Pathways to numeracy in rural India: policies, patterns and perceptions

印度农村的计算之路：政策、模式和观念

• 批准号: ES/T010479/1
• 负责人: Caroline Dyer
• 金额: $ 20.31万
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FT010479%2F1
• 关键词: Pathways; numeracy; rural; India; policies

The early childhood years are crucial to child development. Provision of quality early learning is a central focus of worldwide efforts to improve educational outcomes, and is specifically targeted in SDG 4.2. Empirical evidence globally, including in low and middle-income country contexts, demonstrates that programmes improving the quality of early childhood education (ECE) benefit not only children's cognitive and social skills, but also their longer-term education, health, and employment outcomes.Widespread adoption of ECE provision by governments in many LMICs reflects a growing recognition of these advantages. Yet how ECE policy directives relate to actual conditions on the ground, especially among children from the most disadvantaged households and in relation to numeracy, remains inadequately researched. Addressing this gap will help bridge the divide between the model forms of ECE provision that policies envisage and those that millions of children currently experience. Against this background, the project's overarching research question is: 'How do children's maths skills in the early primary grades reflect their early learning trajectories, and in what ways do these trajectories, in turn, reflect curriculum, educator, and parental expectations regarding children's learning in the early years?'. In order to answer this question, this study offers an innovative mixed-methods approach which draws on both qualitative and quantitative sources of secondary data that are of high quality, thus enabling sophisticated inferential statistical analysis to be embedded within a genuinely mixed-method research design. The research is structured by four sub-questions, which guide the analytical approach as follows: 1. What are the key policy and curricular expectations regarding the development of early numeracy in pre-primary and early primary grades? (Qualitative) This will comprise a mapping analysis of pre-primary and early primary math textbooks used in 3 states of India (Assam, Rajasthan and Telangana). 2. Are children in early years education (ages 4-8) reaching these expected numeracy levels, and how does this vary by (a) child gender, (b) home conditions, and (c) form of ECE (early childhood education) and school provision? (Quantitative) This will comprise descriptive statistical analysis of an early years learning assessment (combined with household, ECE-centre and primary-school questionnaires) of approximately 35,000 children aged 4-8 across rural India. 3. To what extent does early numeracy depend upon (a) earlier markers of pre-numeracy and cognitive development, (b) child gender, (c) home conditions, and (d) ECE/school trajectories? (Quantitative) This will comprise inferential statistical analysis of a longitudinal survey following 11,828 children of ages 4-8 in 3 states of India (Assam, Rajasthan and Telangana). 4. What are key gaps between the purpose and objectives of ECE as visualised by policy and curriculum on the one hand, and key stakeholders on the ground (i.e. parents and early years educators) on the other? (Qualitative) This will comprise analysis of transcripts from interviews with 180 parents and 39 early years educators (all of whom were also part of the longitudinal survey mentioned in question 3, above). The study findings will interest national and global practitioners, policy audiences and scholarly communities who are engaged with promoting high-quality early childhood education. The project will address SDG 4.2 and provide insights that support the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda's effort to Leave No-One Behind. Impact will be achieved in India and beyond by drawing on Pratham/ASER foundation's existing NGO and donor networks of influence, which extend to international donor agencies and the UN Global Education Monitoring Report team. Outputs will include an Evidence Brief, training workshops and materials for teachers, and two academic papers.

童年早期对儿童的发展至关重要。提供高质量的早期学习是全世界努力改善教育成果的中心重点，并在可持续发展目标4.2中有具体目标。全球经验证据，包括低收入和中等收入国家的经验证据表明，提高幼儿教育质量的方案不仅有利于儿童的认知和社交技能，而且有利于他们的长期教育、健康和就业成果。然而，欧洲经委会的政策指令如何与当地的实际情况相联系，特别是在处境最不利家庭的儿童中，与算术有关的情况，仍然没有得到充分的研究。消除这一差距将有助于弥合欧洲经委会政策设想的示范形式与数百万儿童目前经历的示范形式之间的鸿沟。在这种背景下，该项目的首要研究问题是：儿童在小学早期的数学技能如何反映他们早期的学习轨迹，以及这些轨迹又以什么方式反映了课程、教育者和父母对儿童早期学习的期望？为了回答这个问题，本研究提供了一种创新的混合方法方法，它利用了高质量的二次数据的定性和定量来源，从而使复杂的推论统计分析能够嵌入真正的混合方法研究设计中。这项研究由四个子问题构成，它们指导着分析方法如下：1.关于学前和早期小学年级早期计算能力发展的关键政策和课程期望是什么？(定性)这将包括对印度3个邦(阿萨姆邦、拉贾斯坦邦和特伦甘纳邦)使用的学前和早期小学数学教科书进行绘图分析。2.接受早期教育(4-8岁)的儿童是否达到了预期的计算水平，以及(A)儿童性别、(B)家庭条件和(C)幼儿教育(幼儿教育)形式和学校提供情况有何不同？(定量)这将包括对印度农村地区约35 000名4至8岁儿童的早期学习评估(结合家庭、欧洲教育中心和小学调查问卷)的描述性统计分析。3.早期算术能力在多大程度上取决于(A)算术前和认知发展的早期标志、(B)儿童性别、(C)家庭条件和(D)幼儿教育/学校轨迹？(定量)这将包括对印度3个邦(阿萨姆邦、拉贾斯坦邦和特伦甘纳邦)11,828名4-8岁儿童进行纵向调查的推论统计分析。4.政策和课程所描绘的欧洲经委会的宗旨和目标与实地的主要利益攸关方(即家长和幼儿教育工作者)之间的主要差距是什么？(定性)这将包括对180名家长和39名幼儿教育工作者(所有这些人也都是上文问题3提到的纵向调查的一部分)的访谈记录进行分析。这项研究结果将使致力于促进高质量幼儿教育的国家和全球实践者、政策受众和学术社区感兴趣。该项目将针对可持续发展目标4.2，并提供支持2030年可持续发展议程不让任何人掉队的见解。通过利用Pratham/ASER基金会现有的非政府组织和捐助者网络的影响，将在印度和其他地方产生影响，这些网络延伸到国际捐助机构和联合国全球教育监测报告小组。产出将包括一份证据简报、培训讲习班和教师材料，以及两篇学术论文。