School access and quality

One of the clearest achievements associated with the Millennium Development Goals has been rapid increases in school enrolment at primary level. Since children from poorer backgrounds have historically had much lower chances of going to school, moving towards universal primary enrolment has the potential to be of particular benefit to them. Data from the Young Lives survey mirrors this increasing primary school enrolment, but also shows that this is only part of a more complicated picture. Enrolment does not mean that a child will always turn up for school, that they will receive a good education, or that formal school will furnish them with skills and knowledge useful in their day-to-day lives.

To help children progress in school it is also necessary to consider the pressures on them outside the school which may determine not just enrolment but whether children are able to attend regularly.

Our findings raise questions about how quality varies within the schooling system and how this may affect how different groups of children learn at school.

We are currently administering a new school survey, which will provide data to complement the household and child surveys and will give us more information about the resources available in the schools Young Lives children attend and their experiences in the classroom, together with their outcomes. This part of the survey, which is being carried out in a sample of schools, consists of interviews with the Young Lives children, some of their classmates, their class teacher and headteacher, as well as observations of their classroom processes

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