1. THE INFLUENCE OF AN EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM IN CHILD COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT PSS Forum, September 2015, Zimbabwe Antonio Félix Jerónimo, Regina Andrade A Study within a Child Community Program- Community Education Program (PIC-PEC), Graça, Benguela Province, Angola

2. 2  Official reports estimated that 79,929 children were attending ECD programs 54% of these programs are community based ECD programs.  Child Community Center-Community Education Center (CIC-CEC) This community based approach is led by government with a number of NGOs following their protocol - access to education, - development and protection of children - focus on low income families.  Government reports focus on quantitative indicators Coverage Access  No data collected on impact evidence for these programmed on child development This research was conducted with the Department of Psychology at Faculty of Social Science at Agostinho Neto University to examine impact and REPSSI enhances its value as evidence for advocating more investments in research, learning and programming for childhood development. INTRODUCTION

3. 3  Community members are involved in the management of the program  Government or NGO fronts the cost (so not privately funded)  Curricula of the ECD learning is the same across all programs WHAT DOES COMMUNITY BASED APPROACH LOOK LIKE?

4. 4  Early childhood education and development outlines intended development changes in children from birth to the age they enter first grade (Brown and Gordon, 2004).  Early childhood development research is supported by the theories of cognitive development (Piaget, 1896-1980) and sociocultural development (Vigotsky, 1934-1986). Both theories argues that a child is an active subject in their learning and development process Socialization, peer interaction and cultural environment influences their learning and development (Fidalgo & Pereira, 2005) Scaffolding process - The relevant role of an adult as facilitator or caregiver in supporting child’s learning and development (Hogan & Tudge, 1999; Mooney, 2006; Tudge & Scimsher, 2003). ECD AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

5. 5 Research questions: 1. Do children who attended the CIC-CEC program do better on cognitive development than children who never attended an ECD program? Hypothesis: Children exposed to early stimulation through ECD using the CIC-CEC program have better development in comparison to children who were not exposed. If successful, would use results to advocate for greater investments in ECD programs in Angola STUDY OBJECTIVES

6. 6  Assessment of programs profile against scientific standards Ratio caregiver – children …………………………………………………………X Peer interaction……………………………………………………………………….. The curricula approach and learning areas……………………………… The linkage between the program and parents or community… Caregivers qualifications…………………………………………………………..X Organizational structure…………………………………………………………. X Internal and external environment in the centre……………………...X Nutrition…………………………………………………………………………. X = critical areas needing improvement CIC-CEC PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION

7. 7  Used Raven Progressive Matrix (Series A and B) Focus on child’s ability to - think, - observe - establish relationships between objects  Self and collective administration METHOD – ASSESSMENT OF CHILDREN

8. 8  Worked in Graca Community with ChildFund which was implementing the CIC ECD programme ChildFund had a database which listed all children in the community and their exposure to ECD programme We administered the RAVEN test to all children aged 4.8-5.8 years We removed children with invalid test We were left with - 29 children in the ECD sample (14 boys and 15 girls) Never left ECD programme - 25 children in the non-ECD sample (16 boys and 9 girls) Raven Assessment was administered by trained facilitators Evaluators were not the facilitators and were blinded to the which group each child came from STUDY METHODS

9. 9 RESULTS SamplesObservedArithmentic Average Standard Deviation ECD 29123.52 No ECD 2562.01 SamplesAverage BoysAverage GirlsStandard Deviation ECD11.8612.333.2 NON ECD6.195.674.75 By gender Expected results: Test score = 0 to 24

10. RESULTS – GROUP AND GENDER COMPARISON Overall differences By gender

11. 11  The study showed that children who attended CIC-CEC program had higher cognitive development than those who did not. Gender difference needs further exploration  While the score is bigger with CIC-CEC, it still needs improving Need to encourage full implementation of the international standards (described earlier)  This is just preliminary data on 54 children. We need a larger study to more fully understand the impact of ECD on cognitive development CONCLUSION

12. 12 THANK YOU Obrigado felix.jeronimo@repssi.org