Towards Sustainable Access to Early Childhood Development in Zambia: Re-Envisioning the Role of Community Based Early Childhood Programs in Promoting School Readiness — Oak Academic Publishing
Research ArticleOpen AccessGoogle Scholar indexed
Towards Sustainable Access to Early Childhood Development in Zambia: Re-Envisioning the Role of Community Based Early Childhood Programs in Promoting School Readiness
University of Zambia, School of Education, Department of Educational Psychology, Sociology and Special Education, Lusaka, Zambia
,
University of Zambia, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Lusaka, Zambia
1 University of Zambia, School of Education, Department of Educational Psychology, Sociology and Special Education, Lusaka, Zambia
2 University of Zambia, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Lusaka, Zambia
The study examined the influence of community based early childhood education on children’s’ literacy and cognitive skills. The study sought to investigate whether children who attended the community based early childhood programmes were ahead of their peer who did not attend any programmes. The method used was quantitative in nature. The total sample was approximately two hundred and thirty-one. These were divided into treatment and control groups. The skills measured included early literacy—letter naming, fine motor skills, receptive and expressive language and cognitive skills—Rapid Automa-tised Naming (RAN), problem solving and attention skills. Other moderating factors included age, gender and socioeconomic status. On early literacy outcomes, SES and ECE attendance strongly predicated letter naming while age, SES and ECE predicted fine motor skills. ECE and socioeconomic status predicated expressive language while none predicted receptive language. Predictors for cognitive skills were SES for Rapid Automatised Naming (RAN); age, SES and ECE attendance predicted problem solving skills. None of the predictors explained variation for the attention skills. Children attending the community based ECE programmes in rural areas are ahead of their counterparts with no ECE exposure and are better prepared for school compared to those that do not. Implications of the findings are discussed.
KeywordsCommunity Based Early Childhood ProgrammesEarly Childhood EducationSchool ReadinessEarly Learning OutcomesZambia
Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to Read, Thinking, Learning and Hearing about Print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Dauber, S. L. (1993). First-Grade Classroom Behavior: Its Short and Long-Term Consequences for School Performance. Child Development, 64, 801-814.
Adler, N. E., & Rehkopf, D. H (2008). U.S. Disparities in Health: Descriptions, Causes, and Mechanisms. Annual Review of Public Health, 29, 235-252. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.29.020907.090852
Berninger, V., Abbott, R., Jones, J., Wolf, B., Gould, L., Anderson-Youngstrom, M. et al. (2006a). Early Development of Language by Hand: Composing-, Reading-, Listening-, and Speaking-Connections, Three Letter Writing Modes, and Fast Mapping in Spelling. Developmental Neuropsychology, 29, 61-92. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326942dn2901_5
Blair, C. (2002). School Readiness: Integrating Cognition and Emotion in a Neurobiological Conceptualization of Child Functioning at School Entry. American Psychologist, 57, 111-127. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.2.111
Bradley, R. H, Corwyn, R. F. (2002). Socioeconomic Status and Child Development. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 371-399.
Bryant, P., & Bradley, L. (1985). Rhyme and Reason in Reading and Spelling. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Buysee, V., & Wesley, P. W. (2005). Consultation in Early Childhood Settings. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. Inc.
Clark, C. A. C., Pritchard, V. E., & Woodward, L. J. (2010). Pre-school Executive Functioning Abilities Predict Early Mathematics Achievement. Developmental Psychology, 46, 1176-119. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019672
Campbell, F. A., Pungello, E. P., Burchinal, M., Kainz, K., Pan, Y., Wasik, B. H., & Ramey, C. T. (2012). Adult Outcomes as a Function of an Early Childhood Educational Program: An Abecedarian Project Follow-Up. Developmental Psychology, 48, 1033-1043. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026644
Coghlan, M., Bergeron, C., White, K., Sharp, C., Morris, M., & Rutt, S. (2009). Narrowing the Gap in Outcomes for Young Children through Effective Practices in the Early Years. London: Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People’s Services. http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/11108/11108_home.cfm
Deguzman, A. O., Doniza, L. Y., Sabio, M. A., & Teressa, M. (2010). Factors that Affect the Reading Performance of Grade 1 Pupils with and without Preschool Education. Bigaa Elementaryschool in Cubuyuo, Lugana.
Denckla, M. B., &Rudel, R. (1976). Rapid “Automatized” Naming of Pictures, Objects, Colors, and Letters, and Numbers by Normal Children. Cortex, 10, 186-202.
Dickinson, D. K., & McCabe, A. (2001). Bringing It All Together: The Multiple Origins, Skills, and Environmental Supports of Early Literacy. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16, 186-202. https://doi.org/10.1111/0938-8982.00019
Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1997). Consequences of Growing up Poor. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Duncan, G. J., Brooks-Gunn, J., Yeung, W., & Smith, J. (1998). How Much Does Childhood Poverty Affect the Life Chances of Children? American Sociological Review, 63, 406-423.
Duncan, G. J., & Murnane, R. J. (2016). Rising Inequality in Family Incomes and Children’s Educational Outcomes. The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2, 142-158.
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M (1997). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (3rd ed.). Circles Pines, M.N: American Guidance Services.
Entwisle, D. R., Karl, L. A., & Oslon, L. S. (2005). First Grade and Educational Attainment by Age 22: A New Story. American Journal of Sociology, 110, 1458-1502.
Fitzpatrick, C., McKinnon, R. D., Blair, C. B., & Willoughby, M. T. (2014). Do Preschool Executive Function Skills Explain the School Readiness Gap between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Children? Learning and Instruction, 30, 25-31.
Grantham-McGregor, S., Cheung, Y. B., Cueto, S. et al. (2007). Developmental Potential in the First 5 Years for Children in Developing Countries. The Lancet, 369, 60-70.
McClelland, M. M., Cameron, C. E., Connor, C. M., Farris, C. L., Jewkes, A. M., & Morrison, F. J. (2007). Links between Behavioral Regulation and Pre-schoolers’ Literacy, Vocabulary, and Math Skills. Developmental Psychology, 43, 947-959. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.4.947
Noble, K. G., McCandliss, B. D., & Farah, M. J. (2007). Socioeconomic Gradients Predict Individual Differences in Neurocognitive Abilities. Developmental Science, 10, 464-480. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00600.x
Pears, K. C., Fisher, P. A., Bruce, J., Kim, H. K., & Yoerger, K. (2010). Early Elementary School Adjustment of Maltreated Children in Foster Care: The Roles of Inhibitory Control and Caregiver Involvement. Child Development, 81, 1550-1564. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01491.x
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (2014). UNESCO Roadmap for Implementing the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development. http://en.unesco.org/esd-repo/view/year/2015.html
Ritsher, J., Warner, E. B., Johnson, J. G., & Dohrenwend, B. P. (2001). Inter-Generational Longitudinal Study of Social Class and Depression: A Test of Social Causation and Social Selection Models. British Journal of Psychiatry, 178, 84-90. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.178.40.s84
Rothlisberger, M., Neuenschwander, R., Cimeli, P., Michel, E., Roebers, C. M. (2012). Improving Executive Functions in 5-and 6-Year-Olds: Evaluation of a Small Group Intervention in Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Children. Infant and Child Development, 21, 411-429.
Sammons, P., Elliot, K., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E. C., Siraj-Blatchford, I., & Taggart, B. (2004). The Impact of Pre-School on Young Children’s Cognitive Attainments at Entry to Reception. British Educational Research Journal, 30, 691-712. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141192042000234656
Shonkoff, J. P., & Phillips, D. A. (2000). From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Develop-ment. Washington DC: National Academy Press.
Schweinhart, L. J., Montie, J., Xiang, Z., Barnett, W. S., Belfield, C. R., & Nores, M. (2005). Lifetime Effects: The HighScope Perry Preschool Study through Age 40 (Monographs of the HighScope Educational Research Foundation, 14). Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope Press.
Welsh, J. A., Nix, R. L., Blair, C., Bierman, K. L., & Nelson, K. E. (2010). The Development of Cognitive Skills and Gains in Academic School Readiness for Children from Low Income Families. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 43-53. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016738
Wagner, R. K., Torgesen, J. K., & Rashotte, C. A. (1994). Development of Reading-Related Phonological Processing Abilities: New Evidence of Bidirectional Causality from a Latent Variable Longitudinal Study. Developmental Psychology, 30, 73-87. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.30.1.73
Willoughby, M. T., Wirth, R. J., Blair, C. B., & Investigators, F. L. P. (2012). Executive Function in Early Childhood: Longitudinal Measurement Invariance and Developmental Change. Psychological Assessment, 24, 418-431. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025779