scholarly journals ‘Every mother dances her baby’: Contextually responsive narratives of early childhood care and education in Kenya and Uganda

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Auma Okwany
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Structural Vulnerability ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Childhood Care

Despite major steps towards providing early childhood care and education (ECCE) services in Kenya and Uganda, access to responsive services is still out of reach for many young children, and where available, they are often out of touch with local realities. In this paper, I trouble the universalising and totalising tendencies of the dominant narrative of ECCE as a template of thought and action and highlight the role of indigenous knowledge as a critical but often missing link in ECCE policy and practice. I draw on the situated experiences of caregivers and local communities, which counter the dominant narrative and argue that culturally responsive ECCE requires contextually sensitive policy and programmes. Such policies should affirm and support the important role of local knowledge in the care and socialisation of young children. Policies should also recognise the informal resilient social protection system without obscuring the role of the state in addressing structural vulnerability.

scholarly journals The role of the State in Early Childhood Care and Education: Kindergartens as a Case Study of Changing Relationships

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Davison ◽  
Linda Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
The State ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Childhood Care

Much of the public discussion of early childhood education policies has focused on particular policy initiatives, rather than considering more broadly what should be the role of the state in relation to young children’s education and upbringing. The roles that the state chooses to play are political decisions that are influenced by constructions of childhood and preferred policy approaches. In turn, these policy approaches help shape the nature of early childhood education. This article analyses changing models of state responsibility for New Zealand kindergartens to highlight their repercussions on kindergartens and the wider early childhood education sector. It argues that the state needs to take a supportive and responsible role in provision of early childhood care and education, to support a move away from a market model, and to resolve inequities in children’s access and teacher employment conditions that continue to beset the sector. The article ends by setting the discussion within an international context and suggesting policy challenges for early childhood education in New Zealand.

scholarly journals Cash transfers and early childhood care and education in Zimbabwe: A critical inquiry to discourse, theory and practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilton Nyamukapa
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Transfer Program ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Food Education ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Access To Food

<p>Cash transfer based social protection can potentially contribute positively upon targeted beneficiaries on a variety of developmental aspects. This study explored the pilot and scaled-up phases of the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer program to determine impacts towards improving under-eight children’s access to food, education, and health services. Stories of significant change were gathered in retrospect from purposively sampled caregivers and children beneficiaries. Based on thematic and guided analysis, it emerged that the programmes’ theoretical and practical approaches renders the interventions less effective as impact assessment is narrowed to the early childhood cohort. This is furthered by relatively insufficient size of grants disbursed per household and commodity supply-side challenges. Consequently, a review to theoretical and practical tenets of the cash transfer approach becomes imminent in the Zimbabwean context. Targeting criteria needs refinement and supplemented with policy and multi-faceted public investment to address underlying limitations to impact on young children. </p>

scholarly journals Portraits of Home: Working in Community Daycare Homes in New Brunswick

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 283-299
Author(s):  
Tara-Lynn Scheffel
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Brunswick ◽  
Life Changes ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Curriculum Framework ◽  
New Beginnings ◽  
First Time

Part of a larger project involving the design and implementation of a first-time curriculum framework for early childhood care and learning in New Brunswick, this paper highlights the stories of Canadian early childhood educators working in home-based daycares. In particular, a common theme of "sense of place" is discussed in relation to four portraits that are presented in this article: (1) Home as Survival, (2) Transition to Home, (3) Home as Transition, and (4) Coming Home. Through each portrait, the role of life changes and transitioning towards new beginnings is discussed, along with possibilities and constraints for ongoing discussion and reflection.

scholarly journals EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE & EDUCATION: AN ICT PERSPECTIVE

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep Kumar Mishra ◽  
Anthony Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Early Introduction ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

In the 21st century, technology serves to reinforce the educational bedrock of any country. Technology has revolutionized the teaching learning process by integrating different source of knowledge - clearly visible from primary to post-tertiary level. This paper examines the introduction of ICT in early childhood years centred on the relationship of ICT with the cognitive, emotional and social development of children. The paper discusses various aspects of the ongoing debate around ICT usage in the early years and tries to answer some of the relevant issues namely, the rationale for early introduction of ICT, the perceived risks and benefits involved in its usage, the role of the parents, and fostering appropriate application of ICT in the early childhood classrooms.

scholarly journals Funds of knowledge and agentic strategies of three- and four-year-old children in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Glynnis Daries ◽  
Hasina Ebrahim
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Funds Of Knowledge ◽  
Pretend Play ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care

In South Africa, little is known about the funds of knowledge of young children, and how they use this resource to affirm their agency in early childhood centres to build their childhood experiences. With this article we contribute knowledge through exploring the strategies that young children use to show their agency and thereby their funds of knowledge in a marginalised context. The funds of knowledge approach is helpful for illuminating meaning-making endeavours that foreground agentic actions that are imaginative, creative and beyond normative expectations. The study reported on in this article was conducted in Bloemfontein, South Africa, at 4 early childhood centres. Data were obtained through observation of 30 three- and 4-year-old children. The findings suggest that young children engage in agentic strategies of avoiding, ignoring and challenging adult control, pretend-play, imitation of adults and peers, and gendered negotiations, as efforts to contest a largely teacher-controlled environment. The insights from this study contribute to the understanding of the kinds of practices in which young children routinely engage, but which are often disregarded and undervalued by teachers. The agentic imagery of children, together with intersections of other imagery, needs to be part of the knowledge mix to inform teacher development and policy on early childhood care and education of children between birth and 4 years old in South Africa.

scholarly journals Interrogating the ‘artificial’ divide between health and education for children aged 0–3 years in urban poor locales in Kenya

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelia Munene ◽  
Auma Okwany
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Childhood Health ◽  
Early Childhood Health ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care

Holistic integrated early childhood policies foster child well-being in the first 3 years of life. The normative framing of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) entrenches segmentation and creates artificial divides between education and health. This segmentation persists yet development processes for children are intertwined and mutually reinforcing. We trouble this artificial divide by drawing on findings from a study which examined the discursive care spaces in an urban poor locale in Kenya. Data were produced through in-depth interviews; participant observation and focus group discussions with caregivers and both state and non-state care providers. Using a socio-ecological lens to analyse intra- and inter-household interactions among caregivers, our analysis exposes the assumptions and silences in ECCE health and education and presents caregivers’ rich nuanced experiences and counter accounts. We conclude by calling for the imperative of bridging the divide between and within early childhood health and education to support integrated, adaptive and contextualised policy and practice.

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