Teachers in the Home: Strategies Children Use to Support School-readiness Skills in Their Younger Siblings in Kenya and Ethiopia

When children transition from home to school settings and are ready to engage in school tasks, they are more likely to succeed, not only in school but also in their work and social life later on. Studies have, however, indicated that many children in lowand middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in African contexts, enter school without the requisite school-readiness skills. Not much attention has been given to sibling caregiving within family systems as a potential resource for supporting school readiness among younger siblings. In many LMICs, it is common for older children in families to care for younger siblings, where they act, for instance, as teachers, caregivers, and playmates among other roles. In these roles, they support younger siblings with various tasks. This qualitative observational study aimed to explore strategies older siblings use to support younger children in acquiring school-readiness skills, which are very important for successful engagement in school settings. This study used a naturalistic design, which allowed investigators to observe participating children as they interacted with each other in their typical environments at school and at home. Sixteen sibling dyads were recruited from rural African communities (10 from Kenya and 6 from Ethiopia). Data were collected through observation and video recording. The study data were analyzed thematically in an iterative process to develop codes and themes, with related illustrations. The study found that older siblings are effective “teachers” for their younger brothers and sisters, as well as for siblings in the locality. The older siblings spontaneously used strategies such as play, scaffolding, helping, modeling, and direct instruction and supervision to teach the younger siblings important school-readiness skills, including managing frustration by offering scaffolding for joint activities and turn-taking through collaborative play. These findings provide an initial, community-embedded perspective that may help inform interventions to support children in navigating the often challenging transition from home to school in rural Africa and similar contexts.