Early Childhood Deveopment in Mpumlanga, South Africa

   

      Through my chats with Lindiwe, it seems high turnover and low education of providers is a problem there as well as in America. Not only are those new to the field undercompensated, most are volunteers! Most become volunteers through word of mouth and relative referrals, then become paid contracted teachers after years of experience and further education, which is costly. There are home providers, private centers, and government run centers. Trainings are all provided by government departments of education, social services, and health.
     Lindiwe is satisfied with her position and does not intend to pursue further educations other than the recurrent trainings she receives from the school and the government. She has been teaching preschool for 12 years, and is happy. I did not receive any response when I asked her about her hopes and dreams.
     I did a bit of further research because the conversations intrigued me to learn more, but I did not hear back from her as often as I had questions. Training of "child minders" and ECD practitioners through workshops has been done on curriculum knowledge, skills development and assessment of children's knowledge and skills. They received certificates of different levels, the highest without university studies being a 4 (N.I.H.E., 2011)
     Major issues for educators are overcrowding of schools (in the province of Gert Sibande, the rural school studied had 390 children and 3 practitioners), educators who hold certificates in ECD are paid the same as those who don't, salaries are often paid late, and many "educators" are not qualified to teach (N.I.H.E, 2011).

References:

N.I.H.E, National Institute for Higher Education. (2011). Early childhood development in Mpumalanga: A review of the integrated ECD provision and implementation, Mpumalanga Department of Education, pp 79-89 Retrieved from: http://www.nihemp.ac.za/images/Report%20on%