Exploring the knowledge and needs of early childhood development practitioners from a low-resource community

Abstract

Early childhood development (ECD) practitioners from low-resource communities may find it challenging to provide developmentally appropriate services to support child development, due to the increased risk of developmental delays. Practitioners rely on their ECD knowledge when delivering ECD services, but many practitioners in South Africa are underqualified. The knowledge and needs of practitioners from low-resource communities should be explored to develop and implement appropriate support services. A combined Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI) and KIDI-Preschool (KIDI-P) tool was used to investigate ECD knowledge, and a questionnaire was utilised to determine participants’ needs. The mean score for their ECD knowledge was 47.0%. ECD qualification and experience were not identified as significant contributors for better knowledge scores, but having a high school education (β = 4.702, t = 3.387, p = 0.001), being a parent (β = 3.764, t = 2.091, p = 0.038), training completed 5 or more years ago (β = 4.271, t = 2.142, p = 0.034), and a need for information on developmental milestones (β = 2.399, t = 1.992, p = 0.048) were. The most commonly reported need was related to training and furthering knowledge. The findings provide insight into the knowledge base of ECD practitioners, their needs as well as significant contributors to better ECD knowledge. Implications for practice can be guided by the Nurturing Care Framework (World Health Organization 2019), since the participants and findings from the study can be contextualised within it. ECD practitioners, especially those from low-resource communities, need adequate support in the crucial role they are playing. Further research should be conducted to determine consistency of the findings.