An Evaluation of the Implementation of Early Childhood Education Curriculum in Osun State

Abstract

Early Childhood Education as a subject in primary schools in Nigeria was first noticed among the private primary schools in the 80’s while the public primary schools did not incorporate it in their curriculum in Nigeria. Of recent, some state governments in Nigeria have just adopted and organized early childhood education unit into their primary schools. As a result of this new development, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) developed a National Curriculum for E. C. E. which both public and private schools use to achieve the stated objectives of E.C.E. as contained in the National Policy on Education (2004) in Nigeria. It is based on this that this study carried out an evaluation of the implementation of the National Curriculum as prepared by NERDC by the primary schools in Osun State, Nigeria, vis a vis the quality of personnel on ground, the adequacy or otherwise of the teaching and learning facilities, comparison of the expected curriculum and the observed curriculum, and the constraints to its implementation. Research hypotheses and research questions were raised. The study adopted survey research design, questionnaires, observation and checklists were used to collect data. Both descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyze the data. The results show that may primary schools in Nigeria do not have trained quality teachers for E.C.E., teaching and learning resources were inadequate and that many schools do not even have the recommended national curriculum.