Africanisation, decoloniality of child development knowledge and practice standards for birth to four ECD educators
It is essential that the ECD educator workforce obtains the same levels of support and training as those in schooling
As our democracy deepens, South Africa needs policies and programmes to attract, train, support and retain Early Childhood Development (ECD) educators who are competent to support families and children in their development and learning.
The ECD educator workforce must experience the same levels of support and training as those in schooling.
The Project in Inclusive Early Childhood Care and Education (PIECCE) was implemented with funding from the European Union (EU) to meet the overarching goal of professionalisation of the birth to four workforce.
As part of the project, 10 higher education institutions (HEIS), four ECD nongovernmental organisations (NGOS) and two Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges, as a multi-stakeholder team, took a deliberate stance to develop knowledge and practice standards.
The participation of nine of the universities was supported by the Teacher Education for Early Childhood Care and Education (TEECCEP), an EU funded project which is managed by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).
The development of knowledge and practice standards was necessary for dealing with technical practices, pushing down curricula from schooling, fragmentary ECD teacher education systems and the implementation of the Policy on Minimum Requirements for Programmes Leading to Qualifications in Higher Education for Early Childhood Development Educators (MRQECDE) released in 2017.
The standards development process was informed by a literature review and a mixed method study with 14 institutions in six provinces in South Africa.
The study raised a number of issues that informed the standards.
It was clear that ECD educators would be dealing with vulnerabilities on two levels, namely, babies, toddlers and nursery children in the phase of early childhood as well as circumstances related to family wellbeing, socioeconomic conditions and geographical locations.
As such ECD educators would need to understand child development and early learning to support context responsive practices in a variety of early learning environments.
For this to happen, there is a need for an education workforce that is better educated and more knowledgeable and skilled about intentional and reflective practice to implement quality programmes in the early years.
The review showed that ECD practitioners are unand underqualified to meet the demands of complex practices that include a focus on equity, inclusion and diversity.
Another complexity was the concern about an unstable workforce.
Practitioners were seeking better job opportunities in the foundation phase, which is more established and offers better conditions of service.
For teacher education it was clear that systems were operating in silos for the NGOS and the HEIS.
This led to different quality standards which, among other things, made it difficult for a seamless career path from NGOS to HEIS.
There were also a variety of practices related to curriculum design, content and work integrated learning without necessarily considering the attributes of highly quality ECD educators and the conceptual framework for educating the workforce.
In addition to the evidence from the study, the development of the knowledge and practice standards was informed by information gathering sessions. It was acknowledged that MRQECDE policy did offer pointers for the knowledge and practice standards that needed further development by people who were on the frontline of ECD.
The PIECCE team undertook site visits to ECD settings to better understand practice in context.
They observed training sessions, parent support, mobile bus programmes, special needs practices and centre-based programmes for children from birth to four.
This led to several reflection sessions and dialogue on key knowledge, skills and professional dispositions for early years educators in the new Diploma and Degree to be offered by HEIS.
Using the evidence base, the PIECCE team worked on the idea of having minimum standards that were flexible.
The team felt the standards must be adaptable to institutions’ vision and mission statements, for example, Africanisation and decoloniality of child development knowledge as part of being an institution driven by the indigenous imperatives for developing the educator workforce.
“Within our programme framework we outlined teaching and learning methods, including the importance of decoloniality, indigenous knowledge systems and Africanisation of knowledge spaces for our children.”
On a practice level, the team felt that a shared vision for what ECD educators should know and be able to do in the context of their practice would be a valuable undertaking.
Taking into account the fragmentation and inequities in the field, it was also felt that the knowledge and practice standards would reduce the gaps, especially for those that lacked opportunities to better their qualifications at HEIS — a new career pathway for ECD educators.
It would open up possibilities for recognition of prior learning and portability of credits when students move from one institution to another in the country.
Ten knowledge and practice standards were developed to guide the Diploma and the Degree for ECD educators in HEIS. These standards will be applicable to the workforce that focuses on the early learning component of the essential package of ECD services as outlined in the National Integrated ECD Policy and those that implement the National Curriculum Framework for birth to four. The workforce from continuing teacher education that could enter the Diploma and the Degree will be from the following ECD programmes:
• Centre-based ECD provision
• Parenting programmes
• Playgroups
• Toy libraries
• Mobile ECD services
• Day mothers/childminder
The knowledge and practice standards for the Diploma and Degree in ECD for birth to four are as follows: 1. Being and becoming a professional by paying attention to mindset, roles and responsibilities Understanding and promoting child development and learning in different contexts
Building family and community relationships Ensuring effective health, safety and nutrition practices
Creating effective learning environments, including managing behaviour
Planning and facilitating learning through play and other transformative pedagogies in appropriate ways (developmentally, culturally, linguistically, technologically)
Using curriculum and relevant content knowledge to build meaningful learning opportunities (6 Early Learning and Development Areas (ELDAS) in National Curriculum Framework for birth to four) Observing, documenting and assessing to support young children’s development and learning Understanding and addressing diversity, inclusion and equity to act in the best interest of all children 10. Showing basic leadership, management and
administration skills
The core for professional learning in the standards pays attention to not only knowledge and skills required, but also mindsets, roles, responsibilities and “personal situated-ness”.
The team believed that a holistic response is necessary for context responsiveness and to address the development of the professional capacities of a thinking educator.
This concept was further unpacked in relation to disabling practices that focused on tips for early childhood educators.
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The PIECCE team firmly believes that transformation in programme quality and child outcomes will become a reality if ECD educators are intentional and critically reflective in their practice.
Curriculum design must afford developmental opportunities for student engagement that includes self-reflection, guided practice and positioning as change agents.
The ECD workforce should then be able to identify themselves through the learning opportunities that will be offered in the qualifications.
This type of deliberation took place in the collaborative process of designing the curriculum for the Diploma and Degree in ECD and the materials development in PIECCE.
Currently eight HEIS have used the knowledge and practice standards to design the Diploma and the Degree for ECD educators.
The qualifications will be offered from 2021/2022. One of the challenges in the implementation relates to the quality of lecturers for ECD qualifications at HEIS.
Since birth to four is a new area in teacher development in HEIS, lecturers are not necessarily knowledgeable about this phase from an education perspective.
There are those who research birth to four, staff from psychology, the foundation phase and other phases.
The funding from the DHET made possible capacity building staff through master’s and doctorate qualifications.
The HEIS will employ them post the funding period. While this is helpful, there is a need to have dedicated training to support lecturers for birth to four at HEIS.
There is also a need to sustain the community of practice that was enabled through PIECCE for the development of knowledge for action.
The dialogue and learning exchanges were invaluable in creative new pathways for the ECD teacher education.
The funding support from the EU and the DHET catalysed change that would not have been otherwise possible.
The early years can look forward to a new cadre of ECD educators, and a new culture for action with and for young children and their families as a novel developmental path for teacher education for birth to four unfolds.