Effects of Learning Corners on the Pre-Schoolers’ Learning Outcomes in Early Childhood Education

Effects of Learning Corners on the Pre-Schoolers’ Learning Outcomes in Early Childhood Education

Chapter One

Significance of the Study

Findings from this study will be useful to the Department of Social Welfare, which has a mandate to run day care centers together with the Ministry of Education, in planning how to equip pre-primary school teachers with appropriate skills and knowledge to use play corners as a teaching strategy. The findings may also prompt formulation of refresher courses for pre- school teachers that may contribute useful knowledge on policy formulation for the teaching/learning of the young children. The study findings may also highlight gaps in research that may prompt the need for further investigation.

Delimitations and Limitations of the study

Delimitations

The study was delimited to some selected pre-primary schools drawn from both public and private in Education district IV, Lagos state, Nigeria. In addition there were other educational issues, problems and requirements that could affect provision of ECE in the district but the study only confined itself to pre-primary school teachers in both public and private schools. This implies that the results obtained may only be generalized to pre- primary schools.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

 Summary of Literature Review

The literature reviewed in this chapter shows the role of play corners in children’s holistic development as well as relevance of use of play corners as a teaching method. Various studies on teaching behavior have also been reviewed. However, a study conducted by Lyabwene (2011) to examine parental demands for ECE in Nigeria in relation to choice and access to early childhood programme revealed that, although parents have high demand for ECE they have limited choices and information on the programme operations. Thus the study suggested more research in ECE in order to inform the public on the trend and the basic requirement in the program. In this regard, documented evidence on what exactly influences pre-primary school teachers‟ use of play corners as a teaching strategy is inadequate. It is from such a background that the following study sought to find out whether teachers‟ use of play corners as a teaching strategy is influenced by the type of school, teachers‟ motivation, teachers‟ training level, teachers‟ experience and availability of play corners. Based on the fact that the ECE program is relatively new in country‟s education system, there is need to conduct a research to establish the use of child centered teaching strategies.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

Ethical and logistical considerations

The researcher acquired a research permit from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to carry out the study. Familiarization to the study area as well as establishment of rapport with school managers, and teachers prior to study was done. Respondents were informed about the purpose of study and were assured of confidentiality of their responses.

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 4.1 Frequency of pre-primary school teachers’ use of play corners as a teaching strategy

Use of play corners	Range of responses	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Non-users	5-15	17	42.5%
Users	16-25	23	57.5%
Total		40	100%

 Table 4.1 shows that 57.5% (23) of the respondents used play corners as a teaching  strategy. Despite the stated importance of play corners as a teaching strategy in pre-primary schools, 42.5%

(17) of the respondents did not use play corners as a teaching strategy. The study findings indicate that about half of the respondents did not use play corners as a teaching strategy. These findings were similar to those in a previous study done by Ng‟asike (2004) that found most teaching in pre-primary schools was teacher-directed despite the fact that majority of the teachers had necessary skills and were trained in ECE training methods.

The researcher observed children at structured or unstructured play corners to establish the extent to which teachers were involved in the play corners episodes. The pre-primary schools were classified as public or private. The results are summarized in table 4.2.

Table 4.2 Distribution of users and non-users of play corners as a teaching strategy in public and private schools

Use of play corners	Range	Public		Private
		Frequency	Percentage (%)	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Non-users	5-15	12	70.6 %	5	29.4%
Users	16-25	11	47.8%	12	52.2%

Table 4.2 shows that 70.6% of non-users of play corners as teaching strategy were from the public schools whereas 52.2% of users were from private schools. The results show that majority of non-users and users were from public and private schools respectively. This is probably the case because most of the pre-primary classes which were located in public primary school premises simply borrowed teachers from the higher primary school classes. This situation has a serious negative repercussion on early childhood teaching approaches. These study findings were similar to those in a previous study by Munyeki (1997) which reported that in schools where teachers did not use interactive teaching methods and where instructional facilities were missing, teaching was mainly drilling where learners were compelled to learn from the blackboard. The situation is most likely to inhibit the learner from acquiring some fundamental cognitive skills during the formative stage.

CHAPTER FIVE 

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations

Based on the study findings, the following recommendations were made:

Recommendations for head teachers and school managers

To improve the use of play corners as a teaching strategy, the following recommendations were made to the school managers and head teachers:

School managers and head teachers should cultivate a conducive social environment that could promote and motivate teachers‟ behavior to embrace the use of play corners as a teaching

School managements have a role to play corners in ensuring that teachers teach children as prescribed by the Nigerian ECE guideline. Regular monitoring of teaching methods should be done to ensure that teaching and learning is as play cornersful as

School managements should have ways in place to orient inexperienced teachers with the child- centered teaching methods especially the use of play corners in

School managements should arrange teachers – parents meeting to let them know that the ECE teaching and learning ought to be as child centered as possible and that, the use of play corners as a teaching strategy is crucial as it enhances smooth academic progress for

School managements should consider their prime role in improvising teaching and learning materials from their immediate environments by making sure that the equipments/tools that teachers can use for improvising play corners are within teachers‟

Recommendations for teachers 

Teachers should be active and creative in the use of play corners. This is based on the fact that the use of play corners as a teaching strategy helps to simplify instruction, revision, summarizes concepts and captures children’s attention. In this regard, teachers should be aware that play corners is the elementary activity any child does, hence the creative use of this intrinsic behavior which is naturally embedded in children’s improves both teaching and learning activities.

Recommendations for the Ministry of Education and Vocation Training (MoEVT)

The following recommendations were suggested for MoEVT:

MoEVT should regulate the ECE training programs by ensuring that the training programs and institutions emphasize on the use of appropriate teaching strategies such as the use of play corners. In this regard, ECE teachers training institutions should be compelled to inculcate adequate skills on accessing play corners and ways on how they can be used to facilitate teaching and learning in a play cornersful

MoEVT should design strategies to effect the ECE guideline as an effective implementation strategy that will make teachers adhere to the stipulated child centered teaching practices, especially the use of play corners which is an effective and rewarding teaching

MoEVT should sensitize the ECE stakeholders and the entire public on the relevance and harmony that exist between teaching/learning and the use of play corners as a teaching strategy in pre-primary school

Recommendations for further research

 The study findings were limited to Education district IV thus studies on the same topic could be conducted in other districts in urban and rural areas to establish the use of play corners as a teaching strategy since the study findings cannot be generalized to the entire

There is a need to conduct studies on improvisation and accessibility of play corners resources. Such studies will help to establish the nature and trend of availability of play corners and facilities, and the manner and degree in which they are

A study needs to be undertaken to find out the reason behind the discrepancies in the availability of play corners and facilities between public and private

Further studies can also focus on determining whether teachers‟ remuneration affects their teaching

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