Gender gaps in cognitive and social-emotional skills in early primary grades:Evidence from rural Indonesia

This paper examines the magnitude and source of gender gaps in cognitive and social‐emotional skills in early primary grades in rural Indonesia. Relative to boys, girls score more than 0.17 SD higher in tests of language and mathematics (cognitive skills) and between 0.18 and 0.27 SD higher in measures of social competence and emotional maturity (social‐emotional skills). We use Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition to investigate the extent to which gender differences in early schooling and parenting practices explain these gender gaps in skills. For cognitive skills, differences in early schooling between boys and girls explain between 9% and 11% of the gender gap whereas differences in parenting practices explain merely 3%–5% of the gender gap. This decomposition result is driven largely by children living in villages with high‐quality preschools. In contrast, for social‐emotional skills, differences in parenting styles toward boys and girls explain between 13% and 17% of the gender gap, while differences in early schooling explain only 0%–6% of the gender gap

Efficacy of infant simulator programmes to prevent teenage pregnancy: a school-based cluster randomised trial in Western Australia

Background: Infant simulator-based programmes seek to prevent teenage pregnancy. They are utilised in western and developing countries but, despite growing popularity, there is no published evidence of their long-term impact. The aim of this trial was to investigate the effect of such a programme, the Virtual Infant Parenting (VIP) Programme, on the pregnancy outcomes of birth and induced abortion. Methods: Fifty-seven of 66 eligible schools (86%) in Perth, Western Australia enrolled in the pragmatic clustered (by school) randomised trial (ISRCTN24952438) with even randomisation to the intervention and control groups. Between 2003 and 2006, the VIP programme was administered to 1,267 girls in the intervention schools, while 1,567 girls in the control schools received the standard health education curriculum. Participants were aged 13-15 years and were followed until age 20 via data linkage to hospital medical and abortion clinic records. Log binomial and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to test for differences in pregnancy rates between study groups. Findings: Compared to girls Findings: Compared to girls in the control group, a higher proportion of girls in the intervention group recorded at least one birth (7.6%, n=97; 4·3%, n=67) or at least one abortion as the first pregnancy event (8.9%, n=113; 6.4%, n=101). After adjustment for potential confounding, the intervention group had a higher overall pregnancy risk (RR = 1·36, 95% CI 1.10–1·67, p=0.003) compared to the control group. Similar results were obtained using proportional hazard models (HR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.10–1·67, p=0·016). Interpretation: The infant-simulator based VIP Programme did not achieve its aim of reducing teenage pregnancy. Girls in the intervention group were more likely to experience a birth or an induced abortion than those in the control group before turning 20 years of age. Funding: The Health Promotion Research Foundation of Western Australia (Healthway), Lotteries WA, the Western Australian Department of Education and Training and the Western Australian Department of Health

National Interdisciplinary Education Framework for Professionals working in the Early Years : Helping future generations of professionals to collaboratively care for children from birth to five years

Content created by this project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.The first five years of a child’s life are irrefutably important, establishing life-long health, social and economic outcomes. The early childhood workforce is charged with delivering early childhood development services in a framework of quality and national consistency for the safety of all Australian children and their families. This requires development of a national framework for learning and teaching that incorporates common outcomes for children, an interdisciplinary map, and universal essential elements. The National Interdisciplinary Education Framework for Professionals Working in the Early Years is designed to be used to inform education curriculum for preparing early years professionals across disciplines. The framework attends to the diverse demands of multiple professions, qualification levels and workforce agendas. This National Interdisciplinary Education Framework for Professionals Working in the Early Years contains: • A statement of common outcomes for children from birth to five years that recognises various disciplinary foci • An interdisciplinary map highlighting training and professional requirements in selected children’s services professions • A statement of universal essential elements (knowledge, skills and attributes) required for working with children from birth to five years of age • A self-evaluation tool to guide reflection on how the resources are being taken up in programs and curricula within and across courses and across disciplines. These resources can be integrated individually or as a collective into existing learning and teaching curricula to provide a platform for shared understandings for workers with children from birth to five years

Global leadership is needed to optimize early childhood development for children with disabilities

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Changes in socioeconomic inequality in Indonesian children's cognitive function from 2000 to 2007: a decomposition analysis

Background: Measuring social inequalities in health is common; however, research examining inequalities in child cognitive function is more limited. We investigated household expenditure-related inequality in children’s cognitive function in Indonesia in 2000 and 2007, the contributors to inequality in both time periods, and changes in the contributors to cognitive function inequalities between the periods. Methods: Data from the 2000 and 2007 round of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) were used. Study participants were children aged 7–14 years (n = 6179 and n = 6680 in 2000 and 2007, respectively). The relative concentration index (RCI) was used to measure the magnitude of inequality. Contribution of various contributors to inequality was estimated by decomposing the concentration index in 2000 and 2007. Oaxaca-type decomposition was used to estimate changes in contributors to inequality between 2000 and 2007. Results: Expenditure inequality decreased by 45% from an RCI = 0.29 (95% CI 0.22 to 0.36) in 2000 to 0.16 (95% CI 0.13 to 0.20) in 2007 but the burden of poorer cognitive function was higher among the disadvantaged in both years. The largest contributors to inequality in child cognitive function were inequalities in per capita expenditure, use of improved sanitation and maternal high school attendance. Changes in maternal high school participation (27%), use of improved sanitation (25%) and per capita expenditures (18%) were largely responsible for the decreasing inequality in children’s cognitive function between 2000 and 2007. Conclusions: Government policy to increase basic education coverage for women along with economic growth may have influenced gains in children’s cognitive function and reductions in inequalities in Indonesia.Amelia Maika, Murthy N. Mittinty, Sally Brinkman, Sam Harper, Elan Satriawan, John W. Lync

Study protocol for the evaluation of an Infant Simulator based program delivered in schools: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: This paper presents the study protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a school based program developed to prevent teenage pregnancy. The program includes students taking care of an Infant Simulator; despite growing popularity and an increasing global presence of such programs, there is no published evidence of their long-term impact. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the Virtual Infant Parenting (VIP) program by investigating pre-conceptual health and risk behaviours, teen pregnancy and the resultant birth outcomes, early child health and maternal health. Methods and Design: Fifty-seven schools (86% of 66 eligible secondary schools) in Perth, Australia were recruited to the clustered (by school) randomised trial, with even randomisation to the intervention and control arms. Between 2003 and 2006, the VIP program was administered to 1,267 participants in the intervention schools, while 1,567 participants in the non-intervention schools received standard curriculum. Participants were all female and aged between 13-15 years upon recruitment. Pre and post-intervention questionnaires measured short-term impact and participants are now being followed through their teenage years via data linkage to hospital medical records, abortion clinics and education records. Participants who have a live birth are interviewed by face-to-face interview. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and proportional hazards regression will test for differences in pregnancy, birth and abortion rates during the teenage years between the study arms.Discussion: This protocol paper provides a detailed overview of the trial design as well as initial results in the form of participant flow. The authors describe the intervention and its delivery within the natural school setting and discuss the practical issues in the conduct of the trial, including recruitment. The trial is pragmatic and will directly inform those who provide Infant Simulator based programs in school settings