Employing a multifocal view of ECD curriculum development at a rural settlement community in South Africa: Themes from a ‘design by implementation’ early childhood education programme

Sonja Brink

doi:10.4102/sajce.v6i1.405

Abstract

Early childhood curriculum development is challenged by the vast contextual variability of sites in South Africa. In this article, the author reports on the implementation of an early childhood development programme at an informal rural settlement community by an external societal agent. The article looks at the complex dynamics at play within such an early education development situation and examines the main themes that emerged from the process. Referring to the tensions that emanated from the implementation of this programme as a positive driver for change, it concludes that the employment of participatory methodologies could be utilised as a curriculum development tool and calls for the employment of a less formulaic and more holistic view of early childhood development.Keywords: Participatory action research; rural community development; curriculum development

Highlights

Curriculum development in South Africa – by practice or by precept?Early childhood development and education programmes, as means to help close the performance gaps between children from different social and economic backgrounds in developing countries, have been increasingly on the forefront of South African education agenda in recent years (Biersteker & Dawes 2008; Department of Basic Education 2011; 2013)
That as unlikely as it may have appeared at the outset, the implementation of this society-initiated ECD intervention was made successful through a reflective process of participation and collaboration, which resulted, by and by, in the intervention being owned by the community for which it was intended
This was achieved because the tensions that were activated during the process, as uncomfortable as they felt to the various participants, were harnessed and used as catalyst for the change that took place in this community during this project

Summary

Introduction

As I will show in this article, which will highlight the main themes that emerged from research on the process of developing an early childhood development programme within a rural informal settlement community, there might be powerful dynamics affecting the design and implementation of an ECD programme at such a site. ECD curriculum development and implementation at informal rural sites is a complex and often challenging process made up of an interdependent matrix of circumstances, relationships and role players This interplay between aspects of externally initiated early childhood education provisioning and the dynamics operant within the community frequently causes tensions. The project documentation and the informal discussions with the social worker were used only to confirm analysis outcomes of the other data sets

Background to the preschool at Mogwase

Findings

Conclusion