JICA Training Program for Early Childhood Education in Central and West Africa

2012年10月19日更新

From September 24 to October 19, 2012, Ochanomizu University conducted a training workshop in early childhood education for a group of 10 administrators and educators from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Niger, and Senegal as part of a program commissioned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The 10 trainees were government officials, school inspectors, faculty members of teacher training schools, and others involved in early childhood services in a leadership or supervisory capacity in their native countries. Ochanomizu University has been providing training to support early childhood education in the countries of francophone West and Central Africa since 2006.

One of sub-Saharan Africa’s most urgent problems is the region’s very high rate of malnutrition, disease, and mortality among children under the age of five. As experts throughout the international community have recognized the importance of an integrated approach to childcare and education from infancy onward, aid for early childhood care and education (ECCE) in developing countries has gathered momentum. Unfortunately, sub-Saharan Africa is hobbled by a shortage of qualified professionals in this field. Owing partly to budgetary constraints and partly to insufficient awareness of the importance of early childhood education in sub-Saharan African societies, effective ECCE systems and practices to support human health and development during the critical formative years have been slow to catch on. In some cases the problem is complicated by the fact that early childhood education tends to come under the jurisdiction of multiple government agencies, resulting in a patchwork of overlapping programs with no unifying policy. The rate of enrollment in pre-primary education programs still stands at 17% in Africa as a whole, with wide geographic disparities between and within countries.

In an effort to help develop human resources for ECCE in the region, Ochanomizu held a training program consisting of lectures, observation tours, and workshops on ECCE and early childhood support in Japan, covering systems and policies, day-care/nursery school curriculum and teaching methods, teacher training, and program evaluation, all aimed at enhancing trainees’ knowledge and skills in the area of early childhood support.

A post-training questionnaire was given to participants to assess their satisfaction with the program and their attainment of the learning goals of its six units; (1) identifying and classifying organizational problems; (2) concepts, substance, and trends in ECD(early childhood development); (3) issues of disparities in early childhood education and their solutions; (4) developmentally appropriate day-care/nursery school curriculum, teaching methods, and teaching materials; (5) teacher education and training system; and (6) evaluation of early childhood education). Responses indicated a high level of attainment of learning goals in each area and a high degree of satisfaction with the program. Participants seemed particularly impressed by the quality of Japan’s day-care and nursery school facilities, with their child-centered care emphasizing learning through play; their respect for individual differences in children’s development; their teachers’ resourcefulness in using objects at hand as or making toys, displays, etc.; and their warm and welcoming atmosphere. Participants also took note of the fact that teachers’ professional development is a continuing process, spanning the teacher-training course and in-service training, and took note of the importance of evaluating early childhood education. Back home, trainees will use the action plans they presented on the final day of training as a basis for applying what they learned to their own countries.