to see if the project has improved outcomes for children. This snapshot highlights that children in Northern Lao PDR are developing poorly, with disparities in child development across different ethnic groups and family backgrounds. In particular, Lao-Tai children are developing better than Khmun and Hmong children, and children of parents with some education are doing better than children of parents with no education. Results also reflect very low rates of parent-child interaction and opportunities for children to learn, and this appears to be having a negative impact on child development. Early childhood development is generally defined as the holistic development of children from conception. Development is the result of the process of change in which the child comes to master increasingly complex levels of moving, thinking, feeling and interacting with people and objects in his/her environment. There are various aspects of development, such as physical, social and emotional, language and cognitive development. Early childhood development is considered to be the most important phase in life, which determines later health, wellbeing, learning, behavior and achievements across the life course. It is a time of both opportunity and vulnerability and each child’s development is dependent on a combination of biological and environmental factors. Especially important for healthy development is the stimulation, support and nurturing a child experiences in his/her family and care environments. When children do not have adequate opportunities to play and learn, they are unable to develop to their full potential. LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT  SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT 1 Plan International THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Prior to the implementation of these interventions, PROJECT baseline data was collected from 7,520 children and their caretakers to describe the current state of The ECE Project seeks to support the expansion of development and school readiness of young children quality ECE services with the objective of improving the across Northern Lao PDR. overall development and school readiness of children aged 3-5 years in disadvantaged villages across the This snapshot report provides some indicators of how country (for further information, refer to Snapshot One: children in the northern provinces of Lao PDR are faring Project Background and Baseline Data Demographics). across different domains of development, and how child New buildings to be used for early education will be development varies based on gender, ethnicity and constructed and community groups will be created, family background. complementary support services will be put in place, and teachers, parents and the wider community will be The indicator used to measure overall child development educated to increase knowledge and understanding is based on the Early Human Capability Index which has of the importance of ECE. Community education will been used internationally. The index provides a score for include the importance of the first 1,000 days of a child’s each child ranging from 0 to 1, (where 1 is the best result) life, parenting skills and age-appropriate stimulation, as and is calculated on the basis of questions asked to the well as health, nutrition and hygiene. By intervening primary caregiver about their child’s physical, social and in the early years, the project seeks to strengthen the emotional development as well as their communication, foundations for healthy physical, cognitive, emotional early literacy and early mathematics skills. and social development of children in Lao PDR, in turn improving the country’s overall human development. 2 LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT  SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT Plan International INDICATORS OF EARLY LITERACY SKILLS their name. Overall, less than half of children were able to open a book correctly (41%) and few children had Being able to read and write is crucial for children to be knowledge of reading direction (left to right, top to able to further develop and learn at school. Although many bottom). Less than 1% of 2 year olds knew this, 2% of 3 caretakers believed children should start reading and year olds, 4% of 4 year olds and 11% of 5 year olds. writing by the age of 3 years (43% and 32% respectively), early literacy skills among children were poor. Figure 1 below shows that when examining early literacy skills in more detail, there are disparities across age, gender, Only 12% of children aged 2-5 years were able to ethnicity and family background. Specifically, more Lao- recognize and name a letter of the alphabet. No children Tai children knew how to open a book than Khmun and were able to correctly write their name, with only 3% Hmong children and children of other ethnicities, while being able to write some letters when asked to write children whose caretaker had attended school did better than those whose caretaker had never gone to school. FIGURE 1. CHILDREN WHO COULD OPEN A BOOK CORRECTLY 70 61% 60 49% 51% 50 47% 42% 43% 41% 41% % of Children 40% 38% 40 34% 35% 32% 30 20% 20 10 0 Male Female 2 Years 3 Years 4 Years 5 Years Lao-Tai Khmun Hmong Other No school Did not Completed Completed complete Primary Secondary Primary School School or School above GENDER AGE ETHNICITY CARETAKER'S EDUCATION LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT  SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT 3 INDICATORS OF EARLY MATHS SKILLS Hmong children and children of other ethnicities, while children with educated parents answered this question Basic maths skills, such as being able to recognize a correctly more often than children whose parents did number and count, are important for children to be not go to school. ready to learn at school. Overall, 18% of children aged 2-5 years were able to recognize and name at least one number, while 39% were able to count to at least three. INDICATORS OF EARLY SOCIAL AND Among 5 year olds, 59% could count to three, 43% could EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT count to six and 29% could count to 14. When asked to Social and emotional skills are important as they help add 2 + 3 together, 15% of children correctly answered 5. children get along with others and form healthy Figure 2 shows that when examining indicators of early relationships throughout life. One indicator of these skills maths skills more closely, there are disparities across age, is being able to share; encouragingly, 78% of children ethnicity and family background. Lao-Tai children were were happy to share their toys with others. Another better able to perform simple addition than Khmun and indicator of social and emotional skills is the ability to FIGURE 2. CHILDREN WHO COULD ADD 2 + 3 = 5 40 35% 35 30 25 % of Children 21% 21% 20 15% 15% 17% 16% 16% 15 12% 12% 14% 11% 10 5% 5 2% 0 Male Female 2 Years 3 Years 4 Years 5 Years Lao-Tai Khmun Hmong Other No school Did not Completed Completed complete Primary Secondary Primary School School or School above GENDER AGE ETHNICITY CARETAKER'S EDUCATION FIGURE 3. CHILDREN WHO WERE HAPPY TO SHARE THEIR TOYS 90 86% 84% 83% 82% 82% 80% 79% 79% 76% 80 77% 77% 74% 74% 70 65% 60 % of Children 50 40 30 20 10 0 Male Female 2 Years 3 Years 4 Years 5 Years Lao-Tai Khmun Hmong Other No school Did not Completed Completed complete Primary Secondary Primary School School or School above GENDER AGE ETHNICITY CARETAKER'S EDUCATION 4 LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT  SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT Plan International consider other people’s feelings or to have empathy. picture puzzle – a task indicative of these skills. No 2 year Overall, 21% of children showed empathy. olds were able to solve the puzzle, less than 1% of 3 year olds could solve it, 5% of 4 year olds could solve it and Figure 3 shows that when examining indicators of 11% of 5 year olds were able to solve the puzzle. Children early social and emotional development in more detail, were also asked to play a game testing their executive there are small disparities across age, gender, ethnicity functioning skills, and only 7% were able to play the and family background, but these differences are a lot game correctly. smaller than those observed above for literacy and maths skills. When examining indicators of early executive functioning in more detail, there are disparities across age, gender, ethnicity and family background, as shown INDICATORS OF EARLY EXECUTIVE below in Figure 4. Again, Khmun, Hmong and children FUNCTIONING of other ethnicities performed worse than Lao-Tai Good executive functioning is important for children children, and children whose caretaker did not attend to be able to remember, plan, solve problems and school performed worse than children of parents with complete tasks. Children were asked to solve a simple some education. FIGURE 4. CHILDREN WHO COULD SOLVE A PICTURE PUZZLE 14 12 11% 10 9% % of Children 8 7% 6 5% 5% 5% 5% 4% 4 3% 3% 2% 2% 2 1% 0% 0 Male Female 2 Years 3 Years 4 Years 5 Years Lao-Tai Khmun Hmong Other No school Did not Completed Completed complete Primary Secondary Primary School School or School above GENDER AGE ETHNICITY CARETAKER'S EDUCATION LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT  SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT 5 HOME STIMULATION Figure 5 shows that better educated parents and Lao-Tai parents were more likely to have played games with their A nurturing home environment that provides safety, child in the past week. Parents who had not attended love and opportunities to learn, explore and play is any school were much less likely to have played with essential for healthy child development. It is important their child. for parents to tell stories, sing and play with their children, as this provides children with stimulation and Each of the seven parent-child engagement activities opportunities to learn. Caretakers were asked about had a significant positive relationship with the child’s seven different activities that families commonly engage overall development. As demonstrated in Figure 6 in with their children, and if they had undertaken any below, the children of parents who had read a book to of these activities with their child in their home over their child, told their child a story, drawn with their child, the past week. Rates of caretaker and child interaction listened to music, sung or danced with their child, played were very low, with 71% of caretakers not having read games with their child, participated in housework with a book to their child, 75% had not told their child a their child, or engaged in outdoor activities with their story, 70% had not engaged in drawing with their child in the last seven days all had better development child, 71% of caretakers had not listened to music, sung than children whose parents had not engaged in these or danced with their child, 82% of caretakers had not activities with them in the past week. played any games with their child, 75% of children had not participated in housework (e.g., cooking, cleaning), and 76% of caretakers had not engaged in any outdoor activities with their child in the last seven days. FIGURE 5. PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN WHO WERE PLAYED WITH IN THE LAST 7 DAYS. 30 28% 25 % of children played with 21% 22% 20 18% 18% 19% 19% 18% 17% 17% 16% 16% 16% 15 11% 10 5 0 Male Female 2 Years 3 Years 4 Years 5 Years Lao-Tai Khmun Hmong Other No school Did not Completed Completed complete Primary Secondary Primary School School or School above GENDER AGE ETHNICITY CARETAKER'S EDUCATION FIGURE 6. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOME LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 0.7 0.612 0.608 0.604 0.599 0.604 Average child development score 0.6 0.584 0.571 0.539 0.519 0.517 0.529 0.515 0.506 0.513 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No PLAYED A GAME READ A BOOK TOLD A STORY DREW A PICTURE SUNG OR DANCED CHILD PARTICIPATED TOOK PART IN WITH CHILD WITH CHILD TO CHILD WITH CHILD WITH CHILD IN HOUSEWORK OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES WITH CHILD 6 LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT  SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Northern Lao PDR have poor health and development, particularly children from non Lao-Tai families with no A healthy start to life is the major building block for or little education. Compared to other countries, these adult health, wellbeing and productivity. Consequently, results indicate that children in Northern Lao PDR are early childhood development outcomes have become receiving very low levels of stimulation and support for important indicators of not only the welfare of children their development in their home environments. but also predictors of future health and human capability. Accordingly, the importance of child development The ECE Project has the potential to support is reflected in the new Sustainable Development improvements through a range of interventions, Goals (SDG). Compared to the previous Millennium including the establishment of new community learning Development Goals, we now see a shift from measures opportunities and the training of parents, teachers concentrating on child survival and school attendance to and the wider community to increase knowledge measures indicating how well populations of children are and understanding of the importance of good health, developing. SDG 4.2 asks that by 2030 all girls and boys nutrition and age-appropriate stimulation to promote have access to quality early childhood development, a child’s health and development. The project will also care and pre-primary education so that they are ready implement complementary support services such as for primary education. All countries adopted the SDGs disability screening and the provision of school meals in a bid to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure to promote attendance and healthy eating. For these prosperity for all. Additionally, in 2009, Lao PDR signed interventions to be successful, it will be extremely the Convention on the Rights of the Child, accepting important that the education of parents, teachers responsibility for providing children the opportunities and community members is implemented effectively, necessary to develop physical, cognitive, social and and that the key messages around improving child emotional capacities in early life (Convention on the development are delivered clearly and successfully to Rights of the Child, 1989). families living in the communities of Northern Lao DPR. The results presented both here and in the second snapshot report indicate that overall, children in LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT  SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT 7 FUNDING FOR THIS INITIATIVE: Funding for the ECE Project is provided by the World Bank Group through an International Development Association (IDA) Grant and Credit under the Early Childhood Education Project (P145544). Further funding to support the production of this series of snapshot reports has been provided through a partnership between the World Bank, Plan International and Save the Children International as part of the Lao Educational Access, Research and Networking (LEARN) Project, with funding from Dubai Cares under Externally Financed Output (EFO) Agreement EFO 990. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this brief do not necessarily represent the views of the Government of Lao PDR or the World Bank Group. Prepared by: Dr Sally Brinkman, Ms Alanna Sincovich, Mr Pedro Cerdan-Infantes, Mr Plamen Nikolov Danchev For more information about the ECE Project, visit: http://www.worldbank.org/projects/P145544/lao-prd-early-childhood-development- project?lang=en For more information about the study results, please contact Sally Brinkman: sally.brinkman@telethonkids.org.au For more information about the ECE Project, please contact Plamen Nikolov Danchev: pdanchev@worldbank.org The World Bank Country Office Education Global Practice Patouxay Nehru Road The World Bank P.O. Box: 345 1818 H Street, NW Vientiane, Lao PDR Washington D.C. 20433, USA Tel: (856-21) 266 200 Tel: (202) 4731000 Fax: (856-21) 266 299 Fax: (202) 4776391 www.worldbank.org/lao www.worldbank.org 8 LAO PDR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROJECT  SNAPSHOT THREE: CHILD DEVELOPMENT