Parents perception of early childhood education: a case study of Mahango a rural sub-county in Kasese District-Uganda
Date of Award
2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (MEd)
First Supervisor/Advisor
Dr. Fortidas Bakuza
Department
Institute for Educational Development, East Africa
Abstract
Parental Perception on Early Childhood Education means how the parents view and understand the education children acquire from Early Childhood Centers. Early Childhood Education involves engaging children in developmental activities that help them to thrive throughout the aspects of growth and development. The major focus of this study was basically the school education that children gain in the early years of life from early childhood centers also known as pre-schools. When parents positively perceive the early education of their children, they do not only influence the academic acquisition but also the holistic development. The study used a case study design under a qualitative approach in two villages of Mahango, a mountainous Sub-county in Kasese District. It employed interview guides, questionnaires and focused group discussions as instruments to obtain data from the respondents. The parents and local council leaders were the respondents in this research. The views collected from the respondents reveal that many parents have a positive perception towards children’s early schooling. The perception of the parents is being influenced by inadequate awareness, socio-economic status, parent’s educational background, the number of early childhood centers in the community, and the government policy. This study proposed a number of recommendations to different stakeholders for parents to develop a positive perception that might favor children’s holistic development. The study implores the parents, Early School teachers, local leaders and all policy makers to confine efforts in improving early childhood care and education. Parents should ensure that young children are supported through reinforcement and scaffolding to facilitate development. School teachers should engage themselves in community policing and sensitization of parents as they are the ones with vast knowledge and enough reasons to motivate parents towards early school education. The local leaders need to startup more early childhood centers in the community so as to relieve the young children from treading long distances which in most cases demoralizes them about school education. The policy makers in education need to integrate early childhood education with parenting to equip parents and all other caregivers with vast knowledge about parenting styles that fosters children’s holistic development. This study found out that many parents have a positive perception towards children’s early schooling. The perception of the parents is only being influenced by lack of awareness, socio-economic status, parent’s educational background, the number of early childhood centers in the community, and the government policy. The analysis of the study reveals that when the parents fail to address and avert the impacting reasons, they tend to develop a weak perception towards children’s early schooling.
Recommended Citation
Sukutha, Eria (2020). Parents perception of early childhood education: a case study of Mahango a rural sub-county in Kasese District-Uganda (Unpublished Masters Thesis). Dar es salaam: Aga Khan University