Dr Naseema Shaik: Transforming the pedagogical landscape in Early Childhood Care and Education in South Africa

Transformative pedagogy emphasises the right of children to participate in all matters affecting them, including their education

Early childhood care and education has received heightened attention in recent years, both nationally and internationally. However, although South Africa’s democracy brought renewed hope for early childhood care and education, most pedagogical approaches in early childhood education in South Africa remain centred on a transmissive approach.

Many South African practitioners and teachers, resorting to teacher-centred habits inherited from the authoritarian structures of apartheid, continue to teach in a way that characterises children as incompetent.

In light of this challenge the Transformative Pedagogy Project for Early Childhood (TPEC), funded by the European Union (EU) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) was conceptualised by Dr Naseema Shaik, a senior lecturer specialising in early childhood education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).

The project aimed to develop a transformative pedagogy to inform the development of the Bachelor of Education in ECCE and the Diploma in ECCE for children from birth to age four.

Eight public universities from four provinces in South Africa participated in the project.

An important tenet of a transformative pedagogy emanates from a child rights perspective.

The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was an important catalyst for the realisation of children’s rights, with Articles 12 and 13 highlighting the importance of children being listened to and their decisions taken seriously.

The UNCRC introduced the right to participation, together with the other Ps of “provision” and “protection” as key rights of children.

Article 12 specifically emphasised the right of children to participate in all matters affecting them, whether these be within the family or community, such as the school, and freely express their opinions for consideration with respect.

Thus the key objective of a transformative pedagogy is to activate stronger social cohesion between children, practitioners, centre managers, practitioner educators, parents and district officials to sustain an equitable and respectful dialogue that strengthens transformative rather than transmissive pedagogy in South Africa.

The position of the child as “being” and “becoming” and having agency has been acknowledged as significant in the conceptualising of the project on developing a transformative pedagogy for children from birth to age four.

The purpose of this project was to explore the beliefs, knowledge and actions of practitioners, centre managers, teacher educators, parents and district officials to develop a transformative pedagogy in South Africa.

The progress of this research culminated in three studies.

The first study, focusing on how practitioners listen to children in ECD centres, determined that listening is multi-dimensional.

An important finding of this research study is that practitioners create a sense of belonging when they listen in relational and responsive ways and when they respect and encourage children’s agency to create a sense of belonging and participation.

Moreover, the study highlighted that while practitioners listen in relational and responsive ways, complexities and tensions are evident in instances of practitioners listening in relation to

project their own and curricular expectations.

The second research study focused on engagement between parents and ECD centres. The findings of this research study reveal that responsive engagement needs to be prioritised between parents and ECD centres to facilitate stronger connectedness and belonging and for parents to be more than just “involved”.

“We need to develop children who are critical thinkers. We are currently teaching in transmissive ways and churning out education that is robotic in nature. Teachers instruct and children follow. The teacher has all the power and children must follow. We need to teach in participatory ways and involve children,” said Shaik.

“Transformative pedagogy needs to be learner-centred and transform both teachers’ and children’s thinking. We have projects on transformative pedagogy and they all show that the involvement of children in their learning is critical.”

The focus of the third research study concerned an exploration of parent understanding of culture and their cultural aspirations for their young children. Findings of this study reveal that culture narratives carry fragments of the multiple overlapping and contrasting understandings and definitions of culture across time and fields.

The findings were presented at a symposium entitled Towards a Transformative Pedagogy for Early Childhood Care and Education at the Education Faculty of the Cape Peninsula University (CPUT) on 23 January, with Dr Naseema Shaik, Project Co-ordinator, leading the symposium.

Thought provoking and deeply engaging keynotes were delivered by Professor Hasina Ebrahim (UNISA & UNESCO Co-chair in ECD), Professor Yusuf Waghid (Distinguished Professor of Education, Stellenbosch University) and Professor Jonathan Jansen (Distinguished Professor of Education, Stellenbosch University).

While the project is still in progress, thus far the findings reveal that practitioners must make a shift about how to critically engage with children, pedagogy, parents and community in a diverse country such as South Africa.

This can only be possible if we reconceptualise our thinking and doing in early childhood care and education and interrupt the dominant discourses so that silences can be revealed.

Shaik said the Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the ECD sector in general.

“The government did not adequately address the support of ECD centres during the pandemic. Many ECD centres closed down, including privately-owned ECD centres, due to lack of responsiveness from government,” said Shaik.

“Many ECD centres unfortunately didn’t receive support they needed from government. On the positive [side], it called for parents to be partners and be involved in their children’s education. The pandemic called for more interaction and intervention from parents to work [with] their children at home.”

About Dr Naseema Shaik

Dr Shaik is currently leading a research programme about Transformative Pedagogy for Early Childhood at the Cape Peninsula University.

Shaik is a Foundation Phase lecturer in the Faculty of Education and the co-ordinator of the Grade R diploma course at the Cape Peninsula University. She specialises in teaching Grade R and literacy in the Foundation Phase.

She is also working with six universities in this regard. Shaik and her team have already written some articles which have been accepted for publication, but they are now focusing on publishing a scholarly book on Transformative Pedagogy in South Africa by March 2022.