EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT, TEACHER MOTIVATION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CHILDREN
Background of the study
World bank report, (2018) indicates that children who had better academic performance in Early childhood were very productive to the country and in return contributed to the economic growth, the report further indicates that better academic performance of children in ECD schools generally has long term positive outcomes to the children since the process enabled the children to develop key skills like using language appropriately which is instrumental for the children in communication and enabling the ECD leaners to achieve their future aspirations.
I n analysis of Lantin American students, the research indicated that Cuba which invests much resources per capita (Overall, 12.8% of GDP) in early childhood Education has ripped a lot this is indicated by the fact the Cuban children have better understanding and can use the language appropriately than their counterparts in Venezuela and Brazil (Carnoy, Gove, & Marshall, 2007).
The Stellakis, (2018) indicates that when the tea chers are well motivated in terms of being given good salary, proper accommodation allowance and protection of their jobs this leads to better academic performance among the children. Zafarullah, & Pertti, (2017) indicates that better academic performance among children in ECD is essential and has the potential to spur the future technological and scientific development of the countries and therefore countries in EU are encouraged to increase their expenditure on the ECD programs, on the same note OECD, (2019) also further indicates that countries with high expenditure in Early childhood Education by motivating the teachers well have achieved better academic performance among the children and this has improved the development of these countries.
Education, (2010), indicates that it is imperative for children to have better academic performance in key areas like better Relating with fellow children, taking good care of one’s self, Interacting and exploring with others, Correct identification of animals, Correct story telling about dangerous objects, Developing and using language appropriately and lastly Using mathematical concepts in daily life, this will enable the learners in ECD to progress to primary school level when they have developed their key skills in critical areas of life.
Duncan, & Magnuson, (2013) indicates that many initiatives by some developed countries have been adopted to enhance the academic performance of children in ECD for example Norway invests a significant amount of resources into early childhood education, amounting to 2% of GDP, the highest share of all OECD countries, this investment is mainly in areas of paying teachers good salary to enhance their commitment and motivation to the job this has continuously made Norway as one of the countries with best quality of Education globally on the same note South Korea which had previously neglected Investments in academic performance in ECD which is observed by the fact that although the first private kindergarten was established almost a century ago in Korea, the first public kindergarten was established only in 1976 (Korean Background Report, 2003). Since the early 1980s, early childhood education has developed rapidly and with the increased government investments academic performance has increased tremendously and up to now south Korea is one of the best performing countries in mathematics and science and while Enrolment rates in early childhood (pre-primary education) are among the highest in the OECD, with 89% of 2-year-olds and 90% of 3-year-olds enrolled in 2014, this has been made possible by the government expenditure of 0.5% of GDP in Early childhood education (pre-primary education) mainly in areas of paying Early childhood teachers decent salaries (OECD, 2015).
Signh, Malik and Signh (2016) also argues that academic performance of children in ECD can only be achieved by paying teachers better salaries, they further indicated that though some governments have not included early childhood teachers in their pay roll countries where Early childhood teachers’ salary and other remuneration is taken as government responsibility like Sweden, Norway and South Korea have witnessed improved academic performance in ECDs.
Similarly, Farooq, Chaudhry, Shafiq and Behanu (2011), asserted that children’ academic performance serves as a bedrock for knowledge acquisition and the development of skills. The poor performance of children in ECD has a long-term negative effects to the country as these children who perform poorly in future become a burden to the country because the country’s resources is spent on taking care of them in their adult age this also has creates the vicious cycle of poverty along the family lines (Ololube, Kpolovie, & Egbezor, 2009).
According to Fafunwa, (2018) though the government of Nigeria started recognizing and funding ECD center after adopting National Policy on Education (1977), ECD schools in Nigeria are fast decaying and the “rot” in the system ranges from shortage of teaching and learning resources to lack of effective leadership and proper motivation of teachers more to that Teachers in ECD are not recognized as very important with this, the ECD teachers are under paid . He pointed out that teachers in Early childhood schools in Nigeria were unhappy, frustrated, uninspired and unmotivated. Lenz-Taguchi, (2010) further indicates that the school environment is dotted with dilapidated buildings equipped with outdated equipment. Teachers at times have to work under the most unsafe and unhealthy conditions. This has no doubt, translated into poor performance of children in Early childhood education.
Javaid, (2009) indicates that if Ghana can increase its expenditure on Early Childhood education by specifically paying ECD teachers well to enhance better academic performance among the children the level of its development in the future will be more than expected. Mustafa & Othman, (2010) state that better academic performance by children in Early childhood education is essential for spearheading the socio-economic development. Indeed, many writers have observed that enhancing better academic performance in Early child hood education is the most effective way to shape the values, attitudes, behaviours and skills which are important for children to be in position to progress in the classes of the upper levels (Isabelo & Silao, 2018).
Ever since the adoption of Early childhood act 1960 in the US, which required government funding of early childhood education by hiring and paying the teachers who can deliver quality education to children at that critical age of 3-5 years, there has been an improved performance among children in schools this is because the government of united states started paying ECD teachers well and to date the US has one of the best education systems in the world , more to that Education Commission of the States, (2007) in the united states indicated that teachers in Early childhood education are to be paid a salary that is above the minimum wage and is attractive enough like other professionals.
The increased better payment of ECD teachers by the government of Taiwan has led to motivation of teachers for instance In Taipei, public Early childhood teacher earns average monthly wages of US, $1,730, while their private counterparts get about US $1,390 each month, the former group is also accorded privileges that civil servants enjoy, including job protection under strict union laws, this favorable working conditions for the ECD teachers has thus made Taiwan one of the top-performing OECD countries in reading literacy, mathematics and sciences with the average student scoring 523.7, compared with the OECD average of 493, placing it seventh in the world and has one of the world’s most highly educated labor forces among OECD countries (Chiu, 2018).
The ECD schools in Kampala district are reported to have a slightly better performance than rural district since children in these schools are able to progress to primary level when they have developed relevant academic skills However poor performance of children in ECD schools has been blamed on a number of factors. Wentzel, (2017) indicates that it is imperative for teachers to be paid salaries and given permanent contract to create a sense of job security to motivate them to enhance better academic performance among children , despite this statement by Wentzel all ECD teachers in Nakasongola district are employed to work in ECD centers verbally without appointment letters in addition to that ECD teachers have very high labour turnover something that shows lack of motivation to the profession. Most ECD teachers also view teaching as a waste of time and some have resorted to riding Boda Bodas as a better option than teaching due to poor pay and lack of job security (Nakasongola district records, 2019).
