Early childhood education: Penetrating the impenetrable issues

Abstract

Early childhood education has received attention from philosophers, educationists and psycho-analysts such as Plato, Avicenna, Locke, Pestalozzi, Whitehead, Carl Jung, Binet, Piaget, Montessori, Sigmund Freund, Howard Gardner, among others. In Africa, the backdrop of poverty, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in strife-torn countries, among other threats, have deprived many children of quality education. Some have missed valuable education because of poor and bad government leadership. Lack of good governance has impacted negatively on education delivery. The emergence of ICT has worsened the quality of education as many children have lost touch with the 3 Rs of reading, arithmetic, and writing skills. Many interventions are needed to support single mothers, latchkey children of busy working parents, among others. The cost of education is too burdensome for some families. Our local governments are weak on the ground to offer support. Differential learning is not possible in schools with untrained teachers, paucity of learning and instructional materials etc. Social interventions are needed to support vulnerable children to be in school and not to become street kids and potential social outcasts and misfits. We need to revive strong religious and moral education in schools to arrest social and moral decay. There is need to create sense of wonder, creativity, imagination, discovery, and activity in children by touching their hands, hearts, and minds through drama, art and crafts, story-telling, physical exercise, STEM education, action-research, thematic studies, units of discovery, excursions, and other multi-learning channels. Precocious and gifted children need challenging programmes. Autism and physically-, socially- and emotionally-challenged children need additional school support in inclusive education where no child is left behind. Local curricula need to be integrated and attention paid to issues of multiculturalism.

Keywords: Inclusivity, diversity, creativity, 3Rs, interventions, innovation, micro-level, macro-level, physically-challenged, multiculturalism, moral education, latchkey children, differential learning, STEM education, enduring understanding and essential question, big picture, multidisciplinary approach, pre-school education, special education, capacity building.