Improving curriculum and teaching methods to influence policy and increase the quality of ECDE provision for children with disabilities in Malawi.

伯明翰大学(UOB)和国际救星组织邀请马拉维、英国和美国在幼儿发展和教育(ECDE)、特殊教育需求和残疾(SEND)、教育心理学、应用人类学和流行病学领域工作的领先机构的研究人员和学者共同设计和开展一项为期三年的创新研究。这项研究将为ESRC、DFID、马拉维政府及其教育合作伙伴提供更好的了解，使其更好地了解可能促进或抑制CWD高质量ECDE的复杂动态。马拉维政府将幼儿发展教育作为其增长和发展战略二(2012-16年)的优先事项，以增加获得机会的公平性和改善幼儿服务的质量，目前，3至5岁儿童中仅有三分之一多人获得了幼儿服务。该研究计划旨在解决马拉维对公平和高质量的ECDE服务的普遍需求，将在UOB(一家专门研究残疾儿童(CWDS)的研究机构)和Sightsaver(一家总部位于英国的慈善机构)之间建立高级合作，Sightsaver是一家支持撒哈拉以南非洲和南亚纳入CWD教育的慈善机构。他们将与马拉维大学(议长学院)、亚利桑那州立大学和一家总部设在英国的研究机构合作，该研究机构专门从事全球卫生研究中的应用人类学(Anthrologica)。非学术利益攸关方将包括马拉维性别、儿童和社会福利部(MoGCSW)和教育、科学和技术部(MOEST)、救助儿童会和马拉维幼儿发展协会(AECDM)，后者是负责向马拉维所有照顾者提供幼儿发展培训的主要机构。研究问题和混合方法研究设计是在与合作伙伴协商后制定的，并将在研究开始时在启动讲习班期间进一步完善。将成立一个研究小组，由包括残疾人在内的广泛的政府、学术界和非政府利益攸关方的代表组成，他们将指导和监督各项活动的实施。这项研究将接受伯明翰大学和马拉维大学的伦理批准，并将遵循最佳做法，从所有参与者那里获得知情同意。这项研究将以一种社会文化模式为基础，将学习置于一种文化背景中，在这种文化背景下，家庭、同龄人和学校教育被视为应对农村地区早期发育迟缓和残疾儿童的关键。我们将重点关注患有慢性精神障碍的家庭的日常生活，以确定了解整个家庭生态的方法，以及它如何与社区及其机构相交。此外，我们将探讨以社区为基础的托儿中心(CBCC)如何提供机构支持，以帮助实现支持孩子的家庭目标，并试图减轻这些家庭中经常存在的高压力水平，特别是对主要照顾者来说。我们将设计和实施一个社区参与框架，为儿童护理中心的照顾者提供所需的技能和知识，以适应他们自己的教学实践，帮助以可持续的方式发展儿童的技能(例如，语言和沟通；自助；认知；精细运动；粗大运动；社交；和情感)。该小组将通过地方和国际两级现有的网络和伙伴关系传播研究成果，并在这项工作的基础上调查扩大和加深这些联系的机会。

The University of Birmingham (UoB) and Sightsavers International have invited researchers and academics from leading institutions working in the areas of early childhood development and education (ECDE) and special educational needs and disability (SEND), educational psychology, applied anthropology, and epidemiology in Malawi, the UK and the USA to co-design and conduct an innovative three-year study. This study will provide the ESRC, DfID, the Malawi Government and its partners in education with a better understanding of the complex dynamics that can enable or inhibit quality ECDE for CWDs. The Malawi Government has prioritised ECDE as part of its Growth and Development Strategy II (2012-16) to increase equity of access and improve the quality of early childhood services which are currently reaching just over one third of children aged three to five years. This research programme, which aims to address the widespread need for equitable and quality ECDE services in Malawi, will establish advanced level collaboration between UoB - a research institution specialising in the education of children with disabilities (CWDs) - and Sightsavers, a UK-based charity that supports the educational inclusion of CWDs in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. They will collaborate with the University of Malawi (Chancellor College), Arizona State University, and a UK-based research organisation specialising in applied anthropology in global health research (Anthrologica). Non-academic stakeholders will include the Malawi Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare (MoGCSW) and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), Save the Children, and the Association of Early Childhood Development in Malawi (AECDM), the main agency responsible for the delivery of ECDE training to all caregivers in Malawi. The research questions and mixed method study design were developed in consultation with the partners, and will be further refined at the study outset during an inception workshop. A study group will be formed of representatives from a wide range of governmental, academic and non-governmental stakeholders, including people with disabilities, who will guide and oversee the implementation of the activities. The study will be subject to ethical approval at the Universities of Birmingham and Malawi, and will adhere to best practice in acquiring informed consent from all participants. The research will be based on a socio-cultural model that situates learning within a cultural context in which family, peers and schooling are regarded as key in responding to children with early developmental delays and disabilities in rural settings. We will focus on daily family routines of families with CWDs to identify ways of understanding the whole family ecology and how it intersects with the community and its institutions. Further, we will explore how community-based childcare centres (CBCCs) can provide 'institutional' support to help meet family goals that support their children, and try to reduce stress levels which are often high in these families, particularly for the main carer. We will design and implement a community participation framework which will provide CBCC caregivers with the required skills and knowledge to adapt their own teaching practices to help develop children's skills (e.g. language and communication; self-help; cognitive; fine motor; gross motor; social; and emotional) in sustainable ways. The team will disseminate study outputs through existing networks and partnerships at local and international levels, and investigate opportunities to extend and deepen those connections on the basis of this work.