The Role of Preschool Quality in Promoting Child Development : Evidence from Rural Indonesia

Brinkman, Sally Anne ; Hasan, Amer ; Jung, Haeil ; Kinnell, Angela ; Nakajima, Nozomi ; Pradhan, Menno

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: EARLY EDUCATION;    SKILLS;    ACADEMIC SKILLS;    EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOM;    EDUCATION EXPERIENCES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7529
RP-ID  :  WPS7529

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper reports on the quality ofearly childhood education in rural Indonesia. On average,the paper finds that centers created under the IndonesiaEarly Childhood Education and Development Project providehigher quality services than other types of preschools, asmeasured by a comprehensive instrument of preschool qualitybased on direct observation of classrooms in session (theEarly Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised). The paperalso examines the relationship between preschool quality andchildrens early development using three commonly appliedmeasures of quality: (i) the Early Childhood EnvironmentRating Scale-Revised; (ii) teacher characteristics; and(iii) structural characteristics of preschool services, suchas their size and amount of class time. First, correctingfor measurement error using an instrumental variablesapproach, the findings suggest that preschool quality is asignificant and meaningful positive predictor of childrensdevelopmental outcomes. Second, the findings for teachercharacteristics are mixed, suggesting that policies focusedsolely on hiring teachers based on experience and trainingwill be insufficient to improve childrens learning. Instead,policies must address the quality of professionaldevelopment activities for teachers. Third, the amount ofclass time spent in early childhood programs is asignificant positive predictor of children’s developmentaloutcomes. This suggests that in rural Indonesia—where earlychildhood programs are relatively low dose—children arelikely to benefit from attending longer hours of preschool,either playgroups or kindergartens. Lastly, the papercompares items in the Early Childhood Environment RatingScale-Revised with Indonesias national minimum servicestandards for early childhood education and development, andfinds that the relationship between this alternative,context-appropriate measure of preschool quality andchildren’s development outcomes strongly corroborates theearlier conclusions.