Title: A school closer to home: using mealtimes to foster language development, improve girls' nutrition and align home and school in rural Kenya and Zambia
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: We aim to tackle the disconnect between school and home learning in an African context by empowering teacher and parent networks to develop sustainable solutions to promoting early child development. Objective 1: To measure home and school mealtime behaviour and language to identify practices that increase the quantity and quality of child-directed speech. The promotion of language learning through responsive caregiving is key to the success of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) programmes. However, these programmes do not currently build on positive home learning experiences. We aim to identify caregiver behaviours and practices that are most effective for fostering language development. The quantity and quality of child directed speech is critical for language learning and naturalistic measures of type and token frequency provides a robust and culturally-generalisable way of measuring language input. We will work together with teacher-researchers to measure mealtime behaviour and language in child and adult participants in rural Kenya and Zambia, speaking their native languages: Kipsigis and Tonga. We will compare adult mealtime behaviour and the structure of mealtimes (e.g., whether males and females eat together), and examine which behaviours and practices are significantly associated with the quality and quantity of child-directed speech, the quality and quantity of child-speech and children's school performance. These analyses will identify factors that are most strongly associated with language outcomes, and provide evidence to identify positive practices that best foster language development at home and in school. Objective 2: To observe feeding and eating behaviours in the home and identify practices that raise levels of female nutrition Differences in the allocation of food to women and girls often relate to cultural practices that prioritise boys and men. However, a detailed analysis of mealtime behaviours and practices will reveal key factors that influence girls' nutrition, and provide evidence to support changes to the structure of mealtimes (e.g., males and females eating separately may particularly disadvantage female nutrition) and to promote practices that benefit child nutritional intake. For objective 2 we will use the rich home meal observational data collected (described under objective 1) to examine the mealtime practices used by caregivers and explore how they relate to food intake and differ according to child gender. We will code food intake, the structure of mealtimes, parenting and child behaviours around food and will explore how these behaviours may differ for male and female children to gain insight into the extent to which girls and women are disadvantaged by nutritional practices. Specifically we will: (i) Measure feeding practices, eating behaviours and child food intake to examine whether there are practices that disadvantage female nutrition. (ii) Identify practices that raise levels of female nutrition (e.g., differences in family mealtime structure such as the family eating together rather than girls and women eating separately). Objective 3: Development of teacher and parent networks to share best practice We will co-develop a teacher-network and parent outreach programme, based on evidence from objectives 1 and 2 with the aim to raise awareness and share practices that (i) increase the quality and quantity of child-directed speech in the home and in school and (ii) raise levels of female nutrition, motivated by evidence of gender inequalities. Objective 3 targets three priorities for raising levels of nurturing care (nutrition, early learning and responsive caregiving) through (i) parent-teacher coordination (ii) creation of practitioner networks (iii) creation of parent outreach programme. We aim to influence the ECDE curriculum to build on home learning, enhance parental engagement with children's learning and feed into programmes in other rural African settings.

Lay abstract: We develop a new way to address educational disadvantage in rural Africa, through a collaboration between academics from Kenya, Zambia and the UK, teachers, families and community groups. The connection between home and school is key to sustainable education: (i) parents must recognise the school's priorities if they are to support their child's continuing education, (ii) teachers need to understand their pupils' home environment so they can build on positive home experiences and (iii) schools must build on children's existing skills and knowledge and fit with their goal of a successful life in their community. There is currently a serious disconnect between home and school in Africa and this is exacerbated in rural Kenya and Zambia by the predominance of non-local teachers who often don't speak pupils' native languages. We aim to connect home and school learning by targeting Early Childhood Education and Development programmes (ECDE; age 4 - 6). Unlike primary and secondary schools, ECDE centres recruit teachers from the local community. The relationship between parents and teachers is closest in ECDE settings, providing a crucial opportunity to build bridges between home and school. It is also a critical opportunity for mitigating early disadvantages for girls and empowering females in leadership roles since ECDE teachers are predominantly female. We prioritise language and nutrition as fundamental to all later learning, and aim to (i) identify positive practices in the home that benefit early language development and nutrition and (ii) to work together with ECDE teachers as researchers to empower them to develop teacher and parent networks to share best practice in school and at home. We target mealtimes for our observations of behaviour and language since they are a particularly rich time for social interaction, and the focus on eating gives an authentic setting for natural communication. Our objectives are (i) to measure home and school mealtime behaviour and language to identify practices that are most crucial for raising the quality of language children are exposed to (e.g., whether adults and children sit together; whether they have a television) (ii) to observe eating behaviours in the home, assess the extent to which girls' eat less food, or less nutritious foods, and identify practices that raise levels of female nutrition (e.g., girls may eat more if they share food as a family, rather than when girls and women eat separately) (iii) to work together with our teacher-researchers and community advisors to co-develop a teacher-network and parent outreach programme, based on evidence from objectives 1 and 2. The aim is to raise awareness and share practices that increase the quality of language children are exposed to at home and in school and raise levels of female nutrition, motivated by evidence of gender inequalities. Objective 3 will be achieved firstly by working together to identify key messages that are culturally appropriate and achievable (e.g., switch the TV off before eating at home; encourage teachers to sit together with pupils when eating in ECDE centres). Second, by working together in practitioner networks, guidance will be developed to inform a parent outreach programme to be shared with well-established groups in the community. The network will also provide a platform for teachers to conduct their own research, share research findings and discuss best practice. Importantly, it will provide a vital link to teachers in primary and secondary education, to develop continuity in children's education. Finally, the evidence base we provide through objectives 1 and 2, and the networks created in objective 3 provide a powerful basis for contributing to the development of the new ECDE curriculum in Kenya and to lobby for similar priorities in Zambia.

Research activity codes: 3.1 PRIMARY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS TO MODIFY BEHAVIOURS OR PROMOTE WELL-BEING
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE