Education

Education starts before Grade R

28 January 2010

Professor Eric Atmore believes that early childhood development programmes are crucial to any plan to improve our society.

Guest contributor Professor Eric Atmore is Associate Professor of Social Development at the University of Cape Town and Director of the Centre for Early Childhood Development.This article originally appeared in the Cape Argus on 4 December 2009.

Last week, Premier Helen Zille made public the Western Cape government’s plan to improve education outcomes over the next ten years, described in Education MEC Donald Grant’s article “œThe DA’s 10-year plan for improving education outcomes is part of a greater goal” (Cape Argus, December 1).

The purpose of the plan is to create an “œopportunity society for all” in the Western Cape.  Sadly, the outlined plan will not achieve much since it ignores the early education needs of some 610 000 children ranging in age from birth to six years.  Our most vulnerable children enter formal schooling unprepared.

By ignoring the needs of these children, the plan is clearly more glitz than substance, and ignores a sustainable solution to improving education outcomes.

This would involve expanding the provision of early childhood development programmes for young children.

International research, corroborated by a range of South African studies, shows empirical evidence that good quality early childhood development experiences produce significant social, economic, education and developmental benefits to children, families and communities.

A child who attends a good quality early childhood learning programme enters formal schooling:

• More confident and able;
• More likely to proceed through school without repeating a grade;
• Less likely to need remedial education;
• Less likely to be involved in crime; and
• More likely to get paid employment as an adult.

In addition, young girls who attend a quality early learning programme are less likely to become pregnant while in their teens.

American researchers David Weikart and Larry Schweinhart quantified these benefits in dollar terms, calculating that each dollar spent on quality early childhood development produces a cost saving to society of $17.07 -  thus, a million dollars spent produces a cost saving of more than $17m. This return on investment is remarkable.

Yet our provincial education department (and the national department) continues to limit young children’s access to early childhood development programmes through inadequate policy, strategy and practice.  Nowhere in the Western Cape education plan is there any mention of the education needs of the large number of children aged birth to six years.

In our province, there are just over 3 000 early childhood development centres providing an early education opportunity for 150 000 children.  More than 95 percent of this is community-driven provision. This number of children represents 24 percent of the 0-6 age population in the province and means that 76 percent of children aged 0-6 years – some 460 000 children – do not benefit from a structured early-learning programme in a positive learning environment before formal school.

For Grade R, we have 36 895 children provided for out of a population of some 94 000 – just on 40 percent.

Some young children grow up in environments where parents are able to devote considerable time to their early education needs. In these homes books, magazines and newspapers are readily available and are read to children, and counting games and pre-numeracy activities take place, which encourage the development of numeracy.

But, for families living in poverty, the situation is very different. Stretched for time and resources, these parents are not able to provide an optimal environment for the development of literacy and numeracy.  The result is that most of these children enter Grade 1 not having experienced even one year of a structured learning programme and the effect is felt twelve years down the line in poor school leaving results, if they ever get there.

The government’s Grade R programme is an attempt to meet this deficit but it is too little, too late. In Education White Paper 5, the goal is to ensure that every child will receive at least one year of Grade R education prior to entering Grade 1 by the year 2010.

This programme is way behind schedule and in the Western Cape is only likely to reach 40 percent of Grade R aged children by the target date.

While the problems of poverty are not easily eradicated, a radical rethink of early childhood development policy, strategy and practice is needed at national and provincial levels.  The Education Department in our province needs to work with the Social Development and Health Departments to provide young children with the head start that they need.

As a province, we need to make a much greater investment in early education – the level that produces the greatest social, economic and education return.

By doing this we will see the benefits all the way through the education system.  It is only by going back to the most important formative years that we will get the education system right.

Serious engagement with the non-profit early childhood development sector in our province, requesting support in the development of early education strategy and the development of realistic and achievable implementation plans, is recommended.