Preschool Education in Belize: Research on the Current Status and Implications for the Future

Alberto Luis August

doi:10.5923/j.edu.20120207.03

Abstract

Early childhood education is the foundation of a child's education. Belize is a developing country and is striving towards the development of its educational system. This study describes the status of preschool education in Belize using three methods of collecting data: survey, observations, and interviews. A national survey described the education, qualifications, and experience of preschool teachers and directors/principals. Three instru ments, Early Ch ildhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), Early Childhood Environ ment Rating Scale-Extension (ECERS-E), and the Careg iver Interaction Scale (CIS), were scored in 41 preschools to describe the physical environment, curricu lu m implementation, and teacher-child interaction, respectively. A modification of the ECERS-R and ECERS-E, named the Early Childhood Environ ment Rating for Belize (ECERS-B), was created. The modified version is an instrument that is compatible with the culture of Belize. The quality of preschools environments were at the min imal with evidence of positive teacher-child interaction. A one-way ANOVA indicated significant differences with teacher education level, suggesting that teachers with education qualifications higher than a high school diplo ma had higher scores on the ECERS-B. Finally, four major stakeholders were interviewed to find out their perception of early childhood education in Belize. Belize has implemented initiatives to imp rove the quality of early childhood education. Recommendations for policy, practice, and future research are suggested.

Highlights

At the time of the research, the problem concerning early childhood education in Belize was that little was known concerning the current status of early ch ildhood education
Forty-one (41) preschool centers from the six d ifferent districts in the country were selected via stratified random sampling to collect data using three instruments: the Early Childhood Environ ment Rat ing Scale-Rev ised (ECERS-R) [4], th e E arly Childho od E nviro n me nt R ating Scale-Extension (ECERS-E)[5], and the Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS)[6]
Because the nature of the Careg iver Interaction Scale (CIS) instrument was not designed for an overall score, separate alpha coefficients and mean scores were obtained for each subscale, positive relationship (α = .92, M = 2.60, SD = 0.56), punitiveness (α = .90, M = 1.98, SD = 0.58), permissiveness (α = .76, M = 2.10, S D = 0.53), and detachment

Summary

Introduction

At the time of the research, the problem concerning early childhood education in Belize was that little was known concerning the current status of early ch ildhood education. If any, empirical studies had been conducted directly related to early childhood education in Belize. Process quality consists of the experiences that occur in the preschool settings such as child-teacher interactions, activities, learn ing opportunities, health and safety routines, and the relationship maintained with parents. Structural quality consists of the group-size of children in the setting, space availability for children to move around, the adult-child ratio, teachers’ inco me, and the education and training of teachers and support staff[1]. M inimal, if any, informat ion was known about the process quality and the structural quality of the preschools in Be lize

Methods

Results

Conclusion