Putting Children First: Identifying solutions and taking action to tackle poverty and inequality in Africa. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 23-25 October 2017 This three-day international conference aimed to engage policy makers, practitioners and researchers in identifying solutions for fighting child poverty and inequality in Africa, and in inspiring action towards change. The conference offered a platform for bridging divides across sectors, disciplines and policy, practice and research.

1. Exploring the complexities of helping
children with disabilities to be
‘school-ready’
Tuesday 24 October 2017
Dr Paul Lynch
School of Education
University of Birmingham

2. Tikule Limodze
Let’s grow together
A 3 year project seeking
to promote the inclusion
of children with
disabilities through the
adaptation of assessment
tools, as well as teaching
curricula and teaching
methods in a rural district
of Southern Malawi.

3. Child
MICROSYSTEM
MESOSYSTEM
MACROSYSTEM
EXOSYSTEM
National
ECD Policy
UNICEF
WHO
National
inclusion
policies
Funding
allocation
Home
CBCCs (ECD
centres)
Traditional
Authority
Health
professionals
Clinics
Village
Home TIME
Family
Pre-school Primary school
CRPD
UN
SDGs
School

4. Toolkit for baseline surveys and assessments
Visit Tool Areas covered
First CBCC Questionnaire &
Caregiver roster and
motivation questionnaire
Comprehensive survey (approximately 45 minutes). key areas –
registration details, activities carried out in centres, main barriers,
role of parents, record keeping, training of caregivers, areas of the
curriculum addressed on a daily and weekly basis.
First CBCC Rating Scale Two researchers spend for 1 ½ hours observing daily activities at
CBCC – ‘Routine & Structure’, ‘Supervision’, ‘Caregiver engagement’,
‘Managing children’s behaviour’, ‘Communication’, ‘Social
development’, ‘provision for children with disabilities’.
Second Malawi Development
Assessment Tool
Children to carry out a total of 68 tasks - incrementally more difficult
as the assessment progresses. Conducted in the presence of the main
carer who can provide some of the answers to routine-based
questions. The assessment takes about 30 minutes.
Second Washington Group
Questions
Questions for children under the age of 5 years into Chichewa.
Comprises 16 questions - ask the main carer of the child about the
functioning levels of their child and help to identify any impairment or
disability.
Second School-readiness Scale Based on Early Learning Development Standards (ELDS) developed by
UNICEF and the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social
Welfare in Malawi. This project has identified literacy (reading and
writing), numeracy and problem solving to measure over an academic
year.

5. What are we measuring and how?
Experience expectant Vs Experience
dependent
• Experience expectant
learning (prime)-
interaction of genetic
potential and experience
e.g. child able to walk along
a straight line
• Experience dependent
learning (specific) – won’t
happen by itself as child
needs access to
materials/activity e.g.
learning to read, recognise
numbers

6. School Readiness Questionnaire
21st July 2017
• To assess children’s literacy and numeracy skills
• Purpose/Aim
One team member administered the questionnaire to each child and parent/guardian (proxy
respondent)
Application
- Literacy: Reading
- Literacy: Writing
- Mathematical and numerical knowledge: Numerical operations
- Measurement
Questionnaire includes:

7. School Readiness Questionnaire
• Data was collected for 923 children over the baseline period
(range: 2-10 years).
- 593/923 (64.25%) were over the age of 4
- 330/923 (35.75%) were below the age of 4
• Of those who were school going age (over age 4):
•
21st July 2017
Results:
Pass Fail
Talk about pictures in books 205 (34.98%) 381 (65.02%)
Recognise familiar symbols 515 (86.85%) 78 (13.15%)
Can identify quantities 461 (80.59%) 111 (19.41%)
Can understand in and on 525 (88.53%) 68 (11.47%)

8. School readiness in the global context
• A child is considered ready for school when
he/she has the basic minimum skills and
knowledge in a variety of domains that will
enable the child to be successful at school
(UNICEF, 2012).
• Minimum standards set the bar for what children
should know and be able to do, so they enter
school ready and ‘eager’ to learn, enabling a
successful transition into primary school learning
environment (Lara-Cinisomo et al. 2004).

9. The importance of school readiness
• ‘School readiness’ is linked to many important
developmental outcomes, including academic
success, completion of high school, and eventual
gainful employment and the ability to contribute
to society (Barrington & Hendricks, 1989;
Doherty, 1997; Tremblay & Masselink, 1992).
• Over the past 15 years there has been an
increased emphasis by governments, parents,
and educators on the promotion of school
readiness in young children (Janus & Offord,
2000b; Zaslow, Calkins, & Halle, 2000).

10. Difficulties in defining school readiness
‘No agreement on definition of ‘school
readiness’ or ‘readiness for school’ and its use
because there is no agreement on what young
children should be prepared for;
Disagreement about terminology and definition
encapsulates a fundamental difference in
conception of the purpose of early years
education.’ (Whitebread and Bingham, 2011)

11. International comparative assessment
study – OECD run ‘Baby’ Pisa
• Measure learning outcomes for children aged
4.5-5.5 years to produce league tables of
countries
• Sampling 3,000 children in 200 settings x
countries, 15 children per setting
• Tests cognitive, non-cognitive development
using direct and indirect (tablets) assessments
• Some aspects on ‘well-being’ – did children
like or dislike the activity

12. Critiques of using comparison
• Careful not to decontextualize comparison and
measurement of ‘narrowly defined predetermined
outcomes’
• Can we achieve a global framework of standardised
assessment across different countries?
• Could minority groups including children with
disabilities be left out of current plans?
• Bigger picture – broadening ECD to support
‘competent, meaningful and sustainable interactions
between children, practitioners, families and
communities.

13. How does this affect ECD and
developmental delay and disability?
• Children with disabilities don’t always follow
same pathways as ‘typically’ developing
children ad may require support and guidance
to address practice skills needed for their daily
environment.
• May not be considered ‘school-ready’ –
expected to comply with rules, routines and
subject-based curricula.

14. How ready for school are children with
disabilities?
• To sit still and listen
• To be aware of other children
• To understand the word ‘no’ and the
boundaries it sets for behaviour
• To understand the word ‘stop’ and that
such a phrase might be used to prevent
danger
• To be toilet-trained and be able to go to
the loo
• To recognise their own name
• To speak to an adult to ask for help
• To be able to take off their coat and put
on shoes
• To talk in sentences
• To open and enjoy a book
Field, F. (2010) The Foundation Years:
preventing poor children becoming poor
adults, Frank Field provides an illustration of
the type of skills that some children lack
Wilshaw (2014) argues
the following;
A child who is ready for
school must have the
physical, social and
emotional tools to deal
with the classroom, as
well as the basic
groundwork to begin to
develop academically.

15. Destined to failure
• Children with disabilities who fails repeatedly
can be seen as a deficit.
• Are we setting up systems where children with
disabilities are consistently failing to be
‘school ready’?
• If children with disabilities are consistently
failing or not performing well on assessment
tools e.g. children with autism what do
schools do?

16. School readiness –
a tripartite process
Today, school
readiness is
recognized as a
multi-faceted
construct (Scott-
Little et al., 2006)
comprising several
dimensions.
Based on UNICEF School
Readiness Framework
(2012)

17. Need for actors to cross each other’s boundaries to
develop relationships and information sharing for
smoother transition into school
Child
Parents &
community
School
Readiness

18. Thinking about school readiness for children
with difficulties and disabilities
Is this about…..
Children who are school ready or not?
Families are school ready or not?
Schools are family ready or not?
Schools are child ready or not?

19. Child
Parents
co unity
chool
eadiness
ro riate ECD
curriculu and learnin
standards for all children
ulti-sectoral
uarantee
hi h uality
ransition
rocess
or in stron er
relationshi s
ealin to
arents
i h
isibility
Moving towards
a more dynamic
model of ‘school-
readiness’
Early childhood
centres playing a
pivotal role in
stimulation
Adapted from McDowell
Clark (2017)

20. Increasing parents involvement
in child’s development and
learning: WHO/UNICEF Care
for Child Development Training

22. Final thought
• Need to identify a set of tools that can help
teachers assess development and learning
outcomes of children with disabilities (and not
penalise them) as well as assess the extent to
which ECD centres promote the inclusion of
these children.
• Let’s see children with disabilities in a more
positive light!

23. Thanks
Paul Lynch
Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and
Research
School of Education
University of Birmingham
p.lynch@bham.ac.uk