Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Social workers employed by the Department of Social Development in South Africa are tasked with the provision of a broad spectrum of social services and may specialise in fields, such as welfare planning, which involves the capacity building, support and monitoring of welfare organisations. Early childhood development services fall in this category, as these services are monitored by social workers. Social workers employed by the Department of Social Development are the only group tasked with the mandate to capacitate, register partial care facilities and programmes, as well as monitor unregistered and registered facilities, on an on-going basis. Social workers adhere to these mandates amid many challenges. The aim of this study is to develop guidelines for social workers, who render services to Early Childhood Development (partial care) facilities. The objectives of this study are to explore the needs of social workers in the Early Childhood Development field in the Department of Social Development, identify challenges related to effective service delivery, explore the current methods of service delivery, develop guidelines and refined the draft guidelines, through a Delphi study. The Intervention Research design was used in this study, as it best suited the development of a tool; however, it was adapted to use only certain phases that were suitable for implementation for this study. The adaptation involved the use of the first four phases of the Intervention research method, combining of phase 1 and 2 to form a new phase 1 of the modified phases that linked to objectives one and two of the study. Therefore, this study only has three operational phases. A qualitative methodology was employed in this study to achieve the intended outcomes. Data collection occurred through semi-structured and telephonic interviews. Purposive sampling was used to select twenty (20) social workers from the Department of Social Development in the Western Cape and five (5) in the Eastern Cape. These participants engaged with Early Childhood Development facilities and interviews were conducted with them, while five (5) telephonic interviews were conducted with social workers in the Eastern Province. Conclusions from the analysed data were used to develop guidelines for DSD social workers within ECD settings. Two rounds of a Delphi study were employed to refine the proposed guidelines.

Magister Artium - MA (Psychology) / In recent years, the global focus on Early Child Development (ECD) has delivered mounting evidence of it being one of the most rewarding areas of investment a country can make. A central outcome of quality ECD is to provide sufficient support to enable a child to arrive at Grade 1 ready to learn. Environmental factors impacting on child development and school readiness have thus been under increasing scrutiny. Although studies have delivered evidence of fathers' unique contribution to ECD, fathers' impact on a child's school readiness is often overlooked. The overall aim of this thesis was to report on the findings of the exploratory investigation on fathers' perspectives of school readiness. All relevant ethics principles were observed in the study. The study received ethics clearance from the Senate Research Committee (HS/16/5/41). The study followed an explorative design incorporating qualitative methodologies for data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of nine fathers residing in Cape Town, who had full parental rights and responsibilities for their child in Grade R. Thematic analysis produced three themes with subthemes. The core findings suggested that first, fathers did not have a good fund of knowledge about school readiness and child development. Personal context and subjective experiences impacted or informed their views and beliefs about school readiness. Second, feedback from teachers and professionals was highly valued and was a primary source of information about their children's school readiness. Third, facilitating school readiness involved different systems and role players of which fathers are important role players. It emerged that in some ways the role of fathers remains undervalued and in others, fathers' ability to participate is diminished due to their fund of knowledge, gendered patterns to child rearing and engagement with school systems.

Magister Public Health - MPH / The first 1000 days of life represents the period from conception right up to a child’s second birthday. Over the years, there has been a growing body of evidence focusing on the importance of nutrition during this period; also referred to as the ‘window of life’. It is during this period that most incidents of stunting occur. Age appropriate nutrition can provide a child with positive health benefits for the rest of their life. During these first two years infant and young child feeding practices are ideally made up of optimal breastfeeding practices (i.e. exclusive breastfeeding from birth up to six months and continued breastfeeding up to or beyond two years), along with age appropriate complementary feeding practices from six months up to two years. To date, local research studies that have explored the role of parents in infant and young child feeding have tended to focus, firstly, more on the mothers than the fathers, and secondly, have tended to focus more on breastfeeding than complementary feeding and practices. By conducting this research study, it was anticipated that rich information would be accessed from fathers in the district that could then be used to assist the local health workers and district health management team to improve the current infant and young child feeding interventions being implemented at district and community level specifically for children 6 to 23 months.

Early childhood development (ECD) is a critical stage of development that forms the foundation for the future welfare and edification of children (UNICEF 2017:1). A key principle in this development is the notion that everything which surrounds the child, both visible and invisible, has an impact on the child (Cook & Cook 2009; Steiner Waldorf Education 2014). In this dissertation the impact of the architectural environment on early childhood development is addressed, bringing together the fields of pedagogy and architecture. The research determined the development of a set of design principles and guidelines that acts as a catalyst to generate architectural design solutions that can improve early childhood development, allowing children to engage in their spatial environments through active play and everyday use. Therefore, their early childhood development is enhanced as a result of reconfigured experiential built environments and spatial arrangements, where the environment acts as a third teacher and gives a heightened role to architecture as a medium for child development. / Vroeë kinderontwikkeling is ‘n kritieke stadium van ontwikkeling wat die fondament vir die toekomstige welsyn en opbou van ‘n kind vorm. ‘n Sleutelbeginsel in hierdie ontwikkeling is die begrip dat alles wat ‘n kind omring, beide sigbaar en onsigbaar, ‘n inslag op die kind het (Cook & Cook 2009; Steiner Waldorf Education 2014). In hierdie dissertasie word die inslag van die argitektoniese omgewing op vroeë kinderontwikkeling aangespreek, en sodoende word die velde van pedagogie en argitektuur saamgevoeg. Die navorsing het die ontwerp van ‘n stel ontwerpbesginsels en riglyne bepaal wast as katalisators optree om argitektoniese ontwerpoplossings te genereer. Hierdie oplossings kan vroeë kinderontwikkeling verbeter, en kinders toelaat om deur middel van aktiewe spel en alledaagse gebruik by hul ruimtelike omgewings betrokke te raak. So word hulle vroeë kinderontwikkeling versterk deur middel van ‘n hersaamgestelde proefondervindelike bou-omgewing en ruimtelike ordening, waarin die omgewing as ‘n derde onderwyser funksioneer, en ‘n verhoogde rol aan argitektuur as medium vir kinderontwikkeling toegeken word. / Mini Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Architecture / MArch (Prof) / Unrestricted

Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / Early childhood has been identified as a critical period for providing nutritional intervention, with nutritional adequacy during the first 1000 days having long term implications for human development. South Africa’s policy environment accordingly aims to support the development of all children through providing services supporting care and nutrition of children so that ‘no one is left behind’. However, the reality is that for the economically marginalised who live in poverty, these services are inaccessible and the whereabouts of many children, especially those under 5, remain unknown to the state. This study looks at township childcare facility as a key intervention point for nutrition provision, documents the obstacles and challenges they face in securing food for the children in their care and describes the strategies they use to combat these challenges. Using a mixed method approach, data were gathered on all ECDs operating in two Cape Town townships – Vrygrond, a semi-formal township, and Sweet Home Farm, a deeply informal settlement – and a typology was developed which represented the differentiation between these informal businesses in terms of a continuum of connectedness and disconnectedness with the regulatory environment.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2016 / The main purpose of the study was to investigate the Foundation Phase teachers’ understanding of play in the teaching of Grade R in the Umkhanyakude District. The study targeted Grade R educators, because they are responsible for laying a sound and solid foundation for learners, which can be effectively done through proper use of play in the teaching of young learners. The study used a qualitative approach in order to get an in-depth knowledge in terms of understanding the importance of play when teaching young learners. The research sample comprised of seven teachers from four different schools in the district. Purposive sampling of participants was used. Data were collected through inside and outside observations and interviews. The research findings were first analysed according to eight main themes according to the data elicited through interrogations during interviews. Key findings revealed that some Grade R educators did not have a clear understanding of play in Grade R teaching. The study also showed the impact of current constraints of the Department of Education, like restricted kilometres and shortage of ECD officials in terms of providing monitoring and support.

Thesis advisor: Margaret Lombe / For children that overcome Nigeria’s high child mortality rate, there is the additional and less-obvious hurdle of not reaching their full potential in life due to developmental delays. When children are on track developmentally, they stand a better chance of being ready for school, excelling academically, economically, and socially throughout the lifespan. Fewer studies in the Nigerian context have examined how known risk and protective factors interact to affect early childhood development (ECD). This three-paper dissertation used data from the nationally representative 2016/17 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and was guided by the social determinants of health framework, the socioecological model of child development, and the family stress and investment models. The study highlighted the factors, including disparities across the multiethnic and diverse socioeconomic groups of Nigeria that are associated with child outcomes. i. Paper 1 assessed the performance and psychometric properties of the 10-item ECDI used in the MICS to track developmental outcomes among Nigerian children. ii. Paper 2 characterized the risk and protective factors for ECD across the 36 states and FCT of Nigeria using a multilevel modeling approach and, iii. Paper 3 used a structural regression to model the association between maternal subjective wellbeing (SWB), and developmental outcomes among the 3- to 4-year-old children. Findings highlighted discrepancies in the construct validity of the ECDI. Across the studies, resources, and family socioeconomic status particularly maternal level of education were significant predictors of outcomes for the child. Further, the study revealed that a child’s developmental context matters, where 29% of the variation in child outcomes was attributed to clustering by states. The studies extend prior research on ECD in Nigeria by its use of more accurate milestones to characterize ECD, its multilevel modeling approach, and its investigation of maternal SWB as a proxy for mental health. In all, findings from the dissertation call attention to the need to revise the ECDI, and for culturally adapted and validated ECD instruments. The study also highlighted the need to invest more resources in child development, mental health, and family strengthening especially through maternal education and wealth creation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

This research investigates three topics in child care quality, mother's labor supply, and early childhood development. In the first study, we evaluate how child care quality influences the potential impacts of mothers' labor supply on child development. Although, previous studies have acknowledged the importance of the quality of child care, none have integrated quality in analyzing the effects of maternal employment. We find that the negative effect often found in past studies is largely due to the use of low quality child care. The question we ask in the next study is, "What are the effects of child care quality on child development?" In this study we tried to separate out the contribution of initial child ability in child test scores of development from the effects of other inputs, particularly child care quality. We show that even after resolving endogeneity issues, we still find that child care quality has a significant positive effect on early cognitive development. The third study investigates the determinants of households' demand for child care, particularly, child care quality. We determine if households' choices regarding child care quality, as well as quantity, respond to economic factors. A family's condition is defined by the combination of family choices on mother's work status, mode and payment type of child care, and child's age. We group families by condition and estimate demand for child care quality and hours by group. The results indicate that higher income will lead to higher quality for non-working mothers but lower quality for some working mothers. Demand for quality by non-working mothers are more price sensitive than working mothers. Wage effects on quality are positive only for users of home-based care. Demand for quality is more sensitive to economic factors when the child is around 3 years old than at 6 months. These results suggest that the form, target and timing of financial assistance need to be considered for it to be effective in promoting the use of quality care. / Ph. D.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / The socio-emotional development of children has an extremely important impact on the overall development of children. Globally, extensive research has been dedicated to the socio-emotional development of children with regard to play, socio-emotional programmes, school readiness and school success. However, there is limited current research within the South African context relating to socio-emotional development in early childhood and its importance for school readiness, specifically from the views of educators. This study explored preschool teachers’ understanding and classroom experience of socio-emotional development in early childhood and the role it plays in school readiness. This study utilises the Albert Bandura’s social learning theory which posits that adults function as “environmental experts who model appropriate behaviours and structures the environment” in ways that encourage appropriate behaviours in children. A qualitative methodological framework with an exploratory research design was used. A total of 12 preschool teachers from both community-based preschools and primary schools with a Grade R programme were recruited. Data were collected with semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically in accordance with Braun and Clarke (2006). Participants’ rights such as informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality were guaranteed throughout the research process. Ethics guidelines stipulated by the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee at the University of the Western Cape were strictly adhered to. The main findings were that preschool teachers understand socio-emotional development as consisting of inter- and intrapersonal skills. Teachers viewed themselves as role models who encourage and model appropriate and prosocial behaviour in the classroom. Lastly, preschool teachers view age appropriate development in all areas as absolutely essential for school readiness.

The majority of educators/practitioners practicing in South Africa today were either educated under the apartheid regime or experienced a post apartheid education that was given by people socialized under the apartheid regime. Therefore, there is a strong possibility that democratic practice in schools is compromised due to the socialization of the practitioners. ECD practitioners’ perceptions on democracy and how they implement democratic practices in their workplace are explored in order to begin to identify the elements of a learning and working environment that could promote the values of a liberal democracy. A dialogic, participatory approach using questionnaires, focussed group discussions, personal interviews and critical incidents, investigated relevant issues such as perceptions of democracy, socialization, leadership, adult education and the impact of crime and HIV/Aids within the ECD context. The findings show that democracy is recognized as a positive and welcomed development in South Africa. There is a genuine ‘spirit of ubuntu’ present and the participants relish the diversity in their midst. A common feature between all groups is the concern over crime and corruption. However, it also revealed that although the surface levels of understanding of the principles of democracy are similar between various groups, the in-depth perceptions regularly differ. Improved avenues for legitimate communication between participants at all levels is advised, not only to discuss differences but also common ground. Understanding the factors that promote democratic principles such as cultural interaction, diversity, etc. could help both the participants of this study and other ECD practitioners in creating and promoting legitimate democratic practice in the workplace.