Tensions between Western ECCD and the Indigenous African Educational System and What This Means for ECCD Practice

Abstract

Tensions between the current model of Early Childhood Education practiced and the Indigenous or traditional ways of raising children are examined in the context of Ghana and West Africa. Ghana and other West African countries are making efforts to move away from didactic, teacher -directed methods of teaching in early childhood where children are treated as blank slates to be filled with knowledge by the teacher. These efforts are manifested in the multiple early learning theories that have been adopted in curricula to guide practice. However, this paper assesses tensions between the model of early childhood education currently practiced in Ghana (and West Africa more broadly) and Ghanaian Indigenous ways of raising children, which exposes how moving away from the teacher-centered method of teaching is difficult. Drawing on secondary data sources, in the form of a literature review of published articles, government documents, and reports from Non-Governmental Organizations, in this paper we identify that these tensions emerge due to the differences between the current Early Childhood Education program and the Indigenous educational system as well as the marginalization of Indigenous content from the Early Childhood Education program.

Keywords: Early childhood education, child-led, teacher-centered, Indigenous, tensions.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-24-13

Publication date:August 31^st 2020