Sub-theme 3.3: Challenges in practice

Three predominant challenges were noted by the practitioners in affording the development of agency in the following categories: Parents; workload and time constraints; and limited resources.

4.4.3.1 Parents

During the second focus group interview, practitioners indicated that parents put much pressure on them to get their children ready for school or knowledgeable. Their comments are seen in the following excerpts:

"You are right and some of the parents they will say they don't see progress in that child, you don't know how you can help that child." (FG2/SS); and

"I do know, I make him stand in front of the class ... it tries to keep him awake ... ja, but it doesn't help because he is tired, he can't take in anything ... He is awake ... So the parents come up to us, 'Why is my child failing?' ... Some parents are very stubborn. I know it is not relevant, but some parents are very stubborn. They are not just cooperate. If one parent who is my friend, and now I don't know, because I have been complaining, complaining, and she said she told me, I can ask her to take the child out, and I feel for that child. I am also getting tired." (FG2/CH)

These comments indicated to me a fear in practitioners that if they do not get through all the themes, numbers, letters, days of the week, etc. they would get into trouble with the parents. Such fear could hinder the development of pre-schoolers’ agency because practitioners may feel that if they allow too much time for pre-schoolers’ expressions they will not get through all the work. This could upset their relationship with parents. Another issue that came up during the focus group interviews was workload and time constraints.

4.4.3.2 Workload and time constraints

During the workshop practitioners commented on their challenges about time:

"For now I am struggling with time. My morning ring and art time, it is short and I've got a lot to do but according to the school routine, I have to do it this time ... so I will need more time." (WS/PP); and

"I was finding the time, to finish at a certain time, so the others would come when you are just done, the morning ring, maybe you are done ... the problem with the foreigners [immigrant parents], they don't have time to come to bring their children to school ... some will come at seven, some nine, some ten ... even others one." (T/WS/CH)

During the study practitioners further explained the importance of getting through the programme of the day and revision of specific aspects such as days of the week, seasons and numbers. The practitioner of CH explained the following:

"There are some things that we should do every day, like numbers. We use the e-tag approach, so during circle times, I can, as for me, I can do numbers like formally. Or maybe yesterday we did numbers, today we are talking about something else mathematical. So sometimes, I myself don't have to do the numbers like every day. Or the seasons or the days of the week every day, but by the end of the week, all will be done." (FG2/CH)

The practitioner from SS elaborated during the second focus group interview on the importance of teaching mathematical concepts by stating:

"If I skip them [maths] it is also not easy for them, especially those who are not coming to school. It is not easy for them to catch up. So they lose track of mathematics." (FG2/SS)

Practitioners found the issue of time during the implementation of the tool of pedagogical documentation even more challenging. During the final interview with one practitioner, she stated that "yes, if time was on our side, I think they will have to get a chance to explore more ... Time [is the main challenge]. According to the routine here, time is not on our side." (T/FI/PP)

Another practitioner in terms of time and pedagogical documentation explained the following during the final interview with her:

"My challenges were, it is time consuming. It means if you have little time, I think the only challenge for documentation was time because you need the time to be writing. There was many writing, so you need the time to say okay, now let me document, so it was only time." (T/FI/SS)

Wagner et al., (2013: 53) states that occupational stress for early childhood educators is an important area of apparent understudy and should be explored. This study did not explore the impact on work load, time constraints or parental influences on practitioners' occupational stress. These aspects can be further researched. This study also did not explore the impact of parental involvement on practitioners’ practice. In a study done by Ngwaru (2014:67–68) it was found that children from low-income families grow up in environments where parents do not show much involvement in what they do at school.

Yet findings do suggest that parents did all they could to enable a good education for their children. Findings from the practitioners in my study indicated parental involvement as seen in these examples, but parental attitudes were not further explored: Practitioners commented that "so the parents come up to us and ask 'Why is my child failing?' ...

"(FG2/CH); and "Some of the parents they will say, they don't see progress in that child."

(FG2/SS)

Limited resources were also a challenge experienced by practitioners.

The Framework of Learning for Well-being and the Reggio educational approach proposes that pre-schoolers learn in partnership with adults and thus it is imperative that parents and practitioners establish sound relationships. Fear of punishment or criticism by parents should not be a reason why practitioners do not encourage pre-schoolers to express agency.

4.4.3.3 Limited resources

Practitioners found the use of technology (such as voice recorders and cameras) challenging to use during documentation. The practitioner from CH commented that the use of a laptop would have made the recording more advantageous. She proposed:

"It was okay for me [to record] because I could pick out the key words, but now since I have not yet experienced like maybe I might have laptops or something that you could think was important, so I think recording was going to be more advantageous for you."

(T/FI/CH)

She also indicated that "Ja, it is the recording [that was a challenge] ..." (T/FI/CH)

Another practitioner complained that "Sometimes ... I have a phone but sometimes the space is not enough." (T/FI/PP)

In terms of materials, the following request was made: "Ja, even the space we have to do it outside ... the materials we did but I needed more. That was a bit challenging."

(T/FI/CH)

I recalled that the CH early childhood centre had a very small classroom for the number of pre-schoolers in the practitioners’ care. I also reflected on this in my research journal:

"The resources in this pre-school are very limited. The teacher has no formal training.

There are 13 children in a 3 x 3 room with limited light." (R/RJ, p.3, 9 June 2017/CH)

During the individual feedback interviews after the data analysis, the practitioners confirmed that lack of technology posed a problem and also that if they had no assistant in the classroom it was difficult to document by taking photographs. The practitioner from SS described her situation as follows:

"I want to be honest. If I am alone in the class, I don’t plan to say let me take pictures of this activity, but then when I start teaching, I will think, wow, this is very nice, let me take, but then who is going to walk to the office? So if it is there in the class, if I didn’t plan on taking pictures, you never how the day goes, you might find something interesting to take pictures of it." (FBI/SS); and

"With the technology it is not that challenging, but I don’t have an assistant, so, as I told you, when I started I did not even document it, because sometimes I just go around, asking, talking without physically writing it down, but then after I heard what they were saying, I decided to write it down. So I was alone, I could not run to the office and take the camera, so I started to use my pen, writing on that paper." (FBI/SS).

The practitioner from PP explained the value of taking photographs:

"Because you have to take some pictures, sometimes you don’t have time to write down everything. But if you take pictures, then later you can ask questions. It will also help and to record also, it is also giving a time to do it after by listening to the recordings." (FBI/PP)

Comments about resources indicated that a lack of technological resources or limited creative material and not having an assistant could make the success of using the tool of pedagogical documentation problematic. Challenges faced by practitioners such as over-involvement or lack of understanding by parents, pressure to get through the CAPS curriculum, or limited resources to document pre-schoolers' thinking and make their voice visible hinders the development of their agency and well-being. Atmore (2013:156) reveals challenges around infrastructure, nutrition, programme options, Early childhood development practitioner training, institutional capacity and funding for early childhood education.