Focus on Tanzanian parents of preschool children feel about school readiness and education development.
In preparation for Ubongo’s upcoming launch of ‘Akili and Me’ staff recently hosted several focus groups with the aim of learning how local, Tanzanian parents of preschool-aged children feel about school readiness and educational development.
The objectives of the focus groups were to determine the level of awareness parents have regarding the role they can play in supporting their children’s learning at home and also to understand the barriers that parents face in supporting their children’s learning at home.
Staff found that the focus group participants are very committed to supporting their children’s education but overall were not aware of the role they can play to support their children’s learning, beyond simply providing formal education at school. The participants were also in agreement that children are capable of learning from a young age, even prior to beginning school. However, only 15% of the participants said they have access to educational materials such as storybooks at home.
The findings are currently being used to develop a parental engagement program that is capable of building parents’ capacity to support their child’s learning in ways relevant to their lifestyles. We look forward to sharing more information soon on the development of this exciting new engagement tool!
