Principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of the Ethiopian early childhood care and education curriculum

The purpose of this study was to explore preschool principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of the Ethiopian Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) curriculum. It specifically aimed at understanding and interpreting how principals and teachers perceived the ECCE curriculum and what factors contributed to their perceptions of their practice. Studies have shown that ECCE is a fundamental stage of a child’s learning and development in terms of cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development (Edwards, 2003; Tuerk et al., 2021). In the last few years, Ethiopia has acknowledged the importance of early childhood care and education and has placed this as one of the national agenda items in its Education Sector Development Program-VI of 2021-2025 (Ministry of Education, 2021). Despite the issue of early childhood care and education being on the national plan, little research has been undertaken about ECCE in Ethiopia. In particular, while there has been some research on primary and secondary school principals' and teachers' perceptions of curriculum, there is limited empirical data available on preschool principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of the ECCE curriculum in Ethiopia. This limited information on ECCE in the Ethiopian context provided the impetus for this study. Considering these gaps, the following research questions were formulated for this study:
1. What are the preschool principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of the Ethiopian ECCE curriculum?
2. How do preschool principals and teachers develop a shared understanding of the Ethiopian ECCE curriculum?
3. What factors influence principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of the Ethiopian ECCE curriculum?
The social constructivist theory, the bioecological model of development, and the sociology of childhood perspectives were utilised as theoretical lenses to explore principals' and teachers' perceptions of the Ethiopian ECCE curriculum in the context of child learning and development. The study used mixed methods research design. A total of 39 preschool principals and 167 preschool teachers from three districts ( Sebeta, Sululta, and Sendafa) were selected using a random sampling technique coupled with purposive sampling for questionnaires. In addition, 10 principals and 20 teachers participated in interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative data were generated from the principals and teachers using questionnaires and semi structured interviews. In order to address the research questions, quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage), whereas qualitative data were thematically analysed.
The findings of this study demonstrated that preschool principals and teachers formed poor perceptions of the ECCE curriculum. A variety of factors influenced preschool principals' and teachers' perceptions of the ECCE curriculum. Limited professional development opportunities, insufficient leadership skills, parents' high expectations of their children's learning, unconducive work environment (lack of resources, low salary, and the community's low perception of preschool teachers), and the difficulty of the ECCE curriculum content were reported as the major influences. As a result, both principals and teachers perceived that the ECCE curriculum was not practised in accordance with the Ethiopian national ECCE framework, hampering their ability to meet the diverse learning needs of children. In addition, the findings indicated that both principals and teachers shared similar concerns that the ECCE curriculum was not designed in such a way that it addressed the learning and development of children. The ECCE curriculum was not developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant as it did not establish a good social foundation for children’s learning and development. Some of the content was adopted from foreign countries without taking the local context into account, which impacted teachers' understanding of the curriculum content as well as the learning and development of children. Further, the study found that preschools were not being supervised by the zonal and district education office, despite the Ethiopian ECCE curriculum implementation guideline requiring it. As a result, there was a wide variation among preschools as they were not implementing the regional or national ECCE curriculum. This study also revealed that most preschool teachers and principals did not meet the qualification standards stated in the Ethiopian ECCE national framework.
Finally, basic facilities and resources beneficial to children's holistic development were lacking. Learning resources (story books, textbooks, teachers' guide, curriculum), indoor and outdoor play materials, shortage of experienced and qualified teachers, lack of classrooms, limited staff office, and no flexible chairs and tables were the significant challenges that both principals and teachers reported.
Despite all of the challenges, both principals and teachers reported that the Ethiopian ECCE curriculum provided some opportunities for children, such as social interaction, language development, identity construction (history, mother tongue, and culture-oriented learning), flexible teaching material development, and multilingual and multicultural preschool settings. In conclusion, this study suggests the need to design a developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant ECCE curriculum, which enables preschool principals and teachers to have a shared understanding of the ECCE curriculum, allows collaboration among the key stakeholders, and supports zonal and district education offices’ close supervision of preschools.