Following Footsteps: ECD tracer studies

What happens to people after they have been in an early childhood programme? Is a child different at the age of 10 because she was in a programme when she was four and five years old? Does a 12 year old benefit because his mother was in a parenting programme when she was an adolescent? Do people really change because they participated as parents, or were trained to work as caregivers, in an ECD programme?

To help answer these kinds of questions, the Van Leer Foundation launched a programme of tracer studies in 1998 to follow the footsteps of former participants in early childhood programmes, five or more years on, and find out what had happened to them. This edition of Early Childhood Matters is about these tracer studies, and reviews their nature, what they can do, and how their approaches, methodologies and findings fit with more formal investigations. It has been put together by Ruth N Cohen, Senior Programme Specialist at the Foundation, who is the coordinator of the studies

Detalles

Detalles

Work featured in Early Childhood Matters is not necessarily funded by the Van Leer Foundation. The views expressed are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation. Material from Early Childhood Matters may be reproduced or translated without permission, provided that it is not distributed for profit. It must be attributed to the original author(s), Early Childhood Matters and the Van Leer Foundation.

If you are interested in contributing to Early Childhood Matters, please contact the Editor for a preliminary discussion and to obtain a copy of our ‘Guide for Authors’. Contributions must be related to early childhood development and should draw on direct practical experience with young children, their families and communities. Please note that the Foundation does not pay for contributions because Early Childhood Matters is generally distributed free of charge. Please also note that we allow free copying for non-commercial purposes. ISSN 1387-9553

Cover: Kenya Standard 1 girls in Embu district centre for ECE photo: Mwana Mwende project

Inside front cover: Trinidad & Tobago Girl sharing a secret photo: Servol