Child Development in Africa: Views From Inside

Child Development in Africa: Views From Inside
Author: Robert Serpell
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2014-12-19
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1119039940

In this volume, African scholars engaged in research on the continent reflect on their recent and ongoing empirical studies. They discuss the strengths and limitations of research methods, theories, and interventions designed outside Africa to spur innovative research on the continent. And they explore how insights from African philosophical, theoretical, and empirical work can be combined with exogenous forms of knowledge to generate understanding of the processes of African children’s development in ways that are responsive to local contexts and meaningful for indigenous stakeholders. A new field of African child development research is emerging in African societies, focusing on children as valued and vulnerable members of society and potential civic leaders of the future. Systematic inquiries are now designed to enhance our understanding of how African children think, to discover effective ways of communicating with them, and to inform successful strategies of promoting their health, education, and preparation for adult responsibilities in society. This is the 146th volume in this Jossey-Bass series New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in this subject area. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts from that field.

Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge

Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge
Author: Marito H. Garcia
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 558
Release: 2008-01-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821368877

Early childhood, from birth through school entry, was largely invisible worldwide as a policy concern for much of the twentieth century. Children, in the eyes of most countries, were 'appendages' of their parents or simply embedded in the larger family structure. The child did not emerge as a separate social entity until school age (typically six or seven). 'Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge: Early Childhood Care and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa' focuses on the 130 million children south of the Sahel in this 0-6 age group. This book, the first of its kind, presents a balanced collection of articles written by African and non-African authors ranging from field practitioners to academicians and from members of government organizations to those of nongovernmental and local organizations. 'Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge' compiles the latest data and viewpoints on the state of Sub-Saharan Africa's children. Topics covered include the rationale for investing in young children, policy trends in early childhood development (ECD), historical perspectives of ECD in Sub-Saharan Africa including indigenous approaches, new threats from HIV/AIDS, and the importance of fathers in children's lives. The book also addresses policy development and ECD implementation issues; presents the ECD programming experience in several countries, highlighting best practices and challenges; and evaluates the impact of ECD programs in a number of countries.

Early Childhood and Development Work

Early Childhood and Development Work
Author: Anne-Trine Kjørholt
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2018-08-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319913190

This edited volume provides a critical account of the theories and policies that have informed work in the field of early childhood and explores how they have operated in practice. Underpinning the theoretical debates are the familiar tensions between global norms and local contexts; increasing inequality alongside economic progress, and the increasing prominence of business and the private sector in delivering aid programs. The authors offer a profound critique on an increasingly important topic and discuss alternative models of policy and practice.

South of the Desert

South of the Desert
Author: Kathy Jackson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2006
Genre: Education
ISBN:

This book offers a new approach to child development for teachers and draws on research in psychology, health, sociology, anthropology, history and education to provide a wide- ranging description of influences on child development in African countries. Where possible, research by African investigators is reported. Research from Western industrialised countries is presented briefly only where there are gaps in the literature from Africa.

Early Childhood Care and Education at the Margins

Early Childhood Care and Education at the Margins
Author: Hasina Ebrahim
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2018-10-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1351185136

The importance of early childhood care and education (ECCE) in the lives of very young children is gaining increasing attention around the globe and yet there is a persistent lack of diverse knowledge perspectives on this critical phase. This stems from dominant Eurocentric framings of early childhood research, and related theories. Early Childhood Care and Education at the Margins provides contextual accounts of ECCE in Africa in order to build multiple perspectives and to promote responsive thought and actions. The book is an entry point to knowledge production for birth to three in Africa and responds to the call for the field to be in dialogue with different perspectives that attempt to map concepts, debates and contemporary concerns. In this book, a group of African authors, representing both Anglophone and Francophone Africa, provide insider's perspectives on a wide range of geographic, cultural and thematic positions. In so doing, they show the breadth and depth of ideas on which the ECCE field draws. The chapters in the volume highlight a range of topics including poverty, early socialisation, local care practices, gendered roles, and service provision. They open up important points of departure for thinking about ECCE policy, practice, theory and research. The book presents African perspectives in a globalising world. It is therefore suitable for an international readership. It includes cross-cultural comparisons as well as critiques of dominant discourses which will be of particular interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students active in the field of ECCE, childhood studies, cultural studies and comparative education.

Child Care and Culture

Child Care and Culture
Author: Robert A. Levine
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 1994-08-26
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780521331715

Child Care and Culture examines parenthood, infancy, and early childhood in an African community, revealing patterns unanticipated by current theories of child development and raising provocative questions about the concept of "normal" child care. Comparing the Gusii people of Kenya with the American white middle class, the authors show how divergent cultural priorities create differing conditions for early childhood development. Combining the perspectives of social anthropology, pediatrics, and developmental psychology, the authors demonstrate how child care customs can be responsive to varied socioeconomic, demographic, and cultural conditions without inflicting harm on children. This text will be of interest to researchers in child development and anthropology.

Handbook of Applied Developmental Science in Sub-Saharan Africa

Handbook of Applied Developmental Science in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Amina Abubakar
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2017-11-17
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1493973282

This handbook collates research evidence and presents the most up-to-date findings on child development in Sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses complex risk factors and medical conditions affecting childhood outcomes, and spotlights emerging programs for enhancing literacy and cognitive development. The panel of expert contributors offer needed context and knowledge to the discussion of previously understudied topics. Chapters present proven intervention strategies currently in use across the diverse region. In addition, this handbook provides guidelines for culturally sensitive and ethical research that will inform practice and help shape policy goals and initiatives. Topics featured in the Handbook include: · Fatherhood in the African context. · Sibling care-giving and its implications in Sub-Saharan Africa. · Nutritional status, infections, and child development · Diabetes in Sub-Saharan African children. · How to adapt tests for Sub-Saharan Africa. · Interventions aimed at children and caregivers. · A culturally sensitive approach to conducting research and promoting initial literacy development in Africa The Handbook of Applied Developmental Science in Sub-Saharan Africa is a must-have resource for researchers, professionals/scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in child, school, and developmental psychology, as well as pediatrics, social work, public health, and education.

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 587
Release: 2015-07-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309324882

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Childrens Agency and Development in African Societies

Childrens Agency and Development in African Societies
Author: Yaw Ofosu-Kus
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2017-07-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 2869787375

This book focuses on African childhood and youth within the context of development and socialization where children are expected to be moulded in the image of adults. In many African societies children are generally held as passive bearers of the demands of adults, regardless of the fact that they are often exposed to a multitude of challenges that originate from the capriciousness of those adults. However, buoyed by international conventions and national legislations that offer them greater protection, and the ubiquitous internet that exposes them to childhood and youth experiences elsewhere, many of them are increasingly becoming assertive in homes, schools, and communities as well as re-invigorating their survival and self-preservation instincts. It is in this regard that this book, through the various chapters, engages with their competencies, skills and creativity to respond to experiential challenges as independent migrants or ones under coercion working in city streets and markets or cocoa farms or juggling work and schooling in pursuit of some education. Confronted with their parents and siblings health predicaments and the inadequacies of state and familial care, or urgent negotiation of their sexualities, they demonstrate incredible resilience. Similarly, their perceptiveness is demonstrated in a unique appreciation of politics and its actors and a capacity to assume responsibilities beyond their chronological age. Thus while highlighting some of the challenges confronting African children, the book provides gripping evidence of how they resiliently negotiate those challenges.