ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this study was
to assess the quality control measures of nursery schools in Rivers State,
Nigeria. In an attempt to focus the study, four research questions and four
hypotheses were formulated. A review of related literature was done to expose
the researcher to the area and to provide him with a sound theoretical frame
work of the study. The study used 27 supervisors and 223 teachers as
respondents. A four likert type scale questionnaire of Strongly Agree (SA),
Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD) with the assigned scores of
4,3, 2, and 1 respectively made up of 20 items from the research questions were
used for data collection. Mean, standard deviation and t-test were used for
data analysis. Findings include that not all nursery schools in Rivers State
had health facilities, adequate environment: both physical and learning
environment, quality personnel and instructional material. There was no
significant difference in the mean ratings of supervisors and teachers on the
availability of quality control measures of nursery schools in Rivers State,
Nigeria. By implication, serious and urgent consideration should be given to
the implementation of the minimum standard for nursery schools in Rivers State
in order to raise the standard of nursery school education, quality of pupils
and enhance quality outcome. Based on the findings and implications,
recommendations for actualization of the minimum standard were made.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The
clamour for nursery school education by parents and the government support for
early literacy have been strong and overwhelming since the past two decades.
The reason is not far-fetched. The wider view is that nursery school education
can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large.
McWayne, Cheung, Wright, Hahs-Vaughn & Thomas (2012) said that the
transition from nursery school to elementary school imposes diverse
developmental challenges that requires children to engage successfully with
their peers outside of the family network, adjust to the space of a classroom
and meet the expectations the school setting provides. However, these benefits
are conditional on “quality”. Expanding access to services without attention to
quality will not deliver good outcomes for children on one hand and long-term
productivity benefits for society on the other hand.
The
history and development of nursery school education in Nigeria dates back to 18th
century with the settlement of the colonial government who through the
missionaries, set up schools in churches for their children and few of the citizens’
children. Early locations of nursery schools were Abeokuta, Lagos, Onitsha,
Calabar, Bonny and Warri where the presences of the missionaries were dominant
(Maduewesi, 1999).
The
Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2008) defined early childhood education as
the care, protection, stimulation and learning promoted in children from age
0-5 years in a day care centre, crèche, nursery or kindergarten. The focus of
this study is nursery school education. The term nursery school is identified
with different names worldwide. Colon (2004) said that some call it early
childhood education, kindergarten, pre-school, pre-primary, nursery school, day
Care, infant classes, to mention a few. However, for the purpose of this
research, we shall consistently refer to it as nursery school education.
The
National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) posits that the purpose of nursery
education are to effect a smooth transition from the home to the school,
prepare the child for the primary level of education, provide adequate care,
supervision and security for the children while their parents are at work.
Also, to inculcate in the child social and moral norms, spirit of enquiry and
creativity through the exploration of nature, the environment, art, music and
the use of toys. More so, it aims at making the child develop a sense of
co-operation, team-spirit and good health habits and to teach the rudiments of
numbers, letters, colours, shapes, forms, etc, through play.
The
document states that the federal government of Nigeria will set and monitor
minimum standards for early childhood Care and Education Centers (ECCE). She
will establish early childhood and Care Education sections in public primary
schools and encourage community and private efforts in its provision based on
set standards. Government will supervise and control the quality of ECCE institutions, produce learning and
instructional materials, provide favourable environment for learning, among
others.
It is
in a bid to give children good head starts, help them develop cognitive,
affective and psychomotor skills and to achieve the overall goal of nursery
education that Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC)
with support from United Nation International Children Education Fund (UNICEF)
developed the National Minimum Standard for Early Child Care Centres (FRN,
2005). To ensure uniform and enhanced programme participation by government,
private persons, companies, churches and the mosque, the National Policy for
Integrated Early Childhood Development (NPIECD) in Nigeria was additionally
adopted (FRN, 2007). The provisions of the former formed the benchmark for
quality control of nursery school operation in Nigeria as applicable in Rivers
State.
The
state ministry of education was vested with the power to achieve the above
objectives by ensuring that all stake holders comply with the national minimum
standards through regular inspection and supervision and by providing education
laws and their enforcement. It is expected that the teachers and supervisors
have major roles to play in ensuring that children are benefiting from nursery
programme.
Teachers
have the task of guiding, directing and providing safe and healthy environment
on daily basis for children’s play and explorative activities while focusing on
few children at a time. Teachers serve dual role of being caregiver to the
nursery school child as well as his internal supervisor. Their position avails them the opportunity of being
internal assessors of young children school programme alongside that of the
supervisors.
The
supervisor’s role in young children’s programme is to ensure compliance of the
provisions of the minimum standard and to police all stake holders until they
implement them to the letter. McCrea & Brasseur (2003) said that
supervision is a process that consists of a variety of patterns of behavior,
the appropriateness of which depends upon the needs, competencies, expectations
and philosophies of the supervisor and the supervisee and the specifics of the
situation (task, client, setting, and other variables). The Federal Ministry of
Education (2012), being the chief custodian of education documents that the
main objective of school supervision is to ensure that learning takes place in
schools, the required standards are being maintained, schools are accountable
to their proprietors (in the case of public schools, the government) and their
customers (parents and students).
Egwunyenga
(2005) perceives supervision as an action taken to improve teaching and
learning situations for children. Thus, the activities carried out by a
supervisor are summed up as supervision. While supervisors are to provide
guidance on how schools can improve and build up a picture of how well schools
are performing for informed policy decisions, government believes that the
health and safety of the children, the cognitive, psychomotor and affective
development of the child depends on the quality of the learning environment and
age appropriate materials provided for the child’s exploration. Hence, the role
of supervisors of.....
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