Skills Development

This indicator measures contributions to the development of children’s key skills. It can be interpreted in two ways; as 1) measuring the proportion of children attending skills development sessions (output level) or 2) measuring the proportion of children who show progress in developing relevant skills (outcome level). The guidance provided focuses on the output level. For more information on using this indicator at the outcome level, refer to Important Comments below.

1) Depending on the purpose of measurement, determine either (a) the total number of children or youth targeted by the action (if measuring the number or proportion of targeted children by the skills development); or (b) the total number of children living in the target community or area (if measuring the proportion of children and youth in the target area who have been targeted by the skills development or extra-curricular activities).  This information could come from project, school or learning space administrative documentation (for example, enrolment records).

2) Determine the number of targeted crisis-affected children and youth regularly attending relevant skills development (social emotional learning (SEL)/ psychosocial support (PSS) risk awareness / environmental education / conflict prevention or extra-curricular sessions. To do this, first determine what level of attendance is required in order to be considered as ‘regular’ attendance – for example, a child can be considered to be ‘regularly’ attending sessions if they attend at least 70% of the organised sessions. Attendance data should be regularly gathered during the sessions and can be provided by school or learning space administrators or activity facilitators.

3) Once the data on how many children are attending skills development/extra-curricular sessions regularly has been gathered, to calculate the percentage, divide this number by the total number of children and youth (as determined under point 1) and multiply by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

4) If additional information is required about the type of skills development/extra-curricular activities taking place, it is possible to use a combination of three methods:

• interview with head teacher, or a representative sample of teachers or facilitators
• observation of a skills development or extra-curricular activities session
• review of skills development or extra-curricular activities documentation, such as attendance sheets, lesson plans, curriculum and children’s work

5) Note that the process described above – measuring regular attendance – is the simplest form of assessing whether children are ‘benefiting from’ relevant sessions. This information is relevant if using this indicator at the output level. If using this indicator at the outcome level – measuring knowledge and skills children have gained, or if related to PSS, whether their wellbeing levels have improved – refer to important comments below for additional guidance.

The information gathered from this documentation can be verified through interviews or surveys with a representative sample of the target teachers and educators to better understand what types of skills sessions are provided and how often. Recommended survey questions for measuring this indicator can be found here.

Disaggregation of the data can be done by age group, gender, level of education, ethnicity, mother tongue, wealth quintile, disability, displacement status and/or other specific vulnerable and marginalised groups, as relevant. Data can also be disaggregated by the type of skills developed.

Disaggregation of data by disability type should use the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (or for actions with specialised responses to disabilities use the complete WG/UNICEF Child Functioning Module) or equivalent.

1) This is INEE Indicator 3.4.

2) The above guidance supports the collection of output level data based on attendance of sessions. To gather more nuanced information on how and to what extent children benefit from skills development sessions (outcome level), determine a different measure of what ‘benefiting from’ entails. This could be for example:

   a) Children are displaying fewer social emotional challenges than before the start of the skills development intervention. This would require a baseline assessment of children’s wellbeing levels, which would then be compared against a mid-term or endline assessment to understand changes in behaviour, wellbeing levels or social emotional competencies. Children’s wellbeing levels or SEL competencies can be measured using a variety of tools, depending on the age group and context. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is one of the tools that can help to compare if and how children’s psychological attributes have changed as a result of SEL/PSS activities. Many other tools are outlined in INEE’s SEL and PSS Measurement and Assessment Tools in Education in Emergencies: Identifying, Analyzing, and Mapping Tools to Global Guidance Documents.

   b) Children are displaying new or improved competencies or knowledge (in the measured skills development area) compared to before the skills development intervention. As above, this would require baseline and endline data to be collected and compared in order to measure impact of the activities on identified skills.

3) This indicator can also be adapted to measure the number and proportion of children actively involved in regular extra-curricular activities, i.e. activities organized before and/or after the school day, or during school holidays, on school or learning space premises. Extra-curricular activities complement formal education and take the form of tutorials, life-skills sessions (e.g. hygiene or environment education), arts, sports or entrepreneurial activities. Extra-curricular activities only apply when children are enrolled in formal education. Where children participate in similar activities but are not enrolled in formal education, these activities are – in most contexts – considered as either (a) non-formal education (NFE) - if involving a learning aspect that is certified or linked to formal education; (b) PSS – if referring to structured activities specifically focused on improving wellbeing outcomes and coping mechanisms, or (c) recreational activities – if referring to less structured activities aimed at improving socialisation and wellbeing.

4) Related indicators:

     INEE

       - 2.2 % of students who meet minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics, and/or demonstrate adequate progress in academic, vocational, and/or social and emotional learning (SEL) skills (see Literacy and Numeracy indicator)

       - 2.3 % of targeted learning spaces featuring psychosocial support (PSS) activities for children that fulfil at least three out of the four following attributes: a) structured, b) goal-oriented, c) evidence-informed, d) targeted and tailored to different sub-groups of vulnerable children (see PSS Activities indicator)

     ECHO

       - KRI: number of students, teachers and other education personnel provided with psycho-social support services

    Global Education Cluster

       - % of emergency-affected learning spaces/schools in target areas incorporating psycho-social support

       - % of emergency-affected learning spaces/school in affected areas where children and youth receive key messages on [select: emergency life skills / DRR]

    Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

       - 4.2.1 Proportion of children aged 25-59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex

    IndiKit

       - number or % of students who received hygiene education as part of the school curriculum (see Hygiene Education at Schools indicator)