The Impact of Preschool Attendance On Student Outcomes at School in The Philippines

The impact of preschool attendance on student outcomes at school
in the Philippines
Short articles
Aug 31,2022
Authors: Dominique Russell
International research shows that preschool education plays an important

part in preparing children for school.
A recent longitudinal study in the Philippines has followed a cohort of 4,500
public elementary school students for 5 years. The study found that children
who attended preschool consistently outperformed those who did not in
literacy, mathematics and social-emotional skills.
The Philippines Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Longitudinal
Study was funded by UNICEF, the Philippines Department of Education and
the Australian Government. The research was conducted by the Australian
Council for Educational Research (ACER) and involved case studies, student
assessments and questionnaires completed by students, teachers and school
leaders.
The impact of preschool on learning at school
The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the introduction of the
Kindergarten year into the Philippines’ K-12 Basic Education System. Data
was collected at 6 points: at the start of Kindergarten, the end of
Kindergarten and at the end of Grade 1, 2, 3 and 4.
“This study found preschool and day care made a positive difference to
learning for the first 5 years,’ the report reads. ‘Even at the end of Grade 4,
students who attended preschool and day care prior to attending
Kindergarten outperformed those who did not in literacy, mathematics and
social-emotional skills.”
However, the authors caution that the quality of preschool teaching and
learning remains unclear. “In the case studies, no mention was made of
explicit teaching of social-emotional skills and general cognitive skills. These
skills were an implied by-product of attending preschool and day care and
interacting with other children,” they write.
Social-emotional skills of children
A unique feature of the study was the measurement of students’ social-
emotional skills, and the exploration of the relationship between social-
emotional skills and literacy and mathematics achievement.
“Social-emotional skills were measured as it is now well-known that children
draw on a range of skills to succeed at school,” the researchers explain. “A
child who can manage her emotions can use this skill when persisting on a
mathematics task. Children who can recognise emotions in themselves and
others, can use these skills to resolve a disagreement when working on a
group project.”
The study found that in general, children’s social-emotional skills were rated
by teachers as medium to high. It was also clear that girls outperformed
boys. As well as this, it was found that students’ social-emotional skills did
not seem to develop over time, and those with high social-emotional skills
outperformed students with medium or low social-emotional skills in literacy
and mathematics.
Students’ literacy and numeracy skills
The study also shared key insights into the literacy and mathematics skills of
children.
The researchers note that while in general, literacy skills improved each
year, the improvement did not align with the pace of the curriculum. This
gap between skills and curriculum expectations became most pronounced at
Grade 3.
“Most students in this study are still learning to read at the end of Grade 4.
The pace of teaching and learning did not appear to meet students’ needs.
They likely required more time to practice and consolidate essential reading
skills such as letter sound relationships and decoding,” the report reads.
The story was similar for mathematics skills, however the gap between
curriculum expectations and student skills was most pronounced earlier, in
Grade 2.
“We need to ensure that teachers are provided with the guidance, training
and opportunities to develop and use different strategies and resources to
support different children’s learning needs.”
Learning in different languages
The report also presents insights into the impact of the Philippines Mother
Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). The Philippines was the first
nation in the region to implement a national policy requiring mother tongue
language education for all students up to the end of Grade 3 before
transitioning to Filipino and English in Grade 4.
“It is unique in its ambitious parameters – the Philippines Department of
Education produces teaching and learning resources in 19 mother tongue
languages which covers 80 percent of the population. However, performance
across language groups differs, as our study showed.”
Specially, the longitudinal study found that for literacy, students who were
tested in Filipino scored higher than students tested in English. However,
scores from students tested in English were not far behind those tested in
Filipino. The researchers say this finding is impressive, because English may
rarely be spoken at home.

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International research shows that preschool education plays an important

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