Child development in Africa
Child development in Africa addresses the variables and social changes that occur in African children from infancy through adolescence. Three complementary lines of scholarship have sought to generate knowledge about child development in Africa, specifically rooted in endogenous, African ways of knowing: analysis of traditional proverbs, theory-building, and documentation of parental ethno-theories. The first approach has examined the indigenous formulations of child development and socialisation values embedded in African languages and oral traditions. Several collections of proverbs have been published in different African languages,[1] and their content has been analysed to show the recurrence of the themes of shared communal responsibility for children's moral guidance and the importance of providing it early in life.[2][3]
Nsamenang's view
The African social
The second phase, referred to as "social apprenticing," roughly corresponds to childhood. Its primary task is the recognition and rehearsal of social roles across four hierarchical spheres: self, household, network, and public. Adults delegate responsibilities to preadolescent and adolescent children, including the care and socialisation of younger siblings. This practice serves as a catalyst for the development of social responsibility. The priming strategies embedded in indigenous African childcare practices have significant implications for designing culturally appropriate interventions that optimise developmental opportunities for children. In many African communities, far from a form of exploitation, caregiving responsibilities assigned to preadolescents and adolescents are part of ‘an indigenous educational strategy that keeps children in contact with existential realities and the activities of daily life [that] represents the participatory component of social integration’.[4] A case study conducted in Zambia demonstrated the successful integration of this strategy into a service-learning program at a primary school, promoting social responsibility among both girls and boys and yielding improved academic performance.[10][3]
It is important to acknowledge that the generalisability of Nsamenang's "West African" theory across the diverse societies of sub-Saharan Africa is subject to debate. For example, the
African games and songs
Another significant feature of the developmental niche described by many researchers on African early childhood is the prominence of elaborate play activities, unsupervised by adults. Marfo and Biersteker[14] note that while Western psychological theories primarily emphasise the role of play in cognitive development, anthropological studies conducted in Africa[15][16][17] have underscored its interactive nature, serving as a process for social enculturation. Play in this context creates opportunities for the rehearsal, critique, and adoption of cultural practices. African games exhibit well-documented cognitive and social structures. Furthermore, music and dance hold significant importance in most African cultures, with children actively participating in these activities from a young age. Mtonga[9] analysed the texts of Chewa and Tumbuka children's songs and games observed in rural and urban areas of Zambia, highlighting how they reveal ‘reasoning and understanding the psychology of other participants’, and ‘playful and skilful manipulation of certain word-sounds in order to distort meaning, create new concepts, or paint a satirical caricature...’. It is worth noting that children's play in these communities tends to include individuals from various age groups and those with physical disabilities.[3]
However, despite the strong emphasis on play in the imported curricula of early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs from the Western preschool orthodoxy, indigenous games are seldom utilised as resources for enrichment in Africa. Okwany, Ngutuku and Muhangi[18] describe a number of recent initiatives in Kenya and Uganda where a systematic attempt was made to ‘leverage indigenous knowledge for child care’, by deploying local traditional songs, proverbs, and food production, preparation and preservation practices as resources for the enrichment of children's intellectual, emotional and nutritional development, rather than ‘downgrading’ them in favour of those imported from the West. Unfortunately, as Hyde and Kabiru[19] note, such efforts are relatively rare, and ‘centre-based programmes in Africa tend to be heavily influenced by Western culture and sometimes are not relevant to the needs of children and society’.[3]
Child-to-Child approach (CtC)
Despite extensive efforts by African governments in recent decades to improve access to education, the prevailing structure of formal schooling in most countries often leads to a significant number of students to ‘
The CtC approach aims to mobilise children as agents of health education.[21] It differs from the traditional narrowing staircase model by placing emphasis on fostering social responsibility in pre-adolescent children, aligning with the Chewa concept of nzelu. The inspiration for CtC originated from the widespread African practice of entrusting younger siblings' care to preadolescent children. The approach has been implemented in more than 80 countries worldwide.[22] A case study was conducted to explore the integrative curriculum development by a group of Zambian primary school teachers using the CtC approach.[10] These teachers sought to incorporate traditional cultural practices into the formal educational process, recognising that pre-adolescent children are capable of assuming responsibility as agents of infant care and nurturing within the context of primary health care and progressive social change. The graduates of the school's CtC curriculum reported significant long-term benefits, including the development of egalitarian relationships between genders, even within adult marriages.[23][3]
See also
Sources
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0 (license statement/permission). Text taken from Investing against Evidence: The Global State of Early Childhood Care and Education, 231-237, Marope, P.T.M., Kaga, Y., UNESCO. UNESCO.
References
- ^ Milimo, J. T. 1972. Bantu Wisdom. Lusaka, NECZAM.
- ^ Abubakar, A. 2011. Proverbs as sources of philosophical ideas about African education. In Nsamenang, A. B. and Tchombe, T. M. (eds). Handbook of African Educational Theories and Practices: a Generative Teacher Education. Yaounde, Cameroun, Presses universitaires d’Afrique.
- ^ ISBN 978-92-3-100113-0.
- ^ a b Nsamenang, A. B. 1992. Human Development in Cultural Context. Newbury Park, CA, Sage.
- ^ Mbiti, J. S. 1969. African Religions and Philosophy. Oxford, Heinemann.
- ^ Moumouni, A. 1968. Education in Africa. New York, Praeger.
- ^ Nsamenang, A. B. and Lamb, M. E. 1995. e force of beliefs: How the parental values of the Nso of Northwest Cameroon shape children’s progress towards adult models. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 16, pp. 613-627.
- ^ Rabain, J. 1979. L’Enfant du lignage. Paris, Payot.
- ^ a b Mtonga, M. 2012. Children’s Games and Plays in Zambia. Lusaka, UNZA Press.
- ^ a b Serpell, R. 2008. Participatory appropriation and the cultivation of nurturance: a case study of African primary health science curriculum development. In Dasenm P. R., and Akkari, A. (eds). Educational Theories and Practices from the Majority World. New Delhi, India, Sage.
- ^ a b LeVine, R. A., Levine, S., Dixon, S., Richman, A., Leiderman, P. H., Keefer, C. H. and Brazelton, T. B. 1994. Childcare and Culture: Lessons from Africa. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ DeLoache, J. and Gottlieb, A. 2000. A World of Babies: Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies. Cambridge. MA, USA, Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Marfo, K., Pence, A. R., LeVine, R. A. and LeVine, S. 2011. Introduction to the special section: Strengthening Africa’s contributions to child development research. Child Development Perspectives, 5 (2), pp. 104-111.
- ^ Marfo, K. and Biersteker, L. 2011. Exploring culture, play and early childhood education practice in African contexts. In Rogers, S. (ed.) Rethinking Play and Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education. New York, Routledge.
- ^ Fortes, M. 1970. Time and Social Structure, and Other Essays. London, Athlone Press, New York,Humanities Press.
- ^ Schwartzman, H. B. 1978. Transformation: the Anthropology of Children’s Play. New York, Plenum.
- ^ Lancy, D. 1996. Playing on the Mother Ground: Cultural Routines for Children’s Development. New York, Guilford Press.
- ^ Okwany, A., Ngutuku, E. and Muhangi, A. 2011. The Role of Knowledge and Culture in Childcare in Africa: a Sociological Study of Several Ethnic Groups in Kenya and Uganda. Lewiston, New York, USA, Edwin Mellen Press.
- ^ Hyde, K. A. L. and Kabiru, M. N. 2006. Early Childhood Development as an Important Strategy to Improve Learning Outcomes. ADEA (Association for the Development of Education in Africa), Working Group on Early Childhood Development. http://www.adeanet.org
- ^ Serpell, R. 1999b. Local accountability to rural communities: a challenge for educational planning in Africa. In F. Leach and A. Little (eds). Education, Cultures and Economics: Dilemmas for Development. New York, Garland.
- ^ Pridmore, P. and Stephens, D. 2000. Children as Partners for Health: A Critical Review of the Child-to-Child approach. London, UK, ZED Press.
- ^ CtC Trust (n.d.) http://www.child-to-child.org
- ^ Serpell, R., Mumba, P. and Chansa-Kabali, T. 2011. Early educational foundations for the development of civic responsibility: an African experience. In Flanagan, C. A. and Christens, B. D. (eds), Youth Civic Development: Work at the Cutting Edge. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 134, pp. 77-93.