Promoting life-long learning through early childhood development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how funding in the public and private Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres promote or retard quality of opportunities and if the current investment would result in the success of this country’s educational future. Education is key to the development of the world, but ECD is ranked one of the most marginalised and fragmented sectors in education in many countries (Kamerman 2000; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation [UNESCO] 2007) and this points out that South Africa is not one of them (Education, Training and Development Practitioners [ETDP] – Sector Education and Training Authority [SETA] 2001). Evidently, the South African education system had undergone a drastic shift since 1994 and that transformation process has begun to see ECD moving slightly from the margins of education to the mainstream. Five purposefully selected ECD centres in Motheo district, Bloemfontein were sampled. The purposeful selection consisted of five (5) centres ranging from school-, community- and home-based ECD centres, where three (3) centre matrons and two (2) educators/caregivers, under the instruction of the matrons, formed the sample. The study used a narrative paradigm. The instruments used to collect data were interviews, both one-on-one and focus group. Both deductive and inductive data analysis was used. The themes in data analysis were derived inductively from the raw data using Cartesian and Kantian reasoning respectively. Some themes were predetermined by the researcher when engaging with the literature and the practice as a teacher. The study shows that there is no uniformity in terms of what the learners are taught, neither is there in the level of education of educators/ECD practitioners. This calls for early childhood development to structure the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) of its personnel. The results also show that the more affluent the location of the school the better chances of educators/practitioners who are qualified to teach. The responses of some participants who do not have any training after matric or ECD training show limited knowledge of content and pedagogical knowledge. Some have content knowledge, but lack pedagogical knowledge. Some have content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, but have no background of theories grounding their way of teaching.