Age-Appropriate Learning Enhances Early Childhood Education in Liberia

Approximately 250,000 Liberian students out of 509,618 enrolled in ECE in 2016 were 6 years old and above. International research shows that students who are many years over aged for their grades are less likely to be literate; and more likely to drop out before completing basic education. While access to ECE has improved over the years, over-age enrolment continues to be a challenge, despite mass public awareness campaigns to sensitize parents, schools and communities about the importance of age-appropriate enrolment. Addressing this challenge is a priority of the Government of Liberia. The Government is considering alternative education approaches to address the needs of overage children including improving teacher quality and provision of age-appropriate curriculum-based instructional materials to improve learning outcomes at ECE level. These needs were recently highlighted though a survey which examined indicators of quality in several ECE schools carried out jointly by the MOE, the University of Liberia and ECD Measure using the BEQI (Brief Early Childhood Quality Inventory) tool https://www.ecdmeasure.org/2020/10/02/beqi-colombia-liberia/.  The BEQI observation data highlighted the need for teacher training and support and provision of relevant age-appropriate teaching and learning materials, in addition to creating a safe and stimulating environment to enhance child learning and development. Liberia has also introduced Teach ECE, a World Bank quality measurement tool which primarily focus on classroom observation aimed at measuring the quality of teacher-child interactions in ECE settings. The tool has been adapted to include quality indicators from the GROE (Global Rating of the Environment) which measures the resources available in an ECE environment. The Teach ECE tool is currently being piloted, beginning with interviews conducted with selected parents and caregivers, to be followed by classroom observations in several schools in mid-November, 2021 when schools reopen for the Academic Year 2021/2022. 

Call to Action

There is a need to mitigate the problem of overage enrollment to ensure that quality learning takes place at the ECE level. First, teachers would require the requisite skills, through teacher training, to teach at the right level in a mixed classroom. Secondly, teachers and school administrators would need to be introduced to ECE tools specifically the TEACH ECE given this would allow teachers to observe and measure learning for both at-age and overage learners. Lastly, overage students would need to be provided with the support to transition to their appropriate grade levels after the assessment is conducted and learning support is provided. Overall, it is important to measure the effectiveness of curriculum delivery and quality of learning taking place in the ECE classrooms with overage students. Through the TEACH ECE tool, schools can begin measuring quality indicators in ECE and monitoring the effectiveness of classroom instructions, have opportunities to leverage relevant data towards improvement of ongoing programs for the relatively high number of overage children in ECE, improvement of programs for teacher training and support, and improvement of programs that generally impact child development outcomes through data-driven policies and approaches.

Liberia Country Team:

Gabriel L. Nelson
Jestina T. Sartee
Heanneah S. Farwenee
Emmanuel B. Waydon

With support from Ms. Binta Beatrice Massaquoi, Education Specialist at the World Bank Liberia Country Office.