Early Childhood Care and Education in Botswana: Implications for access and quality
South African Journal of Childhood Education
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Early Childhood Care and Education in Botswana: Implications for access and quality | |
| Creator | Pillar, Lebogang J. Haricharan, Shanil J. | |
| Description | Background: The value of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is recognised as beneficial to the child and society. Research evidence on pre-primary ECCE access and quality in Sub-Saharan Africa is scarce.Aim: The aim of this article is to examine Botswana’s pre-primary school programme in enhancing accessibility and quality of ECCE provision.Setting: The study was conducted in 12 of the 24 primary schools implementing the pre-primary programme in a Gaborone sub-region.Methods: Adaptations of the Levesque Access Framework and Woodhead Quality Framework were applied to this qualitative research study. Using semi-structured interviews, 11 pre-primary teachers, 5 school heads or Heads of Department, and 3 Principal Education Officers (PEO) were interviewed, and the data collected was analysed thematically.Results: The findings suggest that the main barriers to the effective pre-primary programme rollout are supply-side and systemic. These barriers represent the public institutional environment (e.g. funding, inter-governmental co-ordination), policy design (e.g. the physical infrastructure delivery model, administrative barriers, enrolment policy), and programme implementation (enrolment practices, teaching personnel, learning materials, and assessment of learners).Conclusion: Although over 600 public schools have implemented the pre-primary programme, meeting the objectives of universal access, equitability, inclusivity, and quality remains a challenge in Botswana, as in many other African countries.Contribution: The findings offer research frameworks and evidence for understanding pre-primary ECCE accessibility and quality. Further, the research has policy, programmatic, and practice-based implications for pre-primary educators and policymakers. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2023-06-26 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/sajce.v13i1.1268 | |
| Source | South African Journal of Childhood Education; Vol 13, No 1 (2023); 14 pages 2223-7682 2223-7674 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/1268/2431
https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/1268/2432
https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/1268/2433
https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/1268/2434
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