Early Childhood Education Impact Evaluations for the Middle East and North Africa : Summary of Workshop Discussions for Oman

The delegates from Oman articulated one main problem with advancing early childhood education (ECE) in the country: no government standards or curriculum. The first step needed to make systemic progress will be to agree upon rules and regulations for ECE classrooms and professionals. For the impact evaluation exercise, the team chose to outline a study that can be used once the Ministry of Education adopts a new ECE curriculum. They focused on how teachers performed in classrooms, children’s learning and development, and how parents engage in preschool education. The Omani delegation felt that they will need an observation tool for evaluating teaching practices, an assessment of children’s cognitive skills, and questionnaires and focus groups for parents. The Bank team will continue to explore possibilities of working with Oman’s Ministry of Education in the ECE sector under new or existing engagements. Topics of creating a national ECE curriculum and developing a legal and regulatory framework for public-private partnerships (PPPs), including those in the ECE sector, will be considered.