Cultures in Early Childhood Care and Education - Consultative ...
Cultures in Early Childhood Care and Education - Consultative ...
Cultures in Early Childhood Care and Education - Consultative ...
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formulate <strong>in</strong>to <strong>in</strong>formality a people’s parent<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> childcare arrangements, which<br />
is what current strategies do to people of the Majority World? Such approaches<br />
persist <strong>in</strong> the face of evidence that “there is far more to child development than<br />
preschool, <strong>and</strong> that if the school system is not congruent with home<br />
circumstances, the children will have to make immense efforts to achieve any form<br />
of success” (Cohen, 2002, p. 7).<br />
In the seventh <strong>in</strong>stance, ECCE has evolved <strong>in</strong>to a professional field that<br />
requires experts, who are notable by their scarcity <strong>and</strong> cultural irrelevance <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Majority World. However, this requirement rouses apprehension whether expertise<br />
is a procedural issue, a matter of universal knowledge <strong>and</strong> know-how or that of<br />
apply<strong>in</strong>g context-relevant knowledge <strong>and</strong> skills (Nsamenang, 2005c). Scott (1998)<br />
contends that experts lack the knowledge that can come only from practical<br />
experience. Given the lack of consensus amongst experts <strong>and</strong> the shift<strong>in</strong>g realities<br />
diversity <strong>and</strong> pluralism stir, to what extent can an expert, native-born or expatriate,<br />
objectively <strong>and</strong> sensitively ground best practices on the daily rout<strong>in</strong>es <strong>and</strong><br />
expectations of children <strong>and</strong> their families <strong>in</strong> recipient communities? This casts <strong>in</strong><br />
sharp relief not only the apparently ambiguous role of the expert policy planner but<br />
equally provokes a call to critical discourse of what ECCE expertise portends for<br />
<strong>and</strong> the shape <strong>and</strong> direction it has given to the field. Recogniz<strong>in</strong>g that everyth<strong>in</strong>g is<br />
not bad, but that everyth<strong>in</strong>g is potentially dangerous (Foucault, 1980), the critique<br />
of ECCE policy <strong>and</strong> program development should exp<strong>and</strong> to <strong>in</strong>clude even the best<br />
<strong>in</strong>tentions of researchers <strong>and</strong> the development community.<br />
Eighth, an ultimate policy matter perta<strong>in</strong>s to ‘rights.’ Although a rights-based<br />
approach, <strong>in</strong> pr<strong>in</strong>ciple, recognizes the legitimate right of a people to beliefs <strong>and</strong><br />
practices that accurately reflect their worldview <strong>and</strong> cultural values, no ECCE<br />
policy should condone the destructive elements of any culture, such as female<br />
genital mutilation, child marriages, marg<strong>in</strong>alization of the girl child, etc. While the<br />
focus ought to be on ‘guided’ empowerment to re<strong>in</strong>force positive <strong>and</strong> constructive<br />
aspects of every ECCE system, keen attention must focus on elim<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
negative or destructive elements of any culture’s ECCE. A rights-based ECCE<br />
policy ought to <strong>in</strong>stantaneously formulate <strong>in</strong>to ext<strong>in</strong>ction present strategies that<br />
marg<strong>in</strong>alize or exclude non-Anglo-American ECCEs from the field.<br />
F<strong>in</strong>ally, an urgent policy matter <strong>and</strong> a miss<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>k concerns the little serious<br />
attention given to fathers <strong>in</strong> particular <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> general men <strong>in</strong> children’s lives. This is<br />
the case <strong>in</strong> spite of science-based evidence that men are significant to children.<br />
Although the paternal role is one half of parent<strong>in</strong>g, it largely still is a “forgotten”<br />
contribution (e.g., Lamb, 1975) to ECCE services <strong>in</strong> the 21 st century. We must see<br />
the big picture of Support<strong>in</strong>g Fathers (Bernard van Leer Foundation, 2003) to<br />
reverse this state of the field by engag<strong>in</strong>g boys <strong>and</strong> men <strong>in</strong> ECCE work.<br />
Conclud<strong>in</strong>g Thoughts<br />
It seems implausible to objectively <strong>and</strong> genu<strong>in</strong>ely monitor the ECCE field<br />
without acknowledg<strong>in</strong>g that the dom<strong>in</strong>ant Anglo-American ECCE story is only one,<br />
arguably a motivat<strong>in</strong>g, example of the stagger<strong>in</strong>g diversity of ECCEs that oblige<br />
discovery not replacement. The elasticity with which the human offspr<strong>in</strong>g adapt<br />
<strong>and</strong> thrive <strong>in</strong> starkly differ<strong>in</strong>g ecocultures has not been contemplated nor theorized