Improving the Quality of Early Childhood Education in Malawi: Resources and Ratios

While many children worldwide now have access to preschool, preschool quality varies, especially in low-income countries. What cost-effective and impactful interventions can a policymaker adopt to improve preschool quality and children’s holistic skills? The researchers propose a pilot study in rural Malawi to improve the quality of preschool instruction by combining educators’ training, resources, and remuneration. The team will also introduce a novel intervention to increase educator-to-child ratios (ECRs) through either standard remuneration or community business development. In rural Malawi, preschools are community-run, and most educators are volunteers, which may impact educator performance as well as retention and ECRs. Lower ECRs make it difficult for educators to make best use of the training and materials. However, increasing ratios is costly, and therefore providing policymakers with evidence-based justification is vital.