Preparing children for the transition to school

Researchers from the Macquarie School of Education have recently been awarded funding from UNICEF to design and conduct a study evaluating the effectiveness of the School Readiness Program in Timor-Leste.

In this Q&A, Professor Sandie Wong shares more about the project and her recent trip to Timor-Leste.

1. What is the School Readiness Program and what does it hope to achieve?

The School Readiness Program (SRP), led by UNICEF Timor-Leste, aims to support children’s transition into and retention in school.

It is widely acknowledged that access to high quality early learning:

  • has benefits for development and wellbeing
  • prepares students for the transition into school
  • supports later school learning outcomes.

But early childhood education attendance in Timor-Leste is one of the world’s lowest at only 14 per cent (Thrive Report, 2023). Reasons include:

  • limited availability of early learning services
  • limited community knowledge regarding the importance of early childhood education (ECE)
  • cost, geographic and transport barriers.

As a result, children are often underprepared for the learning environment once they begin compulsory schooling and educators have limited knowledge in delivering the types of early childhood pedagogies that support children’s transition and contribute to their learning, development and wellbeing.

The SRP aims to address these challenges and barriers to school readiness, attendance and progression in Timor-Leste by:

  • raising community and family awareness of the importance of regular and consistent attendance in early learning and school
  • training teachers in the early years of school to deliver individually and developmentally appropriate, play-based and relationship focused teaching practices, known to enhance children’s learning, development and wellbeing
  • providing culturally and developmentally appropriate teaching and learning resources
  • facilitating children in higher grades of school to support their junior peers in first grade.

2. What will the UNICEF-funded research project involve?

This research grant will allow us to evaluate the process and outcomes of the School Readiness Program. The evaluation is being co-designed collaboratively with UNICEF Timor-Leste and the Timor-Leste Ministry of Education to determine:

  • to what extent is the SRP being delivered in the way it was intended?
  • which aspects of implementation facilitate or constrain the success of the SRP?
  • to what extent is the SRP achieving the intended outcomes regarding school attendance, developmental gains and reduction in grade repetition?

The evaluation will include:

  • observations of SRP classroom practices and interviews with teachers, children, peer tutors and families about their experiences and perceptions of the SRP
  • an anonymous survey of teachers who deliver the SRP on their perspectives of the SRP
  • assessments of children’s development conducted by locally trained research assistants using an internationally recognised developmental assessment tool, adapted by the Macquarie team with colleagues in Timor-Leste
  • analysis of attendance and grade progression data.

The research team is made up of Professor Sandie Wong, Professor Rebecca Bull, Professor Linda Harrison, Associate Professor Fay Hadley, Dr Frances Gentle and Dr Kathy Cologon (Macquarie University) and Dr Augusto da Silva and Dr Nelia da Silva (Timor-Leste research team).

3. What was the purpose of your recent visit to Timor-Leste and what emerged from the trip?

The Macquarie team believes that the efficacy of this project will be greatly enhanced though strong collaboration with UNICEF Timor-Leste and the Timor-Leste Ministry of Education. A key component of this collaboration is the co-design of the evaluation. We have already held several productive meetings through video-conferencing and my visit to Timor-Leste aimed to further develop relationships, increase mutual understandings and progress the design of the evaluation.

Whilst in Timor-Leste, I:

  • facilitated a workshop with UNICEF Timor-Leste, representatives from Timor-Leste Ministry of Education, and local researchers who will be training and overseeing the data collection. The purpose of the workshop was to co-design the SRP’s program logic, agree on evaluation questions, and identify culturally appropriate processes and procedures for conducting the evaluation
  • visited senior staff in two schools in which the SRP is delivered
  • attended one school during the delivery of SRP.

The visits provided me with a real ‘lived’ experience of the Timor-Leste context. Many things were familiar, such as:

  • the knowledge, skills and professionalism of our Timor-Leste colleagues
  • the commitment of school teachers
  • the enthusiasm of children who are eager to learn.

However, many things were vastly different, such as:

  • the lack of basic resources including access to water, sewage, internet and roads to schools
  • a dire lack of schools, teachers, and teaching materials.

Class sizes of more than 70 children in grade 1 with only one teacher are typical.

Schools are often overcrowded which has resulted in them splitting their day into morning and afternoon sessions to accommodate different grades of children – meaning children may get only four hours of school per day.

To hear about such conditions is one thing, but to go and see them has been really sobering. It has certainly raised my awareness of the challenges facing the provision of education in our region.

4. What are some of the immediate actions or focus areas of this project for you and your team of researchers?

In the immediate term, the learnings from my visit have increased my understanding of how we might conduct our evaluation in socially, culturally and ethically appropriate ways.

We have submitted our ethics application for a pilot study, during which one of the research team members or I will return to Timor-Leste.

I have long wanted to work with UNICEF Timor-Leste, and in one way this project is a dream come to reality.

I hope that the team and I, by providing an accurate and sensitive evaluation, can in some small way contribute to improving the learning environments of children and their teachers in Timor-Leste.