Although Ghana has one of the highest kindergarten enrolment rates in Africa, it is estimated that 32% of young children in the country do not meet early childhood development milestones. To address this challenge, the Government of Ghana has updated the national early childhood education policy, and has developed a curriculum that emphasises play-based learning and is prioritising the training of kindergarten teachers on this curriculum.
To this end, the Ghana Education Service (GES), with support from NGO Sabre Education and partner NGOs, has designed an early childhood development (ECD) in-service teacher training (ECD-INSET) manual based on Sabre Education’s work in training teachers across a number of districts in Ghana – six districts in the Eastern region (2019-2023) and in two districts of the Central region (2022-23), to ensure positive outcomes for child development and school readiness.
Over several years, evidence gathered in these districts has firmed GES’ decision to scale up the ECD-INSET teacher training nationwide, when funding is secured. The GES and Sabre Education have revised the model for scale-up, and are now implementing this in Assin South District, Central Region, from October 2023 to August 2024 (this will coincide with the school year i.e. October 2023 to July 2024).
Compared to earlier district-wide implementation (which was mostly based at the district-level and had more hands-on coordination from the NGO), this scale-version of the INSET model emphasises not only the district-led implementation but additional regional leadership and oversight. The implementation of this model in Assin South district, including testing of these enhanced elements from the scale-up model, will take place for one year (October 2023 to August 2024) to inform the final tweaks and refinement of the model. The national scale up is scheduled to begin from September 2024.
Thrive will work alongside GES and Sabre Education as a learning partner during the pre-scale implementation and refinement year of the model in 2024. With a focus on governance processes (capacity building, oversight, monitoring, resources, and partnerships), the study will support GES and Sabre Education to reflect on areas where the INSET model requires refinements during scale up.