Understanding the Factors Shaping Child Development and Academic Success through Longitudinal Study
Executive Summary
In 2018 as initiative of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Longitudinal Study ´Growing Together´ was launched in several regions. It traced psychological development of 10.000 children from 4 till 8 years. In order to see key factors associated with emotional development, social development, academic success of children. The Project took into consideration physical development of children, screen time, specifics of educational environment, involvement in play and project activity, etc. The research was carried out in coordination with UNESCO Chairs in Russia, Sweden, Portugal, Brazil and other countries. Cross-cultural research with 12 countries was part of the project as well.Results showed effectivenes of guided play and project activity on child development and future adaptation to school. Results showed that self-regulation is a group of key factors that determine future social competence, and adacemic success of children. Results showed impact of educational environment in terms of teacher-child interaction for psychological development of children for subsequent years.
Implementation
The project was initiated by the Lomonosov Moscow State University and supported by Universities in several regions of Russia. As a results more that 2000 psychologists and teachers from more than 300 preschool institutions took part in the project: testing children, carrying our forming experiments, giving individual feedback to parents of all children involved in the project. The free online courses were launched for the representatives of the key universities (MA students, PhD students) who would like to take part in the project, which brings at least 100 specialists every year to the project. Besides scientific knowledge, reflected in publications in well-respected peer-reviewed journals, recommendations for teachers and parents all over the country were distributed on various themes of the project: sreen time, play, language development, etc. Social networks aimed at bringing information on a daily basis were established. More than 200 videos were shot in order to attract parents.The project helped to elaborate technologies of play implementation and project activity in preschool in order to develop key competencies of children.
Stakeholders and partners involved
The partners of the project are universities and institutions in different regions, who participate in the project in terms of providing specialists, working with preschool institutions. Preschool institutions are targeted beneficiaries of the project. Currently more than 300 preschool institututions are participating in the project.
Impact
The impact of the project can be described in several dimensions: Growth of preschool institutions, who want to take part in the project states the appearance of trust to psychological science in teachers and parents; Obtained data on annual basis is presented to parents, teaches, policymakers in the frame of different conferences, special meetings, etc., organized by the project participants. This leeds to changes in life of preschool institutions, informing parents, changes in teachers´ practices as they get results of the research, concrete recommendations, etc. A growth of interest to the issues of the project from parents. More than 10.000 parents monthly download recommendations, express willingless to participate in surveys, etc. This result is possible due to the individual feedback every parent can receive about his/her child development together with recommendations.* Implementation of the recommendations, play and project activities in general leads to higher development of key indicators of child development.
Innovations
A Replicable Approach in ECCE Implementation
The project made it possible to see concrete results of implementation of play and project activities with preschool children in ECCE.
Constraints
First years of project implementation demanded more efforts to bring parents to the dialogue in order to show the results of the project. However further work turned to be more attractive for the communities.
Multi-Stakeholder Cooperation is a Key
The project showed that all sides of the cooperation are needed to implement the project: universities and their specilists, preschool institutions and teachers, parent and children, policymakers.