Contesting schoolification through snapshots of pedagogy-in-participation in early childhood development centres in South Africa

Keshni Bipath,Hantie Theron

doi:10.18820/2519593x/pie.v38.i2.15

Keshni Bipath, Hantie Theron

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.18820/2519593x/pie.v38.i2.15

Copy DOI

Abstract

Educational research confirms that early childhood education can impact positively on the lives, well-being, safety, growth, development and academic performance of young children in the birth to 4 years age group. In South Africa (SA), Early Childhood Development (ECD) has been recognised and identified as a critical nodal point for the country's social and economic transformation and development. However, ‘schoolification’ has become an epidemic which has promoted standardisation of education, reduces teacher autonomy and envisions ECD Centres as preparation for school rather than preparation for life. This article attempts to contest schoolification, using snapshots of pedagogy in participation for early years in South Africa. The study investigated the perceptions of practitioners and centre managers of 10 well-resourced and 8 under-resourced centres in 5 of the 9 provinces in SA. This article forms part of a larger funded project on Transformation Pedagogy. The most illustrative examples from the data collected were used to elicit alternative quality practices for pedagogy in participation. The findings encourage practitioners and policy makers to reconceptualise ECD as a co-constructive process. The article offers recommendations for teacher preparedness and child-centeredness, by provoking a reconceptualization that involves making schools children-ready rather than making children school-ready.

Highlights

In the current Early Childhood Development (ECD) context in South Africa, it is imperative to provide alternatives to “schoolification”
Explicit mention is made in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Target 4.2, which states that by 2030, countries should “ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education” (United Nations, 2015)
We established illustrative practices of alternatives to “schoolification” through snapshots of pedagogy in participation. Both practitioners from the urban and rural schools displayed a leaning towards responsive engagement with young children, rather than schoolification

Summary

Introduction

In the current Early Childhood Development (ECD) context in South Africa, it is imperative to provide alternatives to “schoolification”. Pedagogy that recognises children’s agency might be a useful strategy to make sense of the participatory rights of children. This was outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which was ratified in 1995 in South Africa (Ebrahim, 2011). The achievement of other SDG goals (poverty alleviation, hunger, health, education, gender, water and sanitation and inequality) hinges on the strengthening of ECD. As such, it represents the bedrock on which all other development goals rely for their successful achievement

Methods

Results

Conclusion