Early childhood development (ECD) centre leadership during COVID-19 in urban and rural areas in South Africa

Abstract

Good quality education is usually considered a great ‘equaliser’, yet bridging the inequality gaps in South Africa seems to be an impossible task. Effective Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes have a positive influence on children’s development and school readiness by providing valuable educational and social experiences. In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, ECD operators were instructed by the Department of Social Development (DSD) to close on 18th March 2020 to prevent the spread and acceleration of infection. This lockdown highlighted the plight of ECD operators who were not able to collect fees from caregivers, impacting the payment of salaries and other fixed costs. The livelihoods of the majority of ECD operators are sensitive to broader economic impacts that affect household income. Media articles and reports were used to explore the government’s response to the ECD sector in South Africa. Narrative vignettes were utilised to analyse the lived experiences of four ECD principals from two rural and two urban contexts. Context- responsive leadership is presented as a lens through which to view the leadership experiences of the four principals. Findings show that government departments undervalued and neglected the ECD workforce. However, while the article was being written (during October 2020), signs of the government hearing the voices of concerned practitioners and providing financial relief became visible. The COVID-19 pandemic had placed ECD in the spotlight through court cases and signed petitions and accentuated the differences in the context-responsive leadership behaviour between principals in rural and urban areas.