INTERNATIONALLY • Global Development • Early Childhood Development
School Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Development
Strengthening preschool leadership to improve play-based teaching, learning environments, and children’s holistic development.
Young children’s learning and development are shaped not just by individual teaching moments, but by the broader preschool environment in which those moments unfold. The quality of that environment, including how teaching practices are supported and sustained, plays an important role in determining how well children learn, grow, and thrive in their early years.
Quantedge Advancement Initiative is supporting Global School Leaders to strengthen preschool leadership in Indonesia, with the aim of improving teaching practices and learning environments that foster children’s holistic development. The pilot is co-funded by QAI, Ishk Tolaram Foundation, Nomura, and Tanoto Foundation. It builds on Ishk Tolaram Foundation’s Ishk Peduli Anak Indonesia (IPAI) programme, which equips preschool teachers with play-based teaching approaches.​
The pilot will train 200 preschool leaders from 100 preschools in Sidoarjo (East Java) and Magelang (Central Java). It will work with schools that include both IPAI-trained and non-IPAI-trained teachers to better understand how school leadership can strengthen the implementation of play-based teaching practices.
Through this programme, Global School Leaders will:
-
Co-create a school leadership training curriculum with local government and preschool stakeholders, drawing on best practices and the programme experience of IPAI.
-
Conduct a mixed-methods study to evaluate the effectiveness of school leader training in mentoring teachers on play-based practices, while capturing early indicators of children’s learning outcomes.
​
Findings from the study will be translated into policy recommendations to strengthen Indonesia’s early childhood education system. Training resources, toolkits, and research findings will be made publicly available to inform programmes and policies in similar contexts, regionally and globally.
Through our support for this programme, we hope to generate practical, actionable evidence on how investing in preschool leadership can strengthen the quality of early childhood education - ultimately creating richer learning experiences and improved developmental outcomes for young children in Indonesia and beyond.