Early Childhood Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
- LAST REVIEWED: 29 July 2020
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 July 2013
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0079
- LAST REVIEWED: 29 July 2020
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 July 2013
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0079
Introduction
Economic inequalities and other forms of social deprivation in early childhood are closely linked to lower income and social disadvantage in adulthood. However, studies have shown that investing in early childhood education is a cost-effective strategy that can mitigate childhood disadvantage, producing higher rates of economic return for the individual person, community, and country. Early childhood education leads to cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and moral developmental gains that carry over into later stages of development. Neuroscience research and growing evidence from child development studies, including those that focus on economics and politics, have reinforced the argument that all countries should increase expenditure on early childhood education, paying particular attention to practical and sustainable policies and programs. In developing countries in Africa, there have been many major policy and practical initiatives toward implementing and sustaining quality early childhood education. The promotion of quality early childhood education in Africa, particularly for children who are vulnerable, faces many complex cultural, political, and economic challenges. Negative experiences, such as the exposure to the violence of war, tribal and cultural attitudes, poor quality of teachers, and political instability are some of the persisting factors inhibiting the full realization of quality early childhood education on the continent. In addition, poor environmental conditions, low family income, and chronic corruption in some African states have added to the overwhelming burden of barriers to early childhood development (ECD) and care. Generally, the majority of materials that are included in this article argue for culturally relevant ECD practices in Africa, rather than borrowing practices from elsewhere, which, in many instances, are incompatible with African culture and her peoples.
General Overviews
Early childhood education and care are on the reform agenda in many countries, including those in Africa. The aim of early childhood education and care is to provide developmental support and care for children in their formative years so that they can acquire the skills necessary for future learning and success in school. This success is expected to benefit the social and economic development of society at large. Although Africa has undergone remarkable transformations since its contact with Europeans and other foreign cultural elements, the promotion of universal access to quality early childhood education and care remains a significant challenge for educators and policymakers in Africa. Boakye-Boaten 2010 provides insights into how Africa emerged from this contact with a “bruised cultural identity” that has impacted heavily on child development in Africa. Ajayi 2000 illuminates the important role of mothers in children’s education and claims that this role is undergoing significant shifts in Africa in contemporary times. Boakye-Boaten 2010, Pence and Marfo 2008, and Pence 2011 all discuss the changing view of childhood in Africa by pointing to significant gains in the recognition of children’s rights. One major obstacle to children’s welfare and education is poverty. Commenting on this, Adebowale 2000 argues that governments must reduce poverty among households and eradicate other forms of violence against children if early childhood education is to make a meaningful impact in Africa. Pence and Shafer 2006 focuses on the use of indigenous knowledge in the development of early childhood policy and practices. Through the examination of the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) program, which provides distance education capacity-building programs in Africa, the authors described the generative curriculum model in which students contribute to the learning process by infusing indigenous knowledge and practices into the curriculum. Nsamenang 2010 notes that effective early childhood education should incorporate childhood contexts in light of rights-based approaches. As research productivity in early childhood in Africa is increasing, Ebrahim 2010 argues for ethical practice in research that situates young children as participants in research, rather than as objects on which research is conducted.
Adebowale, Akande. 2000. Effects of exposure to violence and poverty on young children: The southern African context. Early Child Development and Care 163.1: 61–78.
There is a close relationship between poverty and violence, and exposure to violence may lead to more high-risk behaviors in adolescence and adulthood. Poverty contributes to children’s sense of safe and unsafe situations and warrants a psychoeducational framework for understanding the complex issues posed by the damaging effects of violence and poverty on children.
Ajayi, Ade C. 2000. The changing roles of mother as teacher of her pre-school child: The Nigerian Experience. International Journal of Early Childhood 38.2: 86–92.
DOI: 10.1007/BF03168211
Families are the first teachers of preschoolers, and African women serve as important persons in child rearing by providing home-based early childhood education. The extended family system in Africa contributes to collective nurturing of the child; hence the breakdown of such a system could have devastating effects on child development on the continent.
Boakye-Boaten, Agya. 2010. Changes in the concept of childhood: Implications on children in Ghana. Journal of International Social Research 3.10: 104–115.
Africa has a complex mix of traditions and child-rearing practices. This paper discusses the changing roles of children and the perception of childhood in Ghana compared to other African countries. It includes the historical evolution of the concept of childhood.
Ebrahim, Hasina Banu. 2010. Situated ethics: Possibilities for young children as research participants in the South African context. Early Child Development and Care 180.3 (April): 289–298.
DOI: 10.1080/03004430701822958
Interfaces of situated ethics position young children as participants in research rather than as objects on which research is conducted. Acknowledging children’s unique place in research requires informed consent, minimizing power relations, and adopting techniques for listening to children.
Nsamenang, Bame. 2010. Issues in and challenges to professionalism in Africa’s cultural settings. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 11.1: 20–28.
DOI: 10.2304/ciec.2010.11.1.20
Professionalism in the context of African childhood is critical to the development of the early childhood field. This should be considered in light of rights-based approaches. The article describes childhood in African cultural settings and points to sensitive aspects of African child development that would require keen sensitivity from professionalization agendas.
Pence, Alan. 2011. Early childhood care and development research in Africa: Historical, conceptual, and structural challenges. Child Development Perspectives 5.2: 112–118.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00165.x
This paper questions the ways in which African children are represented in research as objects of study, labeling this representation “bad science.” The paper argues that the voices of children in Africa should be given space in the knowledge-building process to ensure the best outcomes for future generations.
Pence, Alan R., and Kofi Marfo. 2008. Early childhood development in Africa: Interrogating constraints of prevailing knowledge bases. International Journal of Psychology 43.2 (April): 78–87.
DOI: 10.1080/00207590701859143
There is need for a critical adoption of program and service-delivery models grounded in value systems and knowledges appropriate for the African continent. Ignoring the sociocultural contexts of the knowledge bases that inform early childhood development policies and practices can present conflicting challenges and unproductive outcomes. Local and global perspectives can contribute to and enrich knowledge on child development.
Pence, Alan, and Jessica Shafer. 2006. Indigenous knowledge and early childhood development in Africa: The early childhood development virtual university. Journal for Education in International Development 2.3 (December): 1–17.
This paper focuses on indigenous knowledge as a critical component in early childhood policy development and practice. It articulates the importance of the ECDVU program for implementing distance education capacity-building programs in Africa. This model is suitable for early childhood teacher education programs.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Academic Achievement
- Academic Audit for Universities
- Academic Freedom and Tenure in the United States
- Action Research in Education
- Adjuncts in Higher Education in the United States
- Administrator Preparation
- Adolescence
- Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Courses
- Advocacy and Activism in Early Childhood
- African American Racial Identity and Learning
- Alaska Native Education
- Alternative Certification Programs for Educators
- Alternative Schools
- American Indian Education
- Art Education
- Artificial Intelligence and Learning
- Assessing School Leader Effectiveness
- Assessment, Behavioral
- Assessment, Educational
- Assessment in Early Childhood Education
- Assistive Technology
- Augmented Reality in Education
- Beginning-Teacher Induction
- Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
- Blended Learning
- Bullying
- Case Study in Education Research
- Changing Professional and Academic Identities
- Character Education
- Children’s and Young Adult Literature
- Children's Beliefs about Intelligence
- Children's Rights in Early Childhood Education
- Citizenship Education
- Civic and Social Engagement of Higher Education
- Classroom Learning Environments: Assessing and Investigati...
- Classroom Management
- Coherent Instructional Systems at the School and School Sy...
- College Admissions in the United States
- College Athletics in the United States
- Community Relations
- Comparative Education
- Computer-Based Testing
- Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Evaluating Improvement Net...
- Continuous Improvement and "High Leverage" Educational Pro...
- Counseling in Schools
- Creativity
- Critical Perspectives on Educational Innovation and Improv...
- Critical Race Theory
- Crossborder and Transnational Higher Education
- Cross-National Research on Continuous Improvement
- Cross-Sector Research on Continuous Learning and Improveme...
- Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Education
- Culturally Responsive Leadership
- Culturally Responsive Pedagogies
- Culturally Responsive Teacher Education in the United Stat...
- Curriculum Design
- Data Collection in Educational Research
- Data-driven Decision Making in the United States
- Deaf Education
- Desegregation and Integration
- Design Thinking and the Learning Sciences: Theoretical, Pr...
- Development, Moral
- Dialogic Pedagogy
- Digital Age Teacher, The
- Digital Citizenship
- Digital Divides
- Disabilities
- Distance Learning
- Distributed Leadership
- Doctoral Education and Training
- Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Denmark
- Early Childhood Education and Development in Mexico
- Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Early Childhood Education in Australia
- Early Childhood Education in China
- Early Childhood Education in Europe
- Early Childhood Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Early Childhood Education in Sweden
- Early Childhood Education Pedagogy
- Early Childhood Education Policy
- Early Childhood Education, The Arts in
- Early Childhood Mathematics
- Early Childhood Science
- Early Childhood Teacher Education
- Early Childhood Teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Early Years Professionalism and Professionalization Polici...
- Economics of Education
- Education For Children with Autism
- Education for Sustainable Development
- Education Leadership, Empirical Perspectives in
- Education of Native Hawaiian Students
- Education Reform and School Change
- Educational Statistics for Longitudinal Research
- Educator Partnerships with Parents and Families with a Foc...
- Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
- Environmental and Science Education: Overlaps and Issues
- Epistemic Beliefs
- Equity and Improvement: Engaging Communities in Educationa...
- Equity, Ethnicity, Diversity, and Excellence in Education
- Ethical Research with Young Children
- Ethics and Education
- Ethics of Teaching
- Ethnic Studies
- Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention
- Family and Community Partnerships in Education
- Family Day Care
- Federal Government Programs and Issues
- Feminization of Labor in Academia
- Finance, Education
- Financial Aid
- Formative Assessment
- Future-Focused Education
- Gender and Achievement
- Gender and Alternative Education
- Gifted Education
- Global Mindedness and Global Citizenship Education
- Global University Rankings
- Governance, Education
- Grounded Theory
- Growth of Effective Mental Health Services in Schools in t...
- Higher Education and Globalization
- Higher Education and the Developing World
- Higher Education Faculty Characteristics and Trends in the...
- Higher Education Finance
- Higher Education Governance
- Higher Education Graduate Outcomes and Destinations
- Higher Education in Africa
- Higher Education in China
- Higher Education in Latin America
- Higher Education in the United States, Historical Evolutio...
- Higher Education, International Issues in
- Higher Education Management
- Higher Education Policy
- Higher Education Research
- Higher Education Student Assessment
- High-stakes Testing
- History of Early Childhood Education in the United States
- History of Education in the United States
- History of Technology Integration in Education
- Homeschooling
- Inclusion in Early Childhood: Difference, Disability, and ...
- Inclusive Education
- Indigenous Education in a Global Context
- Indigenous Learning Environments
- Indigenous Students in Higher Education in the United Stat...
- Infant and Toddler Pedagogy
- Inservice Teacher Education
- Integrating Art across the Curriculum
- Intelligence
- Intensive Interventions for Children and Adolescents with ...
- International Perspectives on Academic Freedom
- Intersectionality and Education
- Knowledge Development in Early Childhood
- Leadership Development, Coaching and Feedback for
- Leadership in Early Childhood Education
- Leadership Training with an Emphasis on the United States
- Learning Analytics in Higher Education
- Learning Difficulties
- Learning, Lifelong
- Learning, Multimedia
- Learning Strategies
- Legal Matters and Education Law
- LGBT Youth in Schools
- Linguistic Diversity
- Linguistically Inclusive Pedagogy
- Literacy
- Literacy Development and Language Acquisition
- Literature Reviews
- Mathematics Identity
- Mathematics Instruction and Interventions for Students wit...
- Mathematics Teacher Education
- Measurement for Improvement in Education
- Measurement in Education in the United States
- Meta-Analysis and Research Synthesis in Education
- Methodological Approaches for Impact Evaluation in Educati...
- Methodologies for Conducting Education Research
- Mindfulness, Learning, and Education
- Mixed Methods Research
- Motivation
- Multiliteracies in Early Childhood Education
- Multiple Documents Literacy: Theory, Research, and Applica...
- Multivariate Research Methodology
- Museums, Education, and Curriculum
- Music Education
- Narrative Research in Education
- Native American Studies
- Note-Taking
- Numeracy Education
- One-to-One Technology in the K-12 Classroom
- Online Education
- Open Education
- Organizing for Continuous Improvement in Education
- Organizing Schools for the Inclusion of Students with Disa...
- Outdoor Play and Learning
- Outdoor Play and Learning in Early Childhood Education
- Pedagogical Leadership
- Pedagogy of Teacher Education, A
- Performance Objectives and Measurement
- Performance-based Research Assessment in Higher Education
- Performance-based Research Funding
- Phenomenology in Educational Research
- Philosophy of Education
- Physical Education
- Play
- Podcasts in Education
- Policy
- Policy Context of United States Educational Innovation and...
- Politics of Education
- Portable Technology Use in Special Education Programs and ...
- Pre-Service Teacher Education
- Problem Solving
- Productivity and Higher Education
- Professional Development
- Professional Learning Communities
- Program Evaluation
- Programs and Services for Students with Emotional or Behav...
- Psychology Learning and Teaching
- Psychometric Issues in the Assessment of English Language ...
- Qualitative Data Analysis Techniques
- Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Research Samp...
- Qualitative Research Design
- Quantitative Research Designs in Educational Research
- Race and Affirmative Action in Higher Education
- Reading Education
- Refugee and New Immigrant Learners
- Relational and Developmental Trauma and Schools
- Relational Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education
- Reliability in Educational Assessments
- Religion in Elementary and Secondary Education in the Unit...
- Researcher Development and Skills Training within the Cont...
- Research-Practice Partnerships in Education within the Uni...
- Response to Intervention
- Restorative Practices
- Scale and Sustainability of Education Innovation and Impro...
- Scaling Up Research-based Educational Practices
- School Accreditation
- School Choice
- School Culture
- School District Budgeting and Financial Management in the ...
- School Improvement through Inclusive Education
- School Reform
- Schools, Private and Independent
- School-Wide Positive Behavior Support
- Science Education
- Secondary to Postsecondary Transition Issues
- Self-Regulated Learning
- Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices
- Service-Learning
- Severe Disabilities
- Single Salary Schedule
- Single-sex Education
- Single-Subject Research Design
- Social Context of Education
- Social Justice
- Social Network Analysis
- Social Pedagogy
- Social Science and Education Research
- Social Studies Education
- Sociology of Education
- Standards-Based Education
- Statistical Assumptions
- Student Access, Equity, and Diversity in Higher Education
- Student Assignment Policy
- Student Engagement in Tertiary Education
- Student Learning, Development, Engagement, and Motivation ...
- Student Participation
- Student Voice in Teacher Development
- Sustainability Education in Early Childhood Education
- Sustainability in Early Childhood Education
- Sustainability in Higher Education
- Teacher Beliefs and Epistemologies
- Teacher Collaboration in School Improvement
- Teacher Evaluation and Teacher Effectiveness
- Teacher Preparation
- Teacher Training and Development
- Teacher Unions and Associations
- Teacher-Student Relationships
- Teaching Critical Thinking
- Technologies, Teaching, and Learning in Higher Education
- Technology Education in Early Childhood
- Technology, Educational
- Technology-based Assessment
- The Bologna Process
- The Regulation of Standards in Higher Education
- Theories of Educational Leadership
- Three Conceptions of Literacy: Media, Narrative, and Gamin...
- Tracking and Detracking
- Traditions of Quality Improvement in Education
- Transformative Learning
- Transitions in Early Childhood Education
- Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities in the Unite...
- Understanding the Psycho-Social Dimensions of Schools and ...
- University Faculty Roles and Responsibilities in the Unite...
- Using Ethnography in Educational Research
- Value of Higher Education for Students and Other Stakehold...
- Virtual Learning Environments
- Vocational and Technical Education
- Wellness and Well-Being in Education
- Women's and Gender Studies
- Young Children and Spirituality
- Young Children's Learning Dispositions
- Young Children's Working Theories