Welcome back to the deep dive.
Today we’re focusing on something absolutely fundamental.
Education, but not just any education.
We’re talking about the very beginning, the early years.
Exactly.
Specifically in the context of Bangladesh, which is, you know, so dynamic and often incredibly pressured.
It is.
And the science on this is just crystal clear.
The period from birth up to about age 8 is the most critical phase for a child’s development.
We’re talking about building the brain’s actual architecture, the foundation for well for everything that comes later everything language how you manage your emotions self-regulation even the basics of reading and math and that importance you just mentioned that’s precisely where the tension lies in so many classrooms in Bangladesh oh absolutely you have this immense ambition I mean teachers parents school leaders they all want the best for their children of course but without clear practical evidence to guide them that ambition can turn into uh what we call premature academic pressure I’ve seen it that’s Do you see four-year-olds being pushed into handwriting drills or memorizing things by wrote?
Exactly.
High stakes testing for children who are just not biologically ready for it.
The goal is to accelerate, but the real outcome is often just frustration and frankly very weak foundations.
Well, that sets up our mission for today perfectly.
We’re going to be diving into a powerful and I should stress a free resource.
Yes.
It’s called the EBTD early years framework.
EBTD stands for evidence phase teacher development and the goal is simple but it’s vital.
It is we take the best most robust global research on child development from cognitive science attachment theory you name it and we translate it you make it actionable specifically for the realities of a Bangladeshi classroom for the families for the communities that’s the key the big idea here is a philosophical shift moving early education towards something that’s secure rich in language and um purposefully playinformed and what you’re proving with evidence is that this approach is isn’t softer.
Not at all.
It’s smarter.
It is demonstrabably smarter for deep long-term success.
Okay.
So, let’s unpack that philosophical shift.
Because to change what a teacher does every single day, you first have to change what they believe about how children learn.
That’s the core of it.
So, what are the guiding principles?
What’s the new belief system?
There are four and they’re all grounded in universal child development science, but adapted to work in, you know, a context where resources might limited.
Okay, what’s the first one?
First, every child is a unique individual.
This sounds simple, but it’s profound.
Early years practice has to move away from standardization, away from that demand for uniformity.
Yes, we have to prioritize being responsive, observing what a child is ready for, not just pushing all 30 kids through the same worksheet on the same day.
That right there is a huge challenge to the traditional large group instruction model.
And the second principle that focuses on the relationship at itself.
It does.
Learning is built through secure relationships.
The framework positions the teacher as more than an instructor.
They’re a guide, a guide, a language partner, a model for how to handle your own feelings.
We argue that emotional safety, that attachment is the non-negotiable foundation.
So, if a child doesn’t feel safe, their brain is just too busy managing threat.
It can’t focus on learning new concepts.
It’s as simple as that.
I love that framing attachment as the prerequisite for attention.
Okay.
The third principle is about the space itself.
Environments shape thinking and this is where so many schools feel stuck.
They think they need expensive resources, imported equipment, which just isn’t realistic for many.
It’s the most common misconception.
The framework makes it clear.
An enabling environment is not about cost.
In Bangladesh, effectiveness comes from intentional design using lowcost local solutions.
Give me a tangible example of that.
How does a teacher do that tomorrow without spending any money?
Okay, think of a reading corner.
You You don’t need a formal library.
You just need intention.
A teacher can put down a simple bamboo mat, a chhattai, maybe drape a colorful orna or a sheet over it to create a little ceiling.
Suddenly you have a psychological boundary, a story corner.
It signals safety and focus.
So the environment is rich because of the interaction it enables, not because of the plastic toys in it.
Precisely a powerful distinction.
And the fourth principle, this feels crucial for fighting that pressure you mentioned at the start.
It’s absolutely critical.
Development happens at different rates.
This principle is about protecting children from the damaging belief that school is about speed.
That being fast is the same as being smart.
Exactly.
We have to reinforce that steady secure growth is the goal.
Not rushing a child to some arbitrary checkpoint.
The research is so clear on this.
Pushing reading or writing too early before oral language is strong, it just leads to problems later on.
You’re building foundations that will act actually last.
That’s the aim.
Okay, this is where it gets really interesting for the teachers and school leaders listening.
Let’s look at three practical areas where this framework demands a real change in the daily routine.
Let’s do it.
Let’s start with language and communication strand 2.
This is for me the non-negotiable science.
Spoken language is the single strongest predictor of later success.
Stronger than IQ, even stronger than IQ across everything, literacy, numeracy, all of it.
Language is the engine of thought.
If a child’s ability to talk and reason in their first language is weak, every other lesson suffers.
And the framework makes a big and for some maybe a controversial statement about language priority.
You advocate a Bangla first, English second approach.
We do and we do it very strongly.
We have to prioritize strong oral Bangla development before we layer on heavy English instruction.
Bangla has to be the language of explanation of emotional connection.
It’s the child’s thinking tool.
It is treating Bangla like a barrier.
to be replaced by English is just counterproductive for deep learning.
Let’s address the elephant in the room though.
Bangladesh is a very aspirational country.
Parents worry, they hear Bangla first and think this will slow their child down that they won’t be able to compete globally.
It’s a valid concern and we have to address it with the science.
Learning is about building concepts, right?
If a child can fully grasp a concept, let’s say cause and effect in Bangla, then transferring the vocabulary for that concept to English later is actually qu quite easy.
But if they only hear it in a language they don’t really understand they get shallow learning in both strong Bangla foundations actually accelerate English mastery later.
So practically in the classroom what does this look like?
A child makes a mistake speaking.
How does a teacher respond?
The technique we teach is expand don’t only correct.
Instead of just pointing out the grammar error, the teacher affirms the child’s meaning and then models a slightly better version.
Can you give us an example of course so a young child might point and say which means the tree is tall okay the teacher instead of just correcting would smile and say I tensio says why the pubio got you in the area what you which is yes the tree is very tall and the leaves are very green too exactly you’ve affirmed their confidence but you’ve also effortlessly given them the correct structure and richer vocabulary and you’re also shifting the kind of questions you ask a huge shift away from what color is this to questions that make them think like how did you know or if this wasn’t here then what would happen you’re making the teacher a real language partner that’s the goal okay let’s move to early maths strand06 the pressure to get kids writing sums early is just immense it is and that pressure leads to the biggest pitfall Math driven by copying numbers from a board, memorizing sequences, completing worksheets, get a notebook full of numbers, but almost zero deep understanding, zero number sense.
So, the EBTD approach is all about number sense first, that feeling for quantity and relationships before you get to the written procedures.
How do you do that with limited resources?
It’s about emphasizing the concrete before the abstract.
We use local, tangible, lowcost things.
Collect pebbles, sticks, bottle caps, Tamarind seeds, anything.
You make math something you can touch and move.
Children need to physically group things, separate them, compare them.
You mention a concept in the framework, subotizing.
What is that?
Subotizing is just the ability to see a small quantity and instantly know how many are there without counting.
Like when you look at a dice and you just know it’s a five, you don’t count the dots.
Precisely.
It’s like knowing you have two eyes on your face.
You don’t count them.
We build this by flashing quick arrangements of bottle caps or dots.
It builds an intuitive understanding of quantity.
So math becomes about thinking, not just a chore.
It has to.
Okay.
Our final high impact area, self-regulation and social development.
Strando 04.
This seems critical for just managing a large classroom.
It is the foundation of everything.
Emotional and physical safety.
Self-regulation is the ability to manage your attention, your emotions, your frustration.
And the crucial thing is it’s a skill.
It has to be taught.
And this is where you make a profound distinction.
Compliance is not Self-regulation a critical distinction compliance that you get through fear or punishment is external it’s temporary it is not self-regulation self-regulation is building that internal capacity so how do you use language to build that you have to teach emotional vocabulary in Bangla children can’t regulate feelings they can’t name so you introduce words like words like words like it’s quite something calm.
You use them in stories and daily chats.
The goal is to help a child move from expressing feelings with action like hitting to expressing them with words.
And the teacher has to model this.
Oh, absolutely.
If a teacher feels frustrated, instead of just reacting, they can narrate their process.
Say out loud, say out loud, I’m feeling a bit frustrated now, so I’m taking Five slow breaths.
That’s incredibly powerful.
It changes the whole culture of the classroom.
And you mentioned routines are part of this scaffolding.
Routines are emotional scaffolds.
A simple visual timetable with pictures of what’s happening next helps children feel secure.
And you can use a short shared calm routine like that 5 seconds of breathing.
Exactly.
Before a tricky transition like coming in from the playground.
It just resets everyone.
So this is all fantastic for the teacher, but they aren’t working in a vacuum.
What does this mean for the whole school, for parents and leaders?
You’re right.
Teachers are not islands.
This brings us to strand09, family and community.
Where the big challenge is that parental love often translates into that academic pressure we keep talking about.
Because they’re relying on the models they experienced, which were all about exams, the framework positions parents as essential partners, not problems you have to manage.
And you do that by building on cultural strengths.
Absolutely.
The rich oral story telling traditions in Bangladesh, the value placed on character, religious values, you build on those.
So, how does a school talk to parents about this without making them feel judged?
It’s all in the reframing.
So, instead of a note saying, “You must do homework for an hour,” you say.
You say, “Even just talking with your child while you cook or listening to their stories on the bus, that helps their language grow.”
Exactly that.
You encourage them to tell traditional stories.
You help them see that home activities, reciting rhymes, talking about the day, that is real powerful literacy work.
You’re expanding the definition of what counts as educational.
I love that.
Okay.
Finally, leadership strand 10.
How do leaders manage this massive change strategically?
The biggest danger is initiative overload.
A leader cannot try to implement all 10 strands of this framework at once.
It will fail.
So, you prioritize.
The guide helps them do that.
Choose one or two priority strands.
Maybe for one whole year you just focus on language and communication and all your professional development is geared towards that single goal.
And when you’re monitoring this, how do you avoid just falling back on testing?
Your monitoring has to be light touch and developmental.
The evidence you’re looking for is a change in practice, not a change in scores.
So you’re looking observation notes that show a teacher is using the expand don’t correct technique, photos of the new story corner.
You get feedback from parents.
Is your child using more emotion words at home?
Because heavy testing will just drive everyone back to the old way of doing things instantly.
It undermines the entire philosophy.
Which brings us right back to the core message.
The EBTD early years framework is this practical evidence-based roadmap.
It’s about building secure foundations that last.
It’s about making global science locally relevant.
And most important part, the entire framework, all the related resources like the self-review tools, the talk guidance, it’s all completely free for every teacher and leader in Bangladesh.
So the to action is don’t try to change everything tomorrow.
Pick one small thing.
Start using pebbles for math.
Introduce that calm routine.
Just start and you’ll see the impact right away.
So the ultimate takeaway for you to consider is this.
The current rushed model of pushing academics too early doesn’t just fail to accelerate learning.
It often actively damages a child’s long-term trajectory.
But if we get these early years right by focusing on secure foundations, rich language, and purposeful play, we address educational inequality at the most critical stage and we dramatically reduce the need for that expensive difficult remediation work later on.