Impact of Early Childhood Care and Education (Ecce) and Family Background on the Development of Children Within the Nigerian System
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of Study
- To assess the impact of ECCE on future social development of the Nigerian child
- To assess the extent to which family background can influence the future social development of the Nigerian child
- To evaluate the extent to which these two variables (ECCE) and family background jointly influence or predict social development of children.
- To evaluate the awareness of importance ECCE in the three states (Lagos, Kano and Rivers) in Nigeria and determine the level of government involvement in the delivery of quality early childhood education/ preschool in these three states
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of Early Childhood Education
Education is one of the vital factors that help in the development of a human being. The fundamental right of every child is to learn and develop to his or her full potentials through equal access to quality education regardless of their age, gender, origin ethnicity and social background. However, ECE provides the foundation of education in the pre-school education which forms an integral part of a child‘s early education, given formally or informally, in an educational institution to children ages two- five years prior to entering the primary school (Nakopia, 2011).
Early Childhood is the most critical period in human development, thus comprehensive and quality early childhood education can make a significant contribution to the physical, psychomotor, cognitive, social and emotional development of the child; including the acquisition of languages and early literacy. Children are active learners from birth, and the early years are vital to their success in school and later in life. Early childhood education might be considered to be education which takes place before compulsory education. The term refers to education in its broadest sense, including childcare and development. This includes early childhood services provided in kindergartens, nurseries, pre-school classes, child-care centers and other similar institutions. It goes beyond what some refer to as pre-school education, as it is education in its own right, having not only the purpose of preparing children for school, but for life in the same way as all other parts of education systems contribute to this process (Hayes, 2010).
In addition, ECE has an important role in securing all children, good education, thus Childhood years are important in themselves and ECE can contribute to many positive and valuable experiences which form a solid basis for future life and learning. This is supported by the 2007 edition of the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR), which provides evidence that children‘s experiences in the first years
create a solid foundation for subsequent learning. In addition, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development starting strong II (OECD, 2006) asserted that ECE addresses issues of child poverty and educational disadvantage, as well as promoting women‘s labour market participation. In recent studies, OECD (2006), looked at the long- term impact of ECE, and its findings reveal that 15-year-olds who had attended pre- school were, on average, a year ahead of those who had no reading literacy. ―Education internationally‖, thus insists that no child should be denied the benefits of good quality early childhood education. At present various opportunities are provided and several avenues are opened that help in imparting knowledge to children all over the world (Bradford, Aguda, Bingham, Bower, Broomby & Coltman, 1996). Globally, individuals and governments invest heavily to ensure high quality and accessible early childhood education at early stage of life.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
Research Design
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e. mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
Population of the Study
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals, as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitutes individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried out to examine the impact of early childhood care and education (ECCE) and family background on the development of children within the nigerian system. Hence, the population of this study comprises of 12 schools across Nigeria.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of hundred and twenty (120) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which 100 were returned. The analysis of this study is based on the number returned.
From the responses obtained as expressed in the table above, 60 respondents constituting 60% said high. 20 respondents constituting 20% said low. While the remain 20 respondents constituting 20% were undecided.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
Introduction
This chapter summarizes the findings on the impact of early childhood care and education (ecce) and family background on the development of children within the nigerian system, Enugu State as case study. The chapter consists of summary of the study, conclusions, and recommendations.
Summary of the Study
In this study, our focus was on the impact of early childhood care and education (ECCE) and family background on the development of children within the nigerian system, Enugu State as case study. The study is was specifically focused on examining the impact of ECCE on future social development of the Nigerian child; assessing the extent to which family background can influence the future social development of the Nigerian child, evaluating the extent to which these two variables (ECCE) and family background jointly influence or predict social development of children and evaluating the awareness of importance ECCE in the three states (Lagos, Kano and Rivers) in Nigeria and determine the level of government involvement in the delivery of quality early childhood education/ preschool in these three states.
The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 100 responses were validated from the enrolled participants where all respondent are pupils of three states (Lagos, Kano and Rivers) in Nigeria.
Conclusions
With respect to the analysis and the findings of this study, the following conclusions emerged;
Quality teachers and resource environments have been shown to encourage greater improvements in creativity in early childhood education. Availability of a vast array of learning resources at the early childhood level is especially important, leading to school readiness as students enter primary school and to later gains in academic achievement. There is a need to provide adequate resources- physical, human and learning to early childhood education in university of lagos. These resources will help childhood educators in these centres organize learning activities to prompte creativity among children.
Recommendation
Based on the findings the researcher recommends that;
1) Government and proprietors of early childhood education centres should provide their centres with adequate materials as specified by the NERDC.
2) Every early childhood education should have a copy of ECCDE curriculum, National policy on Education and Conventions on the Rights of the Child.
3) Inspectors should regularly monitor early childhood centers to ensure that training in early childhood education is not based a one-way transmission of knowledge from teacher to pupil using books.
4) Teachers in early childhood education centres should be sponsored to seminars on early childhood education at least once a year to promote their professional growth in the creative education of children.
REFERENCES
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- ED.gov (2010). Prepare my child for school: Early childhood education. Retrieved June 20, 2010, from http://www2.ed.gov/parents/earlychild/ready/resources.html#eci.
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