Developing a contextually relevant early childhood development milestone guide (3y0m - 5y11m) for early childhood educators in South Africa

Abstract

Two hundred and fifty million children under the age of five years, from low- and middle-income countries are at risk of not achieving their full developmental potential. Early childhood educators that use high-quality milestone guides help ameliorate early childhood development risk factors. Existing milestone guides are, however, often not contextually appropriate for settings like South Africa, as although South Africa is classified as an upper-middle income country, it consists of many low-income communities. This study aimed to develop a contextually relevant early childhood development milestone guide for early childhood educators of preschool children (3y0m - 5y11m) from low-resourced South African settings. There were three phases to the data collection. In phase one, an initial questionnaire and an abridged version of the CDC Developmental Milestone Guide were provided to an expert panel. The expert panel suggested appropriate activities to stimulate specific developmental milestones for use within a low-resourced early childhood development group setting. In phase two, the Delphi method was used to rank suggestions given in phase one. In phase three, the activities for six milestones that still required consensus were discussed by the expert panel during a virtual focus group. A contextually relevant early childhood development milestone guide was developed that can be used to support early childhood development in preschool children from low-resourced settings. Themes of the activities suggested by the expert panel either ensured that no equipment was required or that the indicated equipment was readily available in the children and early childhood educators’ immediate environments. In future research, the milestone guide should be trialled and evaluated by early childhood educators working in low-resourced settings to ensure appropriate implementation with the end goal of supporting early childhood development in South Africa’s most vulnerable children.