Comparative Assessment of the Implementation of the Early Childhood Education Curriculum in Public and Private Schools in Rural Areas of Ogun State Nigeria (Published)
Early years are remarkable period of growth and development in the lives of children. Early Childhood Education (ECE) is therefore an important educational activity geared towards giving early positive experiences to children. In achieving this, Curriculum of Early Childhood Education becomes a key factor. It is however worrisome that the implementation of this curriculum in Nigerian pre-primary school is too low despite its importance. This study was therefore conducted to compare ECE curriculum implementation in private and public schools in the rural areas of Ogun State, Nigeria. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select 240 educational instructors as the sample size for this study. Data were collected with the aid of questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, and t-test. Result of the study showed that majority (66.6%) of the respondents was between 21 – 40 years and the mean age was 36.6 years. Most (91.2%) of the respondents were female, married (78.8%), and had National Certificate in Education (48.8%) and Bachelor of Education (16.7%). The mean year of teaching experience was 12.4years. Most schools in the study area has teacher-pupil ratio of 1:35. Old curriculum was available (94.2%) and always used (78.8%) for teaching. Also, English Language (79.6%) constituted major means of communication and teaching of the children. Results of chi-square showed that significant association existed between ECE availability and ECE curriculum implementation in public and private schools (χ2 = 13.86, df = 3, p = 0.03) at p < 0.05 level. t-test analysis revealed that significant difference existed in the ECE curriculum implementation in private and public primary schools (t = 15.2, p = 0.00). The study established that implementation of ECE curriculum was generally low as most schools especially public primary schools lack basic school facilities and instructional materials and had no current edition of ECE curriculum. The study recommends that instructional materials should be adequately provided by the government, school management, individual proprietors and other stakeholders in the education sector, and Ministry of Education should ensure that new curriculum is in circulation and encourage its utilization for teaching in the study area.
Keywords: Curriculum, Early Childhood Education, Implementation, Private Schools, public