Topics and emerging trends in Preprimary Education
Defining Preprimary Education
Preprimary Education program has been defined as a period of life between 0 to 8 years of age
UNESCO, 1996). This is the period of greatest growth and development, when the brain
develops most rapidly, almost at its fullest. It is a period when walking, talking, self-esteem,
vision of the world and moral foundations are established.A time of remarkable brain
development, these years, 0 to 8 lay the foundation for subsequent learning(UNESCO
Preprimary Care and Education Unit, 1996). Evans et al. (2000) assert preprimary care and
education as referring to the provision of all the support necessary for every child to realise
his/her right to survival, to protection, to care and to education that thus ensuring optimal
development from birth to age six.From the Zimbabwean context, the Nziramasanga
Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training(1999:262) defines Preprimary Development
education as “a programme in Zimbabwe that provides forthe care and education of children
from 0 to 6 years…an endeavor to consciously promote a child`s development and education”.
Though deferring on the age range, it can therefore be deduced from the above citations that
ECD is a holistic, integrated, inclusive approach to programming, research and policy for young
children who need a healthy, safe and nurturing environment that includes opportunities to
support them emotionally, socially, physically, cognitively and spiritually within the context of
their community.
The concept of preprimary education
Kenya, one of the earlier, newly independent countries of Africa (1963), followed a route that
many other African countries would also take, identifying early childhood services as a key
component of local development, particularly in the rural areas. The Kenyan ‘Harambee’ (let us
pull together) preschools were informally organized and typically had one of the local mothers
identified as the ‘teacher’ (Kipkorir, p. 339). Kenya became an independent country and a leader
in ECD development in Africa at a time that many other countries in Africa were still moving
towards independence. Kenya achieved ECD visibility partially through interaction with what
would become another key strand in the African ECD fabric—support from the international
donor community, in this case the Bernard van Leer Foundation. In 1971 the Kenyan Ministry of
Education and the Bernard van Leer Foundation launched the Preschool Education Project at the
Kenya Institute of Education, which was to become, arguably, the best known ECD project in
Africa for many years. The focus of the collaboration was on three objectives: 1) preparation of a
cadre of officers who could assume the role of promoting and supervising nursery schools; 2)
documenting the educational and social gains of children experiencing the programs; and 3)
establishing a number of ‘demonstration’ programs suitable for training purposes (Kipkorir, p.
342).
As other African states achieved independence, many moved through the dynamics of
recognizing both the challenges and opportunities afforded by ECD described above. Given
these challenges, it is interesting to note the readiness of many African leaders to play key
facilitative roles in recognizing the Rights of the Child. Early in 1989 the potential for mounting
a successful World Summit for Children was still very much in doubt. However, at the
Francophone Summit in Dakar in May 1989, Presidents Traore of Mali and Diouf of Senegal
“put their weight behind a resolution stating that Africa wanted a World Summit for
Children.”(Black, 1996). A similar statement from the Organization for African Unity (OAU)
followed in July. It is against this African backdrop of government interest in child-related issues
but balanced against enormous challenges related to structural, financial and often civil disorder
and, more recently, in the context of broader international support for ECD amongst donors and
international organizations, that most African states have pursued advances in ECD.
The benefits of Preprimary Education
Early childhood education, within the last few decades, took the attention from the different
fields (Roopnarine& Johnson, 2005) such as developmental psychology, cultural psychology,
childhood studies, cultural anthropology, history and philosophy because recent studies showed
that babies and young children are born with the capacity to understand (Nutbrown, 2006). In
other words, their brains are ready to learn when they came to the world and during this process;
both the environment and genes take an important role which in turn, builds the brain (Levitt,
2008). This view regarding children, perceiving them as competent learners rather than empty
slates changed the disciplines’ way of looking to the education of children or early childhood
education.
The readiness of the children to learn even when they are just born triggered the ideas of
necessity of early childhood education both for the individual child and for the society as a
whole, in broader sense. Longitudinal studies have showed that early childhood education is the
period when children’s development was rapid and when children were affected more from the
environmental factors. In addition, two thirds of the brain development was completed between
the years of 0-4 (AÇEV, 2006). Therefore, education in this crucial period creates significance
for the development of children. In a study conducted by Barnett (1995), it was found that
getting an early childhood education provided an increase in the IQ level of children in the short
term and in the long term; it increased the child’s school achievement.
Early childhood education becomes more beneficial especially, for the children coming from low
socio-economic background. Bassok, Bridges, Fuller, Loeb and Rumberger (2007) identified
benefits of being exposure to early education for the children coming from low-income families
as cognitive growth and school readiness. Besides children from low socio-economic
background, good quality of A significant number of researchers have written on the positive
effects of ECD programmes which are seen as transforming the development of children in all
aspects of their lives (Young, 2002). According to Young (2002),ECD programmes benefited the
poor and disadvantaged children and families since it has the potency to fight poverty and its
educational implications in developing countries. Wylie, Hodgen, Hipkins and Vaughan (2009)
and Myers (1992) remark that the period of preprimary development has a strong and positive
impact on further development and children`s learning in later ages.
Studies by Wylie et al (2009) indicate that attendees of ECD centres continued to benefit from
their attendance11 years later. In order to curb wastages in the education system, ECD has been
touted in research studies as diminishing the potency to drop out of school and it has also been
found out that grade repetition on primary education is lowered due to attendance in ECD
education (Myers, 1992; Young, 2002). These findings were replicated in studies by Plan
Bangladesh, among others, which found out that early stimulation and preparation for education
enhance student learning in school and increases retention rates up to the terminal grades.There
is also the reduced educational expenditure because of little or no need for remedial action for
the slow learners since these are minimised through the ECD programmes (UNESCO, 1996). For
the children who are not participants of ECD education, there are personal and social costs in the
form of poor adjustment, continued high primary school repetition and dropout rates, and
consequently, for the country, another generation of functional illiterates (Halpern and Myers,
1985). Thus ECD results in low cost to the financiers of education.
Children's rights
The idea of children having rights tends to be interpreted as being permissive and giving them
too much power and control, while at the same time taking power and control away from parents
(or others in authority over children, such as teachers). This 'ideological blindness to the facts at
hand and the interests at stake' (Melton, 2005, p. 647) is not productive. Both Australia and New
Zealand have signed the Convention and have an obligation to implement it. New Zealand's
current relative economic prosperity give us no excuses for failure to implement, although
money is far from the major consideration in children's rights. It is important that the ratification
of the Convention (in 1990 in Australia and 1993 in New Zealand) should be more than a public
relations exercise, with the earliest ratifying countries often having made little progress in
implementation
Children's rights have been argued about for centuries, and the concept touches raw nerves when
adult decisions and actions are put to the test (Stainton Rogers, 2004). 'Rights are entitlements,
valuable commodities' which we 'do not have to grovel or beg to get', according to Freeman
(1996, p. 70). Children's rights do not receive widespread public or political support in New
Zealand, and perhaps even less so in Australia. Children's rights have often been perceived as 'a
political hot potato', which, rather than advancing children's interests, jeopardise them (Melton,
2005, p. 655). This is a disturbing state of affairs, and one I would like academics and
professionals working on children's issues to fight. There is a responsibility for education about
children's rights to be implemented in countries which have ratified the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention).Article 42 obliges the state 'to make the
principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to
adults and children alike'. It is particularly important, therefore, for early childhood teacher
education and professional development programs to ensure that the principles of the Convention
are understood and implemented in early childhood services.
There are other the Convention articles which are also important for early childhood education
(see Smith, 2000), but it is participation rights, in particular Articles 12 and 13, that are the most
challenging. Article 12 says the views of children should be taken into account in decisions
affecting them (according to age and maturity). Article 13 says children have the right to express
their views and to be given information. Article 12 is 'the linchpin' of the Convention (Freeman,
1996) which recognises children's personality and autonomy “children as people and not just
objects of concern ”and that children must be listened to. Article 13 is equally important in
setting out children's rights to give and receive information. These articles accept that children
are full human beings with rights and dignity, and accord respect to their identity
(Pufall&Unsworth, 2004). Participation rights are very important within a societal context where
adult authority and power is absolute. Children's participation in society supports a sense of
belonging and inclusion but, more importantly, teaches children how they can bring about
change.
Globalization and Early Childhood Education
Globalization has reshaped many issues (Grant &Grant, 2007; Koggel, 2003) international
relations, population growth, development, human rights, the environment, labor, health care and
poverty. It also affected and reshaped the education as well. Beginning from early childhood
education to college education, we may see the influences of globalization.
Effect of globalization seemed to be seen in all countries more, after 1985s, when entered into an
information age by the mass spread of computers and internet all around the world, education
and holding the information in hands became more crucial. In other words, knowledge became
power. Bearing this in mind, the active, productive and having knowledge of producing their
own technology, skilled at several foreign languages, leader type of human beings are valued.
So, countries started to reshape their curriculums in all levels of education (from early childhood
to college) towards cultivating those types of people (Dülger, 2000). As this cultivation process
starts from the first level which is early education, the countries are looking for the best
curriculum model in early childhood education.
In addition to the need for fully competent individuals having the skills and knowledge of
dealing with the new world’s demands, changes in the family units (Morrison, 2007) such as
more mothers entered into the work force or rich parents who look for the best educational places
for their children as early as possible, brought the early childhood education as growing concern.
On the other hand, more women have been favored in employment than in the past (Anning&
Edwards, 2006). As manufacturing industries declined, service industries expanded. Employers
seeking a more flexible, part time, cheaper, nonunionized work force found that women fitted
more passively into such patterns of employment than men. Women also traditionally have better
‘people skills’ and that quality was both useful and profitable for industries serving the public at
a face-to face level. So, as more women involved in the work force, the problem of educating
those women’s children aroused.
Problems that Preschool Teachers Face in the Curriculum Implementation
Items that are lack of resting time, crowded classrooms, and small classroom environment
composed of the problem area that is physical facilities. Items that are finding time for writing
detailed evaluation, evaluation of plans and evaluation of the child composed of the problem area
that is evaluation. Also, items that are preparing science and mathematics activities, field trips
are from the problem area that is plans and activities. Preschool teachers, regarding the problems
created by the lack of resting time, elaborated that they need small and frequent break times or so
called resting times in the way that the primary school teachers have. Despite using children free
play times as to get rest a little, preschool teachers explained that the purpose from getting
relaxed should not be considered as to sit and doing nothing rather it should let teachers to get
out of the classroom and change the atmosphere for frequent breaks. These break times of
preschool teachers must have stated legally in the related regulation, Maxwell (2007).
In early childhood education, adequate infrastructure is crucial to provide high quality education
because infrastructure, within a complex system, serves as a foundation for the rest (Azzi-
Lessing, 2009). The lack of necessary infrastructure causes problems for proper curriculum
implementation as it has a role in establishing and enforcing program and child outcome
standards. Accordingly, a school without a proper infrastructure opens the doors to other
implementation problems. Moreover, it would be possible to conclude that this difference might
be related with the expectations of parents and principals from teachers within these schools. In
private preschool, parents and school principals might be expecting more from preschool
teachers related to children’s academic success, so the teachers may either hide the problems that
they are facing or show more effort during curriculum implementation to satisfy the expectation
of parents and principals. In a way, preschool teachers in private preschools might be working
hard to eliminate the problems that they encounter. On the other hand, it might be claimed that if
the principals in private schools are monitoring preschool teachers periodically and giving scores
based on their performance, preschool teacher might be more likely to show their positive
experience during their implementation rather than problems, (Mayall& Yin, 2006).
Teaching experience can be differentiating aspect among preschool teachers in classroom
management skills (Reid, Stoolmiller& Webster- Stratoon, 2008; Martina, Mayall& Yin, 2006)
or selecting and using appropriate methods for teaching in their classrooms. However, results of
this study indicated physical facilities and evaluation as the most problematic areas for preschool
teachers during curriculum implementation. In terms of problems related physical facilities,
solution of which is not in the hands of being experienced or not, preschool teachers cannot be
the first responsible ones to overcome deficiencies in infrastructure. Moreover, it can be
concluded that parents’ attitude can be the reason of detecting no effect of teaching experience in
having problems related evaluation. The teachers, regardless of their teaching experience, may
feel uncomfortable when writing an evaluation about a child if the parents show serious reactions
for the evaluation written for their child. So, this may lead teachers to soften or change their
comments related children in evaluation part.
From the perspective of teachers, lack of science centers and related materials prevents them
from properly implementing science activities. They also added that the classroom environment
was not suitable for doing scientific experiment. The findings related with science activities are
consistent with the findings of study conducted by Ayvacı, Devecioğlu and Yiğit (2002) that
deficiencies in providing materials negatively affects the preschool teachers’ performance of
implementing science activities. Also, Özbey (2006) elaborated that for preschool teachers,
difficulty in planning and implementing science activities derived from the lack of science
materials.
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