Abu dhabi: Sabre Education, from the United Kingdom, has been awarded the Best Programmes, Curricula, and Teaching Methodologies and Practices category in the Khalifa International Award for Early Learning. The General Secretariat of the Khalifa Award for Education, part of Erth Zayed Philanthropies, expressed pride in the participation of leading international institutions and researchers specialising in early childhood development in the award's recent cycle.
According to Emirates News Agency, the award underscores the programme's ability to create a positive humanitarian impact globally by highlighting outstanding scientific and practical approaches to early childhood care, promoting educational environments that support children's development, and enabling early identification of their talents. Humaid Al Houti, Secretary-General of the Khalifa Award for Education, emphasized the award's role in showcasing leading practices in the care and education of young children worldwide.
The recognised programme has developed an educational model that is being scaled nationally across Ghana to reach over 30,000 kindergarten teachers, as revealed by the organisation's studies. This initiative empowers teachers to foster child-centred classrooms and opens avenues for expansion within Ghana's private sector and internationally through technical support for other governments and organisations.
Susan Place Everhart, CEO of Sabre Education, elaborated on the organisation's mission to provide robust early childhood education in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa through play-based learning. The programme tackles poor learning outcomes, focusing on the significant percentage of children lacking foundational literacy skills by the end of Primary 2. Sabre Education's training-of-trainers model enhances the capacity of the education system to support kindergarten teachers in implementing a play-based curriculum.
The programme also trains Ghana Education Service officials to support and train teachers, equipping school leaders to mentor staff while promoting play-based teaching, gender equality, and inclusive learning. These efforts aim to bolster literacy, numeracy, and psychosocial skills among children.
Everhart highlighted the programme's transformative impact on children's futures and its role in elevating the status of kindergarten education in Ghana from a less-valued field to a critical educational stage. The initiative addresses the shortage of qualified kindergarten teachers, transforming classrooms from rote learning environments into spaces rich in play and creativity.
The programme's impact has prompted the Government of Ghana to involve Sabre Education in developing key early childhood education policies and initiatives. Everhart noted that Sabre Education's training approach contributed to the creation of an in-service training manual for kindergarten teachers, which was adopted as the national standard for teacher training in Ghana in 2023.