Ghana : Can Training Change Preprimary Teachers' Practices and Improve Children' Skills?

To ensure that children arrive in primary school ready to learn, policymakers around the world are increasingly focusing on what happens in preprimary education programs and whether childrenare developing the skills needed for primary school. But properly structuring preprimary programs and ensuring teachers are prepared requires the right training and curricula development. In some cases, it also may be necessary to help parents understand how preprimary programs, such as preschools, can best improve learning in a developmentally appropriate way. This is the challenge in Ghana, where preprimary programs focus on reading, writing, rote memorization, homework, and teachers and sometimes use physically and verbally harsh discipline. Most teachers in preprimary programs in Ghana have little or no training, and parents expect their young children to get homework rather than learn through play and activities. To test how to successfully restructure early education in private and government programs, researchers worked with government and other partners on a training program to encourage teachers to use a play-based, childcentered curriculum and create a positive classroom environment