Middle East and North Africa

This workshop served as a targeted discussion on the needs of the home visiting workforce and provided valuable insight on the integration of nurturing care into the County’s CHV services. Representatives from the national Ministry of Health, the Siaya County Government, Smart Start Siaya , and the County’s home visiting services, among others, engaged in targeted discussions to:

• Gain insight into the delivery of nurturing care by CHVs during home visits.
• Increase understanding and alignment among those engaged in the policy planning, management, and delivery of these services about the role of CHVs and their needs.
• Identify the strengths, weaknesses, and country priorities regarding nurturing care by CHVs which can be used to support the workforce and inform future policy decision.

This report summarizes the workshop by providing a brief overview of the home visiting services for nurturing care in Siaya County, Kenya along with the structure of the workshop, and then highlights the policy recommendations and key takeaways that emerged

2019

Early Childhood Education Pre-Service Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Teaching Psychosocial Skills Across the Kindergarten Curriculum in Ghana assesses early childhood education pre-service teachers’ knowledge in teaching psychosocial skills across the kindergarten curriculum in Ghana. The research, published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, questioned 123 pre-service teachers pursuing a degree in early childhood education. The following research questions were the driving force behind this study:

1. How adequate is pre-service teachers’ knowledge in the constituents of psychosocial skills in the curriculum?
2. How adequate is pre-service teachers’ knowledge in the use of interactive techniques in inculcating psychosocial skills across the curriculum?
3. How adequate is pre-service teachers’ knowledge in the use of assessment procedures in inculcating psychosocial skills across the curriculum? 

The study concludes with implications for the early childhood curriculum in Ghana and recommendations for improvement.

Gender imbalance in the pre-school teaching profession and feminization of the profession has been a common practice world over. In Kenya, there is an emergent trend of men training as professionals in Early Childhood Development Education but they are underrepresented. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the gender imbalance in pre school teaching workforce using a case study. The research sample comprised of 108 pre-school in-service teachers in teacher training institutions in Narok Municipality. Stratified followed by random sampling techniques were employed. The research methodology was qualitative .Focus Group Discussions followed by Key Informant Interviews were used to generate data. This study revealed that culture is the main determinant of feminization of pre-school teaching profession. Men were getting interested in pre-school education but to perform administrative duties not necessarily to teach. Additionally, male parents reported that they were uncomfortable in involving themselves in pre-schools.