This study has evaluated outcomes of the care and educational intervention set up for children of Magalasi and the surrounding villages since 2003. Magalasi Village is located in the rural area of Zomba District in Malawi, Southern East of Africa. The study has investigated perceptions, attitudes and ultimately meanings that participants have attached to this intervention. In doing so, it has established the effectiveness of this intervention, which is based on based on the principle of partnership, and aimed at improving the care and education of young children of Magalasi Village. The study employed the narrative inquiry approach situated within a hermeneutic phenomenological framework. Data was collected from 35 community participants using conversational narratives and has been analyzed thematically. The study has generated numerous findings; way beyond assessing the objectives set out at the beginning of the intervention, 40 themes in total. The major findings are: a) the reversal of child neglect situation; resulting in improvement in the hygiene and personal care of nearly all children in Magalasi village; b) highly improved school performance of most children attributed to improved school preparedness and leading to most children enjoying and staying in school, and successfully completing primary education; c) highly appreciable nutritional support to children; and d) existence of challenges and tensions underlying the implementation process. Overall, the Muula Center is having a huge positive impact on the care and education of most children of Magalasi village with minimal financial and essential technical support. Therefore, the financial, technical and community ingredients that are responsible for the delivery of the care and educational services in this intervention need to be sustained for continued impact. Also, a good understanding of challenges and tensions underlying the implementation process bears the potential of identifying and addressing critical issues, which will lead to further strengthening of the efficacy of the intervention. / Graduate / khamachibwana@gmail.com

The importance of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) as a prerequisite for national development has been emphasized in recent years by developing countries and by donor agencies. Research findings point to the benefits children, as well as nations, derive from ECCE provision. For children, these benefits include school readiness; and for nations, benefits address the reduction of social inequality, possibilities for increased tax revenue through eventual improved employment prospects, and development of societal values. In 1990 at Jomtien in Thailand, 155 nations of the world agreed on a joint plan of action to fulfill six Education For All goals. The first goal required nations to work towards the expansion and improvement of comprehensive ECCE by the year 2015. The responsibility of poor countries was to make necessary budget allocations and policy commitments; rich countries were to provide both intellectual and financial support. Whilst some progress has been made, many developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa are still at risk of not achieving EFA by 2015. Uganda is one country where there are difficulties in attaining EFA and ECCE in particular. This has been exacerbated by the prevailing economic, social, geographical, and cultural differences, as well as general beliefs about ECCE. This study investigates the present quality and accessibility in ECCE provision in Uganda. It explores the extent to which Uganda has expanded and improved ECCE and raises the key question as to why even with international donor support and government commitment to institutional changes, ECCE is an area of education still riven with problems. The study uses participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and photography in six selected schools in three Districts. Research findings reveal that the majority of children are not accessing ECCE provision, while many of those that do are being educated in environments not conducive to their learning and development. Findings show that there are a number of factors both internal and external to Uganda that impact upon efforts to fulfil the commitment made at Jomtien in 1990. This research concludes that first and foremost, there should be a national, ‘Ugandan’ approach to and policies about ECCE. Rather than being led by international pressure and policies, approaches to improving quality and accessibility in ECCE provision should be refocused away from ‘top-heavy’, ‘lop-sided’ approaches to a more pre-school-level focused approach. This will help in establishing and addressing culturally relevant and economically achievable quality targets. Secondly, there is need for public awareness of the importance of ECCE. This will not only give rise to increased community participation in the establishment of community-based ECCE centres, but also the involvement of stakeholders in the identification and implementation of solutions to the problems facing ECCE. And finally, rather than looking to the West for funding, Uganda should develop in-country funding strategies from both public and private sources. This will help to remove the negative impact of ‘modalities’, these often being required by external donor funding. In-country funding sources will as a result give Uganda room to ‘manoeuvre’ when planning for ECCE.

The promotion of male educators in the early childhood care and education (ECCE) workforce has been pursued as a social policy in various countries around the world, yet this issue is virtually absent in ECCE literature and policy in South Africa. From certain child development, education and gender perspectives, more men in ECCE is seen as good for children, good for men, challenges gender stereotypes and enhances gender equity as well as the quality of ECCE. We know very little about male ECCE educators in South Africa. This study aims to shed light on their experiences and explore whether there is a need to promote gender inclusivity in ECCE in South Africa. Due to the virtual absence of this minority, a small sample of six male ECCE educators were purposively sampled in an in-depth, qualitative case study, using semi-structured interview schedule and face-to-face interviews. The study also explored the views of two key informants - academics working in early childhood and gender studies. Thematic content analysis of the data revealed some commonalities with previous studies. While some generalisations can be drawn the aim of the study was to gather contextualised accounts of these experiences and views on the broader social issues pertaining to the lack of men in the sector. The overall findings suggest that there is a need for existing and potential male educators to be encouraged, supported and made more visible. This requires network building by male educators themselves and support from the ECCE sector, Government and other stakeholders for programmes that promote attitude and institutional change.

The purpose of this dissertation is to enact and poetically story the nonlinear emergence of an a/r/tographic practice called gathering—a situated art practice of storying, doing, and making as researching and thinking—in multiple contexts, including early childhood teacher education and imperial and settler colonialism in Canada. Over two years, I sustained a ritual of gathering where I (re)read texts (e.g., Indigenous theories, Chicana feminisms, antiracist theories, postcolonial theories, and subaltern theories) and (re)walked the neighbourhood of my apartment on the stolen territories of the Lkwungen people, who are one of the Coast Salish peoples, on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. While I walked and as I read, I attended to how other artists, animals, and I gathered objects and ideas, the effects of the environment and weather, and the theoretical orientations and contexts of the ideas and objects. The poetic stories in this dissertation entangle bits of the ideas and objects I gathered during my walks and readings. I also story how my personal artistic process of gathering unfolded into teaching an inclusive practice course in the Early Childhood Care and Education Department at Capilano University. I and my class of preservice early childhood educators gathered on and around the Capilano campus, located on the traditional territories of Coast Salish peoples, including the Tsleil-Watuth, Skwxwú7mesh, shíshálh, Lil’Wat, and Musqueam Nations. With this a/r/tographic research, I offer a pedagogical and aesthetic way with which to attune to the process, conditions, and situations of engaging multiple theories. I inquire into different ways of relating with and taking responsibility for others and into what kinds of partial, incomplete, and imperfect regenerations, possibilities, and futures present themselves through gathering within a context of imperial and settler colonialism in Canada. / Graduate

Early childhood development, care and education interventions coordinate resources and services that are aimed at stimulating growth for young children. Resource constraints in low and middle-income countries contribute towards a lag in childhood development initiatives compared to high-income countries. This thesis focused on the context of South Africa where the government has a long-term objective of ensuring that all children have access to quality services. However, the attainment of this goal is currently not a financially viable option, and many community-based organisations resort to alternative provisions of early childhood interventions to ensure that poor children are served. This thesis investigated implementation and associated outcomes for the Family in Focus (FiF) programme. This home-based early education programme that is targeted at young children between the ages of 0-6 years, who live in poor and marginalised communities where access and resources for care and stimulation are limited, was the programme of interest. A small sample theory-driven evaluation approach was applied to this programme to assess its viability to alleviate service access issues and produce meaningful outcomes for marginalised children. Evaluation questions were posed and a descriptive research design and a pre-post non-equivalent group quasi-experimental design that compared the results of the FiF programme to a traditional pre-school were utilised. Qualitative descriptions, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (t-tests) were used to analyse the results. The FiF programme theory, although not initially clearly defined, was found to be plausible with moderate change expected for the beneficiaries of the programme. The programme, however, had a very low implementation fidelity level of 37.5%, meaning that the programme was not being implemented according to design. This was further associated with poor outcomes for the small sample of children in the FiF programme group utilised. Across the five developmental outcomes of cognitive, language, motor, social and emotional development, outcomes were particularly poor for the first three development domains against South African norms and the comparison group used in the evaluation. Early childhood education home-visiting programmes have the ultimate goal of improving child development outcomes. However, evidence shows that these programmes seem to be more successful in improving parenting skills and caregiver coping, without reaching the former ultimate goal. The comprehensive approach to assessing child development in underserved areas in this evaluation provided a novel overview of the interaction of multiple factors in school readiness in impoverished communities. There is still a lingering question as to the benefits of home visiting programmes that are increasingly being implemented across the country as an alternative provision of early childhood care and education services.

No description available.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar as relações de cuidados que se estabelecem entre as profissionais e os bebês em creches para discutir como esse ambiente contribui para o desenvolvimento psíquico dessas crianças. As observações das relações de cuidados com os bebês foram realizadas durante acompanhamento das profissionais em serviço nas creches. Esse acompanhamento oportunizou o conhecimento das rotinas de cuidados com as crianças e, a partir disso, algumas intervenções foram realizadas tanto com os bebês quanto com as profissionais para compreensão das relações de cuidados que se estabeleciam entre eles. Buscou-se a partir de um referencial psicanalítico, alguns conceitos para a leitura das relações de cuidados com os bebês, destacando como operadores de leitura, particularmente, aqueles que tratam da relação de cuidados e seus aspectos constituintes como facilitadores do desenvolvimento psíquico de bebês. Tendo como foco as relações de cuidados analisou-se cenas que mostram fragmentos dessas relações de cuidados entre as profissionais e os bebês. Por fim, discutiu-se essas relações de cuidados, descrevendo como aconteciam e, como as ações interventivas realizadas se desdobraram no ambiente das creches, mostrando os efeitos que se produziram nas relações de cuidados com os bebês. Refletiu-se como ações simples podem criar cuidados possíveis, promovendo o desenvolvimento psíquico dos bebês, ao mesmo passo, apoiar as profissionais na direção da realização dos cuidados com os bebês em creches / This study has the objective to analyse the relations of cares established between professionals and babies in day cares, in order to discuss how this environment contributes to the psychic development of these children. The observations of these relations were made while following the routine of professionals working in day cares. This monitoring enabled the knowledge of the routines of cares with the children, and through that, some interventions were made with the babies and the professions in order to understand the relations of cares between them. Concepts of psychoanalytical reference were used for interpretations, operationalized particularly by those that deal with the relations of care and their constitutive aspect of facilitating the psychic development of babies. With focus on relations of cares, we have analysed scenes with fragments of these relations between professionals and babies. At last, we discussed these relations by describing how they occurred and how the interventions unfold in the day care environment, showing the effects produced in the relations of cares with the babies. We have thus reflected upon how simple actions can create possible cares, promoting the psychic development of the babies, and the support of professionals to promote cares with babies in day cares

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar as relações de cuidados que se estabelecem entre as profissionais e os bebês em creches para discutir como esse ambiente contribui para o desenvolvimento psíquico dessas crianças. As observações das relações de cuidados com os bebês foram realizadas durante acompanhamento das profissionais em serviço nas creches. Esse acompanhamento oportunizou o conhecimento das rotinas de cuidados com as crianças e, a partir disso, algumas intervenções foram realizadas tanto com os bebês quanto com as profissionais para compreensão das relações de cuidados que se estabeleciam entre eles. Buscou-se a partir de um referencial psicanalítico, alguns conceitos para a leitura das relações de cuidados com os bebês, destacando como operadores de leitura, particularmente, aqueles que tratam da relação de cuidados e seus aspectos constituintes como facilitadores do desenvolvimento psíquico de bebês. Tendo como foco as relações de cuidados analisou-se cenas que mostram fragmentos dessas relações de cuidados entre as profissionais e os bebês. Por fim, discutiu-se essas relações de cuidados, descrevendo como aconteciam e, como as ações interventivas realizadas se desdobraram no ambiente das creches, mostrando os efeitos que se produziram nas relações de cuidados com os bebês. Refletiu-se como ações simples podem criar cuidados possíveis, promovendo o desenvolvimento psíquico dos bebês, ao mesmo passo, apoiar as profissionais na direção da realização dos cuidados com os bebês em creches / This study has the objective to analyse the relations of cares established between professionals and babies in day cares, in order to discuss how this environment contributes to the psychic development of these children. The observations of these relations were made while following the routine of professionals working in day cares. This monitoring enabled the knowledge of the routines of cares with the children, and through that, some interventions were made with the babies and the professions in order to understand the relations of cares between them. Concepts of psychoanalytical reference were used for interpretations, operationalized particularly by those that deal with the relations of care and their constitutive aspect of facilitating the psychic development of babies. With focus on relations of cares, we have analysed scenes with fragments of these relations between professionals and babies. At last, we discussed these relations by describing how they occurred and how the interventions unfold in the day care environment, showing the effects produced in the relations of cares with the babies. We have thus reflected upon how simple actions can create possible cares, promoting the psychic development of the babies, and the support of professionals to promote cares with babies in day cares

Master of Public Health - MPH / Background: Parental perceptions of health and child health needs have not been explored within Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) centres in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Although the relationship between social, economic and environmental conditions and health status has been well documented in the literature, it is unknown whether parents of children attending rural ECCD centres, share this understanding. Children have the right to a healthy environment. Many children in rural Eastern Cape live in environments that present challenges in regards to water and sanitation, food security and safety. ECCD centres are the daily environment for the attending pre-school children and have a role to play in promoting child health. In order to develop effective, sustainable health promotion initiatives in ECCD centres a baseline recording was needed of the parental understanding of health, their children’s health needs and perceived solutions. Study Design: This study was an exploratory study, which used qualitative research methods to describe the parents’ perceptions of health and health needs of their children in ECCD centres in Amathole District, South Africa. Data Collection: Focus group discussions were the data collection method used to record the parental perceptions of health and child health needs. Because there was limited parental involvement in the ECCD centres, it was hoped that the focus groups would be a suitable method to generate more community involvement. Four focus groups were conducted using a semi-structured. The researcher facilitated the focus group discussions with the assistance of an isiXhosa speaking research assistant. The voice recordings of the discussions were professionally translated and transcribed for analysis. Analysis of Results: Content analysis of the transcriptions revealed a thick description of parental perceptions of health and child health needs. Participants saw health in holistic terms and identified a complex inter-relationship of various social determinants of health, consistent with Dahlgren and Whitehead's determinants of health model. Parents were aware of the absence of many of these determinants of health and the challenges to child health that this brought. The child health needs perceived by parents were related to nutrition, hygiene, social interaction, safety and protection from disease. Five recurring themes emerged as a result of this study, including individual lifestyle factors, social interaction, environmental challenges to health, safety and lastly poverty. The ECCD centres were considered a resource for child health and suggestions were given as to how to strengthen the ECCD centres' role in further promoting health. Conclusion: The participants' broad definition of health and depth of understanding regarding the determinants of health, allows for a range of stakeholders to be involved in the promotion of health in the ECCD centres. The majority of the perceived challenges to health existed in the living conditions of the children and families. The Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework could enhance the current work of the Eco-Schools Programme in the ECCD centres.

This case study explored early childhood practitioners' response to government mandates for increased professionalism in Trinidad and Tobago; the impact of mandates on their personal and professional lives; and their conceptions of professionalism. The study addressed government concerns about lack of professionalism in Early Childhood Care and Education; informed policymakers of the myriad challenges therein; and included practitioners' voices in international discourse on professionalism. Change theory, systems thinking, and voice elicitation formed the conceptual framework for understanding changes needed to increase professionalism in the sector. The meaning of professionalism as defined in mandates; difference between practitioners and officials' definitions of professionalism; practitioners' view on the impacts of mandates; and how those impacts should be addressed were explained. Data were collected in interviews, focus groups, activity plans and journals from 12 practitioners; and from the national standards, curriculum guide, and schools' code of conduct. Discourse and content analysis were employed to identify patterns and themes in the data. Key findings were that mandates had more negative than positive impacts; children were under served; teachers frustrated and confused by impractical demands; and some administrators lacked content knowledge and leadership skills. Government officials, practitioners, and stakeholders need to dialogue to resolve problems illuminated by this study. Revision of legislative documents, fiscal adjustments for Trinidad and Tobago, continuous professional development, ongoing research, and national sensitization of practitioners' role will yield a better understanding of early childhood care and education, the catalyst for nationwide social change.