Challenges Pre-School Teachers Face in the Implementation of the Early Childhood Curriculum in the Cape Coast Metropolis

Abstract

The study examined the challenges that pre-school teachers encounter in the implementation of the early childhood curriculum; exploring teaching methods employed by pre-schools teachers in the Cape Coast Metropolis. The study employed descriptive survey as the research design. A convenient sample of 62 pre-school teachers were selected from a total of 45 pre-schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis. The instruments used to elicit information from the respondents was a structured questionnaires which validity and reliability were obtained through a pilot study that revealed alpha reliability coefficient 0.76 and 0.73 for Section B and C respectively. The key findings of the study revealed that pre-school teachers are faced with a lot of challenges in implementing the early childhood curriculum. A notable one among them are that most pre-school teachers do not understand the early childhood curriculum, pre-school teachers do not  have enough teaching and learning materials to help them implement the Early childhood curriculum, parents do not involve themselves in their wards education therefore it makes it difficult for pre-school to do the work alone. It was also revealed that teachers, teaching and learning materials are the main factors that influence the implementation of the early childhood curriculum. The researcher recommended that private proprietors and government authorities overseeing the pre-school program should organise frequent in-service training for both teachers and parents with respect to early childhood education curriculum.

KEYWORDS: Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Curriculum, Implementation, Ghana