Sabre: Early Years Play-Based Teacher Training

Transforming early education in Ghana through child-centred, play-based teacher training.

Nearly 80% of children in Ghana lack basic literacy and numeracy by the end of primary school (UNESCO, 2022). Yet play-based learning—proven to boost learning outcomes—remains underused. 85% of KG teachers are not trained in play-based approaches. Sabre is supporting the government to change this, scaling a national KG teacher training model—to transform classrooms for 1.2m children through play

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Overview

HundrED has selected this innovation to

HundrED Global Collection 2026

Updated November 2025

Web presence

2004

Established

190K 2023

120K 2024

620K 2025

1

Countries

Students early

Target group

By 2030, Sabre Education aims to support Ghana in achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.2 - universal access to quality early childhood education, establishing a benchmark for sub-Saharan Africa, as we work towards our vision of a world where early learning supports every child to succeed.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

High-quality, play-based early childhood education is vital for setting the foundation for children's educational success. Although Ghana offers two years of free public kindergarten with a play-based curriculum, teachers lack the training, resources and skills to deliver it effectively. As a result, 62% of children are not achieving early reading skills by primary 2 (MoE, Ghana, 2022).

What does your innovation look like in practice?

Sabre Education tackles poor child learning outcomes by equipping teachers with the skills to implement Ghana’s play-based kindergarten curriculum, supporting them to transform their classrooms into child-centred, fun learning environments. Trainers from the Ghana Education Service (GES) are upskilled to deliver this year-long, face-to-face, interactive training programme for kindergarten teachers.

Our approach is built for long-term impact, with headteachers and GES officers equipped to provide ongoing coaching, monitoring and classroom support, ensuring lasting change.
And it works. In Ghana’s Eastern Region, we delivered this teacher training programme to 1,487 teachers, showing a dramatic difference: 75% of learners in Sabre Education intervention schools achieved target numeracy and literacy skills compared to 27% (numeracy) and 41% (literacy) in non-intervention schools (JMK Consulting Ltd, 2023).

How has it been spreading?

To date, Sabre Education's play-based teacher training model has been implemented in 21 districts across five of Ghana’s 16 regions, reaching over 361,000 children aged four and five. Over the past two years, we’ve supported the Government in preparing for a national scale-up of this impactful approach.

In 2023, a key milestone was achieved when the government launched the Kindergarten In-Service Teacher Training (KG-INSET) Manual. Developed in partnership with Sabre Education, Right To Play, and Innovations for Poverty Action, the manual sets out practical training for KG teachers and education officials in the play-based teaching approach. With technical support from Sabre Education and partners, the government will train over 30,000 public KG teachers and relevant government officials in KG-INSET over the next four years, scaling quality play-based learning nationwide. As a result, 1.2 million KG children will benefit from quality play-based learning annually, including 600,000 new KG 1 children each year.

How have you modified or added to your innovation?

The KG-INSET programme is the result of years of piloting, testing, and learning, shaped by what works best in real classrooms. It has been carefully refined to create an approach that’s not just effective, but sustainable. And now, it is being rolled out nationwide by the government/Ministry of Education, to reach every government kindergarten teacher.

We’ve adapted the model over time based on what we’ve learned from running the training in different settings and at different scales. Here’s how those lessons have shaped the programme:
● Support from headteachers: We’ve added coaching and leadership training for headteachers so they can guide and support KG teachers—key to lasting quality.
● Peer learning through Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): We have developed guidance for KG-specific PLCs to help teachers from nearby schools share ideas and support each other.
● Stronger assessment and monitoring: The programme provides training for government officials to monitor classroom quality and trains teachers to move from paper-based tests to observational assessment.
● Advocacy at all levels: To keep early childhood education a priority, we’ve included advocacy training for officials and key stakeholders.

This is more than training—it is a practical, scalable approach to building a stronger foundation for young learners across Ghana.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Below are the key steps Sabre Education follows to implement this programme. For more information, please contact the team at info@sabre.education, we're happy to help.

Impact & scalability

Impact & Scalability

Sabre Education’s play-based approach delivers transformative learning gains in early literacy and numeracy, with evidence showing triple the success rates of non-participating schools. Backed by government endorsement and a structured teacher training model, the programme is scaling nationally, with strong potential for adaptation in other similar contexts.

HundrED Academy Reviews

By establishing ownership through ongoing dialogues with leadership, inviting parents to class, and training teachers, this innovation fortifies their goal to ensure the perception & behaviour of key stakeholders is not a barrier to implementation.

The innovation has been rapidly spreading. The idea of different stations of play, makes this model easily replicable to other underprivileged communities, where accessing play based education , and its resources are difficult.

- Academy member

Academy review results

Impact

Scalability

Exceptional

High

Moderate

Limited

Insufficient

Exceptional

High

Moderate

Limited

Insufficient

Media

Scaling Play-Based Kindergarten Teacher Training Across Ghana https://youtu.be/z6ulhFwazS8

Learning Through Play Classroom Tour - https://youtu.be/dj8h77EU410

How Learning Centres Can Transform a KG Classroom - https://sabre.education/insights/how-learning-centres-can-transform-a-kg-classroom/

Investing in Women, Investing in the Future: The Role of Female KG teachers in Ghana - https://sabre.education/insights/investing-in-women-investing-in-the-future-the-role-of-female-kg-teachers-in-ghana/

Implementation steps

Engagement with local government, schools, leaders, and others based on local context is critical

We engage the local government education office, to introduce the innovation, share impact data from previous implementations, and gain approval. Together we schedule meetings with school leadership and community leaders to share the objectives and benefits of the programme. At these meetings, we create space for open discussions to gather input and build ownership. Throughout the implementation we ensure that we maintain regular communication and updates to sustain engagement and collaboration.

Deliver train-the-trainer workshops to local education officials

Sabre trains a team of local government staff (the District Teacher Support Team - DTST) to build their capacity to deliver the play-based training. The DTST will then be responsible for training kindergarten (KG) teachers, headteachers, and government officials in this transformational approach. The train-the-trainer workshops provide practical preparation that sets them up to not only deliver training but to support new teachers for years to come, building local capacity and sustainability.

Deliver 9 days of training to all KG teachers, headteachers and education officials.

Sabre supports these local education officials (DTSTs) to deliver multi-day workshops across two terms. These workshops are interactive, using role play, group activities, and real classroom activities. Kindergarten teachers will learn to create their own teaching and learning resources and explore play-based methods, positive behaviour management, child assessment, curriculum delivery, and strategies for involving parents and communities.

Provide and distribute Classroom Resource Packs to every classroom

We equip classrooms with packs full of essential materials for play-based learning, including story books, construction blocks, floor mats, templates for the teachers to create their own low-cost teaching resources, and basic stationery (glue, paper, scissors). During training, we guide teachers in using the templates to create their own resources and transform classrooms into fun, child-centred environments. This includes setting up learning centres, such as reading and construction centres.

Support KG teachers to implement what they’ve learnt at training workshops in their own classrooms.

We support teachers to transform their classrooms into vibrant, child-friendly spaces by arranging desks into small groups, decorating the room with alphabet friezes and helpful posters, and setting up learning centres like a library corner using the storybooks and floor mats provided. We encourage teachers to use the provided resource making templates to create their own low or no-cost teaching materials. Teachers can then follow the daily lesson plan using their new play-based teaching skills.

In-Classroom Coaching and leadership training for headteachers

Sabre provides coaching training for headteachers to support their KG teachers in delivering play-based learning (PBL). The training builds their capacity to observe key areas during in-class coaching sessions, such as lesson planning, learning centres, teaching resources, and positive behaviour management. Headteachers are expected to spend one day each term observing teacher-child interactions and using a coaching tool introduced during training to give feedback and support quality teaching.

Monitoring and assessment training for government education officials.

Sabre runs four training days throughout the year (two in Term 1, one in Terms 2 and 3) for local education officials who have the responsibility to monitor instructional quality in schools. We build their capacity to assess quality play-based learning, teacher performance and how to evaluate headteachers’ coaching skills, using specialised assessment tools to track progress. These monitors will then provide feedback to headteachers and teachers after assessment to support ongoing improvement.

Support Peer Learning through KG-specific Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).

Sabre provides ready-made guidelines and content to each district to support kindergarten-focused PLCs, which bring together KG teachers from nearby schools every two weeks for peer learning sessions. These collaborative gatherings keep energy high, reinforce best practices, and ensure teachers continue growing and supporting one another long after initial training ends.

Monitoring and evaluation throughout the programme.

Sabre supports education officials to train teachers to monitor child developmental progress and learning outcomes on an ongoing basis. We train government officials to assess teacher competency in delivering effective PBL. The results are shared with programme stakeholders. We also monitor training workshop attendance and quality, including the performance of government trainers and the coaching competency of headteachers, and use these insights to adapt and improve the programme.

Coordinate and lead a stakeholder review meeting

Sabre support local education officials to gather all key stakeholders for termly meetings to share project progress, success and challenges. This is a great opportunity to plan mitigation work to address any challenges and create ownership within the school communities. Attendees typically include district education officials, community leaders, school management committee reps and parent association reps, headteachers and teachers.