CHILD-CARE SKILL NEEDS OF CARE-GIVERS IN PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY (FCT), ABUJA.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

A child is a member of the society and as well a citizen of a nation who has every right for survival, growth and development. A child as described by Bernard (2001) is every human being below 18 years of age. According to United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (2007), childhood stage covers the crèche, the nursery or early childhood (0-5) years, primary school (6-12) years and secondary school (12 -18) years. The childhood period is a sensitive stage in the life of every individual requiring special care and attention. For instance, Anyakoha and Eluwa (2008) noted that, a child is a young person who depends on others for the provision of daily food, clothing and shelter. In the concept of this study, a child is a young person at early childhood stage of 0-5 years in pre-primary schools under the careful and consistent attention of the care-givers.

Evans, Myers and Ilford (2000) affirmed that a child with consistent caring attention is generally better nourished, less likely to be sick and learn better than a child who does not receive such care. The care, attention and respect to be given to the child are specified by the rights of the child. Evans, et al (2000) reported further that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child specified among others that:

• all children without distinction of gender, race, language, religion or of any other kind should have the opportunity to develop to full potential.
• children, by reason of their physical and mental vulnerability, need special safeguards and care.
• children living in difficult circumstances need special consideration.
• Parent, families, men as well as women, have the primary responsibility for the upbringing, development and education of their children.
• government should establish a policy environment that ensures families and communities fulfil their responsibilities of child caring and protection.

The report of NERDC/UNICEF (2013) showed that rights of Nigerian child are clustered into four main domains which include: survival rights, protection rights, participation rights and development rights. For the child to survive and steadily develop, someone has to care for him to reach his full potential and development. This is because, the child’s physical and psychological needs must be met by one or more people who understand what children, in general need, and what the particular child under his/her care needs. Thus, the child’s growth and development in all aspects (health, cognition, perception, personhood, response to the environment among others) depends on the capacity of adults in whose care the child rests for assistance and support. Anuna (2005) reported that the child as the hope of further human existence needs love, attention and care for meaningful growth and development.

Development of every human person is a continuous process which starts from conception. Development is a product of interaction of inherited potentialities and the environment, maturation and learning. Izuwa (2002) viewed development as the systematic, qualitative and quantitative changes which are progressive, orderly and coherent. According to the author, the development of a child is always more rapid and dramatic than at any other stage in the development process of the human person. At early childhood stage, nature and nurture have major roles to play in child development. Nature according to Berger (2005) refers to the influence of the genes that each person inherits from his or her parents at the moment of conception while nurture refers to all the environmental influences that come into play after conception, beginning with the mother’s health during pregnancy and including all the individual’s experiences in the outside environment. Speaking on the effect of nurture on child development, Olaitan and Akpan (2003) stated that the experience gained may make or mar the child permanently due to rapid brain development and character formation of the child. This implies that the child learns a lot, and what he/she learns at the childhood stage of development in addition to other environmental factors affect all other stages of the child’s life as an adult. This makes the roles of care-givers of the child more important at early childhood stage.

The care-givers are those who take care of the child. Evans, et al (2000) described a care-giver as someone who cares for a child whether on a long term or short-term basis. According to Bernard (2001) care-giver is called legal or periodic guardian that has the primary responsibility for upbringing and development of the child. Parents, foster parents, family members, baby sitters and child-care workers are considered care-givers who provide the necessary care services to the child (Brisbane, 2000). Child-care services are provisions made to improve optimal growth and development in childhood through disease prevention, good health, food and nutrition. Child-care service is therefore the right of every child and must not be denied for any reason (Turman, 2003). Child care services at home are offered by the parents, siblings of the child, other relatives and non-relative care-givers employed to offer such services. Child care-givers in the context of this study are trained individuals employed by administrators of pre-primary schools and charged with the sole responsibilities of providing the necessary care giving services towards supporting the normal physical, social, psychological and educational growth and development of the child in a formal school setting.

Child-care services in day care centers, nursery and pre-primary schools are more formalized than those at home. Pre-primary education is the type of formal education given to children of school age outside the home prior to their entering primary school. According to Federal Government of Nigeria (2004) the National Policy on Education stipulated that the purposes of pre-primary 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 and supervision for the children while their parents are at work;
• inculcate social norms;
• inculcate in the child the spirit of inquiry and creativity through the exploration of nature, the environment, art, music and playing with toys, etc;
• develop a sense of co-operation and team spirit;
• learn good habits, especially good health habits, and
• teach the rudiments of numbers, letters, colours, shapes, forms, etc, through play.

There are five types of pre-primary school arrangements. These according to Burchinal and Cryer (2003) include: (1) child-care center; (2) child-care home (care in someone else’s home by a non-relative or relative other than the child’s grandparents); (3) care at home by someone other than parents or grandparents; (4) grandparent care, or (5) father care”. For the care-giver irrespective of the type of pre-school arrangement to be successful in carrying out her expected child-caring services for the actualization of the pre-primary education, certain child-care skills must be possessed by the care-givers.

Skill according to Okorie (2000) is a habit of acting, thinking and behaving in a specific activity in such a way that the process becomes natural to the individual through practice. In the view of Osinem and Nwoji (2005), skill is the ability to perform an activity expertly. The authors further added that skill is a well established habit of doing things and involves the acquisition of performance capability through repetitive performance of an operation. Skill as described by Hull (1991) is the habit of doing something well; especially skill gained through training or experience. Okorie and Ezeji (1988) classified skills into technical and human skills. Technical skills are those skills that call for proficiency in specific activities, particularly those involving methods, processes, procedures or techniques for their effective performance. Human skill on the other hand deals with skills acquire through years of experience or training for proficiency on the job (Sedaei, 2003). In this study, both the technical and human skills are basic skills that are required by the care-givers for child upbringing in pre-primary schools.

There are basic skills inherent in the performance of the tasks of care-giving in pre-primary schools. According to Clayton (2000), these skills are: feeding skills, clothing skills, toilet-training skills, interacting skills, safety skills, and hygiene skills. Feeding skills of care-givers and parents are careful meal/menu planning for combining the required food items to ensure that the desired expectation in the nutritional, physical growth and development of the child are met (Kaiser, 2000). The Federal Ministry of Health (2004) reported that poor nutrition among the children results not only from a lack of food but also from inappropriate feeding practices by care-givers. Appropriate clothing skills need to be possessed by care-givers to safeguard the child against harsh environmental condition and diseases. Toileting and interacting skills are psychosocial development skills that are concerned with areas such as cognition, temperament/personality, motivation, self-perception and interpersonal development of the child (Kimbon and Roskett, 2003). Interacting skills of the care-givers for instance can be exhibited through educative child playing, storytelling and songs among others. Safety and hygiene skills are very sensitive and need the efforts of the care-giver to safeguard the child against injury and any form of danger. Bupa (2008) maintained that high levels of personal hygiene are important and effective ways to stop diseases from spreading among children.

In his own view, Clayton (2000) noted that child care-giving skills, like other skills, are learned and not inborn traits. Generally, child care-caring skills are learnt through early life experience with other care-givers and acquiring the skills is a lifelong learning process. In addition, the skills a care-giver needs can change as children grow up. For this reason, Brisbane (1994) stated that effective care-givers need to continue to develop child-care skills all their lives. In support of this submission, Growth and McCall (2003) stated that in order to provide more warmth to the child, sensitive and responsive care-givers require constant and timely training.

Nursery and pre-primary schools are located in various places across the length and breadth of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Some of the pre-primary schools are owned by the government, while some others are owned and managed by private individuals for the purpose of providing physical, psychological, social and educational needs of the child. It is imperative to state that most of the care-givers in pre-primary schools in Nigeria and Abuja in particular are not careful in handling children in the schools. This may be because majority of the pre-primary school care-givers in FCT Abuja are not very skilled in the art of childcare practices. In order to verify the above claim, the skills needed by care-givers for quality care-giving of the pre-primary school child need to be identified. Hence, this study was conducted to identify childcare skill needs of care-givers in pre-primary schools in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Statement of the Problem

The future of any country depends on how well the present generation of her children are looked after. The fact is that, children easily get bonded and affectionately attached to significant adults around them in their early years. This has continued to make care-givers and their care important in the child’s survival, growth, and development. The whole process of child-caring also implies that characteristic values and behaviours of care-givers can also be learnt by the child through modelling and imitation.

At early childhood stage of foundation and basic skill learning, the child needs good care. For the pre-school child, the care-givers have a lot of influence on his/her growth and development. However, it is not clear whether the child care-givers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria have adequate skills that are needed for them to be able to provide the type of care, attention and good foundation needed by the children they are caring for. If they do not posses these skills, then, the pre-primary school child under their care will not be properly fed, toilet-trained, clothed, interacted with, safe guarded and hygienically cared for. Thus, lack of the skills needed to do all the above may result in the child having poor social and emotional development. This, of course will have a great negative effect on the child’s all-round maturation, development and well being.

Based on the above ideas, it is understandable why Action for Child Protection Inc (2008) emphasized that all people who care for children need specific child-care skills to be able to do their job very efficiently. These are skills that unfortunately, no one is born with, but that fortunately, everyone can learn. Data and information available to the researcher consistently point to the fact that majority of the child care-givers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) (and in so many other parts of Nigeria) are not really aware of the specific skills they need to be able to assist the children to develop well. Besides, available information show that very little, to almost no work, has been carried out to determine the specific skills needed by child care-givers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Thus, the problem that warranted this study is that it is important to identify the child-care skill needs of care-givers in pre-primary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria.

Purpose of the Study

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the child-care skills needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Specifically, the study determined:

1. child feeding skills needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools in FCT, Abuja;
2. child clothing skills needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools;
3. child toilet training skills needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools;
4. child interacting skills needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools;
5. child safety skills needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools;
6. child hygiene skills needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools.

Significance of the Study

Through quality child-care, the child’s basic needs are met through appropriate feeding, clothing, love, protection, and socialization into an acceptable adulthood. Therefore, the findings of this study will be of immense benefit to parents, care-givers, curriculum planners, education policy making bodies such as Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF), Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Colleges of Education (COE), Ministry of Education (MOE), proprietors/individuals who are employers of care-givers in pre-primary schools and researcher with special research interest in quality assurance in pre-primary education in Nigeria and other countries.

Through the research findings that will be provided by this study, education policy making stakeholders will be furnished with information for  pre-primary school programme review and update to meet societal needs for improved early childhood education system in the country. It is expected that the findings of this study if brought to the awareness of all stakeholders who are involved in care about the future of Nigerian child, it will enable them to carry out their tasks efficiently for the good of the Nigerian child. In this way, the findings of this study, by producing more knowledge about child care-giving skills will lead to more effective child-care services and enable parents have full value of the fees they pay for their children’s care.

The findings of this study will benefit care-givers because the study will provide useful information that will assist care-givers in pre-primary schools to make desirable changes for the growth and development of the children under their care. In this way, children will be properly fed, clothed, protected and socialized. It will also be useful to care-givers by furnishing them with the skills they will adopt to improve their child-care practices. A care-giver with adequate skills will be able to execute his/her responsibility expertly and this will reduce adverse practices.

The findings of the study will also bring to the knowledge of proprietors of child-care centers the skills they should look out for in their present and future staff for effective care-giving in pre-primary schools.

Curriculum planners of pre-primary school programmes will also benefit from the findings of this study. This is because the findings of this study will help the planners of programmes such as Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in developing course contents useful for instructors on care-giving skills. The findings will also be relevant to ECCD, UBEC/SUBEB, NERDC/UNICEF, NCCE/COEs, MOE, and other educational institutions that offer courses in child-care education. This is because these findings will guide those in charge of these institutions in choosing which skills they need to emphasize while training care-givers.

The findings will also provide insights for educationists to formulate theories that can enrich the pre-primary school care-giving, teaching, and training. This is because the findings of this study will validate the relevance of socio-cognitive theories of child development and John Bowlby’s attachment theory which are the theoretical frameworks for this study. Thus, it is also hoped that this study will serve as a basis for further research work in related areas of child care.

All these areas of significance of this study would be achieved if the findings are further discussed in seminars, workshops and other sensitization workshops. Fellow researchers and academics with research interest on issues bothering on pre-primary education and early child care education will be provided with information that will help to sharpen the focus of their studies.

The theoretical significance of this study is based on the premise that care-givers need to possess care-giving skills to be able to support/care for the pre-primary school children under their care. Thus, the study sees care-givers as a set of people that contribute in structuring/determining the future of the Nigerian child. In addition, this provides more understanding for the expectation that the skills possessed by care-givers have impacts on the development of the child and the future of the society.

Research Questions

This study provided answers to the following research questions:

1. What child feeding skills are needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools in FCT, Abuja?
2. What child clothing skills are needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools?
3. What child toilet training skills are needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools?
4. What child interacting skills are needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools?
5. What child safety skills are needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools?
6. What child hygiene skills are needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools?

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

1. There is no significant difference among the mean ratings of care-givers in pre-primary schools, secondary school Home Economics teachers, early child care experts and nurses on the feeding skills needed by the care-givers in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
2. There is no significant difference among the mean ratings of care-givers in pre-primary schools, secondary school Home Economics teachers, early child care experts and nurses on the clothing skills needed by the care-givers.
3. There is no significant difference among the mean ratings of care-givers in pre-primary schools, secondary school Home Economics teachers, early child care experts and nurses on the toileting skills needed by the care-givers.
4. There is no significant difference among the mean ratings of care-givers in pre-primary schools, secondary school Home Economics teachers, early child care experts and nurses on the interacting skills needed by the care-givers.
5. There is no significant difference among the mean ratings of care-givers in pre-primary schools, secondary school Home Economics teachers, early child care experts and nurses on the safety skills needed by the care-givers.
6. There is no significant difference among the mean ratings of care-givers in pre-primary schools, secondary school Home Economics teachers, early child care experts and nurses on the hygiene skills needed by the care-givers.

Scope of the Study

This study focused on the care-giving skills needed by care-givers in pre-primary schools in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria. The study was limited to the following: feeding skills, clothing skills, toilet-training skills, interacting skills, safety skills, and hygiene skills.

The geographical scope of this study is the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Data for the study were collected from care-givers in pre-primary schools, Home Economics teachers, early child care experts and Nurses in the study area.