Abstract
Conducting research on early education development at rural sites in South Africa is challenging. This is partly because it is difficult to capture the vast array of factors that impact on the lives of people in rural communities. In this article the author reports on some of the difficulties, showing how cultural historical and activity theory (CHAT) can be used as a lens in a participatory action research (PAR) project. The author argues that far from being a negative by-product of development, tension, if managed effectively, could be harnessed as a powerful driving force of change and transformation. The article shows what a daunting task it can be for a researcher to make sense of such a process of transformation, especially amidst the seeming chaos of conflicting voices, dichotomous forces and strong interactions active between the people and aspects within such a situation. Referring to a recently completed study in a rural settlement community, the article concludes that the use of a theoretical framework, such as CHAT, as a heuristic tool, could be valuable in helping researchers make sense of the often complex dynamics of early childhood education development within the specific context of rural community life.
Highlights
ECD last on the agenda of educational transformation?Establishing early childhood development (ECD) at rural sites in South Africa is challenging
In South Africa, project evaluation is aimed at showing how well a project is aligned with the aims and objectives set for it by the funding agent and is not conducted from a theoretical position Christie (2003), in a study on the “practice-theory relationship” in evaluation, found that only 36% of studies had a theoretical grounding
The views of the different role players in the ECD intervention in this study were often extremely conflicting, their participation in the process of finding better ways to implement the crèche seems to have been the only way for the situation to progress
Summary
Establishing early childhood development (ECD) at rural sites in South Africa is challenging. This is partly because early childhood and education, young children’s learning, and curriculum and teacher development do not take place in a void, but within specific contexts where various, and often unexpected, dynamics play a role. These intricate processes involve diverse people, who are influenced by a host of other people and by the beliefs, rules and power structures that hold sway in their specific situations (Sen, 1990). Practitioners, and researchers are urged, in this article, to view the provision of education as embedded in the very specific context within which it is being delivered; geographically, socio-culturally, socio-economically, and politically
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