Developing countries face distinct challenges in providing access to quality education. Educational provision also varies markedly in terms of teacher training, teaching and learning resources, school attendance, and motivation of parents, teachers and children for schooling. Against this backdrop, we consider the available evidence on foundation learning and literacy in order to identify key components for intervention that are appropriate to specific cultural and linguistic contexts.

This paper summarises evidence from a DFID-funded review by Nag, Chiat, Torgerson & Snowling (2014) titled Literacy, Foundation Learning and Assessment in Developing Countries, which was produced by a collaborative team from the Universities of Oxford and Durham, and City University London with The Promise Foundation (India).

Videos of Professor Maggie Snowling and Dr Sonali Nag, two of the authors of the review, are available through HEART Talks.

The review is part of a series of DFID education rigorous literature reviews. Other reviews in this series include:

• The Impact of Tertiary Education on Development
• The role and impact of private schools in developing countries
• Pedagogy, Curriculum, Teaching Practices and Teacher Education in Developing Countries
• The Political Economy of Education Systems in Developing Countries
• Girls’ education and gender equality