Early childhood education

Building stronger foundations for learning, development, and future success

The early years are critical to a child's development.

Young children need engaging, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate early learning experiences, supported by educators with the skills and confidence to help them succeed.

Yet millions of children miss out on high-quality early childhood education. Even where provision exists, many systems face challenges in fully supporting language development, early literacy and numeracy, wellbeing, and school readiness.

Our vision

Every child should have a strong foundation through high-quality, inclusive early childhood education.

 

We want all children to develop the literacy, numeracy, language, social, and emotional skills that underpin lifelong learning. By strengthening early learning experiences and supporting effective transitions into primary education, we help create the conditions for children to thrive.

How we add value

Through technical assistance, programme delivery and system strengthening, we help governments and partners to:

 

  • improve access to quality early childhood education, particularly for the most disadvantaged children
  • strengthen teaching and learning in the early years through evidence-informed approaches and resources
  • develop the early years workforce, building the skills and confidence of educators and leaders
  • support children’s school readiness, helping them develop the foundations for lifelong learning
  • engage parents and caregivers in supporting children’s early development and learning
  • use evidence and data to improve policy, practice and investment decisions
  • strengthen early childhood systems so improvements can be sustained and scaled over time.

Our experience spans diverse contexts – from England to Zimbabwe and Southeast Asia.

14,500+

early years educators supported in England through the Department for Education’s Early Years Professional Development Programme.

1,300+

pre-primary teachers and 600 headteachers and early childhood centre managers have received training through the INSPIRED programme in Kenya, with early classroom observations showing improvements in child-centred pedagogy and inclusive practice.

40+ years

of supporting early literacy, language development and school readiness in Brunei. By strengthening teaching practice and supporting educators, we help young children build the foundations for lifelong learning. 

In Zimbabwe, we’ve helped scale the roll-out of the School Tracking and Learning Assessment (STELA) tool, enabling ministries and partners to monitor school readiness and children’s developmental progress. We have also provided technical assistance to foundational learning reforms across sub-Saharan Africa.

CASE STUDY

Improving foundational learning for children in Kenya

Through the INSPIRED programme, we are working with the Government of Kenya to strengthen early childhood education and foundational learning, particularly for some of the country’s most marginalised children. The programme combines teacher development, coaching and mentoring, support for early childhood centres, and national policy reform, helping to improve the quality of early learning while building the systems needed to sustain improvement at scale.

 

To date, INSPIRED has supported more than 1,300 early childhood educators, reached over 61,000 children and contributed to reforms designed to place foundational learning at the heart of education policy.

Latest insights and research

Our research and learning focus on what helps young children develop the foundations they need to succeed in school and life. We explore topics including early childhood education, school readiness, foundational learning, teacher development and effective approaches to improving learning in the early years. Combining evidence with practical experience from programmes such as INSPIRED in Kenya and our long-standing work in Brunei, we help governments and partners understand what works, strengthen policy and practice, and improve outcomes for young children.

Our work in early childhood education

Marion Smallbones

Lead Adviser, Insights and Innovation

Let's work together

Every child deserves the best possible start. Let's work together to make that happen.

Speak to our specialist

Marion leads evidence-informed strategy and knowledge management at edt, consolidating insights and translating research into solutions to address global education challenges. She brings extensive international experience supporting system-wide reform to improve learning quality and equity.

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