CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Historical background of Early Childhood Education
The history of the concept “childhood” can be traced to the recent period. Before now, formal education starts at the primary school level. The renaissance, which was characterized by an unprecedented interest in individual rights and responsibilities after the intellectual and religious events in the 15th and 16th century, was a significant point of change with the protestant reformation. This event helped to focus attention on the child as an “innocent” being who must be protected and prevented from the corrupting influences of the society. The rights and privileges of children are therefore defined and protected to the extent that by the end of the 19th century, education of the children had become compulsory in some states in the United States and a movement to protect children from hazards of works was put in place by enacting child labour laws.
Recently, the education of the child has been considered so important and provided at different levels while government, voluntary organisations and private owners are involved in the provision of the Nursery Education United State of America.
In Britain, until the Second World War, the education of children at the early year was considered to be the role of women. It was believed that the best place to rear a child at the early age is the home. Children from wealthy homes were being catered for by nannies and governess and it was not the norms for a woman to work full time outside the home if she had children.
However, in recent times like in the 19th century, the changes in the society have affected the role of women in the house. The structure of the population which indicate that women are more than men has resulted in a smaller labour force and now makes it necessary for women to be economically active.
Many acts of parliament were passed to lay the groundwork for the creation of early childhood education. These include the 1944 education act, the 1967 Plowden report and the framework for expansion (1970). A series of reports were made highlighting the value of nursery education throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s.
The 1944 Education act stated that “Local authorities should provide nursery education but no local government was challenged on its failure to meet the requirements and to provide some early years facilities. Therefore, in 1967, Plowden report which was the first significant report for early years’ education highlights the value of nursery education for children and its part in improving their achievement in primary schools. This report brought a turning point in the education of the child.
In Nigeria, the history of early childhood education can be traced to the colonial days. The few nursery school handling early childhood education were the presence for the children of colonial officials then and were established within their G.R.A. under the European wives. In 1960’s, there was the need for increase in such schools as a result of the influx of various European and American citizen working in different parts of the country. In addition, Nigerians who are professionals and those that had travelled abroad were increasing in number and were emulating the European officials in sending their children to pre-school institutions because they were able to realize the importance of this level of education to the future development of their children. The rate at which women were taking up jobs here and there to assist their husbands in making both financial ends meet necessitated the sending of children to the pre-school institutions where the children would be adequately catered for before their mothers returned from work. Also, the oil boom in 1970s boasts the economy and made it possible for parents to afford nursery school fees.
Again, the launching of UPE in 1976 led to the scarcity of housemaids and compelled parents to put their children in the nursery schools. The universal primary education programme was launched to provide free education for school aged children. This programme gave parents who could not afford to send their children to school the opportunity to do so. Many parents therefore withdrew their children from their masters to attend school. However, the government was aware of the importance of and the need for pre-primary education and therefore included it in the National Policy on Education formulated in 1977, revised 1981, 1998 as part of the education system, though it was made optional and to be provided by private owners and voluntary organisation.
Before now, the pre-primary education recognized in the policy was education for children aged 3 – 5+, without any consideration for children 0-3 years. The early childhood education came into limelight as a result of the launching of Universal Basic Education (UBE), in 1999, the importance attached to adequate care, simulation and development for children at the early age by scholars and researchers, and the promulgation of child right act that brought about the inclusion of Early childhood education in the National policy on Education in 2004.
1.1 Background to the Problem
Early childhood is a crucial time period for the development of children’s mental functions. This development, including the emergence of language, motor skill, psychological, cognitive and learning abilities, it now known to be greatly influenced by exogenous factors, including the educational environment to which a child is exposed during the first 6 to 8 years of life (Bowman, Donovan and Burns, 2001). It has been shown that early childhood care and education (ECC or ECCE) can be a major input into a child formal education. A number of studies like early childhood education increases in school readiness for primary school, and it has been shown that school readiness is an important predictor for early school achievement (Forget – Dubios et al 2007). One review of 36 studies of early childhood education effectiveness in small scale demonstration and large scale public program, each study comparing participant with a control group of non-participant to find overwhelming evidence that early childhood education can produce sizable improvement in school readiness due to early childhood education have been shown to have enormous positive economic and social impact lasting well into adulthood, from higher educational attainment and less chance of involvement in criminal activity to higher status employment and higher earrings (Sparling and Ramey 2007). Heckman concludes, we cannot afford to postpone investing in children until they become adults, nor can wait until they reach school age, a time when it may be too late to intervene. Learning is a dynamic process and is most effective when it begins at a young age continues through a adulthood (Heckman 2000). While there is international consensus that early childhood education will place children at a better starting point for primary education and give them a better chance for achievement later in life, the important of early childhood education (ECE) has not caught society full attention. Lack of awareness and uncertainty lead many parent to place early childhood education far from the top of their education priority list. Policy makers have also relegated early childhood education to a much lower position.
Hart and Risley (2003) reported a potential gap of 30 million words with children from professional Families being exposed to approximately 30 million more words than children whose parents receive public assistance by the time children reach age 3. Furthermore, they noted that performance on language tests at age 3 was highly predictive of third-grade performance on similar measures of language skill development. Finally, Halle and Colleague (2009) completed an analysis using data from the early childhood longitudinal study, birth cohort (ECLS-B), which suggested that patterns of differential performance across cognitive, social, behavioural, and health outcomes are evident as early as age 9 months and grow larger over time (24 months). Collectively, these findings lend important credibility to the need for increased focus on the environments that young children experience well before they enter kindergarten, especially those children affected by poverty. With advances in our knowledge about the importance of early childhood development has come heightened interest in funding programs that help more children, especially those in low income communities to access programs that facilitate and bolster development and provide a strong foundation for entering school with the social, emotional, and pre-academic skills needed for learning. For more than 45 years, head start has served as our largest federally funded early childhood program, targeting low-income families with pre-school age children. In 1994, the program was extended to include low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers after a 1990 report determined that starting early childhood programming at age 3 was in many cases, too late given that many children were behind before entering head start. Child care, provided in homes and centers, was not created to buffer the impact of poverty, yet it represents an important aspect of the diverse tapestry of early care and education programs, especially given the amount of time young children spend in these setting. Much has been written about child care and its associations with favourable and unfavourable outcomes (Peisner – Feinberg et. al, 2003). (Peisner – Feinberg et al, 2000), National institute of child health and human development early child care research network, 2000). Beyond intervention programs, other have argued that increasing the availability of pre-school education can be an effective strategy for reducing inequalities that exist prior to school entry and better prepare children for transitioning into kindergarten. In 2002, the pew charitable trust launched the pre-K now campaign, a long term strategic effort to influence state and federal policy makers to invest in universal pre-k programs or 3 and 4 years olds.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The methods of teaching at the early childhood stage is important as many parents do not pay attention to this. Many children have formed habits that causes societal problems due to the teaching style at the early childhood stage. Other children were not given a solid educational foundation at their early childhood stage which later have adverse effect on their education later in life. The research work is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of teaching styles in early childhood education.
1.3 Research Questions
1. What is the effect of teaching styles on early childhood education
2. To what extent do parents pay attention to early childhood education?
3. Does Early Childhood Education have effect on the overall education of children?
1.4 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to find out the Impact of Early Childhood Education in a rural development, specifically, the purposes are:
1.
To examine the effect of teaching styles on early childhood education
2. To examine the extent to which parents pay attention to early childhood education?
3. To examine the effect of Early Childhood Education on the overall education of children?
1.5 The Scope of the Study
This study covered some selected schools in Abeokuta South Local Government area of Ogun State.
1.6 Significance of the Study
It is the hope of this study will help to highlight the effect of teaching styles in early childhood education. The selected schools will be benefit from the study been able to give the children the early child education. Rural and urban communities will also benefit from the study being able to give the children early child education. Lastly Government will also know their roles being able to provide an adequate material for the children’s whose they ready for the early child education.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Childhood: The state of being a child. The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
Rural: Pertaining to less population, non-urban areas.
Education: The process of impacting knowledge, skill and judgments that have been learned, either formally or informally.
Development: This can be described as the gradual growth of something so the it become more advanced, stronger. The process of developing, growth, directed change.