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AN
EVALUATION ON THE ATTITUDE OF CHILD CARE GIVERS TOWARDS CHILD CARE PRACTICES IN
NURSERY SCHOOL
ABSTRACT
The study
attempted to investigate an evaluation of the attitudes of child caregivers
towards child care practices in nursery schools in Agege and Ikeja Local
Government Areas of Lagos State. In this study, some relevant and related
literatures were reviewed under sub-headings. The descriptive research survey
design was applied in the assessment of the opinions of the respondents with
the aid of the questionnaire and the sampling technique. A total of 200 (Two
hundred) respondents were used in this study. A total of three null hypotheses
were formulated and tested in this study with the use of the Pearson Product
Moment Correlation Coefficient statistical tool. All the hypotheses were tested
at 0.05 level of significance. At the end of the tests, the following results
emerged: There is a significant relationship between the caregivers’ attitudes
and their impact on childcare practices, there is a significant relationship
between the attitudes of caregivers and childcare practices, there is a
significant problem encountered by caregivers towards childcare practices in
Lagos State, there is a significant relationship between the relevance of
childcare practices and early childhood education in Lagos State, and finally,
there is a significant difference between children who attended childcare
practices and those who did not.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
The quality
of life for a child and the contributions the child makes to society as an
adult can be traced back to the first few years of life. From birth until about
five years old, a child undergoes tremendous growth and change. If this period
of life includes support for growth in cognition, language, motor skills,
adaptive skills and social-emotional functioning, the child is more likely to
succeed in school and later contribute to society. A good early childhood care
and education provides the intervention programmes that support children’s
survival growth, development and learning including health, nutrition and
hygiene, and cognitive, social, physical and emotional development from birth
to entry into primary school in formal, informal and non-formal settings
(UNESCO, 2007).
The early
childhood care provides comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, inclusive
educational opportunities to the children. According to UNESCO (2000), the past
decade has provided more evidence that good quality early childhood care and
education, both in families and in more structured programmes have a positive
impact on the survival, growth, development and learning potential of children.
Such programmes should be comprehensive, focusing on all of the child’s needs
and encompassing health, nutrition and hygiene as well as cognitive and
psycho-social development.
Until the
middle of the twentieth century, scientists believed that the brain’s
development was determined almost exclusively by genetic factors. Researcher
Mark Rosenzweig (1969) was curious about whether early experiences change the
brains development. He conducted a number of experiments with rats and other
animals to investigate this possibility. Animals were randomly assigned to grow
up in different environments. Animals in an enriched early environment lived in
cages with stimulating features, such as wheels to rotate, steps to clim,
livers to press and toys to manipulate. In contrast, other animals had the
early experience of growing up in standard cages or in barren, isolated
conditions. The results were stunning. The brains of the animals growing up in
the enriched environment developed better than the brains of the animals reared
in standard or isolated conditions. The brains of the “enriched” animals weighed
more, had thicker layers, had more neuronal connections, and had higher levels
of neurochemical activity. Similar findings occurred when older animals were
reared in vastly different environments, although the results were not as
strong as for the younger animals. Such results give hope that enriching the
lives of infants and young children who live in improverised environments can
produce positive changes in their development.
Depressed
brain activity has recently been found in children who grow up in a deprived
environment (Cicchetti, 2001). A child who grew up in the unresponsive and non
stimulating environment of a Romanian orphanage showed considerably depressed
brain activity compared with a normal child.
The
profusion of connections described earlier provides the growing brain with
flexibility and resilience. Consider 16 years old Micheal Rehbein. At age 4 ½,
he began to experience uncontrollable seizures, as many as 400 a day. Doctors
said that the only solution was to remove the left hemisphere of his brain
where the seizures were occurring.
Neuroscientists
believes that what wires the brain or rewires it, in the case of Michael
Rehbein is repeated experience (Nash, 1997). Each time a baby tries to ouch an
attractive object or gazes intently at a face, tiny bursts of electricity shoot
through the brain, knitting neurons together into circuit what results are some
the behavioural milestones. For example, at about 2 months of age, the
motor-control centres of the brain develop to the point at which infant can
suddenly reach out and grab a nearby object. At about 4 months, the neural
connect necessary for depth perception begin to form. And about 12 months, the
brain’s speech centers are poised to produce one of infancy’s magical moments
when the infant litters his or her first word.
In sum,
neural connections are formed early in life. The infant’s brain literally is
waiting for experiences to determine how connections are made (Greenough, 2001,
Johnson, 2000, 2001, 2005). Before birth, it appears that genes mainly direct
how the brain establishes basic wiring patterns. Neurons grow and travel to
distant places awaiting further instructions. After birth, environmental
experiences guide the brain’s development. The flowing stream of sight, sounds,
smells, touches, language, and eye contact help shape the many of the
conditions that threaten the survival of infants and young children also leave
those who do survive at risk, often with physical, cognitive and emotional
impairments. From which they will never fully recover. Thus the early childhood
years offers an unparalleled window of opportunity to impact the future
well-being of these vulnerable children. Great attention should therefore be
paid to the early years of the children, knowing the vulnerability of their
situation and how what happen to them at this stage can affect their entire
life. The care these children receive has powerful effects on their survival,
growth and development.
To a child,
the world is an awesome place where experiences are just waiting to surprise
and excite the young growing mind. Children are naturally curious, they want to
explore and learn from everything they can see, touch and do. If their
explorations bring pleasure or success, they will want to learn more and discover
the things around them. Piaget had asserted that the ability of a child to know
the properties of and object is determined by the child’s interaction with the
object. It is during these early years that children form attitudes about
learning that will last a lifetime (Cartton, 2003). Children who therefore
receive the right sort of support and encouragement during these years are
expected to be creative and adventurous learners throughout their lives
otherwise they tend to have a negative disposition towards learning in later
(Einon, 1999, Lew & Bettner, 1996).
Research has
amply indicated that children’s capacity to learn, demonstrated in their level
of task persistence, is greatly influenced by the interaction of both the
physical and the psychosocial environmental variables. UNICEF (2001) posits
that early childhood experiences should take place within the context of
learning through living environment stimulated by interaction with other
children, adults and manipulative materials (Osanyin, 2004).
The value of
adults assistance or involvement in childhood developmental activities is also
being noted in research. The study of Shonkoff and Phillips (2000) indicates
that children’s developmental trajectory is critically mediated by appropriate,
effective relationships with loving and consistent caregivers as they relate to
children through play. When adults observe children or join them in
child-driven play, they are given a unique opportunity to see the world through
a child’s vintage point as he navigates a world so perfectly created to just to
fit his needs. The interactions that occur through play tell children that
adults are fully paying attention to them and help to build enduring
relationships (Tamis-Lemonda et al, 2004, Tsao, 2002). Those children who
receive the right sort of support and encouragement during these years tend to
be creative, adventurous learners throughout this sort of support and
interaction are likely to have a much different attitude about learning later
in life.
An important
contribution to the field of child development and early childhood education
was the recognitive of the role of caregivers in the fostering development of
children in the institutionalized settings. Development in children is fostered
when caregivers interact with them physically, orally and emotionally,
stimulating children and providing them with clear and consistent cues to
behaviours. According to Elias & Arnold (2006), Zins (2004), Cohn (1990),
Henry (1990), studies on brain development have such as close interaction with
caring adults and engaging hands-on activities have been found capable of
enhancing the brain’s development (Healy, 1998).
Early
caregiver-child interaction plays a profound role in the development of
self-regulation, cognitive development, language acquisition, and
socio-emotional adjustment.
Attitude
refers to relatively enduring organizations of feelings, beliefs and behaviour
tendencies toward other persons, groups, ideas or objects. Attitudes play an
important role in virtually every aspect of social life. They exert a powerful
influence upon the nature of our relationship with others. For example,
positive attitudes towards particular persons lead us to seek them out, to do
things for them, and to imitate their actions while negative attitudes lead us
to avoid, reject and possibly even harm them. In a sense, many of our reactions
to other may be viewed as largely attitudinal in nature. Secondly, attitudes
influence most important decisions. They also determine our position in many crucial
social issues and in this manner indirectly shape the nature of the society in
which we live. We are rarely completely neutral to the persons, groups, object
or ideas around us. Rather we usually have beliefs about them, feeling toward
them and behavioural tendencies with respect to them. When these three types of
reactions chester around a particular object and are relatively enduring.
They may be
viewed as constituting an attitude. It is obvious that children are not born
with all their complex attitudes in place. Rather these are formed through a
gradual process in which classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning and
observational learning all play a role. Acting together over a period of many
years, these result in the development of many attitudes which are highly
resistant to later change (Thurstone, 1932).
Attempt to
alter attitudes often involve persuasive communications while many factors
influence the success of such appeals. Attitudes toward many different stimuli
are influenced by their frequency of exposure – the more often they are
encountered the more they are liked (Thurstone, 1932).
It is
evident from the above that to get caregivers adopt desirable child care
practices, we need first to alter certain negative attitudes which they hold.
Statement of
Problem
It should be
noted that mothers are exclusively caretakers of their own babies and young
children. These activities are quite important but must be handled with
flexibility. The Nigerian mother is too eager to take care of her child and she
is always all over the child. However, today there is this craze for wealth.
There are career women predominantly in the urban areas. They leave for their
various offices as early as 5am and return back home about 11pm. One of the
many reasons for coming home late is traffic congestion. These children are
therefore entrusted into the hands of unlearned housemaids, illiterate nannies,
grandmothers or grand aunties who may be lackadaisical about their health and
nutrition. This method of care giving was a common phenomenon in the 60s, 70s
and early 80s. From the 80s, uncountable number of day centres, crèches and
play groups sprang up. With Nigeria in her 50s, the career woman now gives a
sigh of relief, thrusting her child into the sophisticated care of caregivers
in the nearest care-giving centres.
Because of
long hours of working, the child is neglected in the area of ECCE by the
mother. The child must have gone to bed by 8pm, most probably without dinner
and if there is, not a balanced diet. The formative years of the growing
children may be thus maladjusted.
Purpose of
the Study
This study
seeks to ascertain the caregivers attitude towards child care practices in
nursery schools.
Objectives
1. To access the impact of care givers
towards child care practices.
2. To find out the attitude of are
givers towards child care practices.
3. To find out the various problems in
which the care givers usually encounter towards child care practices.
4. To find the extent to which child
care practices is relevant to the early childhood education.
5. To find out the difference between the
children who were presented for child care practices and those who do not as
regards to their early childhood education.
Research
Questions
1. To what extent do care givers
impact on childcare practices?
2. What is the attitude of care givers
towards child care practices?
3. What are the various problems in
which the care givers usually encountered towards child care practices?
4. To what extent is child care
practice relevant to the early childhood education?
5. What is the difference between the
children who were presented for childcare practices and those who do not as
regards childcare practices?
Hypothesis
1. There is no significant
relationship between the caregivers and their impact on childcare practices.
2. There is no significant relationship between
the attitude of caregivers and childcare practices.
3. There is no significant problem
encountered by care givers towards child care practices.
4. There is no significant
relationship between the relevance of child care practice and early childhood
education.
5. There is no significant difference
between children who attended childcare practices and those who did not as
regards childcare practices.
Significance
of the Study
This study
will be significant in that it emphasize the importance of caregivers.
Scope of the
Study
The study
will focus on both high and low density area of Lagos Metropolis. Nursery
schools will be visited. For the high density area Agege will be selected as an
example whereas for the low density area Ikeja will be studied. The study will
be limited to caregivers attitude towards childcare practices. This is because
it would be too wide if other areas are being introduced and will be difficult
to be covered for eh short period of the study.
Theoretical
Framework
The
cognitive world of the preschool child is creative, free and fanciful.
Preschool children’s imaginations work overtime, and their mental grasp of the
world improves. This work covers the cognitive development in early childhood,
it focuses on two theories: Piagets and Vygotsky’s.
Piaget’s
Preoperational Stage
The
preoperational stage stretches from approximately 2 to 7 years of age. It is a
time when stable concepts are formed, mental reasoning emerges, egocentrism
begins strongly and then weakens and magical beliefs are constructed. The label
preoperational emphasizes that the child at this stage cannot yet think
something through without acting it out.
What are
operations? Operations are internalized sets of actions that allow children to
do mentally what before they did physically. Mentally adding and subtracting
numbers are examples of operations.
Thought in
the preoperational stage is flawed and not well organized. Preoperational
thought marks the beginning of children’s ability to reconstruct at the level
of thought what has been established in their behaviour. Preoperational thought
also involves a transition from primitive to more sophisticated use of symbols.
Preoperational thought can be divided into two substages: Symbolic function and
Intuitive thought.
Symbolic
Function SubStage:
The symbolic
function substage is the first substage of preoperational thought, which occurs
roughly between 2 and 4 years of age. In this stage, the young child gains the
ability to mentally represent an object that is not present. The ability to
engage in symbolic thought is called symbolic function, and it vastly expands
the child’s mental world. Young children use scribed designs to represent
people, houses, cars, clouds and so on. Other examples of symbolism in early
childhood are language and the prevalence of pretend play. In sum, the ability
to think symbolically and to represent the world mentally predominates in this
early substage of preoperational thought (Delocache, 2004).
Intuitive
Though Substage
The
intuitive thought substage is the second substage of preoperational thought,
which occurs between appropriately 4 and 7 years of age. In this substage,
children begins to use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to all
sorts of questions. Piaget called this time period intuitive because, on the
one hand, young children seen to sure about their knowledge and understanding,
yet they are so unaware of how they know what they know. That is, they say they
know something but know it without the use of rational thinking.
Vygotsky’s
Theory of Development
Vygotsky’s
unique ideas about the zone of proximal development.
The Zone of
Proximal Development
The zone
proximal development (ZDP) is Vygotsky’s (1962) term for the range of tasks
that are too difficult for a child to master alone but that can be learned with
the guidance and assistance of adults or more skilled children. Thus, the lower
limit of the ZDP is the level of problem solving reached by the child working
independently. The upper limit is the level of additional responsibility the
child can accept with the assistance of an able instructor.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding
involves changing the level of support. Over the course of a teaching session,
a more skilled person adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the child’s current
performance level. When the task the student is learning is new, the more
skilled person may use direct instruction. As the student’s competence
increases, less guidance is given.
Language and
Thought
According to
Vygotsky, children use speech not only for social communication, but also to
help them solve tasks. Vygotsky (1962) further argued that young children use
language to plan, guide and monitor their behaviour. This use of language for
self-regulation is called private speech.
Vygotsky
said that language and thought initially develop independently of each other
and then merge. He emphasized that all mental functions have external, or
social, origins. Children must use language to communicate with others before
they can focus inward on their own thoughts. Children also must communicate
externally and use language for a long period of time before they can make the
transition from external to internal speech. This transition period occurs
between 3 and 7 years of age and involves talking to oneself. After a while,
the self-talk becomes second nature to children, and they can act without
speaking aloud.
Vygotsky
argued that children who use a lot of private speech are more socially
competent than those who do not (Santiago-Delefosse & Delefosse, 2002). He
argued that private speech represents an early transition in becoming more
socially communicative. For Vygotsky, when young children talk to themselves,
they are using language to govern their behaviour and guide themselves. For
example, a child working on a puzzle might say to herself,; “Which pieces
should I put together first? I will try these green ones first. Now I need some
blue ones. No, that blue one does not fit there. I will try it over here”.
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