Guidance Note on Designing and Implementing Quality Early Learning Environment Principles in Low-and Middle-Income Countries

Strengthening the learning environment in Early Childhood Education (ECE) is crucial for enhancing children’s learning experiences. A quality learning environment in ECE is characterized by dynamic opportunities for children to interact, collaborate, and explore. This Guidance note guides teachers and schools on ways to design and implement quality learning environments in ECE settings. It outlines key principles of quality in the learning environment and illustrates elements of quality that can be implemented in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with examples from Egypt, Tanzania, and Jordan. It also describes what these quality elements might look like in an ECE setting and how educators can use the environment in a daily routine. Finally, this note identifies key considerations that policymakers and World Bank teams can apply to support and strengthen the quality learning environment.