Abstract

Education has been characterised by increases in the provision of educational programmes for preschool age children in the second half of the twentieth century. This has been as a result of benefits of investing at this level. These benefits however occur if the programmes are of high quality. Efforts to improve the quality of Preschool education in Malawi have been made by the Malawi Government through the Ministry of Women and Child development in conjunction with APPM. These efforts have however not been assessed. The present study therefore assessed the quality of Preschool education services and its environment in Mzuzu City in line with ECD policy implementation. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches because it is recognised that education programmes are complex social systems that require a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods of study. Data were collected through a questionnaire, oral interviews and an observation schedule. Quantitative data was analysed by using Microsoft excel and SPSS versions 8.0 and 9.0 and qualitative data was analysed by categorising it using pre-coded themes and emerging issues were identified and coded appropriately. The study found that many teachers have low academic qualifications (as many had JCE) and were not adequately trained. Teacher- child ratios were low. Many Preschools had problems with hygiene and written policies on the same were not available. Instructional materials like playing materials, books, charts still remain inadequate or unavailable. It was however noted that all preschools under study had a vii syllabus which they used though they did not have teachers’ guides and pupils books to accompany them. Teacher-child and child-child interactions were generally good. In many Preschools, there was a friendly atmosphere. Government of Malawi standards on Preschool education were not adhered to in many Preschools because Preschool owners and teachers were not aware of the standards. Much as efforts to improve the quality of Preschool education in Malawi have been made, this study reveals that the quality of Preschool education is still low. It is against this background that the study recommends that the minimum academic qualification for Preschool teachers should be revised to MSCE, the issue of preschool teachers training should be considered seriously and that there should be proper communication of preschool education issues between the Ministry of Women and Child Development and APPM.

More details

School	: School of Education
Issued Date	: 2008

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