The location of ECD within the education system 39

In South Africa the structure of ECD is different to that of some other countries, for example Spain, where children either fall into the 0-3 year level or the 3-6 year level. In South Africa ECD is made up of three components, namely, Pre-Reception Year programmes which cater to children from birth to four years, Reception Year (Grade R) programmes for children aged five to six years, and what is commonly referred to as the ‘Foundation Phase’ for children

Early Childhood Development

Birth – 4 years Pre-Reception Year Programmes

Location of Early Childhood Development within the South African Education System

aged seven to nine. However, an overlap occurs as Grade R is officially part of the Foundation Phase. Table 2 locates ECD within the broader formal education system.

Table 2: Location of ECD within the formal South African education system, indicating the official age of the children in the corresponding education level, as well as the government departments responsible for each educational stage.Table

Although at the policy level Grade R falls within the ten years compulsory schooling, evidence from the Department of Education (2007) states that “the majority of Grade R classes at schools are under sourced with very little or no support from the management of the school”. The Reception Year is therefore not always regarded as an integral part of the Foundation Phase of compulsory schooling, but rather as an ‘add-on’, which does not subject it to the same rigorous requirements in terms of quality (NAPTOSA, 2001). The lack of a cohesive, national delivery plan for Grade R, as well as a shortage of sufficiently qualified Practitioners means that the policy commitments are not necessarily being implemented at the grassroots level. As the NAPTOSA (2001) critique states: “Policies, even excellent ones, do not automatically become a reality without a careful, coherent plan for implementation”.

Although government has responded to Pre-Reception Year programmes with a National Integrated Plan for Early Childhood Development (known as Tshwaragano Ka Bana), it is vague and the financial implications are not spelt out (Atmore, 2007). The responsibility for this age cohort fall predominantly on the Department of Social Development, although the integrated plan calls for collaboration between the Departments of Education, Social Development and Health to ensure effective programmes for 0-4 year olds.

2.6.2 Centre-based ECD services

A centre-based model is the dominant one with regards to the educational care for young children in South Africa. There are two main categories of ECD institution-based provision, namely public and independent (Department of Education, 2001). Public ECD centres are financed by Provincial Departments of Education and / or Social Development and provide services for children aged 0-6 years¹¹. A large variety of ECD services and programmes are available in the category of independent institutions, which account for 83% of ECD institutions.

They are funded through fees paid by parents, community fundraising or donations of materials or in kind. The government provides little or no financial support to most of these centres (Ibid).

The White Paper states that independent ECD provision includes:

™ The Reception Year (Grade R) at independent schools

™ The Reception Year attached to public schools, but managed by the school governing body and operated by a private individual or the community

™ Independent pre-primary schools that provide for children from 3-5 years of age

™ Privately operated or community run crèches or nursery schools that provide for children from birth to 5 years

™ Home-based provision for children from birth to 5 years.

11 The Department of Education subsidises children in the 5-6 year age cohort, while the Department of Social Development provides subsidies for children aged 0-4 years.

Children attending centre-based ECD programmes in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces, South Africa.

Photographs taken by Jaclyn Murray

According to the findings of the National ECD Audit (Williams & Samuels, 2001) approximately half of all the sites audited are situated in community settings, a third are home-based and less that one fifth are located in primary schools. Community-home-based sites, along with independent pre-primary schools, constitute the largest groups of providers. It is therefore clear that in terms of ECD provisioning the independent centres are responsible for educating and caring for the majority of children who are enrolled in ECD programmes across the country.

Community-based ECD centres are able to operate at a cost considerably lower than primary school based provision. In the latter the Practitioners are employed by the government, while Practitioners at the community-based ECD centres are selected and paid by the communities¹². Table 3 highlights some of the key differences between these two types of institutions.

Table 3. Cost of community-based sites as compared to primary and reception sites.

Source: Biersteker, 2001.

12 Some communities are so poor that Practitioners only get what is called a “soap” - when families in the community club together at Christmas time to give the Practitioner a small amount of money.

Responsibility of state for

Since community-based ECD provision is the most common, and taking cognisance of the fact that many communities around the country are poverty stricken, educating their children becomes a huge financial burden for many families. In addition, community-based sites earn ten to fourteen times less that Practitioners employed at primary and reception sites. Community-based sites also rely heavily on parent fees and community generosity to equip their respective centres with materials and resources and to buy food to feed the children. The quality of the care and education that children who attend community-based centres receive can be negatively affected by these circumstances. This is of great concern as studies have shown that while high quality ECD services can greatly benefit children living in impoverished circumstances, bad quality services can in fact harm the child (Biersteker, 2001). Furthermore, although I address only the centre-based model of educational care for young children in this dissertation, various additional models of care are employed. Indeed, the range and scope of ECD services that have been developed to support families and communities and thereby provide children with safe and nurturing learning environments, is enormous. However, as the centre-based model is dominant in South Africa, it is here that I will focus my attention.