What Do We Know About Early Childhood Education in Haiti? (CIMA Brief 15)

| |BRIEF BRIEF15 15 CIMA WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN HAITI? Latin America and the Caribbean By Alison Elias, Angela Lopez, JosephineéEvelyn Margron, Sabine RiebleéAubourg and Catalina Rodriguez Tapia The coverage of preschool education in Haiti is relatively highê However, it is a service provided primarily by the private sector and faces challenges such as unequal access, low quality, and malnutrition of its young childrenê Greater public spending and oversight by the State are essential to promote better early childhood programs in the long runê One out of every 5 children from the most In Haiti 3 out of every 5 children attend vulnerable households attends a preschool preschool education education program According to the VI Demographic and Health In 2016, while 84% of boys and girls in the Survey, 63% of 3 to 5-year-old children attended preschool in 2016, even though is not mandatory. highest socioeconomic level attended some preschool program, only 31% of those in the This percentage varies depending on children’s lowest did so.1 age group: 54% of 3 to 4-year-old children attended preschool education, compared to 70% In 2016, this difference was the highest in the of 4-5 years old. region (53 percentage points), followed by The percentage of children between the ages of 4 Panama (39 p.p.), El Salvador (34 p.p.) and and 5 who attended preschool in Haiti was below Colombia (32 p.p.). the Latin America and Caribbean's (LAC) average In terms of gender, no gap in attendance was in 2016 (77%) but exceeded countries such as Costa Rica (60%), El Salvador (51%) and the observed: 62% of boys and 63% of girls Dominican Republic (67%). between the ages of 3 and 5 attended some preschool education program in 2016. SCHOOL NET ATTENDANCE RATE OF CHILDREN AGED 4-5 TOTAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, 2016 Total Poorest Richest 100 +6 +8 +10 +6 +7 +15 +14 +18 +39 (%) School Net Attendance +26 +32 75 +53 +21 +34 50 96 93 92 91 91 86 84 77 76 75 71 70 67 60 60 25 51 0 uay o xic Per dor le ina zil LAC ma gua bia ti* ic gua ica dor u Chi Bra y Hai ubl Uru g Me Ecu a ent Pan a Par om Rep ara Cos lva Arg a Col Nic ta R El S an a Source: Demographic and Health Survey (2016), Rest of LAC, CIMA, 2016ê inic Note: The information per socioeconomic status in Haiti corresponds to information between ages 3 and 5ê Dom Preschool education in Haiti is provided PERCENTAGE OF PRESCHOOL EDUCATION primarily by the private sector SCHOOLS, BY TYPE OF FUNDING According to data from the Ministry of Education, 86% of preschools in Haiti were private and only 14% were public in 2016. Haiti 14 86 Compared to other countries in the LAC region, where the percentage of private schools is below Ecuador 66 34 35%, Haiti is far above average. For example, in Ecuador 34% of early education schools are financed by private sector providers, while in Brazil 74 26 Mexico this percentage is even lower, at 17% (CIMA, 2015). Uruguay 79 21 This low expenditure on public education is seen throughout the whole system. Haiti is the country in the region that spends the least in education. In Colombia 79 21 2017, only 2% of its GDP was allocated to education,2 whereas, on average, the region spends more than Honduras 80 20 5% (CIMA, 2017). Paraguay 81 10 9 AVERAGE SCORES, BY PRESCHOOL ATTENDANCE Mexico 83 17 50.35 Guatemala 83 17 50.46 0 20 40 60 80 100 (%) Percentage of schools CREOLE Difference Public Private Mix 0.11 Source: Haiti: Situation de la petite enfance; Rest of LAC, CIMA 2015é2016ê 50.48 Getting children into preschool classrooms 50.60 does not guarantee better future learning outcomes FRENCH Difference 0.12 The 2016 Haiti National Evaluation is a learning assessment for 4th graders, administered by the Ministry of Education and developed jointly 50.52 with the IDB and IEA. 3 50.55 70% of students who took the assessment reported having attended preschool. MATH For these, performance was low and did not Difference differ much from students who did not attend 0.03 preschool. The differences were not statistically significant which might indicate that the quality of preschool education is low. Attended preschool Did not attend preschool Source: Haiti National Evaluation, 2016 Note: The scores of the assessment are based on a scale of 0 to 100ê  To ensure the quality of preschool NUMBER OF STUDENTS PER TEACHER IN programs, having more qualified teachers is key EARLY EDUCATION, 2013 Haiti There are several factors that influence the degree to which preschool program education affects child development and future learning. Among them, the quality of the program and the teachers is key.4 Haiti has one of the highest ratios of students per teacher in early education in the region. In 2013, the 30 ratio was 30 students per teacher, higher than in countries such as Colombia (24), Nicaragua (22) or Guatemala Colombia Guatemala (22). From 2016-2017, only 35% of all teachers in Haiti had received training in preschool pedagogy. 24 22 In 2012, less than 50% of teachers who were working in preschool institutions had any training in preschool pedagogy. 5 Nicaragua Argentina 22 13 Barbados Uruguay PARENTAL LEARNING SUPPORT TO CHILDREN AGED 3-5 13 12 Source: CIMA, 2013ê 12 32 Parental involvement is important to Haiti promote better learning amongst infants Belize 24 68 One of the most important predictors of child Paraguay 17 43 43 development, other than the household’s 4 socioeconomic level, is home learning environments. This refers to parenting practices Mexico 5 14 62 and engagement in children’s learning activities, such as reading books, telling stories or playing with children.6 Cuba 20 18 76 In Haiti, father’s support for child learning, measured as the percentage of children between Dominican 6 31 the ages of 3 and 5 whose father engaged in 4 or minican republic Republic 52 more activities that promote learning, is low. Between 2016 and 2017, 12% of infants received 7 El Salvador 628 40 support from their fathers. This result exceeds some countries’ percentages, 55 such as the Dominican Republic (6.1), and El Guyana 16 200 Salvador (7.9), but is below others such as Mexico (14), Guyana (16), and Paraguay (17). 20 50 0 100 20 150 40 200 60 250 80 300 Percentage (%) Mother’s support for child learning in Haiti is also Father's support Mother's support amongst the lowest in the region: 32% of children receive mother support, placing Haiti below Source: Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), UNICEF, 2013é2017 countries such as El Salvador (40), Paraguay (43), Note: Learning support refers to boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 5 whose and Guyana (55). parents engaged in 4 or more activities that promote their learning and prepare them for schoolê  PERCENTAGE OF INFANTS Good health and nutrition ensure better WITH LOW BIRTHWEIGHT, CIRCA 2017 early childhood development Low birthweight (less than 2,500 grams) and growth delay resulting from malnutrition are associated with low learning achievement at school.8 Haiti has the highest percentage of infants born with low birthweight in the region: 17%, compared to 13% in Guatemala, and 11% in Honduras. In Haiti, chronic malnutrition affects 22% of children under the age of 6.9 The risk of suffering growth delay (resulting from malnutrition) is higher amongst vulnerable households: boys and girls whose mothers did not attend primary school have five times greater risk of suffering growth El Salvador Honduras delay, compared to children whose mothers completed 10% 11% secondary school or more. Mexico 6% Public spending in early childhood Guyana Guatemala Nicaragua 8% Venezuela 8% 9% development is key to overcome Haiti’s 13% Panama challenges 9% Brazil 9% In recent years, the country has made important Colombia 9% efforts to implement policies aimed at improving preschool education. Ecuador 9% The Ministry of Education has: Integrated a new curriculum for preschool education Peru 7% in 2014.9 Bolivia 5% Built/rehabilitated more than 300 new public preschool institutions, thus ensuring that minimum Chile Paraguay 6% 6% school infrastructure standards are met. Uruguay Developed a national strategy for preschool 8% teacher training, but has not implemented it to date. Argentina 7% Nevertheless, greater public spending is required to guarantee the well-being of Haiti’s youngest children, and to ensure greater quality of preschool education in the country. Source: Haiti: Situation de la petite enfance; Rest of LAC: Health Situation in the Americas, Core Indicators 2018ê PAHO Note: Low birthweight refers to all infants that were born with less than 2,500 grams of weight Infants born with low birthweight The Information Center for Improvement in Learning (CIMA, for its acronym in Spanish) of the Education Division of the Interé American Development Bank seeks0 to5 promote 10 the use 15 of data 20 and indicators in evidenceébased decisionémaking when developing education policy, with the goal of providing a quality education for allê With this objective, CIMA publishes a series of briefs that analyze indicators that contribute to the improvement of education quality in the regionê Web: wwwêiadbêorg/pisa | wwwêiadbêorg/cima | Twitter: @BIDEducacion Contact: education@iadbêorg Publication date: April, 2019 References: 1ê Enqu te Mortalit , Morbidit et Utilisation des Services (EMMUSéVI), 2016é2017ê 2ê Fortalecimiento Institucional de la Dirección General de Presupuesto del Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas de Haití, Informe preliminar CEPAL, August 2018ê 3ê IEA refers to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, the assesment in reference was applied to a representative sample of 4th grade students in the following subjects: Creole (one of Haiti’s official languages), French, and Mathematicsê 4ê Busso, Matíasê Cristia, Juliánê Hincapi , Dianaê Messina, Juliánê Ripani, Lauraê "Aprender mejor: Políticas públicas para el desarrollo de habilidadesê" Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (2017) 5ê Situation de la petite enfance en Haïti 6ê Shuey, Elizabeth Aê, and Miloš Kankarašê “The Power and Promise of Early Learningê” OECD Education Working Papers, 2018, doi:10ê1787/f9b2e53féenê 7ê Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)ê UNICEF, 2013é2017ê8ê Berlinski & Schady (2015) “Los primeros años el bienestar infantil y el papel de las políticas públicas”ê BID 9ê Situation de la petite enfance Copyright © 2019 InteréAmerican Development Bankê This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3ê0 AttributionéNonCommercialéNoDerivatives (CCéIGO BYéNCéND 3ê0 IGO) license (https://creativecommonsêorg/licenses/byéncénd/3ê0/igo/legalcode) and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any nonécommercial purposeê No derivative work is allowedê Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rulesê The use of the IDB’s name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB’s logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CCéIGO licenseê Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the licenseê The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the InteréAmerican Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they representê