VVOB- Testing the effectiveness of the GRP4ECE model

Previous literature argues that proper timing of interventions in early childhood education is indispensable to tackle gender stereotypes and foster gender equity. However, we also know that in South Africa, as in many other countries, most Early Childhood Development (ECD) programming tends to be gender-blind rather than gender-sensitive and responsive and there is a gap in interventions to address this. To tackle this, the international organization VVOB – education for development (VVOB), the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) and South African Council of Educators (SACE) have partnered in a pilot project on Gender-Responsive Pedagogy for Early Childhood Education (GRP4ECE) that ran over a period of two years (2020/2021). VVOB and the DBE collaborated to develop a practical gender-responsive pedagogy for early childhood education that provides an opportunity to proactively bridge this gap for all young children.

Mthente Research and Consulting Services (Pty) Ltd was commissioned to test the effectiveness of the contextualized GRP4ECE model in 84 early childhood development (ECD) centres in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mthente conducted baseline and endline evaluations to assess the following research objectives:

1. Are there differences between the two groups in children’s gender normative behavior measured?
2. To what extent do the knowledge, attitudes, practices (KAP) and motivation of teachers and school leaders who participate in the GRP4ECE pilot intervention (i.e., teacher and school leadership training for gender-sensitive pedagogy and play-based learning) change compared to teachers and school leaders who do not participate?
3. To what extent do the different components of the GRP4ECE pilot intervention (contextualized toolkit, professional development, PLCs, support from The Unlimited Child (TUC) change the knowledge, attitudes, practices (KAP) and motivation of teachers and school leaders who participate in the intervention?
4. What are recommendations to strengthen (the different components of) the GRP4ECE model in view of the effectiveness, sustainability and scaling-up of the intervention?

The research was presented in three working papers. The findings of this study will influence the development of the capacity development trajectories for teachers and centre leaders in ECD. Furthermore, the findings and lessons learned from the pilot will feed into the final adaptation of the toolkit and in the scaling of the pilot.