Diploma Module 3

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Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

“A GOOD FOUNDATION LAID, A GOOD FUTURE FORESEEN”
DEDICTION
To all my students of Ndejje University, Uganda Martyrs University- Nkozi, St. Joseph ECD
Training Institute-Lira, DOT ECD Centre –Entebbe, Mirembe Girl’s ECD and Vocational
Training Centre- Zana, Sure Prospect Institute, Sonlife ECD Centre – Nalugala, COSA Institute
Wobulezi, MORET Masindi, Hossana NTC, Pearl NTC- Gulu and St. Daniel Comboni ECD-
Pakwach .

PREFACE
Wishing you luck as we journey together in Developing and nurturing the future generation.
Remember when you lay the foundation weakly, you have destroyed the future of the child,
family, community, society, nation or state. For that matter, try to understand what has been
put down in the Study Modules (There are three Modules breaking down 38 course units of
Two Years Diploma in ECE). Do not just read them to pass your University Examinations but
internalize, assimilate and put them in practice or your day to day life as a parent.
I want to caution you students to value Educational resources. Most of you after completing
University Examinations you throw away the notes; it is like burning the library. As caregivers,
ECD advocates and teachers, more so parents or potential parents, we need to refresh our
knowledge and update ourselves with our fields of specialization. So let the modules help you
now and be your future reference books from time to time, the modules are informative and
instructive.
Do not be convinced that all are contained in the Study Modules, do more research and
consult different books, journals and other information sources on ECD. We are not masters of
our fields because we lack the spirit of research. So, if you want to be a master of your field
and more knowledgeable, do more research and then you will be a full consultant in the field of
study.
Note ECD course units cut across you may find a topic in a unit coinciding with another. So,
they are integrated, when reading confer to other course units’ notes or information for good
understanding. These Study Modules are compiled basing on the Course Outlines/Contents
stipulated in the Training Programme set by Ministry of Education, Sport and Technology
(MoEST), UNICEF and Ndejje University- Faculty of Education course structure for Diploma in
Early Childhood Development and Education.
Success and Good luck!
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Greatly I thank the Almighty God for His providence and for giving me good health during the
period of compiling this Educational Resource Book. Further to all the Religious Leaders and
Laity who often offers prayers for us Bishops, Priests, Pastors, Religious and women and men
of God. Special mention my beloved sister Rev. Sr. Dr. Christine Gabriela Achola (MSMMC),
Rev. Fr. Alberto Rienzner Ocen (Baba), Mummy Cecila Akumu, mummy Ventorina Ameto and
Mummy Scovia Alyek .
The officials of Ministry of Education TIET department Dr. Jane Egau Commissioner, Dr.
Mugenyi and all ECD consultants at MoES, NCDC, UNICEF, Madrasa Resource Centre,
Kyambogo University, Ndejje University, Uganda Martyrs University, ECDTIA Uganda for
providing Training Programmes and other resource materials that were of great help in the
writing of these modules.
The subject specialists whose materials contributed towards the writing of these modules: Dr.
Lubwama Henry (Curriculum Consultant Ndejje University), Mr. Semivule George William, Ms.
Claire Tinkamanyire (Exam Coordinator Ndejje University), Mrs. Semivule Hellen (Head of
Dept. ECD Ndejje University), Ms. Bernadette Bukirwa, Mrs. Nakwagala Agatha (MUK/DOT),
Ms. Beatrice Namugalu (Research- UMU), Mr. Okira Abner (Language Dept. Ndejje
University), Dr. Jude (ICT Dept. Ndejje University), Mr Santo S. Auma Okumu ( Dept. of
Psychology Kyambogo University).
Other authors whose Resource Books were of great help in coming up with these modules:
Mary Madudu and Tabitha Akosio, Mary Kibera, Pamela Mawanda, J.C, Aggawarla, Kanatta
Adhul, Catherine etal., Margaret Mwangi, Paulines Publication Africa’s The Journey of Faith
series, Tumusiime Dez and many others whose works were consulted thank you for all the
information you have given on children and family life.
My colleagues lecturers and tutors in different Universities and ECD Training institutions
thanks for your encouragement and contributions: Bernadette Bukirwa (Ndejje/ UMU), Beatrice
Namugalu (UMU),Micheal Atiku (Ndejje) Lule Simon (Mirembe Girls ECD), Francis Kawuma
(Nkumba University/Mirembe), Mildred Alice Esaite (DOT), David Ariko (DOT), Kitaka Mubarak
(Sure Prospect), Miria Abonwaku (Son life), Martin Isaac Abwango (JECD),Tonny Akwanga
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(St. Joseph), Haggai Okullo (JECD), Ogwang Richard (JECD), DL Okello (JECD), Joan Amollo
(JECD), Mrs. Margret Ekwang (MORET), Ayena Patrick (Hossana), Opoo Emma (Pearl) and
Jackson Ongol (St. Peters NTC).
The pioneer students of St. Joseph’s ECD Training Institute you gave me a great backup to
write these modules as you were the pilot scheme of the modules: H.M. Eunice Arim Ogwang
Edola, Moses Oryokot, Eunice Ayugi, Lucy Akello, Mummy Beatrice Akello, Lucy Achola,
Neversis Apiyo, Semmy Modester Abua and Rev. Sr. Brenda Amongi (MSMMC). In the same
note also pioneer staffs, Ms. Lillian Babra Akullo, Dillish Akullo, and Mrs. Sharon Akwanga.
Last but not least great appreciation to my ECD mentors: Mama Mary Ojacor (RIP), Dr. Ejuu
Geoffrey, Mrs. Philda Okello, Hellen Semivule, Ms. Takia Nalwoga, Rev. Sr. Catherine Aceng
(RIP) and Rev. Sr. Dr. Clotida Nalugwa.
Finally, to all my professors and lecturers who taught me during my Graduate Studies in ECD
at Ndejje University and those still giving me more information and knowledge in Early
Childhood Education especially Prof. Samuels Woltyla (University of South Wales
International) and Prof. Mugagga Anthony (MUK).
May the Almighty God through His son Jesus Christ and the intercession of St. Joseph and the
Blessed Virgin Mary bless you all Amen!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICTION ...........................................................................................................................................................i
PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................................................................... iii
UNIT ONE .............................................................................................................................................................1
HOME MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................................................................1
UNIT TWO ......................................................................................................................................................... 45
MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION IN ECD....................................................................................................... 45
UNIT THREE ..................................................................................................................................................... 67
LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN ECD................................................................................................................ 67
UNIT FOUR ..................................................................................................................................................... 107
SETTING UP AND EQUIPPING ECD CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT ................................................ 107
UNIT FIVE ........................................................................................................................................................ 128
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY.................................................................................................................. 128
UNIT SIX .......................................................................................................................................................... 140
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT .................................................................... 140
UNIT SEVEN ................................................................................................................................................... 167
CULTURAL EDUCATION ............................................................................................................................. 167
UNIT EIGHT .................................................................................................................................................... 218
PLAY AS AN AVENUE OF TEACHING IN ECD ....................................................................................... 218
UNIT NINE ....................................................................................................................................................... 227
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR TEACHERS ............................................................................................ 227
UNIT TEN......................................................................................................................................................... 255
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY.................................................................................................................. 255

UNIT ELEVEN ................................................................................................................................................. 271
GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING ................................................................................................................. 271

UNIT ONE
HOME MANAGEMENT
This unit introduces you to home management in Early Childhood Development. This
unit provides insight to why the knowledge of home management is important today.
The main areas of focus in this unit include:
 Concept of home management
 Household management
 Types of Homes
 Components of home management
 History of Home Management in Uganda
 Importance of Home Management
 Factors that influence home management
 Essentials of home management skills
 Qualities of a good manager
 Roles of A good Home Manager
 Home Responsibilities for children
 Early Marriage Problems
 Causes of early marriage
 Harmful effects of early marriage
 Forms of domestic violence in forms
 Benefits of eating together
 Conflict management
It is expected that after carefully studying this course unit, you will be a teacher who “will
inculcate different skills to others in promoting positive living in the community”
1.1 CONCEPT OF HOME MANAGEMENT

Home management is the utilization of human and physical resources to maximize individual
and familial development within the home.
Home Management is a process of decision making and careful utilization of family resources
to meet family needs and achieve goals.
Home management is the process of effectively running of a household.
Example of home management is taking care of children, providing meals, making sure the
house is clean and bills are paid and otherwise attending to the needs of the house.
Home management is the process of properly maintaining a home and property and
overseeing necessary household activities. Much like operating a business, managing a home
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requires skills such as planning, organizing, budgeting and directing. Effective home
management is important for maintaining the condition of the property and the overall financial
health of the family that resides there.
In terms of household, home management provides you with practical knowledge of how to
build habits and routines for adults and children. It also explores how to involve the whole
family in this process, and how to pass these skills on to your own children. Everyone is
capable of being an effective home manager. And every family can learn to work together to
keep their home a happy place to live in. The busier you and your family are, because of work,
school, or family size, the more important it is for you to learn household management skills.
Every part of your home life, from cleaning, cooking, laundry, chores, children activities, meal
planning, home organization and more have their place in your life.
TYPES OF HOMES
 Babies Home,
This is a place where children of different categories are kept. They include orphans,
children who are abandoned by their parents, vulnerable children etc. They range from
babies of one month and above up to 3 years.
 Nursing Home
 Old people’s home
 Homesteads
1.2 COMPONENTS OF HOME MANAGEMENT

The following components have to be effectively managed in order to have an efficient home
management system. The components include: Personal hygiene, environmental hygiene,
textiles and dress making, food and nutrition, home care, home safety and first aid.
 Managing home and family resources
 Planning a homestead
 Cleaning and arranging a home
 Developing a family budget
 Family planning
 Accomplishment of the set goals. Goals are things that family or individual strive to
accomplish/achieve. There are long term, short term and intermediate goals.
 Values. These represent one feelings or view of what is good, important or desirable. There
are intrinsic and extrinsic values.
 Standard. In home standards are measures of quality, quantity and method of goal
attainment. Standard influence actions because of satisfaction derived from it. There are
flexible, fixed and content standards.

 Family needs. Needs are the gap between where we are and where we Want to be. Needs
are things we cannot do without. They may include social, physiological, safety, esteem
and self-actualization.
 Wants as a component of home management deals with things we like, cherish, or wish to
have. They are things we can do without e.g. swimming pool.
 Like and dislikes. Likes are things we prefer. Dislikes are those things we do not wish to
have. They are factors affecting meal management, choice of amenities.
HISTORY OF HOME MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA

Home management has always existed in Uganda wherever families existed. The modern
form of home management can be traced back to the time when the missionaries came to
Uganda. In the 1920s, with the increase of formal schooling across different study areas, home
management was introduced in schools as a subject known as home craft. It was particularly
introduced to prepare girls to be good housewives. Later, the same subject was extended to
colleges where it was taught as domestic science. The aim was to prepare college students to
go out and teach other girls general home science practices. This field was particularly needed
to produce a category of work force that would later be employed as child welfare officers in
children’s homes, matrons in boarding schools, workers in maternity homes or house keepers.
By 1960, the course had become popular and was expanded to include home management,
clothing and textiles, food and nutrition and home science. This addition of other content areas
led to the course to change names from domestic science to home management.
By 1980s, as recreation and hotel industry started picking up in the country, home
management stopped being looked at as reserve for girls going to work in homes. The need
for persons who had done home management in hotels and restaurants saw more students
including men enrolling for home management. This interest in the subject made it to be
introduced even in popular secondary schools like Kings College Buddo, Nabumali, Mengo,
Makerere and Kibuli. It was also introduced in Primary Teachers’ Colleges like Ggaba,
Nkokonjeru, Buloba and Nkozi NTC. Even colleges of Commerce like Tororo, Nakawa, trained
students in home management. Higher institutions like Makerere and later ITEK offered the
course as Food science and Technology up to today.
Home Management is a process of decision making and careful utilization of family resources
to meet family needs and achieve goals. Home management deals with the practical
application of the principles of management in the home. It involves nurturing of family values
and making attempts to satisfy wants of all family members. Decisions made in home
management are related to planned activity, taking care of the physical, psychological,
spiritual, social, economic and technological aspects of family life in an administrative way.
Home management may also be the process of preserving, protecting and maintaining a home
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and its systems. It involves carrying out different activities with the aim of preserving,
protecting and improving the home. Through home management process, one is able to
identify and locate available resources and use them effectively for the attainment of family
goals.
1.3 IMPORTANCE OF HOME MANAGEMENT

A home is an important place where we all belong. It is the basis for all life activities and
comfort. Proper home management is therefore important for the following reasons:
 It ensures a sense of belonging to all members who live in it
 It improves the home appearance
 It keeps most facilities working to avoid costs of repairs when they break down
 Keeps the home new
 Caters for problems of all persons at home equally
 Maintains harmony in the home
 Extends life of the home
 Staying Organized. Effective home management helps you keep things organized around
the house. You'll be able to keep track of household items and you won't have to rush
around looking for your keys or clothing in the morning while preparing to go to work. You
will also reduce litter that can creep up over time if you don't have a plan to dispose of
unnecessary items. You will reduce the likelihood of running out of important supplies when
you need them the most.
 Tracking Finances. Home management also helps you to plan to manage your household
finances. You can prepare a monthly budget to track expenses and eliminate wasteful
spending. Develop a plan for handling bills when they arrive such as setting up a filing
system with a separate file for each day of the month and placing the bill in the file for the
day it should be paid. Set up a fund to cover regular household expenses such as cleaning
supplies and groceries.
 Teaching your children. It your children to get involved in home management as a way of
teaching them the importance of handling responsibility and managing their own household
when the time comes. For example give them chores or projects to do around the home
and involve them in the budgeting process by encouraging them to find ways to help trim
household expenses. Children can also provide a cheaper source of labor than hiring
cleaning or maintenance help.
1.4 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE HOME MANAGEMENT

The practice of home management is rather self explanatory, but as simple as it may sound,
managing a home is not always the easiest process. There can often be a number of factors
and variables that can make the family environment far from homely. Factors can range from
family values, attitudes to the household and other family members, discipline in the home and

activities in the community. It is worth taking a little time to examine some of these factors in a
little more detail as given below.
 It is always worth considering the priorities of the family as these sets the scene for the way
the family is run and all the issues that may come about in the household environment.
Usually the head of the family is in charge of discipline.
 Family values must also be taken into account, this is vital if all the family members are to
work and live well together. This includes habits and behavior and the way each individual
relates to the others.
 Being involved with the local community may appear to encourage individuality amongst
the family group, but the shared experiences and the relationships formed within the
neighborhood and community should only help to develop the family unit.
 The family unit also needs to be organized well and this is again a responsibility usually
handed to the head of the family. Jobs around the house, roles and responsibilities all help
to create a strong family group.
Housing
Planning and setting up a house (site, space, sanitation)
Healthy housing (lighting, sharing houses, overcrowding)
Maintenance (cleaning, cleaning agents, routines of cleaning, latrines and bathroom
maintenance
Family types
This is one of the factors that influence home management. Managing a nuclear family is much
easier compared to an extended family.
FAMILY
Meaning of a family
Family means different things to different people – families may extend several generations,
several households, and may change in response to life events such as divorce, remarriage,
and children leaving the parental home. It is sometimes easier to define a family not by what it
looks like but by what it does in terms of caring, supporting, protecting and loving are what
families have in common.
Types of families
When looking at a family the following should be put into consideration:
 Marriage and children are not pre-requisites for family formation.
 In recent years there has been a trend to smaller families and an increase in the
number of couple-only and lone-person households.

 It is important to remember however, that extended families may span several
households, and that people living alone are not necessarily without family.
 More people are forming several families across their lives, as a result of greater rates
of separation and re-partnering.
 Certain types of families, and families at different points in the life cycle, may have
different strengths, needs and vulnerabilities. These include jobless families, one-parent
families, Indigenous families, families with caring responsibilities, families from diverse
cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and families in rural and remote communities.
Note: the following you have to discuss to detail in as class: Family Types, advantages,
choosing a partner, age of marriage, roles of different family members, problems in families
(child abuse, divorce, separation, delinquency)
FAMILY LIFE CYCLE

A Family Life Cycle is comprised of four stages;
(i) Beginning or establishing stage
(ii) Expanding stage
(iii) Contracting stage
(iv) Empty nest
(b) Characteristics of each stage of Family Life

(1) Beginning or establishing stage
(i) Couple adjusting to each other
(ii) Establishing the home
(iii) Saving for the new baby/planning for a family
(2) Expanding stage

(i) Child bearing
(ii) Child rearing and nurturing
(iii) Pressure on resources as a result of paying for children education and
feeding a large family etc
(3) Contracting Stage

(i) Planning for retirement
(ii) Gradual reduction of family size
(iii) Expenses become minimized/financial adjustment
(iv) Coping with the problems of growth and development in children.
(4) Empty nest

(i) All children leave home remaining only the husband and wife.
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(ii) Reduction in strength of the couple
(iii) Reduction of pressure on all resources.
MARRIAGE AS FOUNDATION OF A FAMILY: Understanding marriage today
When we look at marriage, we should have it in the perspective of order of creation. Many
have given the various views and understanding of marriage. Marriage is an acknowledged
sexual union of a man and a woman but this does not give the comprehensive meaning of
marriage.
Kibera. M (2017), Marriage is an institution invented by God (Divine institution). It is the union
of one man with one woman in a total mutual self-giving and commitment for life. Marriage
seeks the well-being of the individual spouses, the bringing of children into the world and their
upbringing. In this regard, when a man and a woman marry they do so for procreation purpose.
However, today many get into union with the same sex, for what? Pleasure? And other they do
not want to have children, why marry then?
God instituted marriage, like anyone who invent a machine always give instructions on how it
works, and if we decide to use our freedom to do otherwise, it does not work well or work for
sometimes and break. So with marriage, if we fail to follow the instruction of the inventor (God)
and we use the freedom he has given us to choose not to follow His instructions we become
unhappy with marriage.
Marriage is one of the most natural things in human nature and societies. It comes naturally to
a person to want to marry and start a family. Yet today, there are those who look at marriage
with fear and apprehension, or even disillusionment. They are aware of an increasing number
of separations and divorce in modern marriages and they cannot help but ask: “will it work for
me?”
Many enter into marriage with a lot of expectations which at times make them end up not
following the main purpose of marriage and the intention of its eternity (life living union).
Marriage that leads to a happy family requires three things: love, commitment and faith.
To form a happy family, it means marriage has involved three persons: God, husband and
wife. Keeping one’s faith and values as a couple, fosters the development of virtues of
patience, tolerance, insight, forgiveness and genuine love. Therefore, marriage and family are
a gift from God and need to be lived in faith, love and commitment.
Modern types of Marriage

Besides the basic three types of marriage, namely: monogamy, polygamy and polyandry, the
scholars have tried to explain that in the modern society exist different types of marriages
basically arising from people’s expectations – what people look for in marriage as their priority
values.
i) The Romantic Marriage: This type of marriage has as its core a passionately
sexual relationship. The couple believes they were made for each other and that
basically, all that matters is to keep the fire of passion alive with all kinds of sensual
memories of their first meeting and courtship. This marriage is based on only one
factor Romance putting all at their back and yet nature designed that real happiness
in marriage should result from the delicate interplay of two factors; mutual love and
children.
This type of marriage is common in the western societies not in the developing
countries (Africa) where children and friends are more valued. In this type of
marriage, divorce is common and frequent as people move from one marriage into
another. There is no real sense of commitment.
ii) The Rescue Marriage: this type of marriage is created by two people who come from
difficult backgrounds where they have experienced hurt and unhappiness in their
family of origin, perhaps through violence and abuse. Still wounded, they get into
marriage and begin their life together, each one hoping to get emotional fulfillment
and healing from the other. The major expectation of the couples is to get
happiness. Quite often, people who enter into this type of marriage do not have the
emotional maturity required for commitment in marriage which implies mutual love
and self-giving.
iii) The Affectionate Marriage: At the core of the affectionate type of marriage is the
expectation that husband and wife will find affection always, and will be equal to the
other in everything. It has the feminist value system that holds the belief that since
women’s role at home and in society has changed, the male role must also change.
The woman today holds an outside job just like her husband, and contributes to the
maintenance of the home and the education of children, and so the affectionate
marriage does not consider femininity and masculinity relevant to the relationship
and to the way the home is run. In this type of marriage emotional intimacy is very
little due to exhaustion as a result intense career involvement ( there is little time for
one another).
iv) The Traditional Marriage: This type of marriage has its core clear division of roles and
responsibilities. A lot of modern couples tend to identify this with their own parent’s
marriage. In this type of marriage, the woman is primarily the homemaker while the
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man is breadwinner. In the former times, women stayed at home and looked after
their husband and children throughout. They felt no need to work outside the home
as this is the kind of life they were prepared for. Today, women in the traditional
type of marriage define their lives in terms of the time after marriage when they had
an outside job before children arrived, he time when their children were young and
growing up and they were full time homemakers, and finally the time when they
returned to work or undertook a new activity such as studies or business venture or
some social commitment.
In this type of marriage, husband and wife tend to focus a bit narrowly on bringing
up their children and often end up viewing each other only as parents. They down
play their emotional needs, for example, by not demonstrating love and affection to
one another. When the children grow up and leave the nest, the spouses often find
themselves with little in common in their daily activities. The wife gets involved in
women’s groups and the husband continues as he has always been.
Tasks in Building a Happy Marriage

Marriage is a serious affair that is threatened today by all sorts of ills. It requires constant work
to keep the fire of love not only alive but burning. So long as there is love, there is strength. To
build a happy marriage is complex. Therefore, one needs to go through some developmental
stages in their marriage life to make the job easier. The following are some the suggested
tasks:
i) To examine one’s understandings of love and marriage: Before marriage and as
preparation for marriage, one must be clear of what they mean by the word Love,
and also of their expectation of marriage. The frequent mistake young people
commits is expecting their future spouse to give them perfect happiness, something
that does not exist in this world. Because no one is perfect, they should have
realistic expectations.
ii) To emotionally detach from family of origin and attach to each other through friendship:
It is not possible for spouses to fully give themselves to each other in marriage
unless they are both working at emotionally detaching themselves from their
families. The main task of the spouses is to turn inwards to look at their union and
cultivate their friendship in all sincerity.
iii) To build unity through intimacy: No relationship as intimate as the intimacy between
spouses. It demands that each of the spouses expand their sense of self to include
the other and learn how to be a wife and husband. This togetherness does not mean
becoming uniform or getting fused. In a good marriage, one’s thought is no longer
the “me-me-me” but the “us-us-us”.
iv) To expand love of spouses to include children: True love is fruitful and the fruits of
married love are children. It is important to remember, however, that not all
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marriages are blessed with children but those who do not have children their desire
to have children is fruitfulness itself because it will make them extend help to
children of the needy families. Spouses should welcome and love their children.
v) To confront the inevitable and the unpredictable adversities of life: There are many
things that are beyond our control: illness, Natural disasters, retrenchment,
retirement, death. These could come anytime, anywhere. These are some of the
things that serve as constant reminders of the meaning of life and the fact that we
are not fully in control of our lives but God. Spouses need to have fortitude not only
to face the situation but also to give strength to each other and to their children too.
The couples must speak about uncertainties and plan things together.
vi) To handle the developmental challenges that life necessarily brings with it: Life is a
journey. From the moment the husband and the wife come together, they set off on
their family journey and are soon joined by their children (Family life cycle). All the
changes that take place in the children accompanied by success or failure also
affect their parent’s life. Spouses need not only to foresee the needs of their children
but to plan together how to best handle each development stage.
vii) To find ways of resolving conflicts amicably: All marriage relationships experiences
conflict, the spouses need to decide together ways of handling it. Conflict is never an
excuse for being disrespectful, unloving or disloyal. In fact conflict by itself cannot
break a marriage. It is our reactions to it: disrespect, lack of love, disloyalty that do.
viii)To live fidelity: infidelity kills love so it should be avoided at all costs by working
positively at building love. Selfishness destroys fidelity. The spouses’ task here
involves winning the others love day by day. It means never saying enough. Women
have a big role to play in this and should never neglect little details of keeping
themselves attractive, not only physically but inwardly too.
ix) To create a cheerful family style: The home should be a place that is bright and cheerful
because there is communication, joy and laughter. There are too many other places
where one must rise up to high expectations in every way. In the home, people
should be able relax and be themselves without fear of rejection. Building family
traditions means creating happy or enjoyable events in the family that occur as a
matter of tradition. Spouses should also find other ways of making the home
cheerful.
x) To organize social life: No matter how united a family is it cannot be self sufficient in all
things. A family needs other families both for their emotional nurturance and
encouragement. Social life is a need and it helps the family grow in a healthy
manner. Indeed, both spouses and the children have a right to access it, if they are
to be well-adjusted. Together with other parents, spouses can organize healthy
entertainment for their children. There is need for families to support each other and
even found organization that foster family values.
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xi) To cultivate a good relationship with God: Without spiritual dimension, life and death
have little meaning. As one discusses deeper issues of life such as marriage, family
and happiness, one falls short because people are not ultimately in control of their
lives. They need God to make everything else work. So closeness to God should be
the core things spouses should put in their family activities.
MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Basically the management/process consists of four steps. These include: Planning,
Organizing, Controlling, and Evaluating. It is one of the factors when not catered for home
management becomes more complex and difficult.
Planning of activities
Planning is the first and foremost important step of the management process. Planning deals
with getting to know all the family needs, available resources and prioritizing family needs so
as to be able to cater for them in the right time. Each member of the family needs to be
involved in the planning process to ensure that all their needs are covered in the planning
process and also each member given responsibility to perform later to fulfill family goals. At the
end, planning makes it possible to organize and coordinate all family members and predict
sequence of planned activities to adequately cover family needs.
Organizing
This involves sequencing the agreed activities in the way they are supposed to be done in a
proper order. It also involves sharing work and knowing how each family member is going to
support the other as they all work together in harmony to achieve family goals. Also, in
organizing, family resources are allocated accordingly especially when they are limited and
need to be utilized sparingly.
Tracking Finances
Home management also should include a plan to manage your household finances. Prepare a
monthly budget to track expenses and eliminate wasteful spending. Develop a plan for
handling bills when they arrive such as setting up a filing system with a separate file for each
day of the month and placing the bill in the file for the day it should be paid. Set up a fund to
cover regular household expenses such as cleaning supplies and groceries.
Controlling the work Process

Controlling the work activities is concerned with making activities and events that had been
planned to be implemented according to the agreed plan. Following the agreed plan requires
knowledge regarding the various activities involved, effective understanding, motivation,
leadership qualities, and skillful direction by the home maker. In the process, some activities
may become challenging, so it will require constant support from the lead person to ensure
that all members do and accomplish their tasks. Hence, one should have the 'foresight to see
through the problems and constraints to be able to 'control' carrying out the plan.
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Evaluation
Evaluation is the final step of the management process, which is used to assess what has
been done, and how effective the process was in relation to goals achieved. It helps in judging
the success and achievement of a plan of action in a meaningful manner, where specific goals
are involved. This would form a guideline for modifying the plan or as a basis for future plans.
AREAS OF HOME MANAGEMENT

 Schedules and programmes: This includes different schedules for children and adults in
the home. Time to wake up; time to prepare for school, picking up children from school,
family feeding programme, morning and bedtime routines. It will also include other
schedules like car maintenance routines, compound slashing or garbage collection,
payment of bills.
 Foods and drinks: This involves planning for daily meals, shopping for food while
catering for different categories of people in the home. It also involves shopping for
other non-food items needed in the house like detergents, cleaning materials and other
consumables.
 Health and safety: It involves taking care of all health concerns of the family. It includes
having in place first aid kit for common accidents and different ailments that each family
member suffers. It also involves having good knowledge of management of such
sicknesses before a health worker arrives with the help of other family members who
know and understand their roles in the process. It also involves keeping safe at home all
the time and taking precautions for all dangers in the home.
GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE FAMILY MEAL MANAGEMENT

i. The nutritional needs of family members must be provided for e.g. adolescents,
invalids, children, aged, nursing/pregnant mothers, etc.
ii. To avoid monotony, serve variety of meals or combine different foods in different
forms/ways.
iii. Always plan, prepare and serve nutritionally adequate meals.
iv. Take advantage of foods in season and make use of them. Foods in season will
be cheaper and fresher and even more nutritious.
v. Draw up weekly menu table and follow it, this helps to save time, money and
energy and provide meals containing adequate nutrients.
vi. Buy good quality foods; fresh vegetables, fish and meat provide good taste and
flavour.
vii. Use cooking methods that will conserve the nutrients, improve flavour, colour,
texture etc.
viii. Serve meals at the correct temperature to enjoy it. Time your cooking so that
meals can be served hot or cold as necessary.
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ix. Serve meals attractively using correct crockery and garnished. Attractive dishes
help to stimulate appetite and aid digestion.
x. Use leftover foods to prevent waste and create variety. For example, left over
rice can be made into rice balls, jollify rice, etc.
xi. Buy foods in bulk to save time and money. Buying in bulk also ensure that there
is food on hand when needed.
1.5 ESSENTIALS OF HOME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

There are several essential home management skills that you need to know as you prepare to
start a family. They include but not limited to the following:
 How to Cook and Plan a Menu: Learning to cook is not only a home management skill but a
life skill. Learning to cook can be the single most important factor in teaching skills like
budgeting, meal planning and creating healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime. A family
that cooks together and eats together is indirectly teaching their children that spending time
with family is important and there is tremendous value in that. Menu planning should be
one of your least favorite weekly tasks, but it saves a lot of time and money.
 Laundry Skills: A few lessons in Home can go a long way. By the time the little chickens
leave the nest I think each one should be able to do a load of laundry, iron a shirt, and sew
a button on a pair of pants. There are some things that mother or father can't do forever.
 Time Management: We all have 24 hours in a day but what makes our experiences unique
is how we choose to use those 24 hours. Make the children a schedule, get them involved
in planning the day’s activities. These skills will not only be valuable at home management
but at school and later in their careers as well. Successful home management is about
planning and execution. But first, you have to become masterful with time.
 Team Work: Team work is another great home management skill to teach because no one
is capable of running a household without help. Children should learn that everyone needs
to pitch in and do their part to keep the house in order and functioning. Assigning a few
chores, no matter how basic, to each family member will help everyone out in the long run.
 Basic Money Management: Basic money management skills are a must. Even at a young
age children can learn that 'stuff' costs money, and people need to work hard to earn that
money. As they grow up, it becomes even more important to teach about saving and
planning ahead for future expenses.
 Good Cleaning Habits: Clean up as you go! We are still really working on this one around
our house but I think that it is so much easier to spend a couple of minutes to clean up as
you go instead of spending an hour at the end of a long day cleaning up. This is not always
possible to do but, for the most part, it is just a matter of creating a new habit.
 Clutter management is important for making sure that personal spaces are enjoyable and
contribute to good living, and not places of stress and turmoil. Everything should have a
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home and if you don't use it, get rid of it. We regularly clear out things that aren't needed or
that are used and 'bless' someone else by giving them away or selling them.
 How to let go of perfection: Children and adults alike can get very discouraged when things
are messy. Teaching children not to give up when things don't happen the way they are
supposed to is an important lesson in life. Let go of perfection. Your house doesn't need to
be spotless; it needs to be good enough for the people that live there.
1.6 QUALITIES OF A GOOD MANAGER
It is important to note that each person has to follow his own path to reach the ultimate goal.
We are all different. Some of us communicate very well, but in stressful situations they can
lose control. Others are great leaders, they motivate teams but anyhow they fail due to the lack
of organizational skills and common sense. The main question probably should be: “Why do
you want to be a manager and what type of a manager do you want to be?”
Home management requires knowledge and skills to efficiently and effectively work and get
the best results. A good manager should be one with the following qualities:
2. Good communication. This is the main and prerequisite skill in home management.
Without being able to communicate properly you can forget about the rest. In all kind
of management tasks the first and most common thing you do is communicating
your needs, expectations and opinions to other people to family members.
Moreover, you should be able to send correct messages to others and ensure that
they understand you. It is also very important what kind of power you use to
persuade your views.
3. Good organization. This is the second most important skill. You have to be able to
schedule, organize and follow your own plan. It also involves understanding the
rules and processes in the family and among family members, and predicting what
will happen and when.
4. Team building. A good manager should keep his team/family sealed. Competition
inside the team is not beneficial for the well being of its members. On the other
hand, the competition between teams is very healthy and stimulating. If one team
member speeds up without helping the others leaving the rest behind, the whole
team is doomed to failure. A professional manager will easily notice these
irregularities.
5. Leadership. Listening to other family members problems is not sufficient. A good

manager has to solve them and prove his commitment to the family goals. It’s also
his responsibility to define goals together with his family and assign the responsibility
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to family members in a clear manner. He has a clear vision in what direction he
wants the family to grow. He should ‘infect’ others with this vision and make them
follow the same direction.
6. Dealing with changes. There are several managers who exactly know the whole
working process. They are doing things almost automatically. The true manager
should be flexible and adaptable. He is able to react quickly when facing any
obstacles. Stress shouldn’t be a factor to prevent him from taking the right decisions.
7. Domain knowledge. A good manager has to understand what kind of process he is

managing. How his family/team members are working. What kind of tasks they
perform. This skill is not as important as the others but without it, in some cases, the
family/team and the manager will never work at full capacity, using the whole
potential due to lack of mutual understanding.
ROLES OF A GOOD HOME MANAGER

 Earn money to cater for family needs
 Budget and spend according to family needs
 Care for all family members appropriately
 Plan for the family’s wellbeing
 Ensure family’s safety
 Defend and protect the family against all aggression
 Guide family towards good practices
 Provide opportunity for family members to grow and learn to be independent
 Mentor family members
 Guide and counsel family members in times of challenges
 Allocate resources according to priorities.
 Make decisions, act upon them, and accept responsibility for them.
 Delegate and to depend on subordinates.
 Build self-motivation and self-control.
 Organize, plan, and communicate for effective use of resources.
 Maintain good relationships with other family members.
 Possess emotional maturity and the internal resources to cope with frustration,
disappointment, and stress.
 Appraise oneself and one's performance objectively, to admit to being wrong.
 Manager should perform their work exactly as they preach to others. This is all part of
consistency.
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1.7 HOME RESPONSIBILITIES FOR CHILDREN
Children who learn and help with the responsibilities at home develop a sense of importance,
belonging and high self-esteem. It is very important that you start to accept responsibility even
at an early age of childhood. This will make you feel useful and important inside your home. It
is a nice feeling when you are helpful and responsible at the same time. It also develops your
talents and it helps you discover more potential that you are capable of doing. Here are some
responsibilities that you can do at home.
 You can help with the meal planning and grocery shopping. You can suggest what type of
meals you want during the day. You can go with your parents when they go out for grocery.
You could help them in getting the things they want to buy and helping them not to forget
about the things that are needed in the house.
 You can prepare your simple breakfast or snack. This can include making your own
sandwich or preparing your cereals. You should be able to pour your juice or chocolate
drink in your glass. You should do it carefully to avoid too much mess. After eating, you can
clean up the table so your mum wouldn't need to clean the table. Throw into the garbage
can all the wrappers and food particles that were left in the table.
 You can help putting ingredients into a recipe. This includes tearing and putting lettuce into
the salad or shredding cheese on top of the spaghetti. This should be done with the
permission of your parents. Do not play with the food because this might ruin your entire
meal.
 You can prepare your own bed and clean your room. Before you go to sleep, you can
prepare your own bedding like your pillows and blanket. Clear out your bed so you can
sleep comfortably during the night. Put your toys and things in their proper places. Also,
you can sweep the floor of your bedroom using the broom and dustpan. You can wipe your
study table, shelves, cabinets and windows to avoid accumulation of dust inside your room.
 You can choose your own outfit for the day. Try your best to choose your preference for a
certain day. Just make sure that you are comfortable with what you are wearing. You can
prepare it during the night so you would avoid cramming the following day. But when you
are unsure of your preference, you can ask your parents about their suggestions.
 You can help separating clothes for laundry and folding clean clothes after laundry. You
can do this by separating the white clothes with the colored ones. You can also help
gathering the laundry from the bedrooms of your parents and siblings and putting them in
the laundry area. When the clothes are dry after laundry, you can help folding them and
putting them in the closets of your parents and siblings.
 You can feed your own pets and clean the living room. When you have dogs or cats at
home, you can take charge in giving them food and water. You can help in cleaning the
living area by sweeping the floor, putting the trash into the garbage and putting things in
their proper places. By just doing these simple things, you will be able to help with
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minimizing the workload of your parents and you develop a sense of responsibility which
will develop you into a better individual when you grow up.
1.8 EARLY MARRIAGE PROBLEMS

There are numerous problems a couple can face when marriage happens at an early age for
them. Early marriage which is also referred to as child marriage is common all over the globe
and has inflicted dangerous and devastating effects on young children who are compelled to
tie the knot in most cases.
Child marriage is also indicative of the levels of development of a region or country and is
generally conducted between very young girls and older men. In many parts of the world child
marriage is a gratification for overcoming the family’s financial and social needs.
Causes of early marriage

Early marriage can arise due to a number of reasons such as these:
 To raise the economic and social status
 Religious hurdles and barriers
 Gender bias promotes early marriage of girls
 Lack of education
 Myths and misconceptions about early marriage
 Pressures from older members of the family and community
 The notion that early pregnancy leads to larger families and hence providing for heirs to the
throne
 Some communities regard their girl children as a burden and think of getting rid of them by
marrying them off early in a patriarchal society
1.8 Harmful effects of early marriage

Early marriage can cause severe problems which include the following:
 Psychological and emotional stress like forced sexual relations, denial of freedom and
personal development as household chores now become a priority.
 Denial of personal development and education.
 Maturity levels become an issue as the little girl is now expected to play the role of a
mother.
 Girl children undergo severe health problems like pregnancy and childbirth.
 Girl brides are also involved in early childhood care that they can not manage.
 Threat to contracting sexually transmitted diseases increases when girl children are
exposed to such an environment.
 As girl children are still vulnerable and submissive, they can be subject to the atrocities of
domestic violence and abandonment.
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 Mental and emotional stress in girl brides is high because they are not old enough to cope
with maternal, marital or in law issues.
Though the respective Governments and society is doing much to abolish early or child
marriage through campaigns, laws, policies and individual support of people, it is still a far
reaching dream for young girls who are still repeatedly forced into such liaisons.
Early marriages have stretched far and wide through time and countries and finally reached
America as well where children in their mid-teens are taking independent steps of tying the
knot with their partners. Most early marriages are considered to be forced which is true but
children entering into an early marriage out of choice should also be warned of various
personal and health issues that can complicate their lives forever.
1.9 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Forms of domestic violence in communities
Domestic violence is physical or emotional abuse directed at partners, siblings, children or
elders. They can help your family cope with violence; recover from the pain of abuse and go on
to experience the joy and trust of supportive, happy relationships. Violence in the home harms
everyone in the family. Children are especially vulnerable that they may also grow up to be
abusive to their partners or children. As parents to be it's our responsibility to prevent family
violence and this cycle of abuse.
Forms of Domestic Violence

 Physical: Inflicting or attempting to inflict physical injury Example: grabbing, pinching,
shoving, slapping, hitting, biting, arm-twisting, kicking, punching, hitting with blunt objects,
stabbing, shooting
 Withholding access to resources necessary to maintain health example: Medication,
medical care, wheelchair, food or fluids, sleep, hygienic assistance Forcing alcohol or other
drug use
 Sexual: Coercing or attempting to coerce any sexual contact without consent example:
marital rape, acquaintance rape, forced sex after physical beating, attacks on the sexual
parts of the body, forced prostitution, fondling, sodomy, sex with others
 Attempting to undermine the victim' sexuality: example: treating him/her in a sexually
derogatory manner, criticizing sexual performance and desirability, accusations of infidelity,
withholding sex.
 Psychological: Instilling or attempting to instill fear example: intimidation, threatening
physical harm to self, victim, and/or others, threatening to harm and/or kidnap children,
menacing, blackmail, harassment, destruction of pets and property, mind games, stalking
 Isolating or attempting to isolate victim from friends, family, school, and/or work example:
withholding access to phone and/or transportation, undermining victim's personal
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relationships, harassing others, constant "checking up,” constant accompaniment, use of
unfounded accusations, forced imprisonment.
 Emotional: Undermining or attempting to undermine victim sense of worth example:
constant criticism, belittling victim's abilities and competency, name-calling, insults, put-
downs, silent treatment, manipulating victim's feelings and emotions to induce guilt,
subverting a partner's relationship with the children, repeatedly making and breaking
promises.
 Economic: Making or attempting to make the victim financially dependent: example:
maintaining total control over financial resources including victim's earned income or
resources received through public assistance or social security, withholding money and/or
access to money, forbidding attendance at school, forbidding employment, on-the-job
harassment, requiring accountability and justification for all money spent, forced welfare
fraud, withholding information about family running up bills for which the victim is
responsible for payment
Note: If you are coping with the violence in your home, remember you are not alone. Abusive
behavior affects every neighborhood, ethnic background and economic class. No family is
immune. But no family should be victimized by violence.
Benefits of eating together

The Family Who Eats Together Stays Together
While our smart phones and devices have brought us closer to the rest of humanity, it is the
family meal that brings us closer to our own clan and community in which we live. The fabric of
family is woven by shared experiences and time spent together. Here are some things we gain
when we share meals as a family:
 Family bonding. Eating a family meal regularly creates an environment that fosters family
conversation and is more likely to have stronger, happier family relationships. As families
struggle to find amounts of quantity and quality time together, family suppertime provides
the opportunity for both. When families hang out together and communicate, they grow
strong and healthy.
 Home-cooked meals are healthier. Commercially prepared foods are extremely high in
sugar, starch and fat, although some restaurants do list low-fat items on their menus. Home
cooking allows a family to select healthy ingredients, tailor meals to suit its own particular
nutritional needs and tastes, serve portions appropriate to age and activity level and
monitor methods of preparation.
 Eating at home promotes both learning and a healthy lifestyle. Pre-school children
who eat with the family have better language skills. Eating together as a family can teach
good communications skills such as listening patiently and expressing one’s opinion in a
respectful manner.
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 Communication and Well-Being. Conversations during the meal provide opportunities for
the family to bond, plan, connect, and learn from one another. It’s a chance to share
information and news of the day, as well as give extra attention to your children and teens.
 Eating together helps children appreciate family tradition. Food served at the family
table helps to shape and give lasting meaning to our cultural heritage.
 Family meals foster warmth, security and love, as well as feelings of belonging. It can be a
unifying experience for all.
 Model Manners (and more). Family mealtime is the perfect opportunity to display
appropriate table manners, meal etiquette, and social skills. Keep the mood light, relaxed,
and loving.
 Meal time helps children to expand their World on foods they had never eaten before.
Some children dislike certain foods. It encourages your children to try new foods, without
forcing, coercing, or bribing. Introduce a new food along with some of the stand-by
favorites. Remember that it can take 8-10 exposures to a new food before it is accepted, so
be patient. Trying a new food is like starting a new hobby. It expands your child’s
knowledge, experience, and skill.
 Keeps children out of trouble. Children who live in families that eat meals together regularly
are less likely to be involved in at risk behaviors. According to the 2000 study done by the
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, children who
don't eat supper with their families are 61 percent more likely to use alcohol, tobacco, or
illegal drugs. By contrast, children who eat supper with their families every night of the
week are 20 percent less likely to drink, smoke, or use illegal drugs.
 Offers Stability. Families who eat meals regularly develop a stronger family identity. Eating
together serves to build a family identity. Additionally, this family “routine” provides a sense
of stability and security that provides children with a positive environment where they can
grow into healthy adults.
 Time for family updates. Families who eat meals together regularly can keep in touch with
each others’ lives. Everyone –children and parents alike–can keep up-to-date during family
suppertime on what is going on with school, jobs, family life, and friends.
 Chance to resolve conflicts. A regular family suppertime provides natural opportunities for
planning and problem solving. Scheduling family meeting times to discuss planning, needs
and problem solving can be difficult. A regular family mealtime can offer a natural solution
to the challenge.
 Educates children. Eating meals regularly fosters learning. When families who eat supper
together engage in a variety of conversation topics, learning is encouraged. Children who
are exposed to regular family discussion times learn a broader vocabulary.
 Healthy for the whole family. Children are likely to receive better nutrition when eating
supper regularly with their families. A simple, but true rule applies: when children eat with
their families, they eat better. A family supper time means children are more likely to eat a
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nutritionally balanced meal, lower in sugar and fat content, than if they prepare or purchase
meals on their own.
 Eating together builds closer relationships within the family. It goes without saying that
communication is the key to understanding. Although we live as a family, each member is
on a different track through life. Spending time together over meals lets us keep in touch
with each other on a regular basis.
 Get the family involved in shopping and food preparation. Learning to shop wisely and to
prepare food are useful life skills which are becoming more important with rising food prices
and economic uncertainty. Eating at home saves money. Young children can be helpful in
the kitchen given a little guidance.
1.10 STRESS MANAGEMENT

Meaning of stress
Stress is the tension and pressure that results when an individual sees a situation as
presenting a demand/ challenge that they feel exceed their capacity to manage or handle.
Stress can result in serious mental and physical harms. Stress affects the four major areas of
human function. i.e Emotional, mental, behavioral and physical. For teachers to help their
pupils deal with stress they need to learn to deal with their own.
How to Reduce, prevent, and Cope with Stress

It may seem that there is nothing you can do about stress. The problems stop knocking at your
door, there will never be more hours in the day, and your career and family responsibilities will
always be demanding. But you have more control than you might think. In fact, the simple
realization that you are in control of your life is the foundation of stress management.
Managing stress is all about taking charge of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, and the way
you deal with problems
Identify the sources of stress in your life

Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in your life. This is not as easy
as it sounds. Your true sources of stress are not always obvious, and it is all too easy to
overlook your own stress-inducing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Sure, you may know that
you are constantly worried about deadlines for course works. But maybe it is your working
style, rather than the actual job demands, that leads to deadline stress.
To identify your true sources of stress, look closely at your habits, attitude, and excuses:
 Do you explain away stress as temporary, even though you can’t remember the last
time you took a breather?
 Do you define stress as an integral part of your work or home life?
 Do you blame your stress on other people or outside events, or view it as entirely
normal and unexceptional?
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Until you accept responsibility for the role you play in creating or maintaining it, your stress
level will remain outside your control.
Start a stress journal

A stress journal can help you identify the regular stressors in your life and the way you deal
with them. Each time you feel stressed; keep track of it in your journal. As you keep a daily log,
you will begin to see patterns and common themes. Write down:
 What caused your stress (make a guess if you are unsure)?
 How you felt, both physically and emotionally.
 How you acted in response.
 What you did to make yourself feel better.
Unhealthy ways of coping with stress

These coping strategies may temporarily reduce stress, but they cause more damage in the
long run. The unhealthy ways of coping with stress may include:
 Smoking
 Drinking too much
 Over-eating or under eating
 Zoning out for hours in front of the TV or computer
 Withdrawing from friends, family, and activities
 Using pills or drugs to relax
 Sleeping too much
 Procrastinating
 Filling up every minute of the day to avoid facing problems
 Taking out your stress on others (lashing out, angry outbursts, physical violence)
Healthier ways to manage stress

There are many healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require change.
You can either change the situation or change your reaction. When deciding which option to
choose, it’s helpful to think of the four A’s: Avoid, Alter, Adapt, or Accept. The Four A’s are
divided in to two that is either by changing the situation so as to: Avoid the stressor or Alter the
stressor. The other one is by changing your reaction in order to: Adapt to the stressor or
Accept the stressor.
Since everyone has a unique response to stress, there is no “one size fits all” solution to
managing it. No single method works for everyone or in every situation, so experiment with
different techniques and strategies. Focus on what makes you feel calm and in control.
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STRESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
1. Avoid unnecessary stress
Not all stress can be avoided, and it’s not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be
addressed. You may be surprised, however, by the number of stressors in your life that you
can eliminate.
 Learn how to say “No”. Know your limits and stick to them. Whether in your personal or
professional life, refuse to accept added responsibilities when you are close to reaching
them. Taking on more than you can handle is a surefire recipe for stress.
 Avoid people who stress you out .If someone consistently causes stress in your life and
you cannot turn the relationship around, limit the amount of time you spend with that
person or end the relationship entirely.
 Take control of your environment. If the evening news makes you anxious, turn the TV
off. If traffic’s got you tense, take a longer but less-traveled route. If going to air time
unpleasant to you, load money and buy from your phone.
 Avoid hot-button topics. If you get upset over religion or politics, cross them off your
conversation list. If you repeatedly argue about the same subject with the same people,
stop bringing it up or excuse yourself when it’s the topic of discussion.
 Prepare down your to-do list. Analyze your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If
you have got too much on your plate, distinguish between the “shoulds” and the
“musts.” Drop tasks that are not truly necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate
them entirely.
2. Alter the situation

If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Figure out what you can do to change
things so that the problem does not present itself in the future. Often, this involves changing
the way you communicate and operate in your daily life.
 Express your feelings instead of bottling them up. If something or someone is bothering
you, communicate your concerns in an open and respectful way. If you don’t voice your
feelings, resentment will build and the situation will likely remain the same.
 Be willing to compromise. When you ask someone to change their behavior, be willing
to do the same. If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you will have a good
chance of finding a happy middle ground.
 Be more assertive. Don’t take a backseat in your own life. Deal with problems head on,
doing your best to anticipate and prevent them. If you have got an examination to study
for and your chatty roommate just got home, say up front that you only have five
minutes to talk.
 Manage your time better. Poor time management can cause a lot of stress. When you
are stretched too thin and running behind, it’s hard to stay calm and focused. But if you
plan ahead and make sure you don’t over-extend yourself, you can alter the amount of
stress you are under.
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3. Adapt to the stressor
If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations and
regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude.
 Reframe problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective.
Rather than fuming about a too much work, traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to
pause and regroup, listen to your favorite radio station, or enjoy some alone time.
 Look at the big picture. Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how
important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth
getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere.
 Adjust your standards. Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop setting
yourself up for failure by demanding perfection. Set reasonable standards for yourself
and others, and learn to be okay with “good enough.”
 Focus on the positive. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all
the things you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This
simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective.
Note: Adjusting our attitude in the way we think can have a profound effect on your emotional
and physical well-being. Each time you think a negative thought about yourself, your body
reacts as if it were in the throes of a tension-filled situation. If you see good things about
yourself, you are more likely to feel good; the reverse is also true. Eliminate words such as
"always," "never," "should," and "must." These are telltale marks of self-defeating thoughts.
4. Accept the things you can’t change

Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You can’t prevent or change stressors such as the
death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases, the best way to
cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long
run, it’s easier than railing against a situation you can’t change.
 Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control—
particularly the behavior of other people. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on
the things you can control such as the way you choose to react to problems.
 Look for the upside. As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
When facing major challenges, try to look at them as opportunities for personal growth.
If your own poor choices contributed to a stressful situation, reflect on them and learn
from your mistakes.
 Share your feelings. Talk to a trusted friend or make an appointment with a counselor.
Expressing what you are going through can be very beneficial, even if there is nothing
you can do to alter the stressful situation.
 Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people make
mistakes. Let go of anger and resentments. Free yourself from negative energy by
forgiving and moving on.
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5. Make time for fun and relaxation
Beyond a take-charge approach and a positive attitude, you can reduce stress in your life by
nurturing yourself. If you regularly make time for fun and relaxation, you will be in a better
place to handle life’s stressors when they inevitably come. Healthy ways to relax and recharge
include:
 Set aside relaxation time. Include rest and relaxation in your daily schedule. Don’t allow
other obligations to encroach. This is your time to take a break from all responsibilities
and recharge your batteries.
 Connect with others. Spend time with positive people who enhance your life. A strong
support system will shield you from the negative effects of stress.
 Do something you enjoy every day. Make time for leisure activities that bring you joy,
whether it be stargazing, playing the piano, or working on your bike.
 Keep your sense of humor. This includes the ability to laugh at your-self. The act of
laughing helps your body fight stress in a number of ways.
 Go for a walk.
 Spend time in nature.
 Call a good friend.
 Sweat out tension with a good workout.
 Write in your journal.
 Take a long bath.
 Light scented candles.
 Enjoy a warm cup of coffee or tea.
 Play with a friend.
 Work in your garden.
 Get a massage.
 Curl up with a good book.
 Listen to music.
 Watch a comedy.
6. Adopt a healthy lifestyle
You can increase your resistance to stress by strengthening your physical health.
 Exercise regularly. Physical activity plays a key role in reducing and preventing the
effects of stress. Make time for at least 30 minutes of exercise, three times per week.
Nothing beats aerobic exercise for releasing pent-up stress and tension.
 Eat a healthy diet. Well-nourished bodies are better prepared to cope with stress, so be
mindful of what you eat. Start your day right with breakfast, and keep your energy up
and your mind clear with balanced, nutritious meals throughout the day.
 Reduce caffeine and sugar. The temporary "highs" caffeine and sugar provide often end
in with a crash in mood and energy. By reducing the amount of coffee, soft drinks,
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chocolate, and sugar snacks in your diet, you will feel more relaxed and you will sleep
better.
 Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Self-medicating with alcohol or drugs may provide
an easy escape from stress, but the relief is only temporary. Don’t avoid or mask the
issue at hand; deal with problems head on and with a clear mind.
 Get enough sleep. Adequate sleep fuels your mind, as well as your body. Feeling tired
will increase your stress because it may cause you to think irrationally.
1.11 CONFLICT
Conflict is a state of opposition, disagreement or incompatibility between two or more people
or groups of people, which is sometimes characterized by physical violence. Conflict can be
experienced in various places such as home, school, work place, communities, societies and
countries etc. When there is a clash of interest, idea, value or action, conflict always results.
Conflict can result as a reduction of one motivating stimulus which occurs as a rise in another
stimulus.
Conflict is a part of life. Conflict is inevitable. Some people think that conflict is bad and should
be avoided. We cannot avoid having conflicts. In a larger context, if we look at what is
happening around the world today, we will find out that the majority of the conflict occurs as a
result of clash of interest or opposing positions on issues. Currently Iran is having a problem
with international communities on the issue of its nuclear program. Iran believes that its project
is for peaceful process while the international communities think that Iran has a hidden
agenda to develop nuclear weapons. Handling and resolving conflict in a proper way are
needed. Understanding how to manage or resolve conflict is very important.
There are various types and modes of conflicts. This area discusses family or home conflict
and its resolutions. There is a saying that charity begins at home. Our family plays vital roles
in our lives. It is the bedrock of all virtues.
Domestic violence and its effect on our children

Domestic violence is rampant in the society today. Domestic violence includes physical abuse,
sexual abuse, and psychological abuse, Ganley (1989). Exposure to this form of domestic
violence has considerable potential to be perceived as life threatening by those victims. It can
leave them a sense of vulnerability, helplessness and in extreme cases of horror.
Physical abuse refers to any behavior that involves the intentional use of force against the body
of another person that risks physical injury, harm or pain, Dutton (1992). Children are the most
vulnerable to violence in any family. Over three million children are at risk of exposure to
parental violence every year, Carlson (1984).
Violence at home has great consequence on each person in the home. The use of violence at
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home in resolving conflict, has adverse effect on children in their lives. Violence caused
physical, psychological and emotional effects.
Children from violent homes encounter problems in school. They have difficulties in
concentrating on their studies which result in poor performance. They prefer to stay outside of
their home rather than going home. They run the risk of becoming delinquents, substance
abusers, or school drop-outs. They have difficulties in their relationship with others.
In homes where violence is used in resolving conflict, children emulate this idea and apply the
same method in resolving their problems. These children are likely to become abusers or
victims of abuse. At slightest provocation from their peers, these children will result in fighting.
During fighting they are likely to suffer injury or inflict injury on their fellow children.
When children raised under domestic violence grow up, they will continue to use violence in
resolving problems. If the child becomes a leader or a position in power, he/she will be
applying violence in resolving conflict every time.
Techniques in non-violent conflicts resolution

Peace is important for us to live together on earth. We should all seek peace in ensuring a
better world and a world free of crisis. Peace begins with the individual. It begins at home,
with how we live our lives, how we relate to others and how we handle conflicts. Conflicts if
not properly managed or resolved, leads to crisis or war. Conflict resolution is working toward
peace, with principles and tools that are universally applicable at every level, between
individuals, families, communities and nations.
Conflict is a part of life. Proper resolution should ensure the peace in our homes and the world
at large.
Non-violent communication in conflict resolution:

Non-violent communication (NVC) by Rosenberg and Gandhi (2003), guide us to reframe how
we express ourselves and hear others by focusing our consciousness on what we are
observing, feeling, needing, and requesting. The process of NVC encourages us to focus on
what we and others are observing, how and why we are feeling, what our underlying needs
are, and what each of us would like to have happened. These skills emphasize personal
responsibility for our actions and the choices we make when we respond to others.
Communication skill is extremely important in resolving conflict. We should always watch the
words we use when resolving conflict. Do not use words that may cause more conflict.
NVC makes us feel responsible for our actions. When we express our needs clearly, we avoid
projecting our feeling onto others. When we discuss opposing views on any issue, we
communicate in a peaceful manner, focus on the issue and avoid any personal attack. We
listen to the other side with sincerity, and voice our opinion if we disagree. Communicative
skills (attentive listening, assertive statement and clear opinion) are essential to the success of
non-violent conflict resolution. The techniques in non-violent conflict resolution are:
 Empathy: This is the ability to put us in the place of the opponent and understand their
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feelings, ideas and actions. With this technique, we try to put our opponent interest first. If
everyone does this, the conflict will be resolved amicably.
 Dialogue: Dialoguing is very important in resolving conflict. Dialoguing is talking to and
listening to between the opposing parties. This is the period when each party tries to say
what he/she feels about the dispute. During the dialoguing, it is very important to be honest
and truthful. Do not say anything that might increase tension or add to the conflict. Do not
apportion blame, point fingers, or call each other names. This is not a debate. In a debate
there is always a winning side. So avoid turning dialogue into a debate. And avoid being
defensive. Appropriate time should be set to make sure that both parties agree to this time
frame.
 Also allow each other to express his/her feeling and to explain vividly his perception on
the issue. Do not hide anything that may bring more conflict in future. Try to table
unrelated issues and discuss them later. And while the other party is talking, it is
important that we listen and do not criticize.
 It does not matter if agreement is reached on the first day or other days. What matters
is that there is a progress toward peace. This progress should continue until the peace
is achieved. Therefore, do not force each other to agree on the time frame. Allow each
other more time to discuss and to agree on the final issue.
 The environment is important for each other to express genuine feelings and thus leads
to an opportunity for mutual agreement.
 Most importantly, do not have a close mind on any issue believing that we are always
right. Even when we think we are right, try to stay calm. Otherwise, it annoys or
infuriates our opponent. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion about issues and
that we may not be able to change it. Don't overlook the fact that each person in a
conflict discussion has mixed feelings. Never say the word "You are lying". People will
not be happy when they are accused of lying. It may ignite more anger. Always control
motions while dialoguing.
 During dialoguing, understanding the conflict will be ensured when handled properly
and a better resolution of the conflict will be achieved.
 Listening: Listening is to pay close attention to what others are saying. It is vital in conflict
resolution. Do not interrupt when the other party is talking even when we know that the
person is not saying the right thing. Allow him or her to complete the description of the
matter. As we have different viewpoints, then we use common sense to voice our opinions.
Do not use words that will create more conflict. Use words such as "I think" or "I suggest"
will have better chance of success.
While listening to the other party, we will be able to understand the conflict in a better
way and be able to identify our own fault and mistakes.
 Anger management: Anger is a feeling of displeasure or hostility, along with an urge to act
upon the feeling, and along with an implication that one has been wronged. Anger
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emerges from a pattern of experiencing unmet needs. Anger management is important in
resolving conflict. We should try to control our emotions. Anger is a human behavior and
cannot be avoided in our lives. We are bound to be angry when someone offends us or
when things are not moving well. Therefore to achieve a better conflict resolution, it is
important to manage our anger properly. You should not express their anger on children. If
you do, children will behave the same way because they learn from adults. Anger brings
hatred. Do not overreact when we are angry.
 Negotiation: Negotiation is the process of two individuals or groups reaching agreements
about differing needs or ideas. This is done without the third party. The parties involved in
conflict, are trying to reach an agreement on how their conflict will be resolved. An enable
environment should be created for negotiation. The two styles of negotiation, competitive
and cooperative, are commonly recognized. Most negotiations move back and forth
between the two styles depending on the situation. It is important that the negotiators try to
understand each other by listening and respect each other. Negotiation is a difficult
process in resolving conflict because each side has his/her own needs. It is not easy to
change one’s opinion. But in other to achieve peace with each other, it is very important to
create an opportunity to consider everyone's need.
 Mediation: It is a situation in which both parties agree to take part in a structured settlement
process through the guidance of a neutral expert (mediator). It is also regarded as an
alternative to dispute resolution. It aims to assist two or more disputants in reaching an
agreement. In mediation, agreement may not be reached. The mediator should not impose
an agreement on the parties involved. Intervention of a mediator should be regarded as
the last resort to conflict resolution. This arises when the parties involved could not reach
an agreement between themselves. Mediation is a communication process that helps to
rebuild trust among the opposing parties.
Note: Mediators should be well trained in handling and resolving conflict. Mediators should
apply the best techniques and/or skills in resolving conflicts. Every conflict has a different
resolution. Mediators should not be biased or emotionally attached to a particular person or
a group. When we have feelings for a particular person involved in the conflict, it is for our
best interest not to mediate for him/her. Try to look at both parties equally. Give them equal
chances in telling their stories. Both parties should avoid using inflammatory statements
that might ignite anger. Mediators should listen carefully to both side of the story.
Mediators should not apply blame on any person. If they must place blame, they must
handle it with care.
 Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Forgiveness is the mental, emotional or spiritual process
of ceasing to feel resentment or anger toward another person for a perceived offence,
difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. After a proper
agreement has been reached, it is important to forgive one another. Do not wait for an
apology from the other side. If the person does not apologize, after the conflict has been
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resolved, just let the matter go. Holding no grudge will free you and allow you to move on
with your life.
 Reconciliation is the restoration of peaceful or amicable relations between two
individuals who were previously in conflict with each other.
Total reconciliation is also very important in achieving peace. After the conflict is
resolved, both parties decide to go their separate ways. In the case of a husband and
a wife, they will seek for divorce after the conflict is resolved. Even though they have
forgiven each other, they will cease to be friends or partners. Each time they see their
friends or their spouse, it reminds them of the past. Yes, it is agreed that one can
forgive and not forget. This is why is important to reconcile and try to put the past
behind us. We all make mistakes and nobody is perfect. There will never be a perfect
relationship or friendship. Even relationship between God and Man is not perfect, as
a mortal man will always make a mistake. It is important we recognize our mistakes
and ask for forgiveness and try to reconcile.
STEPS IN RESOLVING CONFLICT AT HOME

Our family is the main source at which we derive our social values and virtue. Parents have
important roles to play in the upbringing of their children. If a peaceful environment is not
created in raising children, the children will grow up not being responsible. The use of violence
in resolving conflict at home has an effect on the upbringing of children. Children are known to
emulate the negative things faster than the good things. So parents should be very careful in
handling of conflicts at home. Parents should teach their children how to resolve conflict
amicably without violence and they should live by example. If children are not taught at home,
they may learn the negative things from their peers. Children learn how to live by observing
their surroundings. Parents should play an active role in resolving conflicts at home. We must
handle violence and conflicts seen by our children in the peaceful manner using many of the
techniques discussed above. We are serving as good role models for our children for conflict
resolution. Therefore, as parents they need to do the following in resolving conflict at home:
 Parents should avoid the use of abusive words on their children when they make
mistakes. When a child makes mistakes or misbehave, try to correct their mistakes and
let them know that what they are doing is wrong. Do not use abusive words or calling
children names. Negative words may have effects on our child. Therefore avoid using
them.
 Do not use beating, starving, hard punishment or any other physical abuses on our
children. The measure we place on our child may result in making him/her stronger or
more rebellious. Therefore, he or she will no longer regard it as a punishment but as a
norm in the family. This has a very bad effect on a child upbringing. The child no longer
fears any forms of hard punishment and it will grow up using the same abuses on
others when there is a conflict.
 Do not turn our back on your child because of his or her mistakes. Always create an
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avenue for talking to our child. We should do it when we think he or she is willingly to
listen. Don't force him or her to listen to us. Talk to him or her early in the morning
whenever he or she misbehaves. He or she will be more attentive in the morning and
be able to absorb whatever we told him/her. Care must also be used here not to make
him/her think we are disturbing his/her sleep. Give our child good reasons why he/she
should not continue to misbehave. One reason is it will make them irresponsible in the
society. Conflict may lead to fighting and then they may end up in jail or even get killed.
That bad attitude is not good. Do not be too judgmental on him or her. Allow your child
to present his/her viewpoint, why the conflict happened. Put the child's age and
developmental level into consideration when admonishing him or her.
 Handle anger properly whenever our child behaves badly. Don't be furious. He or she
may misinterpret your anger.
 Study children and understand their emotion. Try to establish a good relationship with
them. This will enable us to know when the child is feeling bad and when the child is
emotionally disturbed. Allow them some quality time to play and make them to be
responsible. Provide children the opportunity to talk and express their opinions. Pay
attention to what they are saying.
 Educate children to use non-violent conflict approach in conflict resolution. Parents
and community leaders should also champion non-violent conflict resolution approach.
Always promote non-violent conflict resolution at home rather than fighting.
 It is important to monitor what our child watches on television. Television viewing has
significant effect on the child’s behavior. Many media shows and movies contain
violence. It is not healthy for our children. They may emulate that easily as a way to
resolve conflict.
Note: Violence is an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Violence should not be used as a
way to resolve conflict. It is a known fact that using violence will not yield a good result.
Conflict cannot be avoided in our lives.
Parents should always adopt non-violent approach in resolving conflict at home. When
violence is used in resolving conflict, children are the most vulnerable. Children are the
tomorrow leaders and they should be educated on how to use non-violent techniques in
resolving conflicts.
CHILD ABUSE, CHILD NEGLECT AND CHILD LABOR
Child abuse occurs in three different forms. These include sexual abuse, physical abuse and
emotional abuse.
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Child sexual Abuse
This abuse occurs when children are forced or persuaded into sexual acts or situations by
others. These may involve penetrative sex including anal or oral sex. It can also be in form of
sexual suggestions, indecent assault, touch of a child’s sexual organs, showing children
pictures of naked persons, child prostitution, early marriage, forcing a child to touch an adult’s
sexual organs, defilement or rape of a child, exposing a child to sexual affairs.
Physical child Abuse

Child physical abuse occurs when children are hurt or injured by parents or other people.
Physical child abuse refers to all violent attacks made on a child. Physical abuse may take the
form of hitting hard, battering, corporal punishment, cutting a child violently, burning, starving,
female genital mutilation, and child labour.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse occurs when children are not given love, approval or acceptance. It occurs
when a child is constantly criticized, abused, blamed, shouted at and rejected by those he/she
looks up to for acceptance. Emotional abuse usually breaks down the confidence of a child
and leads to low self-esteem and sometimes self resentment.
Child Neglect
Child neglect means not caring for a child in a way that he/she deserves to be cared for. It is a
stubborn, willful and deliberate refusal to fulfill the needs of the child. The common forms of
child neglect include: isolating a child, abandonment, denial of food, clothing, warmth, care and
love.
Children in difficult circumstances
These are the category of children who find themselves in situations that is very challenging for
their age. It includes children who are orphans, children living in war situations, children
affected by natural disasters, children affected or infected with HIV/AIDS, street children.
These children suffer different challenges that include: Loss of parents, guidance, parental love
and care, Sexual abuse, Child labour, Dropping out of school, Child trafficking, Child sacrifice,
Malnutrition, Exposure to diseases, Lack or low self-esteem, Harsh and violent environment,
Living in absolute poverty, Limited education services, Limited health services, Death,
homelessness.
ENGAGING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Collaborative problem-solving will require that parents, educators, specialists, and

administrators work together to determine appropriate resources and supports as well as
specific information-sharing practices that facilitate parental engagement.
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Why Engage Parents?
An ongoing challenge for every educator is to develop and enhance skills that will offer
students the best possible learning experiences and opportunities, in school, at home, and in
community settings. It is therefore essential that every effort be made to ensure that ongoing
and effective communication and partnerships be established and maintained with parents.
Parents as Partners in Response to Intervention
Early childhood models of Response to Intervention (RTI), such as Recognition and Response
are designed to help educators (in collaboration with parents) to respond effectively to the
learning needs of all young children, ages 3-5, including those who are experiencing problems
with early learning and those who may be at-risk for learning disabilities. At first glance, it may
seem difficult to engage parents in the different components of the Recognition and Response
system. With minimal additional planning and a bit of flexibility, parents can be helpful in
supporting the implementation of any number of the core components of Recognition and
Response such as systematic observation, screening and recording data, monitoring progress,
and helping to implement effective teaching practices.
Key Findings about Parent-School Partnerships
There are two studies that offer insight into the benefits of parent-school partnerships:
Researchers have found that children whose parents participated in the Peers Early Education
Partnership (a program geared towards supporting families of children ages 0-5) "made
significantly greater progress in their learning than children whose parents did not participate."
These strides where found in children ages 3-5, and included progress in vocabulary,
language comprehension, understanding of books and print and number concepts. In addition,
these children also exhibited higher self-esteem in comparison to children of non-participating
parents (Evangelou & Sylva, 2003).
A study published in the Journal of Instructional Psychology reported that improving parental
involvement in the classroom can also improve schools in general (Machen, Wilson & Notar,
2005). The authors describe how everyone within the school community can benefit when
parents and teachers work as partners.
What Parents Want To Know
In order to effectively engage parents, it is important to know their specific questions and
concerns with regard to their child's learning and transition from home or day care to other
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educational settings. An article written by Pianta and Kraft-Sayre (1999) titled "Parents'
Observations about Their Children's Transitions to Kindergarten" offers a number of insights:
 While two-thirds of the parents viewed their child's transition into kindergarten as
generally smooth, nearly 35% of parents mentioned a disruption to family life" - marked
by having difficulty adjusting to a new schedule and not having a playmate available for
a younger sibling.
 53% of parent responses contained positive feedback regarding their child's ability to
adjust well, the benefits of prior experience to school setting, proactive transition
planning by the school, positive qualities in the teachers, communication with the
school, and the quality of the curriculum/program.
 Negative feedback shared by parents reflected the child's emotional/behavioral
difficulties during transition (e.g., "not handled well by the school,"), family adjustment
difficulties (e.g., sleep/work schedule), reluctance or refusal of child to attend school,
unrealistic expectations of the school (e.g., curriculum too advanced), and
communication difficulties between parents and school personnel (e.g., lost notes,
missing money, skipped meals, hygiene difficulties)
Understanding parents' concerns and being proactive in addressing them (or circumventing
potential problems) is a positive way to engage parents and establish productive home-school
relationships.
ENGAGING PARENTS
According to Webster's New World College Dictionary (4th ed.), to "engage" is "to draw into,
involve, to attract and to hold." Most parents want to be engaged in their child's learning, and
many are able to establish and maintain ongoing and productive communication with teachers
on a regular basis. Some families, however, must deal with challenging circumstances (e.g.
financial difficulties, separation/divorce, health issues, language/cultural difference) that
complicate their ability to reach out or respond to school personnel.
"To Draw Into and, To Attract..."
Relating to parents and drawing them in as partners can be challenging. And the challenges
do not always emanate from outside of the classroom!
Sharon Jacquline was a new teacher and was especially eager to make sure parents felt at
ease about leaving their child with her on the first day of school. In an effort to show that she
was "in charge" she tried to do everything herself. She greeted parents and children, helped
children feel welcome and quickly engaged them in an activity, stowed back-packs and extra
clothing in cubbies and wrote name tags, and answered parents' questions. Despite her best
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efforts, a number of children began crying, and sizeable group of parents (many visibly
concerned about getting to work on time) congregated at the classroom door.
While a certain amount of tension and anxiety is to be expected at times like this, careful
planning can go a long way to help everyone feel more at ease.
TIPS ON HOW TEACHERS CAN "DRAW AND ATTRACT" PARENT PARTICIPATION
Provide a short biography about yourself and your interests. Parents seldom have
opportunities during "drop-off" and "pick-up" time to get to know their child's teacher, and
conversations during these brief encounters often focus on the events of the day. Sharing
some particular details about your special talents and interests can lessen any "stranger"
anxiety and make parents feel more at ease.
Invite parents to complete a brief questionnaire. Not only can parents be an invaluable source
of information about their own children, but they can bring special interests and talents to share
with the entire school community. You may want to ask parents to fill out a questionnaire on
the first day of school or invite them to take it home and return it at a later date. Some
questions to ask might include:
 Would you be interested in being a "guest" in our classroom? Could you be a story
reader? Teach a song? Help with an art project?
 Is there a special topic that you would like to see incorporated into the curriculum? (e.g.,
adoption, new siblings, moving to a new home)
 Is there a special interest or talent you would like to share with the children? The staff?
 What is the best way to reach you during the day?
 What is your availability during the day?
SOME ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS FOR BUILDING PRODUCTIVE PARENT

PARTNERSHIPS ARE:
Don't do everything yourself! Assign specific tasks to teacher assistants/aides and

volunteers and make time to share information and impressions frequently, especially after
conversations with parents. Trying to do everything yourself can cause extreme exhaustion,
frustration, disappointment and even resentment. Some assistants/aides have a wealth of
experience (in the classroom and with parents) and asking them for advice may be a very wise
thing to do. Be sure to acknowledge everyone's unique contributions as members of a
"team"...parents, too!
Create a photo album of your class in action. Pictures of children involved in different
activities can be a wonderful way to engage parents when they visit the classroom/school.
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Check backpacks daily. Notes from parents, permission slips, money due, and supplies have
a way of finding their way to the bottom of the bag! Encourage and remind parents to do the
same.
Provide a "dialog notebook" or "daily diary" for each student. These notebooks, kept in
children's backpacks, are an excellent way to send messages to and from school and home
regarding a child's progress. For parents whose schedules do not allow for visits to the school
building, this offers them a way to stay involved, avoid feelings of guilt, and share regular and
timely feedback.
"To Involve, To Hold Onto"
The Recognition and Response system recognizes a number of different types of ‘readiness'
when it comes to transition to school. Just as schools need to be ready for children, and
children need to be ready for schools, parents also need to be ready to ‘hand off' their children
to educators who will begin to shape their early school careers.
TIPS ON HOW TEACHERS CAN MAINTAIN PARENTAL INTEREST AND INVOLVEMENT
Here are some ideas for supporting ongoing parental interest and involvement that many early
childhood educators have found to be successful:
Make the most of drop-off and pick-up activities. Even though these times can be
tumultuous, don't miss out on opportunities to engage interested parents. Greet with
enthusiasm and when possible, acknowledge their arrival in some special way. For example,
prompt the class by saying "look who's here - let's say hello to Sarah and Mr. Henry." This
serves several purposes: it makes Sarah feel welcomed, makes her dad feel more at ease
about Sarah's her being there, and teaches (and models) the importance of greeting and
acknowledging others.
Share a detail or two. When speaking with parents, be sure to add some specific information
about their child's progress. "She's doing fine" is not nearly as satisfying to a parent as "You
wouldn't believe how much fun she had creating clay animals the other day!"
Host a variety of special events. Try to plan activities such as informal breakfasts, picnics,
class trips and fairs featuring educational books and toys throughout the school year. Eliciting
ideas for these events from parents may encourage them to be more involved in developing
and planning. Be sure to consider whether parents have preferences about when during the
day or evening these activities should take place.
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Communicate frequently. Whether in person (parent-teacher conferences,), through printed
materials (flyers, newsletters, school bulletin boards) or online (school Web sites, group or
individual e-mails), try to make frequent contact with parents. And be sure to ask parents
whether the information being shared is useful and how it can be improved, both in terms of
content (e.g. about school activities, upcoming events) and format.
High expectations count. Help make parents aware of the school's high standards for
achievement, learning goals, curriculum and strategies for helping every child succeed. Don't
be reluctant to invite parents to become involved in decision-making and planning ways to help
the school community meet these goals.
Celebrate achievements though work sampling. Create portfolios, scrap books, and/or
other collections of children's experiences in the classroom for parents to look at whenever
they visit the classroom.
Encourage peer networking among parents. A good way to start building parent networks is
by creating a parent contact list .Be sure to include teachers, aides and other relevant school
personnel. Eliciting help from a few parent volunteers may be especially helpful as this will
encourage them to take ownership of this activity.
Identify and make useful resources available to parents. Some parents will need
reassurance and guidance about behavior management. Some will have concerns about
motor skills or language development. A few will have questions about signs of risk for learning
disabilities, and others will want guidance about how to cultivate special skills and talents in
their children. Try to be prepared to lead parents to these and other types of resources, either
through a lending library in the school, through local agencies or via helpful resources on the
Web.
Invite parents into the classroom. Extend frequent invitations for parents to visit their child's
school and spend time in the classroom. Whether parents are invited to be silent observers or
to help with activities, these visits can be most helpful and enjoyable. (And think about how
special a parent will feel receiving a note from the class thanking them for their visit!)
Hard Conversations
There are going to be times when early childhood professionals and parents will engage in
stressful conversations. Sometimes these conversations are triggered by issues that are
programmatic such as scheduling extra time for a child to learn and practice skills, reminding
parents to return forms, sending in extra clothes, or being on time for pick up at the end of the
day. The most stressful conversations, however, are often those that have to do with a child's
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progress and how to respond when a child shows signs of frustration or when they evidence
unexpected delays in learning.
"Doing Battle" So That Everyone Wins
Most of the time parents and educators are reluctant to say or do things that create conflict,
and when it comes to the best interest of our children (parents and teachers alike), we often
see all parties ready to engage in a "good fight." Some parents feel that school personnel
expect too much (or not enough) from their young child; some believe that educators are
misguided in their understanding of how best to teach and encourage learning. Some
teachers, on the other hand, wonder why parents are so protective of their child even when
concerns are raised about their progress. However well-intentioned, sharing concerns about a
child's status can be a tension-filled turning point in the parent-teacher relationship and well
worth careful planning and introspection on everyone's part.
In a brief conversation at the end of the school day, Ms. Ruth was told by her son's teacher
that his behavior at school was beginning to interfere with daily routines and that she might
want to address this concern at home. Upset by this casual mention of her son's poor
behavior, she replayed this brief encounter in her mind and became increasingly angry at the
insinuation that behavior was also a problem at home and that she was being negligent about
setting limits or parenting with proper discipline. This potentially explosive situation was quickly
diffused that evening with a phone call from Sam's teacher who explained how her concerns
were about his enthusiasm to share information about his new pet iguana, and offered some
suggestions about sharing photos or drawings, and even having a "show and tell" experience
with the class.
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN SHARING CONCERNS ABOUT A CHILD'S PROGRESS

WITH PARENTS:
Be a good listener. There is much about a child's home situation and prior educational
experience that can help you make good decisions. As important is the way that you listen to
what parents have to say. They often provide much more information than was asked of them,
and offer cues about whether they need more information about a particular issue and whether
they are prepared to hear what you need to say.
Say it again. For some parents, conversations with school personnel can be stressful,
regardless of whether the discussion is about "good news" or concerns about learning. Try to
deliver your message in more than one way, offering examples whenever possible. And ask
the listener to confirm what they have heard and what they understand the implications of your
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message might be. Having parents re-tell the major points in their own words can be a very
helpful strategy to engage parents as partners and to avoid misunderstandings.
Communicate strengths first. When communicating with parents about their child's
academic and/or emotional needs, it is often helpful to frame the conversation about strengths
and talents before dealing with areas of concern.. This will set a positive tone and help even
defensive parents feel as though you appreciate the "good" in their child. In more cases than
not, parents and teachers share the same impressions about strengths and weakness. The
challenge is often how to initiate a conversation without pointing fingers at anyone about being
overly sensitive or unnecessarily concerned.
Describe behaviors… do not diagnose, label or guess. Early childhood educators spend a
lot of time with learners in different settings (playtime, circle-time, meals, etc.) and have
opportunities to observe behaviors that may not be apparent at home. When concerns arise
about a child's learning or behavior, the last thing you want to do is give the impression that
you're jumping to conclusions! Be sure not to think "diagnosis" or "label" but rather do
everything you can to gather detailed information that could be helpful to parents and
specialists who at some point might be called in to conduct screenings or targeted evaluations
Monitoring children's progress is an essential and valuable component of the Recognition and
Response system and there are many ways to incorporate this type of data collection (and
sharing) into daily routines. Try to look for patterns in these anecdotal records as they can
provide clues to what might be interfering with learning.
For example, Joshua loves to play with cars and often chooses this as a free-time activity. He
enjoys sharing his toys with peers, but as just before lunch, he seems to get moody,
sometimes preferring to play alone. At these times, when approached by other children, he
tends to ignore them and on several occasions has used foul language and even pushed them
away. This behavior can persist until lunchtime, but is rarely seen during rest time and in
afternoon play.
Allow time for parents to process hear, feel, think and respond. Dr. Louis M. Rossetti, in
his book titled Communication Intervention: Birth to Three, has referred to the delivery of
difficult news to parents about their child as "a loaded gun fired at the heart." Without being
dramatic, it is not unusual for communications with parents regarding struggles with learning
and behavior to stir up feelings of guilt, fear, confusion, resentment, anger and helplessness.
Be sure to provide opportunities for parents to process and understand your concerns. Some
helpful tips include:
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 Try not to be defensive if parents lash out upon hearing "bad news." Try not to take their
reactions personally. Remember that there may be other circumstances at work or at
home that affect their reaction.
 Organize your thoughts before sharing them with parents. It may be a good idea to
confer or even role play with a colleague before initiating a conference with a parent.
 Be clear about your availability to help. Suggests times for follow up and offer to include
others in the discussion as needed.
 Elicit ideas from parents about ways to provide support for their child. If possible, share
a tentative plan of action and integrate parents' suggestions as appropriate. Remember
that a key feature of the Recognition and Response system is not necessarily trying to
change a students' behavior, but rather making modifications to the program, tailoring
instructional strategies, and providing appropriate supports to meet the needs of all
children, including those who struggle with learning.
 Review information with parents and help them to appreciate their role as partners in
gathering and sharing information, supporting skill development, monitoring progress,
and ongoing decision-making.
Share informational resources. Make parents aware of helpful resource such as books,
videos, DVDs, pamphlets and Web sites. Directing parents to information about "sensitive"
issues can help them to increase awareness of important topics and even develop some level
of acceptance, making it easier for them to partner with you and take positive action.
Ask for feedback. It's OK for educators to ask parents for feedback about their classroom
program. Be prepared to hear good news and bad. And remember that child development is a
moving target. Saying "I'm sorry" or having to having to make mid-course corrections in
instructional style and content is part of the early childhood educational business. Your efforts
and willingness to be a flexible, well-informed and enthusiastic partner will make your
relationships with parents a success.
SOME HELPFUL RESOURCES TO ENGAGE PARENTS
The Child Care Partnership Project offers a number of valuable resources:
A Guide to Engaging Parents in Public-Private Child Care Partnerships offers a Parent

Involvement Checklist that can help schools develop and sustain partnerships among
teachers, parents and administrators It focuses attention on such important issues as:
 Conducting outreach activities and regularly inviting parents to participate in school

activities;
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 Making efforts to engage fathers, mothers and intergenerational care providers (uncles,
aunts, grandparents);
 The skills and training needs of adults to effectively assume partnership roles;
 Establishing ways for groups of parents and individual families to offer feedback on why
and how well partnership activities are meting their needs.
A Parent Talent Self-Assessment Tool
This informal quiz can help parents identify the skills/knowledge they can contribute to a
partnership with the school community. It asks parents to rate their skills, interests and abilities
to:
 Lead (motivate, inspire, persuade, initiate, execute, persist);

 Instruct (tell stories, engage in learning activities);
 Organize (plan, think logically, clarify, envision, design);
 Express ideas through art or music.
ROLES OF DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS IN PRE-SCHOOLS

There are a number of people to be involved in the running of the ECD centres. They include:
a) Board of Directors/Proprietors
b) Head teacher
c) Teachers
d) Parents
e) Children
Board of Directors/Proprietors
The board of Directors are responsible for the following in ECD Centres;
 Acquiring land for the nursery school

 Registering and licensing the school
 Recruiting both the teaching and support staff
 Providing physical facilities such as classroom, furniture as well as pay equipment and
materials
 Organising meeting too discuss developmental plans for the school
 Organising collection and budgeting of funds.
The board of directors should comprise of:
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i) Parents
ii) LC1 representative
iii) Owner/Proprietor of the nursery school
iv) Caregiver/Teacher representative
Note: The number of Board of Proprietors should not be below five members. The committee
should also have terms of reference. Female representation is a must and tenure of office
(Ministry of Education and Sports, 2010 p.31).
Roles of the head teacher
The head teacher is responsible for the following in ECD centres:
 Admission of children in the school.

 Drawing up a working programme for the teaching and support. staff
 Maintaining the required standards of the school such clean and well maintained toilets,
compound kept short clean and safe and well maintained classrooms and play
equipment.
 Provision of meals to children
 Dealing with parents on problems concerning their children and the school
 Keeping proper records on teachers, children and the entire activities in the school.
 Supervising teachers in terms of punctuality, preparation of schemes and lesson plans,
teaching as well as providing professional support and advice.
 Interpreting policy matters regarding children to teachers, parents and the entire
community.
 Planning for the development of the school and implementation of decisions taken by
parents and the Board of Directors.
 Providing a link between the teaching staff, and the school to the ministry of Education,
District Education Office and other children’s agencies.
 Allocation of duties to the teaching and support staff.
 Holding meetings with parents and teachers to identify challenges and their possible
solutions in order to enhance quality child care and education NACECE, 1995, p.43).
Roles of a Nursery School Teacher

As a nursery school teacher you need to bear in mind these responsibilities and put them into
practice if entrusted to you by your head teacher and the board of directors. The
responsibilities include:
 To create a conducive learning environment for children in terms; of good seating

arrangement, display of attractive and well written materials, provision of
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sufficient space to allow free movement of children, and a clean and tidy
environment.
 To prepare and avail appropriate age- related learning and play materials for
children as well as activities.
 To ensure safety for all children while they are engaged in various activities
 To observe, monitor record and assess children’s development and learning as
well as writing assessment reports on individual children.
 To identify children with special needs and provide appropriate interventions.
 To be resourceful, creative and a role model in the development of children’s
character and personality.
 To maintain a good record keeping in the classroom
Note:
Nursery school teachers need to be devoted, innovative, hardworking, knowledgeable in

handling children, motherly and friendly to children and life-long learners in order to effectively
carry out their duties.
Roles of Parents in the Administration of Pre-schools

Parents are very important people who need to be fully involved administration of nursery
schools as well as their children’s education.
In regard to their roles, parents are responsible for:
 Paying school fees for their children as well as providing scholastic materials.
 Taking and collecting their children form school
 Providing information about children such as chronical diseases, personality and
developmental stages.
 Reinforcing good habits learnt at school such as toilet training, eating habits and
religious values.
 Complementing what is being taught at school such as reading story books to children,
encouraging children to their homework and providing time for children to be listened to
(NCECE, 1995, p.40-46)
Parents also need to be involved in the administration of the nursery schools in order to do
what is required of them.
Roles of Children
Though children are the beneficiaries of a well administered nursery school, they also have a
role to play in their school. Such roles include:
 To properly dispose the waste in the dustbins both in the classroom and the compound.
 To clean their classrooms and the entire compound.
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 To carry messages to their parents as a link between the school and the home. The
messages can either verbal or written.
 To attend classes and participate both classroom and school activities.
 Collect materials from home that could be used as instructional materials such as used
calendars, boxes, and things for the shop.
As nursery school children carry out their roles, they develop a sense of responsibility and
belonging and thus making a contribution to the administration of their school.
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UNIT TWO
MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION IN ECD

Introduction
The area focuses on providing practical mathematics experiences that will lay the foundation
for a child to start understanding abstract mathematics concepts in later life. It explores a
variety of key concepts that every child must be exposed to in order to lay a firm foundation for
mathematics. The nine concepts explained in this area are all useful. A child should not only
be exposed to numbers as is the case in some places, but need measures, sets, fractions,
money, time, space, statistics, geometry and algebra in their simple form as you will find them
in this learning area. Before you can start learning how to help children develop these basic
mathematic concepts, you should first remind yourself of what mathematics is, what is means
to young children, its use in our daily life and challenges teachers face as they teach young
children mathematics (pre- mathematics). Then also the developmental stages in
mathematics as Jean Piaget describes in his constructivism theory.
Pre-mathematics is a term used to refer to mathematics skills learnt by pre-schoolers and

kindergarten learners including learning proper sequencing of numbers, learning to determine
which shapes are bigger or smaller, and learning to count objects on a screen or book page.
Pre- mathematics skills are also tied into literacy skills to learn the correct pronunciations of
numbers.
Pre- mathematics means early mathematics experiences given to children as a pre-requisite to

prepare them for learning mathematics concepts.
Meaning of Mathematics
Mathematics is one of the most useful and fascinating divisions of human knowledge. It
includes many topics of study which makes its definition to vary from place to place.
Mathematics can be described in the following ways:
 It is a science dealing with measurements, properties and relationships of
quantities as expressed in symbols/numbers.
 Mathematics is a science that has evolved from counting, measuring, and
describing the shapes of objects. It deals with logical reasoning and quantitative
calculation.
 It is one of the day-to-day real life experiences that enable children to solve
their problems, their needs and live in harmony with others.
Pre- mathematics activities

 Sorting and identifying groups according to kind, colour, shape, size, weight and length.
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 Matching and comparing groups
 Sequence pattern formation. Single sequence, double sequence and sequence using
tips.
 Playing with shape wheel, number tray, jig saw, number dominoes, etc
Significance of pre-mathematics to children
 Children’s confidence, competence and interest in pre- mathematics flourishes when
new experiences are meaningful and connected with their prior knowledge.
 It helps children to make sense of the physical and social world around them.
 It ensures a sound mathematical foundation for all members of society.
 It sets the foundation of learning more advanced mathematics
 It also provides the children with the comfort to learn mathematics
 It helps children to develop logical reasoning as well as demonstrating independent or
divergent thinking.
Importance of mathematics in our day to day experiences

Mathematics is a combination of many things which children come across through
manipulation of different objects. If children are supported appropriately to practice different
mathematics activities, they will develop so many skills and abilities that are not limited to the
following:
 Solve daily problems. Children learn how to solve mathematical problems.
 Manipulative skills. It promotes the development of children’s fine motor muscles as
children play, model, sort, match and trace.
 Estimation and accuracy. Children develop appropriate skills of their daily experiences
such as knowing the amount of food to put on a plate, how to conserve, critical
observation and analysis.
 Transaction of different businesses
 Understand and use spatial relationship
 Writing, calculate, plan and measure different things and materials
 Be imagination, creative and concentrate so as to comprehend and give verbal
meaning
 Counting. Children develop the concept quantity of objects; more, less, same
amount.
 Matching and comparison. It helps children to see the similarities and differences
between objects.
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 Language development. As children interact they develop language through
discussion exchange of materials and ideas.
 Helps to develop computation skills which include addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division.
 It helps children to develop a wider perspective of the mathematical world.
Pre- mathematical experiences that children come with form home when they join
school
 Counting things at home such as plates, number of people, animals (hens, cows, goats,
cats and dogs), how many chairs, spoons and cups at home.
 Telling shapes of different things like eggs as oval, orange as round.
 Having the concept of classification by sorting: for example, beans of different colours (
red, white, black beans; dresses, shirts, cups, plates)
 Being able to tell time, using time schedules for eating like breakfast is in the morning,
lunch is in the afternoon and dinner in the evening.
 Understand the concept of money. They can identify different denominations by sign,
shape.
 Sorting and identifying groups of items according to size, colour, shape and weight.
 Classification of objects according to colour and texture.
 Use of number rhymes for example,
One, two buckle my shoe.
Three, four shut the door,
Five, six lay them straight.
 Using number songs. For example;
Teacher I know how to count 1 to 10 x2
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.
 Fitting jigsaws
 Describing groups of things like less or more
 Matching numbers which are the same
 Counting numbers in their order. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ………
Importance of mathematics in ECD

In ECD, it is important for us to expose children to all the basic mathematics concepts and not
just numbers so that we can serve the following purposes:
 Mathematics provides early childhood learners with a vital foundation for the future
understanding of mathematics.
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 Build on the specific experience of the children in the classroom. This includes using
words and materials that are familiar to the children in terms of previous knowledge,
community, and cultural significance.
 Continued and sustained interactions with mathematics concepts over the course of the
school year helps the child to develop more complex mathematical abilities from known
to unknown, simple to complex among others.
 It makes mathematics learning a fun, an interactive process that crosses other areas of
learning such as literacy, art, music, and physical education. Additionally, mathematics
can be included in regular play activities such as block building.
 Develop the use of new mathematics based vocabulary. A child is able to understand
and recall a word such as geometric when referring to a shape.
 Mathematics is a functional and service skill for job creation leading to self
sustainability.
Challenges in teaching young children mathematics

a) Personality of the Teachers
 Weak academic background and content knowledge for teaching
 Teachers’ poor attitudes towards mathematics
 Inappropriate teaching methods and practices (mainly teacher centred, rote
and chalk and talk), teaching geared towards passing examinations).
 Examination pressure and competition among pre-school stakeholders. This
makes teachers not to teach mathematics concepts comprehensively but drill them to
pass examinations.
 Few qualified teachers who have the knowledge on what to teach children
 Low morale from teachers due to low pay leading them not to concentrate or
plan adequately.
 Pre-school teachers in lower classes are under looked yet it is the foundation
level on which other mathematics concepts are built.
b) Characteristics of Children in our classes

 Individual differences as a person, home and socio-economic background
 Inability to read and write
 Absenteeism and dropouts
 Children go to school when they are hungry.
c) Nature of Class Space

 Large class enrolment making them overcrowded in small spaces
 High pupil to teacher ratio
 Inadequate teaching and learning materials, and resources (textbooks)
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 Much workload for teachers
d) Government Policies on Education

 Relaxed policy in the implementation of continuous assessment.
 Lack of a binding document on caregivers’ terms and conditions of their jobs
including salary so as to protect pre-school teachers
BASIC MATHEMATICS CONCEPTS

This includes the following; Set, number, ordering, seriation, algebra, space, fractions, and
graphs.
a) Sets
A set is a gathering or collection of objects into a whole or on group. The small pieces that
make up a set is called elements of a set. The elements or members of a set can be anything:
numbers, people, letters of the alphabet, or other sets.
In a set, things are grouped together based on common properties or how they appear. This
enables children to put things into particular groups according to the features they have.
Example:
A set of cups, a set of leaves, a set of plates, a set of girls, a set of boys, a set of animals, or a
set of bottles.
Application
 Avail a variety of objects in large quantities to the children.
 Let them sort and group similar objects according to the features they have. In
the process, children make sets.
 Encourage children to talk about the sets they have made.
 They can also match similar sets for example a set of cups to another set of
cups. Other activities may include finding the odd man out from a set or matching.
Materials
 A collection of a variety of familiar objects from the local environment.
 Tins, bottles, leaves, bottles tops, cups paper bags, shoes, tyres, books, papers,
pencils, colours, crayons.
Assessment
Assessment is an ongoing process of finding out how children are progressing in the
achievement of the desired competences. This goes on in the teaching/learning process and
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outside class. This can be done through direct observation while children are at tasks, asking
questions, talking to individual children, using check lists on competence achievement,
individual and group work.
It is important that you base your assessment on daily observations you make. This
necessitates you to keep records on daily basis in which you note individual children’s
progress.
Note:
Young children need to experience practical mathematics activities repeatedly before
they are able to understand abstract mathematical concepts. Therefore, you need to
diagnose the performance of each individual child to enable you identify those who
have not achieved expected competences so that you provide more support to them.
Encourage children to work with peers to enable them learn from each other. Let
children also use their daily experiences on set concepts for example at snack time,
lunch time and during free activity to enable them conceptualize.
b) Number
Number is a sign or word that represents amount/quantities of units/sum of group of things.

After sorting and matching of objects in groups, the children will be ready for number work.
Experiences in number are very important, as they serve as the foundation on which the
children will build their understanding of more complex mathematical concepts as they get
older.
It is important that you introduce quantities in a variety of situations with different objects as
you relate to the symbols. Understanding of quantities goes hand in hand with counting similar
objects in sequence. The children should do the counting by giving number names to each
object in sequence. Later, they can use these numbers to solve every day problems in their
daily life experiences for example:
 Number is used for showing positions of something in series like table number 1, car
number 2.
 Quantities of things/people like two bottles, few people.
 For separation of things/identification like telephone
 Other concepts children learn can be odd and even numbers, sum, division,
multiplication, addition, subtraction, some, all, few, fractions, or counting.
c) Ordering and seriation
Ordering involves children arranging objects from the smallest to the biggest, shortest to
tallest, lightest to heaviest. On the other hand seriation means putting things into a sequence
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or arrangement of things one after another in pattern. They can be arranged according to their
size, weight, length, smoothness, and so on. It is through fitting objects using trial and error
that make children begin to compare the characteristics of the objects.
A teacher therefore, needs to provide various activities to enable children develop the concept
of ordering and seriation.
Application:
The following order will enable children to develop the concept of ordering and seriation:
 Avail varieties of materials of different colours, sizes, length, width, texture and so on to
enable children develop the concept of seriation and ordering.
 Compare the attributes of things e.g. longer/shorter
Arranging things one after the other in a series of pattern and describe their relationships.
 Let the children arrange tins of different sizes, length, and width following a sequence.
 For the case of blocks let children order them according to their sizes.
 Let children order sticks or strings of different lengths from the shortest to the tallest.
 A few children can also stand in a row according to their height.
 Children can model things and then arrange them from the biggest to the smallest model.
Children can do many similar activities using different materials.
 Children can arrange objects in sequence to make patterns and designs. For example,
they could use white bead followed by red beads, or white followed by two red beads and
so on.
 Children can also sequence objects or pictures in corresponding rows by number values.
 Children should also learn and recite number poems and riddles
 Children can complete puzzles on numbers.
 They can also sing number songs
 Children can also play buying and selling at the shop or market area.
 They can also play number of outdoor games like jumping skipping, hope- step and jump,
while counting
 Children can play number value games like lotto and number dominoes.
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Materials
Blocks of wood, sticks, leaves, plastic bottles, pencils, maize cobs, shells, seeds, cut-out
numbers, tins, pictures plastic tins, clay, bottle tops, wall charts with numbers, scissors,
crayons, coloured pencils, number cards, glue.
Assessment
This concept can be confusing for children if they are not guided well. The caregiver is
therefore advised to use as many activities and materials as possible in order to ensure that all
children develop this concept.
Some of the strategies for assessment include:
 The caregiver may hold two objects of different sizes and ask children which is bigger than
the other or vise versa.
 The caregiver may also ask a child to arrange children of different heights from the shortest
to the tallest.
 The caregiver may provide materials or objects of different sizes and ask children to order
them in groups from the biggest to the smallest or vise versa and see which group finishes
first.
d) Time
Time is one of the abstract concepts measured in seconds, minutes, hours, week, months and
years. To the children, time is interpreted in terms of activities for example bed time, break
time, day time, and night. Therefore, they will always use those activities or events when telling
time for example the sun is rising so it is time to go to school or it time for going to work.
They also relate time intervals to familiar events, places and feelings for example in the
morning when I wake up, I greet people at home, I brush my teeth, I wash my face, take
breakfast…. Going to school to morning circle, bell means snack time, lunch time is when you
are at the lunch table, when it is getting dark means it is time for people to come back home or
it is time to eat super, or time to sleep…
As you interact with children and pass on to them the idea of time, the actual concepts that you
will be working with include concepts of: Speed that is fast, slow; part of the day that is
morning, afternoon, evening, day and night; days of the week; months of the year; relations to
time for example: about, towards, past, present, future, age, events, seasons, and telling the
time.
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Note:
Note: since the concept of time is difficult for children to understand, the caregiver
should provide simple and concrete activities to enable children develop the concept of
time. The caregiver needs to be patient when helping children to acquire the concept of
time since they usually tend to forget.
Application
 Let children discuss what they do as soon as they come to school and what
follows.
 Encourage children keep to regular routine to help them develop the concept of
time.
 Let them talk about what they do at home before and after school, at day or
night time.
 They can also tell news of what happened when there was no school
 Children can also talk about what happened yesterday, today, long ago, what
will happen tomorrow and so on based on a given event. It is good for them to start using
these words to help them understand the concepts.
 Children can learn and recite poems with ideas about time for example
“I wake up in the morning, I wash my face, I dress myself, I take my tea, then I come to
school”
Other activities may include
 Starting and stopping an action on signal
You can help children by using signs (symbols) or songs to show the start (or end) of an
activity. It can be a bell, drum or whistle. Encourage children to observe the call for
prayer, break, going to class or change of activity.
 Experiencing and describing rates of movement.

Provide a variety of materials for children to pour, roll, spine or swing in order to observe
how long they take to settle. Encourage children to observe and describe the movement
of different things seen.
 Experiencing and comparing time intervals
Relate length of time to familiar events for example I go to bed after super, after Friday
no school…
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 Anticipating, remembering and describing sequences of events
Follow a consistent daily routine and ask children what comes next at the end of each
activity. Encourage children talk about steps used in performing an activity.
Materials
A routine chart, calendar, bell, weather chart, drum, tyres, balls, seeds, video, pictures, story
books.
e) Money
Money is a legal tender that we use to do business. Children only need to know that we use
money for buying and selling. This knowledge can be developed through use of different
activities that promote the idea of what items are bought and sold, their cost and how to count
money. They will also start gaining knowledge on different money and their amounts for
example coins and paper money of 50s, 100s, 500s, 1000 or 2000.
Application
 Create a shop area within the environment.

 Have in place improvised coins and paper money.
 Let the children play at the shop buying and selling using the improvised money or
real money.
 Children can also learn and recite poems or sing songs related to buying and
selling.
Materials
Real paper money or coins and improvised money and coins
Assessment
Observe children during the shopping game, how they are buying and selling, the language
used for example how much, may I get some sugar please? May I get my change? Here it is,
thank you.
f) Measurement
Measurement is a concept that is developed through using activities and materials. Caregivers
should realize that children will only start forming measurement concepts through activities
given. The activities and materials help children to compare and estimate various capacities
and quantities. Children will also make and use simple measuring instruments to measure
lengths, area, volume, capacity, weight, time, space, money and speed.
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Measurement of length, width and height
The important concepts that children start developing in this case are that objects are of
different lengths, width and height. The caregiver should therefore provide simple materials
and activities to enable them start developing the vocabulary which include longer that, wider
that, higher than and so on. These concepts can be developed through some of the following
activities:
 Comparing their own heights or using sticks to see how far they go along a wall.
 Observing the heights of buildings, trees, animals, cars, and tell which ones are higher,
longer and wider than the others.
 Comparing their fingers to see which ones are longer than the others.
 Comparing the foot prints to see who has a long foot.
 Learning and reciting poems and singing songs involving use of concepts of length and
height.
Area
This needs to be done using concrete objects and it can be developed through the following
activities:
 Provide cut-out square shapes of the same size to children.

 Let children put this square on a book or table, slates, mats to enable them see how
many of them cover that surface.
 Children can fit puzzles cut-out of different shapes like: squares, circles, triangles, animal
shapes and pictures.
Weight
Weight is a concept that will help children to develop the vocabulary of heavier than or light.
They will also learn to discriminate items by weight. This can be developed through the
following activities:
 Children can play blind folding games of lifting objects and saying which of the two or
three objects is heavier?
 Ask children to order by weight three or four containers of the same size.
 Let children play the floating and sinking game at the water corner and discuss why some
things float while others sink.
 Let children make light and heavy things by putting different amounts of the same
substance or equal amounts of different weights, unequal amounts of the same
substance.
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 Let children play with the balance at the water or sand area so as to compare which is
heavy and light
 They can recite poems and songs related to the idea of weight.
Volume and capacity
Volume and capacity refer to how much something or a container can carry. The caregiver
should help children to start developing the concept of how many times a smaller tin be used
to fill the big tin. This can be done in the sand pit or water area. The children can also compete
to see which individual can fill a large container faster than others.
Space
It is important for the caregiver to introduce the vocabulary of top/bottom, inside/outside,

far/near, between while dealing with space. For children to start understanding the concept of
space there is need for the caregiver to provide variety of activities through which they will
develop the vocabulary. In the process, children will also realize that solid objects occupy
space as they do these activities.
Materials
Boxes, omo packets, milk packets, tins, bottles, balls, sticks, water, sand, balances, bottles of
different sizes, imitation money, scissors, seeds, pieces of wood, feathers, basin, crayons,
shapes of triangles, squares, strings.
AIM OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

1. Mathematic proficiency
Mathematical proficiency is a key aim in policy documents on mathematics in many
countries, Mathematical proficiency comprises of five interwoven strands:
 Conceptual understanding – comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations,
and relations Individuals who have a conceptual understanding of mathematics
know more than isolated facts.
They have an integrated grasp of mathematical ideas and know why and in what
context the ideas are applicable. They make connections between ideas, thus
allowing them to retain facts and procedures.
 Procedural fluency – skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently,
and appropriately Individuals who are procedurally fluent in the domain of number
are able to analyse similarities and differences between methods of calculating.
These methods include written procedures, mental methods and methods that use
concrete materials and technological tools.
 Strategic competence – ability to formulate, represent, and solve mathematical
problems. Individuals who are strategically competent have the capacity to form
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mental representations of both routine and non-routine problems, and detect
mathematical relationships, and are flexible in their problem-solving approaches.
Strategic competence depends upon and nurtures both conceptual understanding
and procedural fluency.
 Adaptive reasoning – capacity for logical thought, reflection, explanation, and
justification. A hallmark of adaptive reasoning is the justification of one’s work. This
justification can be both formal and informal. Individuals clarify their reasoning by
talking about concepts and procedures and giving good reasons for the strategies
that they are employing. Such justification is supported by collaboration with others
and by the use of physical and mental representations of problems.
 Productive disposition – habitual inclination to see mathematics as sensible, useful,
worthwhile, coupled with a belief in diligence and one’s own efficacy. Individuals who
have a productive disposition believe that mathematics is useful and relevant. They
do not regard mathematics as being for the ‘elite few’ but rather as a subject in
which all can enjoy success if they make appropriate effort.
Source: Helping Children to Learn Mathematics. National Research Council (NRC)
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(2001, p. 5). Mathematics Learning Study Committee, Center for Education, Division of
Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press.
.
As we understand it, individuals become mathematically proficient over their years in
educational settings. Each of the strands becomes progressively more developed as
children’s mathematical experiences become increasingly sophisticated.
As described above, mathematical proficiency is developed through engagement with
processes such as
 communicating,
 reasoning,
 argumentation,
 justification,
 generalisation,
 representing,
 problem-solving,
 connecting and communicating.
2. Mathematization
The Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) movement is illustrative of how a particular
perspective on mathematics suggests a particular way of conceptualizing mathematics
education. Freud (1973) thought of mathematics not as a body of knowledge that had to be
transmitted but as a form of human activity. For him, the learning of mathematics meant
involving children in ‘mathematization with appropriate guidance, they would have the
opportunity to reinvent mathematics.
Central to his learning theory was the notion of level-raising where what might be known
informally at one level becomes the object of scrutiny at the next level. Treffers (1987) expands
on level-raising by formulating the ideas of ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’ mathematization.
In horizontal mathematization, the learner develops mathematical tools or symbols that can
help to solve problems situated in real-life contexts.
In vertical mathematization, the learner makes connections between mathematical concepts

and strategies, that is, she or he moves within the world of mathematical symbols.
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Ginsburg (2009a) argues that early childhood mathematics education should focus on
mathematization. In his view, the educator’s role is to support children in their efforts to
mathematize. This involves helping them to interpret their experiences in explicitly
mathematical form and understand the relations between the two. Often this support is offered
in the course of everyday activities. The process of mathematization is also emphasized by
others as a key aspect of early mathematics education.
It follows then that mathematization fosters mathematical proficiency and so should be a key
focus of early mathematics education.
THEORIES TO DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS CONCEPTS

Learning in early childhood, as at any age or stage of life, is generally considered to be a
complex process not easily explained by a single theory or perspective.
Within the field of early childhood education, there are number of theories of which each
handles a part in a child’s learning and development. For example, social constructivist
perspectives (behavioral theory) take account of the central role of social interaction in shaping
learning.
Socio-cultural theories of learning, in addition to the social aspect, also consider culture and
cultural influences as centrally important to learning.
Cognitive perspectives arising from, for example, constructivist theories are also useful
because they emphasize the active, constructivist nature of human learning and development
and the idea that we each construct our own learning.
But there are three main theoretical perspectives on learning that have had a significant impact
on mathematics education over the past hundred years. These included behavioral, cognitive
and Socio-cultural theories. Behaviorist theories (which emphasize behavior modification via
stimulus response and selective reinforcement), while still influential in certain teaching
practices, are no longer influential in mainstream mathematics research.
With key interest we shall look at cognitive perspectives especially the constructivism of Jean
Piaget stages of cognitive development.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to Mathematics Concepts’ Acquisition

Jean Piaget’s work on children’s cognitive development, specifically with quantitative concepts,
has garnered much attention within the field of education. Piaget explored children’s cognitive
development to study his primary interest in genetic epistemology. Upon completion of his
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doctorate, he became intrigued with the processes by which children achieved their answers;
he used conversation as a means to probe children’s thinking based on experimental
procedures used in psychiatric questioning.
One contribution of Piagetian theory concerns the developmental stages of children’s

cognition. His work on children’s quantitative development has provided mathematics
educators with crucial insights into how children learn mathematical concepts and ideas.
His theory describes stages of cognitive development with an emphasis on their importance to
mathematical development and provides suggestions for planning mathematics instruction.
Each stage will be described and characterized, highlighting the stage appropriate
mathematics techniques that help lay a solid foundation for future mathematics learning.
Underlying Assumptions
The following were the assumptions that Piaget believed in:
 That the development of a child occurs through a continuous transformation of thought
processes.
 A developmental stage consists of a period of months or years when certain
development takes place. Although students are usually grouped by chronological age,
their development levels may differ significantly ,
 The rate at which individual children pass through each stage. This difference may
depend on maturity, experience, culture, and the ability of the child.
 That a child develops steadily and gradually throughout the varying stages and that the
experiences in one stage form the foundations for movement to the next.
 All people pass through each stage before starting the next one; no one skips any
stage. This implies older children, and even adults, who have not passed through later
stages process information in ways that are characteristic of young children at the same
developmental stage.
PIAGET’S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Piaget identified four primary stages of development: sensory motor, preoperational, concrete
operational, and formal operational.
1. Sensory motor Stage

In the sensory motor stage, an infant’s mental and cognitive attributes develop from
birth until the appearance of language. This stage is characterized by the progressive
acquisition of object permanence in which the child becomes able to find objects after
they have been displaced, even if the objects have been taken out of his field of vision.
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For example, Piaget’s experiments at this stage include hiding an object under a pillow
to see if the baby finds the object.
An additional characteristic of children at this stage is their ability to link numbers to

objects e.g., one dog, two cats, three pigs, four hippos.
To develop the mathematical capability of a child in this stage, the child’s ability might
be enhanced if he is allowed ample opportunity to act on the environment in unrestricted
(but safe) ways in order to start building concepts (Martin, 2000).
Evidence suggests that children at the sensory motor stage have some understanding
of the concepts of numbers and counting (Fuson, 1988).
Therefore, Educators of children in this stage of development should lay a solid

mathematical foundation by providing activities that incorporate counting and thus
enhance children’s conceptual development of number. For example, teachers and
parents can help children count their fingers, toys, and candies. Questions such as
“Who has more?” or “Are there enough?” could be a part of the daily lives of children as
young as two or three years of age.
Another activity that could enhance the mathematical development of children at this
stage connects mathematics and literature. There is a plethora of children’s books that
embed mathematical content. A recommendation would be that these books include
pictorial illustrations. Because children at this stage can link numbers to objects,
learners can benefit from seeing pictures of objects and their respective numbers
simultaneously.
Along with the mathematical benefits, children’s books can contribute to the
development of their reading skills and comprehension.
2. Preoperational Stage
The characteristics of this stage include an increase in language ability (with over-
generalizations), symbolic thought, egocentric perspective, and limited logic.
In this second stage, children should engage with problem-solving tasks that
incorporate available materials such as blocks, sand, and water. While the child is
working with a problem, the teacher should elicit conversation from the child. The
verbalization of the child, as well as his actions on the materials, gives a basis that
permits the teacher to infer the mechanisms of the child’s thought processes.
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There is lack of logic associated with this stage of development; rational thought makes
little appearance. The child links together unrelated events, sees objects as possessing
life, does not understand point-of-view, and cannot reverse operations. For example, a
child at this stage who understands that adding four to five yields nine cannot yet
perform the reverse operation of taking four from nine.
Children’s perceptions in this stage of development are generally restricted to one

aspect or dimension of an object at the expense of the other aspects. For example,
Piaget tested the concept of conservation by pouring the same amount of liquid into two
similar containers. When the liquid from one container is poured into a third, wider
container, the level is lower and the child thinks there is less liquid in the third container.
Thus the child is using one dimension, height, as the basis for his judgment of another
dimension, volume.
Teaching students in this stage of development should employ effective questioning

about characterizing objects. For example, when students investigate geometric
shapes, a teacher could ask students to group the shapes according to similar
characteristics. Questions following the investigation could include, “How did you decide
where each object belonged? Are there other ways to group these together?” Engaging
in discussion or interactions with the children may engender the children’s discovery of
the variety of ways to group objects, thus helping the children think about the quantities
in novel ways (Thompson, 1990).
3. Concrete Operations Stage

The third stage is characterized by remarkable cognitive growth, when children’s
development of language and acquisition of basic skills accelerate dramatically.
Children at this stage utilize their senses in order to know; they can now consider two or
three dimensions simultaneously instead of successively. For example, in the liquids
experiment, if the child notices the lowered level of the liquid, he also notices the dish is
wider, seeing both dimensions at the same time.
Additionally, seriation and classification are the two logical operations that develop
during this stage and both are essential for understanding number concepts. Seriation is
the ability to order objects according to increasing or decreasing length, weight, or
volume. On the other hand, classification involves grouping objects on the basis of a
common characteristic.
According to Burns & Silbey (2000), “hands-on experiences and multiple ways of
representing a mathematical solution can be ways of fostering the development of this
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cognitive stage”. The importance of hands-on activities cannot be overemphasized at
this stage. These activities provide students an avenue to make abstract ideas
concrete, allowing them to get their hands on mathematical ideas and concepts as
useful tools for solving problems.
Because concrete experiences are needed, teachers might use manipulatives with their
learners to explore concepts such as place value and arithmetical operations. Existing
manipulative materials include: pattern blocks, Cuisenaire rods, algebra tiles, algebra
cubes, geoboards, tangrams, counters, dice, and spinners.
However, teachers are not limited to commercial materials, they can also use
convenient materials in activities such as paper folding and cutting.
As learners use the materials, they acquire experiences that help lay the foundation for
more advanced mathematical thinking. Furthermore, learners’ use of materials helps to
build their mathematical confidence by giving them a way to test and confirm their
reasoning.
Note: One of the important challenges in mathematics teaching is to help learners make
connections between the mathematics concepts and the activity. Children may not
automatically make connections between the work they do with manipulative materials
and the corresponding abstract mathematics: “children tend to think that the
manipulations they do with models are one method for finding a solution and pencil-and-
paper math is entirely separate”. For example, it may be difficult for children to
conceptualize how a four by six inch rectangle built with wooden tiles relates to four
multiplied by six, or four groups of six. Teachers and caregivers could help children
make connections by showing how the rectangles can be separated into four rows of six
tiles each and by demonstrating how the rectangle is another representation of four
groups of six.
Providing various mathematical representations acknowledges the uniqueness of
students and provides multiple paths for making ideas meaningful.
4. Formal Operations Stage

The child at this stage is capable of forming hypotheses and deducing possible
consequences, allowing the child to construct his own mathematics.
Furthermore, the child typically begins to develop abstract thought patterns where
reasoning is executed using pure symbols without the necessity of perceptive data. For
example, the formal operational learner can solve x + 2x = 9 without having to refer to a
concrete situation presented by the teacher, such as, “Tony ate a certain number of
candies. His sister ate twice as many.
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Together they ate nine. How many did Tony eat?”
Reasoning skills within this stage refer to the mental process involved in the
generalizing and evaluating of logical arguments and include clarification, inference,
evaluation, and application.
 Clarification. Clarification requires students to identify and analyze elements of

a problem, allowing them to decipher the information needed in solving a
problem. By encouraging students to extract relevant information from a problem
statement, teachers can help students enhance their mathematical
understanding.
 Inference. Students at this stage are developmentally ready to make inductive

and deductive inferences in mathematics. Deductive inferences involve
reasoning from general concepts to specific instances. On the other hand,
inductive inferences are based on extracting similarities and differences among
specific objects and events and arriving at generalizations.
 Evaluation. Evaluation involves using criteria to judge the adequacy of a

problem solution. For example, the student can follow a predetermined rubric to
judge the correctness of his solution to a problem.
Evaluation leads to formulating hypotheses about future events, assuming one’s
problem solving is correct thus far.
 Application. Application involves students connecting mathematical concepts to

real-life situations. For example, the student could apply his knowledge of
rational equations to the following situation: “You can clean your house in 4
hours. Your sister can clean it in 6 hours. How long will it take you to clean the
house, working together?”
Implications of Piaget’s Theory

The implication piaget’s theory are negative to the child’s learning because of the following
Criticism:
 his proposed theory does not offer a complete description of cognitive development For
example, Piaget is criticized for underestimating the abilities of young children.
 Abstract directions and requirements may cause young children to fail at tasks they can
do under simpler conditions.
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 Over estimating the abilities of older learners, having implications for both learners and
teachers. For example, middle school teachers interpreting Piaget’s work may assume
that their learners can always think logically in the abstract, yet this is often not the
case.
 Although not possible to teach cognitive development explicitly, research has

demonstrated that it can be accelerated.
 Piaget believed that the amount of time each child spends in each stage varies by
environment.
 All learners in a class are not necessarily operating at the same level. Teachers could
benefit from understanding the levels at which their students are functioning and should
try to ascertain their students’ cognitive levels to adjust their teaching accordingly. By
emphasizing methods of reasoning, the teacher provides critical direction so that the
child can discover concepts through investigation. The child should be encouraged to
self-check, approximate, reflect and reason while the teacher studies the child’s work to
better understand his thinking.
 The numbers and quantities used to teach the children number should be meaningful to
them.
 Various situations can be set up that encourage mathematical reasoning. For example,
a child may be asked to bring enough cups for everybody in the class, without being
explicitly told to count. This will require them to compare the number of people to the
number of cups needed. Other examples include dividing objects among a group fairly,
keeping classroom records like attendance, and voting to make class decisions.
 Games are also a good way to acquire understanding of mathematical principles
(Kamii,1982). For example, the game of musical chairs requires coordination between
the set of children and the set of chairs. Scorekeeping in marbles and bowling requires
comparison of quantities and simple arithmetical operations. Comparisons of quantities
are required in a guessing game where one child chooses a number between one and
ten and another attempts to determine it, being told if his guesses are too high or too
low.
Conclusion
As children develop, they progress through stages characterized by unique ways of
understanding the world. During the sensory motor stage, young children develop eye-hand
coordination schemes and object permanence. The preoperational stage includes growth of
symbolic thought, as evidenced by the increased use of language. During the concrete
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operational stage, children can perform basic operations such as classification and serial
ordering of concrete objects. In the final stage, formal operations, students develop the ability
to think abstractly and meta-cognitively, as well as reason hypothetically. This article
articulated these stages in light of mathematics instruction. In general, the knowledge of
Piaget’s stages helps the teacher understand the cognitive development of the child as the
teacher plans stage-appropriate activities to keep students active
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UNIT THREE
LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN ECD

Introduction
Language is understood in various perspectives; it can be looked at as a science, phraseology

and as a mean of communication. But the term “Language” from it genealogy is from old
French “langage” based on Latin “lingua” meaning “Tongue”. From the Latin word for tongue,
Language is defined in the following ways basing on the perspective of its application:
Language is a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the
same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition: the two
languages of Belgium; a Bantu language; the French language; the Yiddish language.
It is communication by voice in the distinctively human manner, using arbitrary sounds in

conventional ways with conventional meanings; speech.
Further language is the system of linguistic signs or symbols considered in the abstract
(opposed to speech ).
Language is any set or system of such symbols as used in a more or less uniform fashion by a
number of people, who are thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one another. Or
any system of formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures, or the like used or conceived as a
means of communicating thought, emotion, etc.: the language of mathematics; sign language.
Language is the means of communication used by animals: the language of birds.
In science, Language is defined as a system of objects or symbols, such as sounds or

character sequences that can be combined in various ways following a set of rules, especially
to communicate thoughts, feelings, or instructions. For example, programming language in
computer science. Or set of patterns or structures produced by such a system.
Coining the different meanings of language, it can be summarized as a broad term applied to
the overall linguistic configurations that allow a particular people to communicate: the English
language; the French language, Luo language, Bantu Language, etc.
TERMINOLOGIES IN LANGUAGE
There are various terminologies used in language but the common in use are the following
discussed below:
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Vernacular
Vernacular refers to linguistic configurations of vocabulary, syntax, phonology, and usage that
are characteristic of communities of various sizes and types. A vernacular is the authentic
natural pattern--the ordinary speech--of a given language, now usually on the informal level. It
is at once congruent with and, in relatively small ways, distinguished from the standard
language in syntax, vocabulary, usage, and pronunciation. It is used by persons indigenous to
a certain community, large or small.
Dialect
Dialect refers the forms or varieties of a language, often those that provincial communities or
special groups retain (or develop) even after a standard has been established: Scottish dialect;
regional dialect; Southern dialect. In other words, it is a language of the area, for instance in
Uganda the central region dialect is Luganda.
Jargon
A jargon is either an artificial linguistic configuration used by a particular (usually occupational)
group within a community or a special configuration created for communication in a particular
business or trade or for communication between members of groups that speak different
languages: computer jargon; the Chinook jargon, Medical jargon, etc .
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and
comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate.
Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits because non-humans do not
communicate by using language.
Language acquisition usually refers to first-language acquisition, which studies infants'

acquisition of their native language. This is distinguished from second-language acquisition,
which deals with the acquisition (in both children and adults) of additional languages.
The capacity to successfully use language requires one to acquire a range of tools including
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and an extensive vocabulary.
Language can be vocalized as in speech or manual as in sign. The human language capacity
is represented in the brain. Even though the human language capacity is finite, one can say
and understand an infinite number of sentences, which is based on a syntactic principle called
recursion. Every individual has three recursive mechanisms that allow sentences to go
indeterminately. These mechanisms are:
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 relativization,
 complementation
 Coordination.
Note: there are actually two main guiding principles in first-language acquisition, that is,
speech perception always precedes speech production and the gradually evolving system by
which a child learns a language is built up one step at a time, beginning with the distinction
between individual phonemes.
THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Social interactionism
Social interactionist theory is an explanation of language development emphasizing the role of

social interaction between the developing child and linguistically knowledgeable adults. It is
based largely on the socio-cultural theories of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, and made
prominent in the Western world by Jerome Bruner.
Unlike other approaches, it emphasizes the role of feedback and reinforcement in language
acquisition. Specifically, it asserts that much of a child's linguistic growth stems from modeling
of and interaction with parents and other adults, who very frequently provide instructive
correction.
Another key idea within the theory of social interactionism is that of the zone of proximal
development. Briefly, this is a theoretical construct denoting the set of tasks a child is capable
of performing with guidance, but not alone. As applied to language, it describes the set of
linguistic tasks (proper syntax, suitable vocabulary usage, etc.) a child cannot carry out on their
own at a given time, but can learn to carry out if assisted by an able adult.
Relational frame theory
It posits that children acquire language purely through interacting with the environment. RFT
theorists introduced the concept of functional contextualism in language learning, which
emphasizes the importance of predicting and influencing psychological events, such as
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, by focusing on manipulatable variables in their context. RFT
distinguishes itself from Skinner's work by identifying and defining a particular type of operant
conditioning known as derived relational responding, a learning process that, to date, appears
to occur only in humans possessing a capacity for language. Empirical studies supporting the
predictions of RFT suggest that children learn language via a system of inherent
reinforcements, challenging the view that language acquisition is based upon innate,
language-specific cognitive capacities.
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Emergentism
This theory posits that language acquisition is a cognitive process that emerges from the
interaction of biological pressures and the environment. According to these theories, neither
nature nor nurture alone is sufficient to trigger language learning; both of these influences must
work together in order to allow children to acquire a language. The proponents of these
theories argue that general cognitive processes sub-serve language acquisition and that the
end result of these processes is language-specific phenomena, such as word learning and
grammar acquisition. The findings of many empirical studies support the predictions of these
theories, suggesting that language acquisition is a more complex process than many believe.
Syntax and morphology
As syntax began to be studied more closely in the early 20th century, in relation to language
learning, it became apparent to linguists, psychologists, and philosophers that knowing a
language was not merely a matter of associating words with concepts, but that a critical aspect
of language involves knowledge of how to put words together—sentences are usually needed
in order to communicate successfully, not just isolated words. A child will use short
expressions such as Bye-bye Mummy or All-gone milk, which actually are combinations of
individual nouns and an operator, before it begins to use gradually more complex sentences.
When acquiring a language, it is also often found that the most frequently used verbs, such as
those in the English language, are irregular verbs. These verbs do not follow the most regular
pattern in order to form the past tense. Young children first begin to learn the past tense of
verbs individually; however, when they acquire a "rule", such as adding -ed to form the past
tense, they begin to exhibit occasional overgeneralization errors (e.g. "runned", "hitted")
alongside correct past-tense forms. One influential proposal is that over regularization errors
occur when the child does not succeed in retrieving an irregular past-tense form quickly
enough from long-term memory: In both children and adults, when the speaker does not recall
an irregular form, the regular rule applies.
Generativism
Generative grammar, associated especially with the work of Noam Chomsky, is currently one
of the approaches to children's acquisition of syntax. The leading idea is that human biology
imposes narrow constraints on the child's "hypothesis space" during language acquisition. the
acquisition of syntax resembles ordering from a menu: the human brain comes equipped with
a limited set of choices, from which the child selects the correct options by using the parents'
speech, in combination with the context.
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An important argument, which favors the generative approach, is the Poverty of the stimulus
argument. The child's input (a finite number of sentences encountered by the child, together
with information about the context in which they were uttered) is, in principle, compatible with
an infinite number of conceivable grammars. Moreover, few, if any, children can rely on
corrective feedback from adults when they make a grammatical error. Yet barring situations of
medical abnormality or extreme privation, all the children in a given speech-community
converge on very much the same grammar by the age of about five years. An especially
dramatic example is provided by children who, for medical reasons, are unable to produce
speech and, therefore, can never be corrected for a grammatical error but nonetheless,
converge on the same grammar as their typically developing peers, according to
comprehension-based tests of grammar.
Considerations such as those have led Chomsky, Jerry Fodor, Eric Lenneberg and others to
argue that the types of grammar the child needs to consider must be narrowly constrained by
human biology (the nativist position).] These innate constraints are sometimes referred to as
universal grammar, the human "language faculty", or the "language instinct".]
Empiricism
Although Chomsky's theory of a generative grammar has been enormously influential in the
field of linguistics since the 1950s, many criticisms of the basic assumptions of generative
theory have been put forth by cognitive-functional linguistics, who argue that language
structure is created through language use. These linguists argue that the concept of a
Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is unsupported by evolutionary anthropology, which tends
to show a gradual adaptation of the human brain and vocal cords to the use of language,
rather than a sudden appearance of a complete set of binary parameters delineating the whole
spectrum of possible grammars ever to have existed and ever to exist. On the other hand,
cognitive-functional theorists use this anthropological data to show how human beings have
evolved the capacity for grammar and syntax to meet our demand for linguistic symbols.
(Binary parameters are common to digital computers, but may not be applicable to
neurological systems such as the human brain
Further, the generative theory has several hypothetical constructs (such as movement, empty
categories, complex underlying structures, and strict binary branching) that cannot possibly be
acquired from any amount of linguistic input. It is unclear that human language is actually
anything like the generative conception of it. Since language, as imagined by nativists, is
unlearnably complex]. subscribers to this theory argue that it must, therefore, be innate. A
different theory of language, however, may yield different conclusions. While all theories of
language acquisition posit some degree of innateness, a less convoluted theory might involve
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less innate structure and more learning. Under such a theory of grammar, the input, combined
with both general and language-specific learning capacities, might be sufficient for acquisition.
Statistical learning
Statistical learning theory suggests that, when learning language, a learner would use the
natural statistical properties of language to deduce its structure, including sound patterns,
words, and the beginnings of grammar. That is, language learners are sensitive to how often
syllable combinations or words occur in relation to other syllables. Infants between 21 months
and 23 months old are also able to use statistical learning to develop "lexical categories," such
as an animal category, which infants might later map to newly learned words in the same
category. These findings suggest that early experience listening to language is critical to
vocabulary acquisition.
The statistical abilities are effective, but also limited by what qualifies as input, what is done
with that input, and by the structure of the resulting output. One should also note that statistical
learning (and more broadly, distributional learning) can be accepted as a component of
language acquisition by researchers on either side of the "nature and nurture" debate. From
the perspective of that debate, an important question is whether statistical learning can, by
itself, serve as an alternative to nativist explanations for the grammatical constraints of human
language.
Chunking
Chunking theories of language acquisition constitute a group of theories related to statistical

learning theories, in that they assume the input from the environment plays an essential role;
however, they postulate different learning mechanisms. The central idea of these theories is
that language development occurs through the incremental acquisition of meaningful chunks of
elementary constituents, which can be words, phonemes, or syllables. Recently, this approach
has been highly successful in simulating several phenomena in the acquisition of syntactic
categories and the acquisition of phonological knowledge. The approach has several features
that make it unique: the models are implemented as computer programs, which enable clear-
cut and quantitative predictions to be made; they learn from naturalistic input, made of actual
child-directed utterances; they produce actual utterances, which can be compared with
children's utterances; and they have simulated phenomena in several languages, including
English, Spanish, and German.
Representation of Language Acquisition in the Brain
Recent advances in functional Neuro-imaging technology have allowed for a better

understanding of how language acquisition is manifested physically in the brain. Language
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acquisition almost always occurs in children during a period of rapid increase in brain volume.
At this point in development, a child has many more neural connections than he or she will
have as an adult, allowing for the child to be more able to learn new things than he or she
would be as an adult.
Sensitive period
Language acquisition has been studied from the perspective of developmental psychology and
neuroscience, which looks at learning to use and understand language parallel to a child's
brain development. It has been determined, through empirical research on developmentally
normal children, as well as through some extreme cases of language deprivation, that there is
a "sensitive period" of language acquisition in which human infants have the ability to learn any
language.
Several findings have observed that from birth until the age of six months, infants can
discriminate the phonetic contrasts of all languages. Researchers believe that this gives infants
the ability to acquire the language spoken around them. After such an age, the child is able to
perceive only the phonemes specific to the language learned. The reduced phonemic
sensitivity enables children to build phonemic categories and recognize stress patterns and
sound combinations specific to the language they are acquiring.
As Wilder Penfield noted, "Before the child begins to speak and to perceive, the uncommitted
cortex is a blank slate on which nothing has been written. In the ensuing years much is written,
and the writing is normally never erased. After the age of ten or twelve, the general functional
connections have been established and fixed for the speech cortex."
According to the sensitive or critical period models, the age at which a child acquires the ability
to use language is a predictor of how well he or she is ultimately able to use language.
However, there may be an age at which becoming a fluent and natural user of a language is
no longer possible. Our brains may be automatically wired to learn languages, but the ability
does not last into adulthood in the same way that it exists during development. By the onset of
puberty (around age 12), language acquisition has typically been solidified and it becomes
more difficult to learn a language in the same way a native speaker would. At this point, it is
usually a second language that a person is trying to acquire and not a first.
This critical period is almost never missed by cognitively normal children—humans are so well
prepared to learn language that it becomes almost impossible not to. Researchers are unable
to experimentally test the effects of the sensitive period of development on language
acquisition, because it would be unethical to deprive children of language until this period is
over. However, case studies on abused, language deprived children show that they were
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extremely limited in their language skills, even after instruction. At a very young age, children
can already distinguish between different sounds but cannot produce them yet. However,
during infancy, children begin to babble. Deaf babies babble in the same order when hearing
sounds as non-deaf babies do, thus showing that babbling is not caused by babies simply
imitating certain sounds, but is actually a natural part of the process of language development.
However, deaf babies do often babble less than non-deaf babies and they begin to babble
later on in infancy (begin babbling at 11 months as compared to 6 months) when compared to
non-deaf babies. Studies published in 2013 have pushed serious language acquisition back
into the fetus' intrauterine life.
A fetus begins to hear between 24 and 27 weeks. It has been known for a decade that fetuses
learn general features of their native language, such as rhythm and intonation, but two studies,
in 2013, confirmed that they also pick up distinct words and syllables. Brain activity of
newborns in one of those studies revealed that they recognized three-syllable nonsense words
that had been repeatedly played in their environment prior to birth, but newborns who were
never exposed to the words were indifferent.
Vocabulary acquisition
The capacity to acquire the ability to incorporate the pronunciation of new words depends upon
many factors. Before anything the learner needs to be able to hear what they are attempting to
pronounce. Another is the capacity to engage in speech repetition. Children with reduced
abilities to repeat non-words (a marker of speech repetition abilities) show a slower rate of
vocabulary expansion than children for whom this is easy. It has been proposed that the
elementary units of speech have been selected to enhance the ease with which sound and
visual input can be mapped into motor vocalization. Several computational models of
vocabulary acquisition have been proposed so far. Various studies have shown that the size of
a child's vocabulary by the age of 24 months correlates with the child's future development and
language skills. A lack of language richness by this age has detrimental and long-term effects
on the child's cognitive development, which is why it is so important for parents to engage their
infants in language. If a child knows fifty words or less by the age of 24 months, he or she is
classified as a late-talker and future language development, like vocabulary expansion and the
organization of grammar, is likely to be slower and stunted.
Two more crucial elements of vocabulary acquisition are word segmentation and statistical
learning (described above). Word segmentation, or the segmentation of words and syllables
from fluent speech can be accomplished by eight-month-old infants. By the time infants are 17-
months-old, they are able to link meaning to segmented words.
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Recent evidence also suggests that motor skills and experiences may influence vocabulary
acquisition during infancy. Specifically, learning to sit independently between 3 to 5 months
has been found to predict receptive vocabulary at both 10 and 14 months of age, and
independent walking skills have been found to correlate with language skills around 10 to 14
months of age. These findings show that language acquisition is an embodied process that is
influenced by a child’s overall motor abilities and development.
Meaning
Children learn, on average, ten to fifteen new word meanings each day, but only one of these
words can be accounted for by direct instruction. The other nine to fourteen word meanings
need to be picked up in some other way. It has been proposed that children acquire these
meanings with the use of processes modeled by latent semantic analysis; that is, when they
meet an unfamiliar word, children can use information in its context to correctly guess its rough
area of meaning. A child may expand the meaning and use of certain words that are already
part of its mental lexicon in order to denominate anything that is somehow related but for which
it does not know the specific words yet. For instance, a child may broaden the use of mummy
and dada in order to indicate anything that belongs to its mother or father, or perhaps every
person who resembles its own parents, or say rain while meaning I don't want to go out.
There is also reason to believe that children use various heuristics to properly infer the
meaning of words. Markman and others have proposed that children assume words to refer to
objects with similar properties ("cow" and "pig" might both be "animals") rather than to objects
that are thematically related ("cow" and "milk" are probably not both "animals"). Children also
seem to adhere to the "whole object assumption" and think that a novel label refers to an entire
entity rather than one of its parts.
Neuro-cognitive research
According to several linguists, Neuro-cognitive research has confirmed many standards of

language learning, such as: "learning engages the entire person (cognitive, affective, and
psychomotor domains), the human brain seeks patterns in its searching for meaning, emotions
affect all aspects of learning, retention and recall, past experience always affects new learning,
the brain's working memory has a limited capacity, lecture usually results in the lowest degree
of retention, rehearsal is essential for retention, practice [alone] does not make perfect, and
each brain is unique". In terms of genetics, the gene ROBO1 has been associated with
phonological buffer integrity or length
Although it is difficult to determine without invasive measures which exact parts of the brain
become most active and important for language acquisition, Kuniyoshi Sakai proposed, based
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on several neuroimaging studies, that there may be a "grammar center", where language is
primarily processed in the left lateral premotor cortex (located near the pre central sulcus and
the inferior frontal sulcus). Additionally, these studies proposed that first language and second-
language acquisition may be represented differently in the cortex.
During early infancy, language processing seems to occur over many areas in the brain.
However, over time, it gradually becomes concentrated into two areas – Broca's area and
Wernicke's area. Broca's area is in the left frontal cortex and is primarily involved in the
production of the patterns in vocal and sign language. Wernicke's area is in the left temporal
cortex and is primarily involved in language comprehension. The specialization of these
language centers is so extensive that damage to them results in a critical condition known as
aphasia.
Language acquisition as a typically human phenomenon
The capacity to acquire and use language is a key aspect that distinguishes humans from
other beings. Although it is difficult to pin down what aspects of language are uniquely human,
there are a few design features that can be found in all known forms of human language, but
that are missing from forms of animal communication. For example, many animals are able to
communicate with each other by signaling to the things around them, but this kind of
communication lacks the arbitrariness of human vernaculars (in that there is nothing about the
sound of the word "dog" that would hint at its meaning). Other forms of animal communication
may utilize arbitrary sounds, but are unable to combine those sounds in different ways to
create completely novel messages that can then be automatically understood by another.
Hockett called this design feature of human language "productivity". It is crucial to the
understanding of human language acquisition that we are not limited to a finite set of words,
but, rather, must be able to understand and utilize a complex system that allows for an infinite
number of possible messages. So, while many forms of animal communication exist, they
differ from human languages in that they have a limited range of vocabulary tokens, and the
vocabulary items are not combined syntactically to create phrases.
Language acquisition and pre-lingual deafness
Pre-lingual deafness is defined as hearing loss that occurred at birth or before an individual
has learned to speak. In the United States, three out of every 1000 children are born deaf or
hard of hearing. Treatment options include using hearing aids to strengthen remaining sensory
cells or cochlear implants to stimulate the hearing nerve directly. Despite these developments,
most pre-lingually deaf children are unlikely to develop good speech and speech reception
skills. However, deaf children of deaf parents tend to do better with language, even though
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they are isolated from sound and speech. Humans are biologically equipped for language,
which is not limited to spoken language only. Even though it might be presumed that deaf
children acquire language in different ways since they are not receiving the same input as
hearing children, many research findings indicate that deaf children acquire language in the
same way that hearing children do. Babies who learn sign language produce signs or gestures
that are more regular and more frequent than hearing babies acquiring spoken language. Just
as hearing babies babble, deaf babies acquiring sign language will babble with their hands.
Therefore, the acquisition of sign language seems to have the same developmental track that
is seen in hearing children acquiring spoken language.
Due to recent advances in technology, cochlear implants allow some deaf people to interact
with others more efficiently. There are interior and exposed components that require a medical
procedure. Especially those who receive cochlear implants earlier in life show improvements.
Spoken language development varies widely for those with cochlear implants due to a number
of different factors including: age at implantation, frequency, quality and type of speech
training. Some evidence suggests that speech processing occurs at a more rapid pace in
some pre-lingually deaf children with cochlear implants than those with traditional hearing aids.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND LITERACY
This topic aims to help understand the close link between learning to talk and learning to read,
their importance in children’s intellectual development, the learning mechanisms involved and
the external factors that influence them, and signs that could indicate a learning disability.
Talking is an important milestone in children’s development.
Most children will know how to say 100 words by the age of 21 months and will start to
combine these words into short sentences before they are 2 years old. Unfortunately many
young children fall behind these milestones.
Children who have limited expressive vocabulary (less than 40-50 words) at 24 months and
make no word combination are identified as “late talkers.” About 8-12% percent of North
American preschool children and 12% of children beginning school have language delay. Of
these, 25-90% are diagnosed with a reading disorder – a problem that goes on to affect 10-
18% of all school-age children.
The frequency of language problems and its impact on literacy and reading later in life speaks
to the need for early intervention as soon as speech problems are detected.
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FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Learning to talk is one of the most visible and important achievements of early childhood. In a
matter of months, and without explicit teaching, toddlers move from hesitant single words to
fluent sentences and from a small vocabulary to one that is growing by six new words a day.
New language tools mean new opportunities for social understanding, for learning about the
world, and for sharing experiences, pleasures and needs.
The nature of language knowledge
Language development is even more impressive when we consider the nature of what is
learned. It may seem that children merely need to remember what they hear and repeat it at
some later time. But as Chomsky pointed out so many years ago, if this were the essence of
language learning, we would not be successful communicators. Verbal communication
requires productivity, i.e. the ability to create an infinite number of utterances we have never
heard before. This endless novelty requires that some aspects of language knowledge be
abstract. Ultimately, “rules” for combining words cannot be rules about particular words, but
must be rules about classes of words such as nouns, verbs or prepositions. Once these
abstract blueprints are available, the speaker can fill the “slots” in a sentence with the words
that best convey the message of the moment. Chomsky’s key point was that since abstractions
cannot ever be directly experienced, they must emerge from the child’s own mental activity
while listening to speech.
The nature of the mental activity that underlies language learning is widely debated among
child language experts. One group of theorists argues that language input merely triggers
grammatical knowledge that is already genetically available. The opposition argues that
grammatical knowledge results from the way the human mind analyzes and organizes
information and is not innate. This debate reflects fundamentally different beliefs about human
development and is not likely to be resolved. However, there are at least two areas in which
there is a substantial consensus that can guide educators and policy-makers:
(a) the predictability of the course of language acquisition;

(b) its multi-determinate nature.
Predictable language sequences
In broad strokes, the observable “facts” of language development are not in dispute. Most
children begin speaking during their second year and by age two are likely to know at least 50
words and to be combining them in short phrases. Once vocabulary size reaches about 200
words, the rate of word learning increases dramatically and grammatical function words such
as articles and prepositions begin to appear with some consistency. During the preschool
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years, sentence patterns become increasingly complex and vocabulary diversifies to include
relational terms that express notions of size, location, quantity and time. By the age of four to
six or so, most children have acquired the basic grammar of the sentence. From that point
onward, children learn to use language more efficiently and more effectively. They also learn
how to create, and maintain, larger language units such as conversation or narrative. Although
there are individual differences in rate of development, the sequence in which various forms
appear is highly predictable both within and across stages.
Determining factors
There is also considerable agreement that the course of language development reflects the
interplay of factors in at least five domains: social, perceptual, cognitive processing, conceptual
and linguistic. Theorists differ in the emphasis and degree of determination posited for a given
domain, but most would agree that each is relevant. There is a large body of research
supporting the view that language learning is influenced by many aspects of human
experience and capability. I will mention two findings in each area that capture the flavour of
the available evidence.
Social
1. Toddlers infer a speaker’s communicative intent and use that information to guide their
language learning. For example, as early as 24 months, they are able to infer solely
from an adult’s excited tone of voice and from the physical setting that a new word must
refer to an object that has been placed on the table while the adult was away.
2. The verbal environment influences language learning. From ages one to three, children
from highly verbal “professional” families heard nearly three times as many words per
week as children from low verbal “welfare” families. Longitudinal data show that aspects
of this early parental language predict language scores at age nine.
Perceptual
1. Infant perception sets the stage. Auditory perceptual skills at six or 12 months of age
can predict vocabulary size and syntactic complexity at 23 months of age.
2. Perceptibility matters. In English, the forms that are challenging for impaired learners
are forms with reduced perceptual salience, e.g. those that are unstressed or lie united
within a consonant cluster.
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Cognitive processes
1. Frequency affects rate of learning. Children who hear an unusually high proportion of
examples of a language form learn that form faster than children who receive ordinary
input.
2. “Trade-offs” among the different domains of language can occur when the total targeted
sentence requires more mental resources than the child has available. For example,
children make more errors on small grammatical forms such as verb endings and
prepositions in sentences with complex syntax than in sentences with simple syntax.
Conceptual
1. Relational terms are linked to mental age. Words that express notions of time, causality,
location, size and order are correlated with mental age much more than words that
simply refer to objects and events.16 Moreover, children learning different languages
learn to talk about spatial locations such as in or next to in much the same order,
regardless of the grammatical devices of their particular language.
2. Language skills are affected by world knowledge. Children who have difficulty recalling
a word also know less about the objects to which the word refers.
Linguistic
1. Verb endings are cues to verb meaning. If a verb ends in –ing, three-year-olds will
decide that it refers to an activity, such as swim, rather than to a completed change of
state, such as push off.
2. Current vocabulary influences new learning. Toddlers usually decide that a new word
refers to the object for which they do not already have a label.
EDUCATIONAL AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Educators and policy-makers have often ignored pre-schoolers whose language seems to be
lagging behind development in other areas, arguing that such children are “just a bit late” in
talking. The research evidence suggests instead that language acquisition should be treated
as an important barometer of success in complex integrative tasks. As we have just seen,
whenever language “fails” other domains are implicated as well – as either causes or
consequences. Indeed, major epidemiological studies have now demonstrated that children
diagnosed with specific language disorders at age four (i.e. delays in language acquisition
without sensory-motor impairment, affective disorder or retardation) are at high risk for
academic failure and mental-health problems well into young adulthood. Fortunately, the
research evidence also indicates that it is possible to accelerate language learning. Even
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though the child must be the one to create the abstract patterns from the language data, we
can facilitate this learning by:
i) presenting language examples that are in accord with the child’s perceptual,
social and cognitive resources;
ii) Choosing learning goals that are in harmony with the common course of
development.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AT AN EARLY AGE: LEARNING MECHANISMS AND

OUTCOMES FROM BIRTH TO FIVE YEARS (Stages of Language Development)
The acquisition of language is one of the more remarkable achievements of early childhood.
By age 5, children essentially master the sound system and grammar of their language and
acquire a vocabulary of thousands of words. This report describes the major milestones of
language development that typically-developing, monolingual children achieve in their first 5
years of life and the mechanisms that have been proposed to explain these achievements.
Young children’s language skills are important to their interpersonal and academic success. It
is therefore crucial to have descriptions of normative development that allow identification of
children with language impairment and to have an understanding of the mechanisms of
language acquisition that can provide a basis for optimizing all children’s development.
Although all normal children in normal environments acquire the language (or languages) they
hear, children’s rates of development ̶ and thus skill levels at any age ̶ vary enormously. One
goal of research in the field is to understand the roles of innate abilities and environmental
circumstances in explaining both the universal fact of language acquisition and the variability in
language development.
Children’s language development has been a topic of interest since antiquity and the focus of
substantial scientific research since the 1960s. Although the field has broadened its scope of
inquiry in recent years, there is still more research that describes middle-class, monolingual
children acquiring English than other groups and other languages.
Mechanisms
The course of language development and its underlying mechanisms are usually described
separately for the sub-domains of phonological development (the sound system), lexical
development (the words), and morpho-syntactic development (grammar), although these
domains are interrelated both in language development and in language use.
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Phonological development (Emerging stage)
Newborns have the ability to hear and discriminate speech sounds. During the first year, they
become better at hearing the contrasts their language uses, and they become insensitive to
acoustic differences that are not relevant to their language. This tuning of speech perception to
the ambient language is the result of a learning process in which infants form mental speech
sound categories around clusters of frequently-occurring acoustic signals. These categories
then guide perception such that within category variation is ignored and between category
variation is attended to.
The first sounds infants produce are cries and noises that are not speech-like. The major
milestones of pre-speech vocal development are the production of canonical syllables (well-
formed consonant + vowel combinations), which appear between 6 and 10 months, followed
shortly by reduplicated babbling (repetitions of syllables). When first words appear, they make
use of the same sounds, and they contain the same numbers of sounds and syllables, as the
preceding babbling sequences. One process that contributes to early phonological
development appears to be infants’ active efforts to reproduce the sounds they hear. In
babbling, infants may be discovering the correspondence between what they do with their
vocal apparatus and the sounds that come out. The important role of feedback is suggested by
findings that children with hearing impairment are delayed in achieving canonical babbling. At
approximately 18 months, children appear to have achieved a mental system for representing
the sounds of their language and producing them within the constraints of their articulatory
abilities. At this point children’s production of speech sounds becomes consistent across
different words ̶ in contrast to the earlier period when the sound form for each word was a
separate mental entity. The processes underlying this development are not well understood.
Lexical development (Symbolic Stage)
Infants understand their first word as young as 5 months, produce their first words between 10
and 15 months of age, reach the 50-word milestone in productive vocabularies around 18
months of age, and the 100-word milestone between 20 and 21 months. After that, vocabulary
development proceeds so rapidly that tracking the how many words children know becomes
unwieldy. The vocabulary size of an average 6-year-old has been estimated at 14,000 words.
The task of word learning has multiple components and recruits multiple mechanisms. Infants
make use of statistical learning procedures, tracking the probability that sounds appear
together, and thereby segmenting the continuous stream of speech into separate words. The
capacity to store those speech sound sequences, known as phonological memory, comes into
play as entries in the mental lexicon are created. In the task of mapping a newly-encountered
word onto its intended referent, children are guided by their abilities to make use of socially-
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based inferencing mechanisms (i.e., speakers are likely to be talking about the things they are
looking at), by their cognitive understandings of the world (some word learning involved
mapping new words onto pre-existing concepts), and by their prior linguistic knowledge (i.e.,
the structure of the sentence in which a new word appears provides clues to word meaning).
Full mastery of the meanings of words may require new conceptual developments as well.
Morpho-syntactic development (Consolidation stage)
Children begin to put two, then three and more words together into short sentences at
approximately 24 months of age. Children’s first sentences are combinations of content words
and are often missing grammatical function words (e.g., articles and prepositions) and word
endings (e.g., plural and tense markers). As children gradually master the grammar of their
language, they become able to produce increasingly long and grammatically complete
utterances. The development of complex (i.e., multi-clause) sentences usually begins some
time before the child’s second birthday and is largely complete by age 4. In general,
comprehension precedes production.
The mechanism responsible for grammatical development is one of the mostly hotly-debated
topics in the study of child language. It is argued that children come to the language-learning
task equipped with innate knowledge of language structure and that language could not be
achieved otherwise. It is also clear, however, that children have the ability, even in infancy, to
detect abstract patterns in the speech they hear, and there is very strong evidence that
children who hear more speech and who hear structurally more complex speech acquire
grammar more rapidly than do children with less experience – which suggests that language
experience plays a substantial role in language development.
Conclusions
The course of language development is very similar across children and even across
languages, suggesting a universal biological basis to this human capacity. The rate of
development varies widely, however, depending both on the amount and nature of children’s
language experience and on children’s capacities to make use of that experience.
Implications
Normally-endowed children need only to experience conversational interaction in order to

acquire language. Many children, however, may not experience enough conversational
interaction to maximize their language development. Parents should be encouraged to treat
their young children as conversational partners from infancy. Educators and policy makers
should realize that children’s language skills reflect not only their cognitive abilities but also the
opportunities to hear and use language their environments have provided.
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LITERACY SKILLS FOR A 3-YEAR-OLD
Early literacy skills don't only happen once when a child is enrolled in and attends a school.
They are first learned in the home, as young as 3 years old. At 3, a child should have
developed key skills that will one day enable her to become proficient in language and reading.
A study by Carolyn Chaney, confirmed that early language skills are the best predictor of your
child's success in literacy and meta-linguistic awareness in the future.
Recognizing Letters
At age 3, a child has the capacity to recognize letters on sight. By 4 years of age, 43 percent of
children are proficient in recognizing letters by their shape, according to the National Center for
Education Statistics. Helping your child sing the alphabet song, writing out letters of the
alphabet for her and talking about each one should help your 3-year-old become more familiar
with the alphabet.
Letter Sounds
Helping your 3-year-old recognize letters and understand what sound each makes can prepare
your child for reading. Give him games to play to learn about the sounds in the alphabet, like
saying a word and allowing him to guess what letter it starts with, or locating items around
town that start with a certain letter. One day those skills will help him to read his first book.
Name Recognition
At 3 years old, your child should easily be able to recognize her own name. Although it may
involve memorizing the order of letters more than reading or spelling, helping your child
recognize her name spelled out gives her a rudimentary knowledge of certain letters and their
sounds. Write her name on a piece of paper, or spell it out on a plaque for her door so that she
becomes interested in the personalized use of her name.
Letter Formation
Lightly draw outlines of letters to have your child trace over, or help him to spell his own name.
Your 3-year-old likely won't be able to write much more than his name, but this is a good start
for future writing skills. Learning how to hold a pencil properly and form letters into a word,
even if it doesn't make sense, sets your child on the right path to literacy.
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Sight Words
A 3-year-old thinks she is reading when she memorizes the words and the way they look in a
familiar book and can point them out from memory. You may dismiss this as memorization, but
your child is actually showing word recognition. Reading familiar books can teach her sight
words and patterns that often go together. A literacy-rich environment of reading books, saying
words and identifying letters can help her one day turn her word recognition into actual reading
as she becomes comfortable with word patterns and isolated letter sounds, notes the
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGIES
Listed below are brief summaries of some of the more popular second language teaching
methods of the last half century.
The Direct Method
In this method the teaching is done entirely in the target language. The learner is not allowed
to use his or her mother tongue. Grammar rules are avoided and there is emphasis on good
pronunciation.
Grammar-translation
Learning is largely by translation to and from the target language. Grammar rules are to be
memorized and long lists of vocabulary learned by heart. There is little or no emphasis placed
on developing oral ability.
Audio-lingual
The theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits. There is
much practice of dialogues of every situation. New language is first heard and extensively
drilled before being seen in its written form.
The structural approach
This method sees language as a complex of grammatical rules which are to be learned one at
a time in a set order. So for example the verb "to be" is introduced and practiced before the
present continuous tense which uses "to be" as an auxiliary.
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Suggestopedia
The theory underlying this method is that a language can be acquired only when the learner is
receptive and has no mental blocks. By various methods it is suggested to the student that the
language is easy - and in this way the mental blocks to learning are removed.
Total Physical Response (TPR)
TPR works by having the learner respond to simple commands such as "Stand up", "Close
your book", "Go to the window and open it." The method stresses the importance of aural
comprehension.
Communicative language teaching (CLT)
The focus of this method is to enable the learner to communicate effectively and appropriately
in the various situations she would be likely to find herself in. The content of CLT courses are
functions such as inviting, suggesting, complaining or notions such as the expression of time,
quantity, location.
The Silent Way
This is so called because the aim of the teacher is to say as little as possible in order that the
learner can be in control of what he wants to say. No use is made of the mother tongue.
Community Language Learning
In this method attempts are made to build strong personal links between the teacher and
student so that there are no blocks to learning. There is much talk in the mother tongue which
is translated by the teacher for repetition by the student.
Immersion
This corresponds to a great extent to the situation we have at our school. ESL students are
immersed in the English language for the whole of the school day and expected to learn math,
science, humanities etc. through the medium of the target language, English.
Immigrant students who attend local schools find themselves in an immersion situation; for
example refugee children from Bosnia attending German schools, or Puerto Ricans in
American schools.
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Task-based language learning
The focus of the teaching is on the completion of a task which in itself is interesting to the
learners. Learners use the language they already have to complete the task and there is little
correction of errors.
(This is the predominant method in middle school ESL teaching at Frankfurt International
School. The tasks are subsumed in a major topic that is studied for a number of weeks. In the
topic of ecology, for example, students are engaged in a number of tasks culminating in a
poster presentation to the rest of the class. The tasks include reading, searching the internet,
listening to taped material, selecting important vocabulary to teach other students etc.)
The Natural Approach
This approach, propounded by Professor S. Krashen, stresses the similarities between

learning the first and second languages. There is no correction of mistakes. Learning takes
place by the students being exposed to language that is comprehensible or made
comprehensible to them.
The Lexical Syllabus
This approach is based on a computer analysis of language which identifies the most common
(and hence most useful) words in the language and their various uses. The syllabus teaches
these words in broadly the order of their frequency, and great emphasis is placed on the use of
authentic materials.
THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN THE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR CHILDREN
Children learn language by listening to speech in the world around them. Every time we speak
to our children, we are modeling language and the rule system that makes up our language.
Spending time with a child, playing and talking with him will help encourage and facilitate his
language development.
Children's brains are wired to study the patterns of speech that they hear and discern the rules
that are used by the people who are speaking. Children learn these rules and learn to apply
them as they create their own speech. The process of learning language involves repetitive
and complex learning that occurs through regular interaction.
Language Progression
As a child's language progresses, she will work through several stages of speech.
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From birth to about one year, children are in the pre-language stage.
At about three months of age, cooing and babble begins official language development.
Children are also practicing their receptive language during this time.
After pre-language your child will begin speaking in holo phrases, or one-word phrases.
Telegraphic speech, at around 18-22 months, is the development of two-word phrases. As a
child moves from one- to two-word sentences, you can help encourage language growth by
repeating back their words in a longer sentence. For example, if your child says "Book mama,"
you would interpret back to him, "You would like mama to read you a book?"
Building Conversation Skills
Interaction with others is the most important way that children learn language. Talk to your
child about what you are seeing, what you are doing, and how things feel. By talking with your
child and interacting with your child, you are building language and social skills, according to
the PBS website. You also strengthen the bond between you and your youngster with regular
conversations.
Reading and Language
Reading aloud to a child helps build language skills. While reading, children listen and match
words with objects and ideas, which can enhance play or interaction. As you read with your
child, point to pictures and name what you see. As your child gets older, ask her to point to
objects in the pictures.
Considerations
Children learn best from live speakers rather than recorded voices. Television and computers
have their place, when combined with parental interaction. However, it is the interaction that is
the key to language acquisition. Word drills and flash cards do not hold children's attention; the
best way to teach your child about language is by interacting with her. Talk about things she is
interested in. Play games and elaborate on your child's attempts at language. Make language
and words a natural part of her life.
ACTIVITIES TO ENCOURAGE SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
As mentioned earlier children’s language develops in several stages and in each of those
stages there are specific activities that suit the stage.
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Birth to 2 Years
 Encourage your baby to make vowel-like and consonant-vowel sounds such as "ma,"
"da," and "ba."
 Reinforce attempts by maintaining eye contact, responding with speech, and imitating
vocalizations using different patterns and emphasis. For example, raise the pitch of your
voice to indicate a question.
 Imitate your baby's laughter and facial expressions.
 Teach your baby to imitate your actions, including clapping you hands, throwing kisses,
and playing finger games such as pat-a-cake, peek-a-boo, and the itsy-bitsy-spider.
 Talk as you bathe, feed, and dress your baby. Talk about what you are doing, where
you are going, what you will do when you arrive, and who and what you will see.
 Identify colors.
 Count items.
 Use gestures such as waving goodbye to help convey meaning.
 Introduce animal sounds to associate a sound with a specific meaning: "The doggie
says woof-woof."
 Acknowledge the attempt to communicate.
 Expand on single words your baby uses: "Here is Mama. Mama loves you. Where is
baby? Here is baby."
 Read to your child. Sometimes "reading" is simply describing the pictures in a book
without following the written words. Choose books that are sturdy and have large
colorful pictures that are not too detailed. Ask your child, "What's this?" and encourage
naming and pointing to familiar objects in the book.
2 to 4 Years
 Use good speech that is clear and simple for your child to model.
 Repeat what your child says indicating that you understand. Build and expand on what
was said. "Want juice? I have juice. I have apple juice. Do you want apple juice?"
 Use baby talk only if needed to convey the message and when accompanied by the
adult word. "It is time for din-din. We will have dinner now."
 Make a scrapbook of favorite or familiar things by cutting out pictures. Group them into
categories, such as things to ride on, things to eat, things for dessert, fruits, things to
play with. Create silly pictures by mixing and matching pictures. Glue a picture of a dog
behind the wheel of a car. Talk about what is wrong with the picture and ways to "fix" it.
Count items pictured in the book.
 Help your child understand and ask questions. Play the yes-no game. Ask questions
such as "Are you a boy?" "Are you Marty?" "Can a pig fly?" Encourage your child to
make up questions and try to fool you.
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 Ask questions that require a choice. "Do you want an apple or an orange?" "Do you
want to wear your red or blue shirt?"
 Expand vocabulary. Name body parts, and identify what you do with them. "This is my
nose. I can smell flowers, brownies, popcorn, and soap."
 Sing simple songs and recite nursery rhymes to show the rhythm and pattern of speech.
 Place familiar objects in a container. Have your child remove the object and tell you
what it is called and how to use it. "This is my ball. I bounce it. I play with it."
 Use photographs of familiar people and places, and retell what happened or make up a
new story.
4 to 6 Years
 When your child starts a conversation, give your full attention whenever possible.
 Make sure that you have your child's attention before you speak.
 Acknowledge, encourage, and praise all attempts to speak. Show that you understand
the word or phrase by fulfilling the request, if appropriate.
 Pause after speaking. This gives your child a chance to continue the conversation.
 Continue to build vocabulary. Introduce a new word and offer its definition, or use it in a
context that is easily understood. This may be done in an exaggerated, humorous
manner. "I think I will drive the vehicle to the store. I am too tired to walk."
 Talk about spatial relationships (first, middle, and last; right and left) and opposites (up
and down; on and off).
 Offer a description or clues, and have your child identify what you are describing: "We
use it to sweep the floor" (a broom). "It is cold, sweet, and good for dessert. I like
strawberry" (ice cream).
 Work on forming and explaining categories. Identify the thing that does not belong in a
group of similar objects: "A shoe does not belong with an apple and an orange because
you can't eat it; it is not round; it is not a fruit."
 Help your child follow two- and three-step directions: "Go to your room, and bring me
your book."
 Encourage your child to give directions. Follow his or her directions as he or she
explains how to build a tower of blocks.
 Play games with your child such as "house." Exchange roles in the family, with your
pretending to be the child. Talk about the different rooms and furnishings in the house.
 The television also can serve as a valuable tool. Talk about what the child is watching.
Have him or her guess what might happen next. Talk about the characters. Are they
happy or sad? Ask your child to tell you what has happened in the story. Act out a
scene together, and make up a different ending.
 Take advantage of daily activities. For example, while in the kitchen, encourage your
child to name the utensils needed. Discuss the foods on the menu, their color, texture,
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and taste. Where does the food come from? Which foods do you like? Which do you
dislike? Who will clean up? Emphasize the use of prepositions by asking him or her to
put the napkin on the table, in your lap, or under the spoon. Identify who the napkin
belongs to: "It is my napkin." "It is Daddy's." "It is John's."
 While shopping for groceries, discuss what you will buy, how many you need, and what
you will make. Discuss the size (large or small), shape (long, round, square), and weight
(heavy or light) of the packages.
PRESCHOOL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
Development of children’s language requires use of different activities that will allow children to
practice use of their newly acquired skills. Activities that can be used are according to the
language skills.
Activities to develop children’s listening skills
We can use the following activities to develop children’s listening skills:

 Storytelling, News telling, drama, role plays, reciting songs, poems, riddles, oral
composition. All these activities are meant for the child to put into practice what he/she
has heard.
 Auditory discrimination games to train the child to listen effectively.
 Encouraging children to describing things or sounds made. It can also be retelling
information heard from discussions.
 Asking children to retell short stories after reading to them.
 Songs that a child repeat after the teacher.
 Games of transfer of messages heard from one person to another.
 Listening to recorded materials and answering questions about it.
Activities to develop children’s speaking skills
We can use the following activities to develop children’s speaking skills:

 Retelling stories that have been told to them
 role playing different situations that require children speak
 Imitating what others have said
 Conversations with adults or other children
 Proverbs that children are helped to say
 Saying rhymes
 Singing songs both traditional and composed songs
 Saying riddles
 Reciting poems
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 Telling and re-telling news
 Saying tongue twisters
 Saying lullabies
 Letting children to imitate audio messages
Activities to develop children’s reading skills
We can use the following activities to develop children’s reading skills:

 Indoor games (dominoes ,jigsaw, lotto)
 Opening of books to master orientation
 Reading tunes
 Reading story sequences,
 Use of Visual discrimination activities like sorting, matching or pairing
 Discrimination of sizes and shapes
 Left to right eye movement.
 Telling stories in sequence.
 Sound recognition.
 Recognition of patterns.
 Recognition and matching of letters.
 Spotting of missing parts from two similar pictures.
Activities to develop children’s writing skills
We can use the following activities to develop children’s writing skills:

 Tracing, Tearing, Cutting, Painting, Colouring, Collage, Drawing, Modeling, Pasting,
Doodling.
 Drawing and writing patterns
EARLY LEARNING AND READING READINESS

Educators assert that the child’s inborn intelligence determines his rate of learning, and that
environmental opportunities seldom alter his abilities appreciably. Further reading ability is
intimately related to intelligence, instruction in reading should not be offered until the child’s
mental maturity is reached. But this attitude is changed; today the opportunity for early learning
is being stressed as the crucial determiner of learning.
Paul Witty recognized early opportunities as important influences in reading and language
acquisition as well as in intelligence rating. According to Paul’s findings, there is certainly clear
evidence that many children learn to read in early years, and that parents can offer effective
guidance and stimulation by providing them with a home atmosphere in which reading is
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encouraged by the presence of an abundance of books, magazines and other sources of
reading enjoyment. When parents read aloud to their children, answer questions patiently, and
stimulate language development and expression, many children learn to read before they go to
school.
There is enough evidence on early learning to warrant changing a commonly held view of the
role of reading in the kindergarten. In many kindergartens, activities in reading have been
prohibited. This extreme position is unjustifiable. The kindergarten should provide an
atmosphere conducive to reading readiness and reading. Varied activities and opportunities
associated with reading should be offered, including the following:
 Making of experience charts from children’s dictation
 Use of labels for names of pupils and objects in the classroom
 Numerous language experiences associated with the development of vocabulary and

concepts.
The desirability of early opportunities for children to learn to read has been repeatedly
demonstrated. It has been shown that many children can succeed in reading at the age of four
or even earlier.
DIFFERENT WAYS OF PREPARING CHILDREN LEARN READING
Generally speaking, parents, teachers and caregivers can help the child to prepare for reading
in many ways. They can provide the kinds of experiences that have proved valuable in
programs devised for young children. The following are suggested relevant ways for both
parents and teachers:
1. Give the pre-school child a wealth of experiences.
Since the child read many things at school, give him firsthand contact with real things
and let him observe and learn on trips and excursions to the market, the store, the farm,
the dairy, airport, dock, the museum, e.t.c. talk about what you see. Exchange ideas.
Vocabulary and ideas grow this way. Give the child chance to take part in planting a
garden, taking care of pets, building model airplanes or doll furniture. In this way the
child is provided with enriched experiences that will help him understand what he will
read.
2. Be patient with his questions
Children ask numerous questions that some times burg the teacher, parents and
caregivers, but the answer to these questions are important. As they ask those
questions they are looking for the information that will help him understand the world
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around him and the world as represented in the books. Caution is needed. The answers
you give should be suitable to the child’s age.
3. Help the child to express himself clearly, to use and pronounce words correctly.
It easy to overdo this, so again- be patient. Let the child make mistakes comfortably,
without embarrassment or the feeling that he will be corrected for everything he says.
Show an interest in his attempts to express himself. Listen to his reports of his activities
and encourage him speak clearly and accurately.
4. Help the child to learn to listen to stories, to enjoy them, and to make friends with books.
Read to him stories that he can understand and enjoy. That will help him develop a feel
for stories and an ability to grasp their meaning. Give chance to the child to make
friends with books at home. This is important. If the child see the mother, dad, sisters
and brothers enjoying reading, if they turn to books for information and pleasure, his
attitude toward reading will probably be favorable. It is important to read aloud from
books that satisfy or extend his interest.
5. Remember that children want to learn to read.
Give each youngster a chance and he himself notice what wonderful and fascinating
things books and other printed materials are. A three year old will pore over the colored
comic section of the Sunday newspaper or picture book, turning pages and making all
the motions of reading.
6. If the child is not yet ready to read, help him to obtain the direct experience and
language expression he needs.
7. Help the child to enjoy reading. Reading should be recognized as away of extending
information and obtaining answers to questions, and it should be a source of never
ending joy.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHILD WHO IS READY TO READ
As there is no single factor that guarantees success in learning to read, there is no single
preventive for failure. The parents and teacher will profit, however, by keeping in mind the
following characteristics of the child who is ready to read. Such a child:
 Listens with interest for varying lengths of time.
 Has many interests and some special interests
 Remembers and follows simple directions
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 Knows the meaning of a vast number of words and uses many of them correctly.
 Speaks distinctly and employs short sentences in telling his own stories.
 Expresses his feelings freely and is learning to control them
 Learns to cooperate with others in work and play.
 Wants to succeed and is not discouraged from trying again when he fails.
 Has developed some appreciation of concepts of time, color, number, and other things
related to his experience.
 Knows the alphabet and applies his knowledge of the sounds of letters in decoding
words.
 Creative, imaginative, and resourceful
 Interested in printed materials and wants to learn to rea
EARLY LITERACY PROGRAMMES
Literacy is the ability to read and write. It also refers to the ability to identify, understand,
interpret, create, communicate and use printed and written materials meaningfully. There are
seven elements of literacy: reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, creativity and
technology.
The concept of literacy can be illustrated as below
The state of The ability for a child to

being able to identify in his/her local
read and write language
Literacy is
The ability to understand

the sound system of a The ability to
language and how words communicate
are formed effectively using the
local language and any
Identify the sounds in
other language
a word or syllables
acquired after
read and interpret
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As mentioned earlier the language skills children develop are four (listening speaking, reading
and writing) and they are ones which are emphasized the teaching and learning of literacy. In
early years it is emphasized that the mother tongue be the language of instruction basing on
the five foundational components:
i) Phonemic awareness:
ii) Alphabetic principles
iii) Fluency
iv) Vocabulary
v) Comprehension
i) Phonemics Awareness
This is the ability to identify, change around and break apart sounds that make up words. For
example, Literacy – Li-te-ra-cy.
Children with this awareness may struggle with reading. So they need to be aware of individual
letter sounds of their local languages (phonemes)to be able to read words with ease and spell
correctly.
ii) Alphabetic principle
Children learn to read fast when they understand that letters or groups of letters (syllables)
represents sounds in words they speak. They should be helped to know the phonics of letters
in their language to enable them be able to read words that you did not teach directly. For
example, ma, ba, ga: ma-ma ga-lek or ba-ba ga-lek. Mama galek or baba galek.
This requires a teacher to teach individual letters A- Z of a language, teach letter patterns and
syllables so that children are exposed to opportunities of blending and segmenting letters at
individual level. This helps them to read unfamiliar words.
iii) Fluency
Fluency is the ability to read a text with speed, accuracy and expression. Children should be
given chance to read texts in their pupil’s books to become better readers and to be aware of
the sentence structures. The teachers’ role is to support children in pronouncing difficult words.
iv) Vocabulary
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This refers to all words that are used in speech. Learners need a wider range of vocabulary to
be able to understand what they read and to express themselves appropriately: a teacher
should teach using real objects, pictures or act out situations to teach words to help children
draw meaning and use it effectively while communicating. A child who is taught vocabulary
understands more of what they hear and read. They can use these words in writing.
v) Comprehension
This is the main goal of reading. Comprehension is the ability to understand and take a
meaning from the text. There are two main types of comprehension:
 Literal comprehension which is the ability to recall facts from the text ( what happened,
what went wrong in the story).
 Inferential comprehension which requires a reader to intercept and understand

information that is not staed directly in the text. For example, the mood expressed in the
text, feelings of a character in the text as they read.
Comprehension is taught to children at all levels. Those who have been taught comprehension
skills can make predictions about the story, check understanding along the way and evaluate
the text after they read.
Importance of Developing Literacy Skills in Children
 Developing literacy skills enables children to become aware of the sounds phonemes),
which helps them in reading and writing easily.
 Helps children to be able to sound out (decode) and spell (encode) words that they did
not learn directly in the lesson.
 Children learn to blend individual sounds to form a word and be able to read with ease.
For example,/ B-a-g /– bag.
 Children become fluent speakers when they are led through their sound system of the
language in use.
 Through variety of oral activities, children widen their vocabulary as they tell stories,
recite rhymes and poems, tell news and say the tongue twisters.
 Children develop an understanding of what they hear and read
 Helps children to become fluent readers as they express themselves.
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READING READINESS
This is the process of preparing children for actual reading. Children go through a number of
pre-reading activities in order for them to read. This is the time when we consider that the child
is ready to read with ease.
Reading readiness as a process is important during the early years of school because it helps
children to be able to hold reading materials in correct position, trains their observation skills,
develops their creative and imaginative skills, and improves their ability to discriminate and
differentiate sounds they hear both from the local environment and the new letter sounds
introduced to them.
Indicators of Reading Readiness
The child who is ready to read displays the following:
 The child can speak in complete sentences
 Pronounces words properly
 Tells simple stories logically
 Recites rhymes
 Describes objects and relates incidents
 Asks many questions about books
 Shows interest in reading materials they come a cross
 Holds the book properly
 Answers to and read their name
 Recites the alphabet correctly
 Correspond some or all letters to their correct sounds
 Notices similarities and differences in objects and pictures
 Distinguishes sounds within the environment
 Turns over pages in the book correctly
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PRE- READING
Pre- means before. Pre-reading means before the child is introduced to actual reading. Before
a child reds, he/she is taken through a variety of activities which train the eye movement, the
listening skill and sensory skills in order to coordinate while reading.
The child who is taken through the pre-reading activities develops the reading readiness. The
Skills developed become the pre-requisite for actual reading. Such activities trains the
observation skills, the ability to interpret and identify sounds of letters and to read words with
ease after understanding their sound systems.
The pre-reading skills include:
i) Visual skills
This is a skill where a child can identify similarities and differences in pictures, shapes,
letters and words. For example,
The left-to-right eye movement. This is a skill child develops inorder to read from left to
right.
ii) Auditory skills
This is a skill where a child is able to identify differences and similarities in sounds or
letters, or words. For example, pen, pencil, pet, ..
iii) Tactical coordination skills: this is a skill where a child’s gross and finer muscles of hand
and fingers develop.
iv) Speech skills
v) Attitudinal skills
Pre-reading activities
 Finding the odd man out
 Identifying what is missing in pictures, words
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 Telling stories and reading stories
 Fitting in jigsaws
 Matching pictures of same colours, shape and size
READING
Reading is the interpretation of written or printed symbols. It is a silent individual activity. It is

one of the basic language skills. It is the process of understanding and interpreting written
symbols.
Importance of teaching reading to young children
 Prepares children for further learning
 Helps children to become fluent speakers
 Children acquire vocabulary which is useful for their daily use as they speak and
communicate with others
 Children get to know sounds of letters, identify the differences and similarities and be
able to read with ease.
Methods of teaching reading to young children
There are seven basic methods of teaching young children reading:
i) Alphabetical method: In this method, it is the forms and names of the letters that is
taught to children. Familiarity with forms and names of letters will help the child to
recognize and pronounce the words correctly. This is the method that can guide the
child to spell the words.
ii) Phonic method: this is the method whereby children are taught the various sounds of
letters of the alphabet. When children have mastered the sounds, they are then
shown how to combine the letters to make syllables into words (blending). The
English language has only 26 alphabet letters (graphemes) but has 42 sounds that
carry meaning (phonemes).
iii) Syllabic method: This method is based on the principle of children learning to
pronounce sounds that letters and group of letters represent then put the sounds
together ( blending from left to right) to pronounce words. In syllabic method, the
child is taught sounds by constructing syllables instead of single phonemes. A
syllable in this case is a sound made with one breath and movement of the mouth.
For example, paw-paw = pawpaw, ba-na-na = banana.
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iv) The whole word or look and say method: in this method, words, phrase and sentences
are taught as a whole. The child is shown the whole word. For example, boy, to
read. When using the method, the teacher does not separate the different letters and
matching sounds that make up the word but the child reads it as a unit. Here the
learner is required to learn to recognize the whole word.
v) Sentence method: in this method, children learn to read by recognizing the whole
sentence. Children begin by reading the whole sentence that they are taught to
recognize while it is agreed that words carry meaning, it is the sentence that
conveys the message. For example, “the girl ran into the house” tell us more than
the girl.
vi) Eclectic method: This one is a mixture of two or more methods. It is a combination of
methods using activities and approaches selected from the different methods of
teaching and reading. The important point to note is that when children learn at the
same time or way, they have different learning styles and learn at different pace,
meaning not all children learn through the same method. The language of instruction
is the familiar language to the “I do, we do, and you do.” In this method the teacher
first demonstrates and models the lesson, learners are then invited to report after the
teacher as a whole class, groups, pairs and individuals.
vii) Scaffolding: This method directly supports the idea of moving from the known to the
unknown. With scaffolding, children gain new information that builds from their
present understanding. In practice, instead of just hearing the correct answer, the
child is supported to reach the correct answer. Children should be supported with
scaffolding using corrective feedback. For example, the child who incorrectly reads
the word “boy” as “ball” is told, “you have the first sound right. Let’s look at the rest of
the new” or, the child who points at a red pen and says, “Blue pen” is told, “you are
correct, it is a pen but it is red, not blue.
The techniques of teaching reading
The following are the basic techniques of teaching reading:
i) Listen, say and use (L.S.U)
Listen:
 You bring a variety of objects to use when teaching the new language items.
 Demonstrate by saying the word while showing the object to children
 Children listen to the sound of the word and observe
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 You say the word two or three times while the children continue to listen
 Speak clearly so that the children get the correct pronunciation while they
repeat at the last stage.
 Teach the word in context with known sentence patterns but isolating the new
item from time to time to help the children get the proper sound of the word.
Say:
 Children listen to you again pronouncing the sound of the word and repeat
after you the teacher.
 The object is no longer shown because you must concentrate on the

production of the correct sound.
 Let the children repeat the word after the teacher as a class, in small groups,
pairs and individuals.
 Give them as many practices as possible to ensure correct pronunciation.
 Go around the class listening to individual child as they are repeating the
words in their groups. Remember to give them the greatest amount of
practice in the shortest time possible.
Use:
 Here they use the knowledge acquired from stage one (Listen) and stage
two (Say).
 Teachers design activities like: matching words to real objects, matching

pictures to an object, fitting in jigsaws, playing domino games, playing lotto
games, matching word to word, and matching picture to picture.
ii) Substitution
This means learning one sentence pattern at a time with numerous substitutions of one or
several items within that do not change the pattern of the sentence.
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An example of a substitution table:
He is Washing Bananas
Cleaning Clothes
She is Eating Water
Drinking Bottles
Instructional materials for teaching reading
 Flash cards
 Sentence cards
 Word cards
 Cut-out letters
 Jigsaws
 Crossword puzzles
 Story books
 Picture cards
WRITING READINESS
Writing readiness is the stage that the child is considered to be aware of the letters of
alphabet and is ready for actual writing. At this stage, the child is exposed to a number of
activities inorder to acquire the necessary skills for actual writing. These activities are
called Pre- writing activities.
Pre-writing activities
Writing is a skill which is developed gradually. The child should be taken through a
systematic programme that prepares him/her to develop the skill. The activities that can be
used to develop the writing skills include:
 Scribbling
 Threading
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 Modeling
 Colouring
 Weaving
 Matching pictures
 Matching words
 Matching pictures to words
 Sorting and grouping
 Doodling
 Tearing papers, leaves
 Copying
 Joining dots
 Tracing
 Following the path
 Shading
 Drawing
 Buttoning a shirt
 Tying shoe laces
Pre-writing skills
These are skills developed through the pre-writing activities. As the child goes through the pre-
writing activities, he/she acquires the pre-requisites that he needs to write. These skills include:
 Visual discrimination skills which involves matching activities
 Eye-hand coordination skills
 Manipulative skills that deals with the development of fine muscles of the fingers so that
the child is able to grip the writing materials.
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 Auditory memory: this is the skill of remembering what one has seen. In writing, the
child is required to remember shapes of letters inorder to write words.
WRITING
Writing is the fact of using graphic symbols, making marks on a flat surfaces of some kind
which is done in form of letters and a combination of letters which relate to sounds we make
when we speak. The symbols used have to be arranged according to certain conventions to
form words and the words have to be arranged to form sentences which should be arranged in
a particular order.
Importance to teaching hand writing
 Writing enables children to convey and receive messages in the different learning
situations.
 Writing gives children opportunity to work at their own pace in a relaxed way.
 Writing helps children to express their emotions in written form, drawing or pictures.
 Helps to clear up difficulties that learners may be experiencing when learning orally.
Types of writing
There are basically two types of writing. That is creative writing and hand writing. Others types
are categorized under functional literacy, they include: expository, persuasive, narrative and
descriptive.
Expository writing is a type which the author’s purpose is to inform or explain the subject to the
reader.
Persuasive writing is that which states the opinion of the writer and attempts to influence the
reader.
Narrative writing is a type which the author tells a story. The story could be fact or fiction.
Descriptive writing is a type of expository writing that uses the five senses to paint a picture for
the reader. This writing incorporates imagery and specific details.
i) Creative writing (applicable to children of P.1 – P.3)
Creative writing is the type of writing which involves the writer’s ability to create and
imagine things. The writer imagines and creates a story or a composition which pleases the
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writer, and creates into the reader, prose, poetry, play, drama are examples of creative
writing.
Importance of teaching creative writing
 Develops children’s imaginative and creative skills to think reason and put ideas
logically in an interesting way. Creative writing motivates children in the learning
process.
 Develops children’s composition skill and use of language as they express their
ideas.
ii) Hand writing
Handwriting is all about using a hand to write symbols, words, sentences or any piece of
text. There are basically two styles of handwriting. i.e. Manuscript or print style and cursive
writing.
Print style involves simple writing and based on circles, strokes, straight lines and curves.
Cursive styles of writing is a style which allows free movement of the hand as the child writes
and letters are joined to one another in a word. It is introduced usually to children when they
have
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UNIT FOUR
SETTING UP AND EQUIPPING ECD CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
Introduction
This course is part of educational technology which introduces student to concepts of

designing and setting or arranging the different instructional materials and making the
classroom environment enticing, interesting and stimulating to the children’s learning.
To enable the environment be interesting and favorable for learning for the children, the
following steps needs to be followed by the caregiver or teacher:
1. Think about your philosophy of education and teacher goals.
2. Consider how your philosophy and goals relate to the space that is available and the
activities that take place there.
3. Assess the children in your care and identify their particular developmental needs.
Find out as much as you can about the nature of the space that is familiar to them in
other settings and the kind of interactions they are accustomed to.
4. If you are working with an existing setting, observe children and staff in that setting.
Make notes about what appears to work well and what does not work well there. Look
for checklists, that may help you evaluate what you see.
5. Take advantage of as many available resources as possible. Read what you can;
become familiar with recommendations for the best possible use of space as well as
regulatory requirements; visit other centers; and discuss proposed changes with others,
including fellow staff and your builder or architect (if appropriate).
6. Make a "paper doll kit" and move the pieces around, keeping in mind what you have
learned, the goals you have set for yourself, and what you expect to happen there.
Write down your thoughts about how your classroom should be designed and the
effects your changes should have.
7. Reorganize your room and change your teacher behavior accordingly.
8. Observe the effects of the changes you have made and decide whether your goals
have been achieved.
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9. Make further changes based on your observations.
10. Begin the cycle again by considering whether your educational philosophy and goals
are still appropriate in view of your current situation.
CLASSROOM LABELING AS PART OF A PRINT-RICH ENVIRONMENT

Children’s books and other reading materials are an essential part of a young child’s
early literacy experience and lay the foundation for a love of reading. But did you know
that many other types and uses of print such as street signs, Dad’s shopping list, a
thank-you note to Grandma, preschool attendance sheets, and names on the birthday
board help contribute to a child’s ability to read? As young children experience different
types of print, they learn what all the letters and words mean in different contexts and
how they affect their lives.
Providing a print-rich classroom environment exposes children to reading in a functional

way. One aspect of a print-rich classroom is labeling. Labeling helps to create an
environment that puts children at ease and contributes to self-directed learning. Labeling
also:
 Helps children recognize that words have meaning

 Infuses the environment with print
 Helps children develop responsibility as they care for the materials they use
 Frees the teacher for individual instruction with children
 Turns clean-up time into a valuable learning opportunity
 Gives visual clues to the location of items
 Makes it easier for the staff to maintain inventory of classroom materials
 Adds to the appeal and organization of the classroom
Labeling Guidelines
Every early childhood classroom should have its own personality or style that reflects the
children’s and staff’s interests and personalities. However, to make labeling the
environment a worthwhile venture that contributes to a child’s understanding of print,
there are basic guidelines that should be followed.
 Use upper and lowercase letters properly—only proper names begin with an
uppercase letter.
 Words are printed or typed neatly.
 All words are spelled correctly.
 The letters used in a label are of the same size, type, and color.
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 The words and letters in a label read from left to right.
Bins and Baskets

Bins and baskets placed on classroom shelves at the children’s level can be labeled with
words and pictures. To assist in putting the bins away in the proper place, make sure the
shelf is also labeled. By labeling the shelf, you help children know where the basket or
bin belongs with a word and picture. Picture labels may come from a commercial
labeling system, be cut out of catalogs or packaging, or be simple drawings. The word
label should be typed or written neatly using proper capitalization and spelling and
reading from left to right.
To increase the life of the label, attach the labels to the shelf or baskets with clear
contact paper. For more even more durable labels put the picture and word on an index
card and laminate it. Punch a hole at the top two corners and use slide or zip ties (found
at hardware or home improvement stores) to affix the labels to the baskets.
Children will see the pictures and begin to associate the written word with the object.
Labeling of this kind provides young children the opportunity to practice sorting,
matching, and organizational skills. Matching the basket label and shelf label also makes
for easier clean up. Shadowing Items that are directly placed on the shelf such as unit
blocks, dramatic play hats, or children’s scissors can be labeled using shadows instead
of pictures and words. Shadowing encourages easy clean-up, matching, and
classifying—particularly with multiple items such as a large set of wooden blocks.
To create a shadow:
1. Trace around each item with a black marker on construction paper or solid
colored contact paper.
2. Cut out each shape.
3. Affix the shape directly onto the shelf where the item should be placed with
clear contact paper. When organizing a unit block shelf, larger blocks should be
placed on the bottom with smaller blocks at the top of the shelving unit.
Classroom Environment Labels

Common items such as the clock, bathroom, and sink should be labeled near the item.
This promotes letter and word recognition and encourages reading. Cubbies and other
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individual spaces for children should be labeled clearly with each child’s name, using
upper and lowercase letters as appropriate. For younger children, a picture of an animal,
in addition to a child’s name can be included on the cubby label to make identification of
the space easier than with the name alone.
Introducing Labeling in the Classroom

Children will notice the labels immediately as a new addition to their classroom
environment. They will need some assistance in the beginning to understand how to use
the labels and what they mean. Challenge the children to try to figure out what they think
the labels are to be used for. After you’ve made their list, explain that the labels help
them find and replace materials in their classroom. Throughout the day, remind and
encourage them to find the two labels that match. It is also essential that the staff model
how materials are put away. For example, a teacher might say during clean up time, “I
need to put these musical instruments away. Here’s where they go, because this label
says ‘musical instruments’ and I see a picture of them.”
Another idea to help children understand the labeling system, is to involve the children in
the initial process of labeling of the room. The staff might print the labels ahead of time
and assist the children in finding the item the label goes with. Children can also search
through catalogues for matching pictures.
AN ENVIRONMENT THAT POSITIVELY IMPACTS YOUNG CHILDREN

How Children Understand the Environment
Young children strive to make sense of the world in which they live. They try to organize
the visual images and concrete objects in their environment into meaningful systems.
Children want to determine how the space works and what activities can happen in this
place. Today's young children are spending a large number of hours in a "new"
environment—child care. Some children who begin attending child care in infancy may
spend as much as 12,000 hours in this setting. This massive number of hours in one
environment demands that the space be carefully designed to create the "best" place
possible for young children.
The Caring Teacher Is a Critical Component
Specific design techniques, when combined with a caring teacher, can help the
environment become a wonderful place for nurturing the development of young children.
Children who live in this classroom will have many opportunities for expanding their
knowledge by actively participating in a world that is appropriate for their level of
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development. It will include spaces for active play as well as spaces for privacy.
Opportunities are provided for a child to work quietly and areas are available where
small groups can collaborate on a project.
An Environment that Matches Young Children
The first step in creating an appropriate environment for infants, toddlers, and preschool
children is to examine how young children learn and develop. Each stage of
development has unique characteristics that influence how a child will experience his or
her environment.
For example, infants and toddlers learn about their world by acting on objects and
materials in their environment. As the toddler feels the texture of a beach ball, pushes
the air filled object, and rolls it across the carpeted floor, he constructs an understanding
of the ball. Because infants and toddlers learn by interacting with the environment, their
space must be designed with many opportunities for physically exploring real materials.
Varied materials are stored where the child can easily select them. Other items are
placed where they are not visible but can be retrieved when a specific activity or
individual need occurs.
Preschoolers are active learners who continue to examine materials while beginning to
use objects in more complex combinations. They are developing symbolic representation
as they take on roles and participate in socio-dramatic play. Their language explodes
during this period as they try to find "labels" for the objects and people in their world.
Language gives young children the power to question and find answers.
Learning centers are effective ways to organize and support these developing abilities.
The center areas clearly communicate to preschoolers what activity occurs in this area
and the available materials that will stimulate their play. Traditional centers as well as
unique centers encourage language interactions, socio-dramatic play, and the
construction of experiences based on their level of understanding. By adding literacy
materials including books, paper and writing tools, this construction will include "reading
and writing" opportunities.
Brain Development During the Early Years
Early childhood educators and neurologists agree that the first eight years are a critical
time of brain development. Infants come into the world with a brain waiting to be woven
into the complex fabric of the mind. Some neurons in the brain are wired before birth, but
many are waiting to be programmed by early experiences. The early environment where
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young children live will help determine the direction of their brain development. Children
who have severely limited opportunities for appropriate experiences will be delayed; this
may permanently affect their learning. But, children who have the opportunity to develop
in an organized and appropriate environment are challenged to think and use materials
in new ways.
Windows of Opportunity
New brain research indicates that there are important "windows of opportunity" that exist
during the early years. These are considered the "prime" times for these areas to be
developed. Experts have identified several areas that are particularly critical during the
early years these include: language, logical thinking, music, vision, and emotion.
Appropriate and interesting experiences, during the early years, in these specific areas
can have a positive impact on the child's current development as well brain connections
that will last a lifetime.
Visual Environment
During the first eight years, children are developing their visual acuity. Their perceptions
of objects, movement, and print are expanded as they have opportunities for
experiencing interesting visual images. Changes and variations of design intrigue
children and cause them to visually attend to the unusual. The young child's environment
that includes interesting visual aspects draws them to examine a painting on the wall or
recognize a drawing that they have completed. Displays and panels provide visually
interesting content to examine as children move about in the classroom space. In the
past, many early childhood classrooms were so filled with commercial decorations,
materials and, "stuff" that young children were visually overwhelmed. Today, we are
working to have less clutter and a more organized display of materials and work, so
young children can visually attend to and enjoy the important features of the
environment.
Auditory Environment
Music and sound patterns stimulate several portions of the young child's brain. A variety
of music and instruments can expand the sound world of young children, while
developing musical enjoyment. Singing in circle time and during transitions encourages
the children to discriminate sounds and identify familiar patterns. Making music with
simple rhythm instruments provides opportunities for children to connect the object with
the sound that it produces and to control the production. Recordings of vocals,
instrumentals, and folk instruments provide another listening experience that expands
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the auditory environment for young children. Providing a special area for group
participation, as well as a center where sounds can be explored individually, can add to
the auditory possibilities of the classroom.
Integrated Environment
Young children make many connections when they participate in meaningful activities.
Integrated activities that connect several types of learning are particularly effective for
preschool children. These experiences provide stimulation for several portions of the
brain and make additional connections that extend learning. Some of the experiences
that are particularly powerful for integrated learning and building connections are
learning centers, thematic episodes, and projects.
To support integrated learning, materials must be readily accessible to the play areas
and stored so that they can be selected and included in the play. To encourage the
continuation of projects, there must be places to carefully store objects while the work is
in progress.
Emotional Environment
It has been suggested that the emotions of children are strongly influenced by the
responsiveness of the caregiver during the first years of life. If the child's joy is reflected
by the caregiver and the emotion is reciprocated, the child's security is strengthened. If
the child's emotion is interpreted as annoying by the caregiver, the circuits become
confused. A caring and responsive caregiver provides a positive climate for young
children that will impact not only emotional security but also many aspects of cognitive
development. Children who feel secure and supported will experiment, try new things,
and express their ideas.
The appropriate emotional environment also respects young children, while

understanding individual differences. This means that each child has a place to collect
"valuable" things—their pictures and work are displayed in the classroom. There is a
place where the child can retreat when things get too busy, or when he becomes tired.
Independent Learners
An independent learner is able to make personal choices and carry out an appropriate
plan of action. Beginning in infancy and toddlerhood and continuing throughout
childhood, there is the growing need to become an independent person. Children want to
do things for themselves and in their own way. Preschoolers become increasingly
competent in making choices, creating a plan, and following through with a project or
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experience. If children's ideas are valued and their interest followed they will work on
projects for long periods of time. This process is supported in an environment where
children are able to revisit and reflect on their plans, while using their knowledge in ways
that are meaningful for them.
An effective environment is designed so even the youngest of children can become

independent. There are many opportunities for them to be successful as they work to do
things for themselves. They are not dependent on the teacher and constantly asking for
every material they need. An orderly display of accessible materials grouped together
will help children understand that they are capable of making decisions. The
environment will communicate to them, "you can make the selection, you have good
ideas, and you can carry out the plan for yourself."
Influence of Environment on Children's Behaviors
The environment in which young children live tells them how to act and respond. A large
open space in the center of the classroom clearly invites young children to run across
the area. If few materials are available to use, children will create interesting happenings,
including conflict. If the procedures for using learning centers are not predictable and
easily understood, the children will wander in and out of the areas with little involvement
in play. The arrangement and materials in the environment will determine the areas
where children focus their work. It will also influence the number of conflicts that occur or
the way the group works together. If the materials are hard plastic, the children are
invited to be rough with the objects with little concern for their treatment. If a beautiful
flower arrangement is on the table, they will learn to visually examine the flowers and
gently handle the delicate blooms. Children learn to be respectful of their environment if
they have opportunities to care for beautiful objects and materials.
Conclusion
Young children respond differently, based on the design of the environment in which
they live. An effectively designed classroom has the potential for positively influencing all
areas of children's development: physical, social /emotional, and cognitive. Language
and learning are nurtured in an environment that values and plans appropriate
opportunities. The environment can support the development of behaviors that are
valued in our society, such as cooperation and persistence. An aesthetically pleasing
space can develop a child's appreciation for the beautiful world around them. Most
importantly, quality environment can provide a home like setting that "feels" like a good
place to be.
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CREATING INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
An early childhood environment is many things: It's a safe place where children are
protected from the elements and are easily supervised, and it's where the important
activities of the day take place, such as playing, eating, sleeping, washing hands, and
going to the bathroom. Beyond the basics, however, an environment for young
children implements and supports a program's philosophy and curriculum.
Philosophies like Montessori, for example, require well-designed classrooms with low
shelves, four basic learning areas, and places for children to work and learn
independently, and British infant/primary programs have classrooms with a variety of
rich learning centers, a cozy reading area with couch and carpet, and a lively science
area that contains pets and plants.
How Does Your Environment Support Your Philosophy and Curriculum?

Since most early childhood philosophies stress the importance of play, hands-on-
learning, and whole child development, a good early childhood environment supports
these activities. Are there well-supplied dramatic play areas? Is there a large block
area? What about sand and water activities, manipulatives, art areas, and reading
corners? Is the space arranged in such a way that children can make noise while
playing without disturbing children in other activities? Can children make a mess in the
art area without destroying the books in the reading area?
Meeting Children's Needs
The young of every species have basic needs that must be met for them to develop
and mature. Children are no exception. For children, these essential needs include
warm, caring, and responsive adults; a sense of importance and significance; a way to
relate to the world around them; opportunities to move and play; and people to help
structure and support their learning. In the past, these needs were met at home and in
the community, but now these needs are being met in our classrooms. According to
Jim Greenman (1988), early childhood environments should be:
 Rich in Experience. Children need to explore, experiment, and learn basic

knowledge through direct experience. Indeed, childhood is a time when we
learn firsthand about the physical world the feel of water, the constant pull of
gravity, the stink of rotten fruit, and the abrasive feel of concrete on a bare
knee.
 Rich in Play. Play provides a way for children to integrate all their new
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experiences into their rapidly developing minds, bodies, emotions, and social
skills. Brain research supports this idea, stressing that children learn best
through an integrated approach combining physical, emotional, cognitive, and
social growth (Shore, 1997).
 Rich in Teaching. The role of the teacher is critical in a child’s life. Children
depend on teachers to be their confidant, colleague, model, instructor, and
nurturer of educational experiences.
 Rich with People. Clearly children need lots of exposure to other people in
their early childhood years. One of the greater weaknesses of Western society
is that our children have less exposure to the diverse group of people living in
the local village—baker, farmer, gardener, carpenter, piano tuner, bricklayer,
painter, etc.
 Significant to Children. Young children need to feel important. In past eras
children were responsible to water the garden, do farm chores, and care for
younger children. Children need to feel that what they do is meaningful to
someone besides themselves.
 Places Children Can Call Their Own. A basic human need is the need to
belong. Children need to feel they belong, too. They need to be close to people
they know, have familiar and comfortable objects, and be in a setting that has a
personal history for them.
How Teachers Can Create Effective Learning Environments
The components of a learning environment are many and can be overwhelming. What
should an environment for young children look like? How do you create an
environment that supports learning and meets children s basic needs? Below is a brief
description of the most important components needed to make an effective learning
environment for young children.
Environments for Young Children Stimulate Learning
Environments for young children should provide multiple sources of stimulation to

encourage the development of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social skills. As you
plan your environment be sure to include the following:
Places for developmentally appropriate physical activities. Environments

should provide children with opportunities for a lot of developmentally appropriate
physical activities. Young children are physical beings. They learn most effectively
through total physical involvement and require a high level of physical activity,
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variety, and stimulus change (Hale, 1994).
Opportunities for concrete, hands-on activities. Young children need hands-on

activities—playing in water, building mud pies, making things out of wood, putting a
doll to bed, etc. They also need lots of ways to practice and integrate new
experiences into existing mental structures—dramatic play, drawing, taking
photographs, using language, and making things with blocks.
Change and variety. Children seek out a constant change of stimuli—scenery,

textures, colors, social groups, activities, environments, sounds, and smells. As
our children spend more time in our programs, the more variation and stimulation
they need.
Color and decorations. Color and decorations should be used to support the
various functional areas in the classroom and center, provide needed stimulus
change and variety, and develop different areas and moods in the room. Vibrant
colors such as red, magenta, and yellow work well in the gross motor area;
soothing blues and green are good color choices for hands-on learning centers;
and whites and very light colors are good for areas that need lots of concentration
and light. Soft pastels and other gentle hues, on the other hand, work well in
reading areas and other low intensity activities. Decorations should follow the
same pattern, with an additional emphasis on changing them often, and providing
order around topics, projects, and themes.
Materials and Equipment Contribute to the Overall Environment and Program

Philosophy
The success of an early childhood environment is not dependent upon aesthetics and
design alone. The materials and equipment given to the children is just as important to
learning as the physical space of the classroom. The following materials and
equipment can be added to any early childhood environment.
Soft, responsive environments. Children who spend most of their day in one
environment need surfaces that respond to them, not hard surfaces that they must
conform to. Sand, water, grass, rugs and pillows, and the lap of a caregiver
respond to a child’s basic physical needs (Prescott, 1994).
Flexible materials and equipment. Children can use sand, water, or play dough
in a variety of ways, depending on their maturity, ability, past experience with the
materials, interest, and involvement. A jigsaw puzzle, on the other hand, has only
one correct solution. Legos® and tinker toys have specific physical qualities that
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must be adhered to, but are also flexible enough to allow a range of creative
activities. Programs should include lots of materials that have an abundance and
variety of uses to give children a sense of creativity and control (Wardle, 1999).
Simple, complex and super complex units. According to Prescott (1994),

learning materials can be simple, complex, or super complex. Simple materials are
those with essentially one function, complex those with two, and super complex,
those with more than two. For example, a pile of sand, is a simple unit. If one adds
a plastic shovel to the sand it becomes a complex unit. Adding a bucket of water or
collection of toy animals to the sand and shovel creates a super-complex unit. The
more complex the materials, the more play and learning they provide (Wardle,
1999).
Strategies for Small Spaces
Programs with little space must change their areas often and find creative ways to use
community areas such as parks and recreation facilities for gross motor activities.
With a little creativity, small spaces can work out very well. For example, I once
observed a very well planned and supportive early childhood environment designed
under the bleachers of a high school! Lofts were built, there were cozy reading areas,
and each Head Start child had a place of their own. When I was teaching in Kansas
City, we walked across the street to use the Jewish Community center's gym and
swimming pool. When using community facilities, be sure that playgrounds and other
equipment are safe and developmentally appropriate for the children in your care.
Private Places
Because so many child care facilities have limited space, it can be challenging to
respond to the uniqueness of each child within a collective environment. Young
children have unique personalities and needs that require us to respond to them as
individuals, not as members of a group. The environment must be responsive to this
need. Ease of cleaning, maintenance, supervision, cost, and adult aesthetics should
not detract from providing spaces children feel are designed for them. Children need
to have private areas, secluded corners, lofts, and odd-shaped enclosures. Individual
cubbies for each child's clothes and belongings, photographs of home and family, and
at least a couple of secluded areas where two or three children can gather allow
children opportunities to maintain their individuality and break away from the group to
avoid over stimulation.
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Early Childhood Environments Should Be Functional for Both Children and
Teachers
Unlike traditional classrooms, early childhood environments need to support both
basic functions and learning activities. Look around your classroom from a child's
perspective. Are toilets, sinks, windows, faucets, drinking fountains, mirrors, towel
racks, chairs and tables, tooth brush containers, and bulletin boards at the child's level
and child-sized? Are classrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and eating areas close
together so that children can develop self-help skills and important autonomous
behaviors?
Like children, teachers also need to have spaces that are functional. Teachers need
to be able to arrange and rearrange their classrooms for various class activities and
supervision purposes. Classrooms that include permanent, built-in features such as
lofts, playhouses, tables, benches, alcoves, and cubbies can be problematic. These
types of fixed features make it difficult for teachers to create areas for gross motor
activities, can cause injury in active children, or prevent inclusion of physical activities
altogether. Classrooms built as a basic shell work best.
Accommodating Children With Special Needs
Even environments carefully designed and equipped for young children do not meet
the needs of children with disabilities. Adaptations must be made carefully for any
child with special needs, be they physical challenges, learning disabilities, or
emotional issues. Rifton Equipment (made by the makers of Community Playthings)
produces child-size equipment for children with physical disabilities that integrate well
with traditional equipment. Brail and large lettering can be used for children with visual
impairments, and sign language can be incorporated into the curriculum for those
children with hearing impairments. Reducing distractions, glare, and over stimulation
helps accommodate children with ADD and ADHD.
Including Diversity
The environment should reflect the importance of children by including examples of

their work in progress, finished products, and by displaying images of children. Every
child in the program must see examples of themselves and their family throughout the
center, not just in the classroom. Visual images are an important part of developing a
feeling of belonging in all children, so it is important to display pictures of single parent
families, grandparent families, and homes of every race and ethnicity, including
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interracial, multiethnic, and adoptive families. The entire center should also reflect
diversity throughout the world race, ethnicity, languages (not just English and
Spanish), art, gender roles, religious ceremonies, shelter, work, traditions, and
customs. The goal is for children to be exposed to the rich diversity of the entire world
(Wardle, 1992). This is done through artwork, photos, posters, and signs on the wall;
books; dolls; parent boards, newsletters, announcements, and magazines; and
curricula materials such as puzzles, people sets, activity books, music, art materials,
artifacts in the dramatic play area, and fabrics.
Obstacles to Consider When Planning Your Learning Environment
When setting up an effective preschool classroom, a variety of factors must be

carefully considered and balanced (Olds, 1982). Below are some of the critical
environmental issues that must be carefully addressed as you plan the environment.
Storage. Storage areas are a little like entrance and exits—they receive lots of
traffic and are noisy and congested. For these reasons, storage areas can
sometimes foster disruptive behavior and noise. Provide easy access to materials,
allowing children to get what they need quietly and easily. The closer materials are
to where they will be used, the better. Storage must also be designed so that
materials for independent child use are separate from those teachers control.
Activity Area Access. Activity areas need to be located next to supplies and be
easy to clean up. The classic example is the art area. While providing easy access
to paint, easels, paper, and brushes, the art area needs to be close to a water
source and on a surface that can withstand a mess. Similarly, the reading area
must be close to book shelves, magazine racks, and comfortable places to sit.
Noise. Managing noise is important in a classroom. Placing carpet on the floor

absorbs noise as does absorbent tile on the ceiling. The reading center should be
next to a quiet area like the art area. Blocks are loud, and should be located next
to other loud areas such as the woodworking bench. Noisy activities can also be
placed in transition areas or moved outside in good weather.
Dividers. Dividers are any physical object that serves to delineate areas within a
classroom, create interest areas, control traffic, and distribute children throughout
the classroom. Almost anything can be used as a divider, so long as it is safe the
shelves, couches, fabric hung from a line, streamers attached to the ceiling, folding
screens, puppet stages, etc. Safety is obviously a critical issue. Some dividers are
easy to push over. The larger and heavier they are at the bottom, the safer. A
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divider can also be secured by fastening it to the floor or a wall. Several equipment
companies have introduced dividers that attach directly to storage units and
furniture. Ideally, dividers should be multi-functional for use as storage units, play
furniture, and display boards. Keep in mind that solid dividers or walls of more than
30-40 inches high disrupt the circulation of air in the classroom and limit
supervision of children. Less solid dividers, like fabric, avoid this problem. One
teacher creatively used colorful fabric streamers attached to the ceiling as effective
dividers.
Evaluating the Environment
The early childhood environment needs to be carefully evaluated and assessed on an

annual basis. There are a variety of instruments available, including evaluations from
NAEYC and Head Start, the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale by Clifford
and Harms (1998), and a variety of other checklists. In conducting the evaluation
consider these things:
 Carefully select the person who will conduct the evaluation. The person should
be objective and familiar with the program and children.
 Evaluate the entire center, including the playground, hallways, and bathrooms.
It makes little sense for a program to have a nice, cozy, intimate classroom,
with learning centers and children's work displayed everywhere, and long, cold
institutional corridors and large bathrooms with adult-size urinals (Wardle,
1989).
 Make sure all the important objectives of the program are addressed. Most
instruments list each objective and items that support those objectives.
 Be particularly attentive to ways the environment supports new program
objectives. If the program just added a technology objective, are there enough
computers and a well-equipped computer learning center?
 Ensure consistency. If the program stresses developmentally appropriate
practice and play, then the computer component cannot be designed to support
teacher directed instruction and drill/skill activities.
 Balance what we know to be good for children with the new fixation on
academics. Many public schools and Head Start programs are emphasizing
teacher directed instruction in academics at the expense of meeting all the
children's needs.
 Make sure environments designed to support diversity address all forms of
diversity. It is as important for an all minority program to show racial, ethnic,
and national diversity as a white program; gender, language, religion, ability,
and occupational diversity should all be evident (Wardle, 1992).
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Once the evaluation is completed, the results should be tabulated, analyzed, and
communicated to the program's decision-makers. The information gained from an
evaluation is extremely valuable and can be used to design new programs and
offerings as well as construct the budget for the coming school year.
Conclusion
A good early childhood environment meets the child's basic needs and supports and
encourages children to engage in activities that implement the program's curriculum.
Further, the environment is designed to enable staff to facilitate the optimum learning
for their children. Finally, the environment makes parents and guardians feel welcome,
involved, and empowered.
TIPS FOR FURNISHING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Tables, shelves, chairs, and easels are the staples of an early childhood classroom, and yet
their proper selection is often taken for granted. There are many guides, articles, and books
about choosing toys and materials for early childhood environments, but not a lot of guidance
on what to look for when purchasing or evaluating furniture needs.
Mike Sigsbee, owner of School Solutions, Inc., confirms that there are many questions to ask
and points to consider before making a furniture purchase. Sigsbee states that safety should
always be the first consideration in purchasing furniture or evaluating existing equipment. Next,
ensure the item is appropriate for the age group it is intended. The rest of this article provides
an easy-to-use reference that covers the planning of a furniture purchase to making the actual
purchase. Lastly, a list of issues to consider when choosing a furniture vendor is included.
Questions to Answer When Planning Your Furniture Purchase

 Who is going to be using the furniture? The age of the children using the furniture
dictates the size of the piece.
 What is the purpose of the furniture piece? For example, a table intended for dramatic
play has different requirements than a table used for meals and art projects.
 What state licensing requirements effect this purchase? Some states specify the size of
the chair for each age group.
 How long do you expect to use the item; is it for long or short term use? Typically,
furniture is for long term use, therefore quality and durability are of utmost importance.
 What overall "feel" are you interested in achieving? Do you want a homelike, school, or
utilitarian look to the classroom?
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 Does someone locally own the furniture you are interested in purchasing? It is helpful to
see the piece in a classroom and ask how they like it, how it is holding up, and how
responsive the vendor was to their needs.
 How flexible or easy-to-move does the furniture piece need to be? Some classrooms
share space and need to move shelves daily; this makes its ability to be moved easily of
primary importance.
Considerations to Make When Purchasing Children's Furniture or Evaluating Existing
Pieces
 The furniture piece does not present any obstacles for children with special needs.
 There are no sharp edges or rough surfaces.
 The dimensions of the furniture are appropriate for your use; consider the ages of the
children using the item as well as the size of the classroom or area the piece will be
placed. The item should not block an adult's ability to supervise any part of the
classroom.
 Corners are rounded.
 Furniture is lacquered or has an acrylic urethane finish and is not painted. (Paint
requires frequent maintenance to keep it looking nice.)
 Any part(s) of the item that come out or off (such as individual shelves, knobs, or
attachments) should be examined for stability, safety, and the availability of parts for
replacement.
 Small knobs or handles are securely fastened.
 Children cannot easily move the furniture by themselves.
 Joints (the place where the parts of a furniture piece are joined together) are well
engineered; they are not simply stapled or nailed together. One of the best design
features is called dowel-pinning construction. This type of construction features sections
that are joined together using dowel pins, which strengthen the joints.
 The furniture will accept repeated sanitizing and does not have a textured or porous
surface that is difficult to clean.
 Ask the vendor what the warranty is and request it in writing.
 Ask the vendor if the item has to be assembled. A good clue to the difficulty level of a
product’s assembly is how many pieces the item comes in.
Additionally, Consider the Following When Purchasing or Evaluating These Specific

Items:
Classroom Shelves
 The shelf unit has a wide base to prevent tipping over when pushed or climbed. This
also means it doesn't have to be against a wall.
 There are no exposed nails or fasteners. Look for shelves and backing that is not
stapled on, but fits into recessed grooves and glued.
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 The unit is easily moved without falling apart or breaking at the bottom.
 If the shelf unit is on wheels, these lock securely.
 The size of the shelf is appropriate. Typically, the smaller shelf units are appropriate for
infants, toddlers, and two-year-olds, and the larger shelf units are for preschoolers and
older children.
Tables
 The size of the table is appropriate for the age of the child using it.
 The size of the table is appropriate for the size of chairs that will be used. For example,
some tables are not short enough to comfortably accommodate 7 1/2 inch chairs.
 The tables have legs that adjust the height of the table, so that the table can be used
with other age groups.
 The table legs come off the table top and can be purchased separately as replacement
pieces.
 Consider the shape of the table that best fits your classroom. A round table takes up
more classroom space and has more unused space in the middle than a rectangular
table. A kidney-shaped table is more restrictive in use. Typically an adult sits on one
side with all the children on the other side. The table top surface is not textured or
porous. Any surface that is not completely smooth is more difficult to get completely
clean and sanitized.
 If there is colored trim around the table, be certain the colors will match the chairs and
other furniture in the room. Most companies will send you paint chips of the different
colors available.
Chairs
 The children's feet should be flat on the ground when sitting in the chair. Sigsbee
suggests the following chair sizes:
- 7 1/2 inch for toddlers and two-year-olds

- 9 1/2 inch for three-year-olds
- 11 1/2 inch for four-year-olds
- 13 1/2 inch for five-year-olds and school-agers
 The chair surface is easily cleaned, and any laminate will hold up over time and
continual cleaning with disinfectant.
 The feet of the chair (the bottom piece that rests on the floor) should have a nylon base
instead of metal. Metal glides will eventually rust and stain the floor.
 The feet of the chair should be available to purchase separately and easily replaceable.
 If adults will be sitting in the children's chairs, check for the safe weight limit of the chair.
 The chairs will fit appropriately with the tables they are going to be used with.
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Dramatic Play Furniture
 Furniture pieces with doors utilize full piano hinges (runs the length of the door) instead
of doors with two or three smaller hinges. Piano hinges eliminate pinch points, a
common problem with dramatic play refrigerators and cupboards.
 The doors on furniture pieces should have a 270 degree hinge. This type of hinge will
allow the door to open three-quarters instead of half-way. This prolongs the life of the
door. Doors that open half way will be pushed by the children and will eventually break
off.
 Doors that open side to side last longer than those that open up and down. A stove door
that opens up and down will be stood on and sat on by the children compared to doors
that open side to side.
 Consider a set of dramatic play furniture that connects with countertops that come off
and on. This adds stability to these easy-to-tip-over pieces.
 Watch for pieces that come out easily such as, sink tubs, sink hoses, and interior
shelves. Are they easy to put back in? Are they easily replaced?
 If the pieces will be used to store dramatic play accessories such as food and dishes,
be certain there is adequate storage space within the furniture.
Vinyl Covered Furniture

 Vinyl must withstand repeated sanitizing without fading or discoloration.
 The inside foam should be sturdy and have a heavy density. An adult should be able to
sit on the piece without causing the foam to indent very far.
 Ask for sample color swatches. Do not rely on catalogue pictures to match items to your
existing color scheme.
 There are two different types of vinyl covered furniture, standard and expanded. The
standard type of vinyl has a laminate to make it shiny and tear resistant. However, it has
the possibility to delaminate and become an eyesore. The expanded vinyl does not
have a laminate, but might tear. Carefully consider how much wear the piece will
receive and consult with the manufacturer or your vendor on their recommendations for
your situation.
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 Pieces should be securely stitched together, zippered items are not safe for young
children.
 The stitching should be tight, but not pulled so tightly that tiny holes are already visible.
Sand and Water Table

 The height of the table is appropriate for the ages of children using it.
 If the table will be used with different age groups, consider a table that has adjustable
legs.
 If the table will be used or stored outside, look for tables that are not constructed of
wood.
 The table should be easy for one adult to drain.
 The tub is easy to lift out and dump, preferably by one adult.
 Review the depth of the tub. The deeper the tub, the more likely the material is to stay in
the tub.
 Anticipate how many children you expect to use the table at one time. This helps to
determine how large a table you need.
Issues to Consider When Selecting a Furniture Vendor:

 Ask other programs for names and telephone numbers of reputable vendors they use.
 Vendors with local sales representatives are sometimes more attentive and responsive
to your needs.
 Ask the vendor what the company’s policies are for payments, replacements, or
refunds.
 Ask the vendor what happens if an item arrives damaged; who pays any shipping and
packaging costs?
 Speak with the local sales representative or manager about any discounts your program
might be eligible to receive. Many vendors offer discounts for large or multiple
purchases.
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 Can the vendor refer you to a program that has already purchased the furniture piece
you are interested in buying?
 Will the vendor send you a sample of the item for review and inspection before
purchasing free of charge? Be certain to specify the terms of the sample before
agreeing to anything being shipped. Can you keep the item? If you are required to
return it after a period of time, who pays the shipping costs?
NOTE: please you are advised to read also notes of educational technology to
supplement this unit
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UNIT FIVE
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
This unit introduces you to different media and instructional materials made through education
technology to promote children’s learning. The unit has the following objectives:
 Meaning of Educational technology

 Nature and characteristics of educational Technology
 Importance of educational technology to a teacher
 Categories of instructional materials
 Characteristics of a good learning material
 Designing, developing and making learning materials
 Developing children’s learning centres
 Display of instructional materials
 Maintenance of instructional materials
 Storage of instructional materials
 Using ICT to develop children’s play materials
MEANING OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Different people have tried to define educational technology in relation to their field of
practice. For example Otto (1994) defines education technology as the systematic way of
designing instructions so that students can benefit maximally. In this context, Educational
Technology therefore is the development and application of resources to improve the
process of learning.
According to UNESCO, Educaational Technology implies all the intellectual and

operational efforts made during recent years to re-group, re-arrange and systematize the
application of scientific methods to the organization of new sets of equipment and
materials. It is concerned with the application of modern skills and techniques to
requirenments of education and training. This includes the facilitation of learning by
manipulation of media and methods, and the control of environment in so far as this
reflects on learning.
The Scottish Council of Educational Technology defines Educational Technology as a

systematic approach to designing and evaluating learning and teaching methods and
methodologies and to the application and exploitation of media and the current knowledge
of communication techniques in Education, both formal and informal.
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W.Kenneth Richmond (1979), Educational Technology is concerned with providing
appropriately designed learning situations which holding in view the objectives of teaching
or training, bring to hear the best means of instruction.
In ECD, we shall be taking Educational technology to mean the use of different media in
teaching, designing, making and using instructional materials in order to improve learning
in a participatory manner.
Different media that we can use for designing, teaching, making and using instructional
materials among others include: computers, projectors, printers, cameras, video
equipments, filming equipment, type setting equipment, drawing and writing apparatus, art
and design equipment and materials, musical instruments, craft materials, and biological
preservatives. The above can be referred to as Technology in Education or Technology of
Education. Technology in Education is a service concept. It is the use of equipment and
machines for education purposes.
NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Looking at the various definiftions scholars have given to educational technology points out
the following characteristics of educational Technology:
- It is the application of scientific principles to education
- It lays stress on the development of methods and techniques for effective teaching-
learning.
- It stresses the organization of learning situations for the effective realization of the
goals of education.
- It emphasizes the designing and measuring instruments for testing learning
outcomes.
- It facilitates learning by controlling environment, media and methods.
- It involves input, output and process aspects of education.
- It is not confined to the use of electronic media in education. it includes systems
approach also.
- It is an important medium of communication.
- It is not to be taken as a synonym to audio visual aids in education.
- It a very comprehensive term and is not be viewed in terms of its parts or
processes. it includes instructional technology, teaching technology, programmed
learning, micro teaching and system analysis, etc.
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TO A TEACHER

Teachers can use Educational technology to:
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- Transmit information to learners for example through public address system, or use
of loud speakers.
- Act as a substitute for the teacher for example a teacher can use a computer
programme or a video to teach children even in his/her absence. This can be
referred to as individualized instructions.
- Assist in the practice of specific skills for example a child can use a computer
programme to practice reading or writing skill.
- Get feed back from learners for example learners can record their work and replay it
later so that they can evaluate it. Others can also practice up to a certain level that
the teacher can be able to track using the device.
- Store different instructional materials for future use for example soft copies of
readers, charts or activities cards.
- Design and produce different instructional materials.
- Assist in making efforts for equalizing educational opportunities irrespective of
economic, social and geographical status of the learners.
- It helps teachers to keep themselves abreast of the latest materials for instruction.
For example, teleconferencing facilities, Television Lessons and self-instructional
programmed material sent to learners or service personnels.
Note:
As you involve children in the use of different educational technology materials, take
appropriate measures to ensure safety of children.
CATEGORIES OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

There are different categories of instructional materials that are usually made for use in
ECD. These materials can be audio, visual or audio visual learning materials.
Audio learning materials
These are teaching aids that only produce sound. Audio aids are used in language
lessons, music, drama and any other subject areas which require listening to some
message. Audio aids include radio, tape recorders, and musical instruments. Audio aids
can be made by the teacher and children by:
- Singing or talking and record the sounds in cassette tape that can be used later.
- Get ready-made musical instruments and play them.
- Get a radio and tune to educational radio broadcasts.
- Put small stones in tins, seal them and use as shakers.
- Stretch rubber bands and pluck them to produce sounds.
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- Get small sticks and use them to drum desks to produce desired sounds.
Visual learning materials

These are learning aids that children can get information from them by seeing what is
presented in them. They include real objects (realia), charts, models and chalk boards.
Realia are real objects that can be live objects or preserved specimens of real objects. The
real objects include birds, animals and insects that can be kept in cages, project houses,
aquarium or small class corners by the children. They can also include potted plants in the
class, small school garden plots or mini botanical gardens where different types of plants are
planted and labeled.
The preserved specimens include small plants or plant parts that are wholly cellotaped on
paper card boards. They can also be small insects that are cello taped on card boards.
Animals can be preserved by injecting them with formalin solution which dries them and
preserves for future use. Some materials can be put in small bottles and formalin solution
added to preserve them.
Models include various objects that are modeled from clay or papier-mâché or cutouts which
form three dimensional objects. Good pictures can be glued on card boxes and their outline cut
to leave a nice and durable learning aid. Papier-mâché can be made from waste paper that
are collected, soaked in water, mashed and water squeezed out of it. Cassava starch is then
added to it, mixed and used to model. When the models are dry, they can be painted with
desired colours to make them attractive.
Charts can be made from manilla paper, sugar paper, used cement paper bags, or used paper
boxes. Writing on them can be with markers, fountain pen ink, plant pigments, charcoal or
coloured stones. It is important to note that charts must be attractive, and should not clash
with other colours for example you should not use a yellow marker to write on a pink or white
manilla. They should be well labeled, clear, have a title and a margin or border line round it.
Chalk boards are surfaces where the teacher can write or illustrate information for children.
There are different types of chalk boards which include permanent or portable boards, black
boards, green boards or white boards. They can be flannel boards, strip boards or flip boards.
Audio visual learning materials

These are learning aids that can be seen and heard at the same time. They include all live
animals, television, video and cinema. It may be difficult for the teacher to make audio visual
aids, but if the school can afford, they can be bought. Live animals can be reared in the school
in form of school projects of poultry, cattle keeping, goats and rabbits keeping.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD LEARNING MATERIAL
In ECD, the instructional materials that we make should be able to cater for the learning needs
of the children. Some of the characteristics that we should strive to have in the materials
include:
 Simplicity of the materials to the level of the learner. Do not bring complicated materials
that the learners will not understand and fail to use.
 Clear materials that show the intended message. Do not use materials that have
confusing colors, writings or illustrations. The colour contrast on the materials should be
either black on a white background or blue on a white background. Use bright colors
that are children friendly that make the learning environment interesting.
 Check for grammatical, spelling and other minor errors on displays to send the right
message. Children can easily master the wrong ideas from the displays and it will take a
long time to correct it.
 Learning materials should be safe for children to use and manipulate at all times.
 Learning materials should be attractive to the learners. Use bright colours that are
children friendly to decorate learning aids for children.
DESIGNING, DEVELOPING AND MAKING LEARNING MATERIALS

Designing learning materials
If you want to make a learning material, it is always good for you to first design it. Designing
can be theoretical in your brain or as a sketch on a paper. It also involves you thinking about
the reason for making the material you intend to make, and level of the learners who are to use
the material. This is because different levels of learners need different categories of materials.
For example, younger children may need objects that make noise, while older children may
desire animal like materials like cartons.
Developing learning materials

After you have designed the idea of the type of material you need, you now need to start the
process of developing the material. In this part, you consider the raw materials to use for
example if you need to make a cartoon or puppet depicting a goat, you can use a blanket to
make the body, beads for the eyes, and red carpet for the tongue.
Making learning materials

This is now the actual process of putting together the materials you developed into one
complete object. You will also decorate it in the way you see appropriate.
Raw materials needed for making children’s learning materials

We can use a variety of raw materials to make children’s learning materials. Anything that is
available in the environment can be used in one way or another to make children’s play
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materials. They can be empty containers of different products, real objects, plants or animal
remains as long as they are not poisonous to children. We can also use clay, soil, stones,
sticks, bottle tops, bottles, leaves, fibre, tins, boxes, metals, wires, plastics, polythene bags,
glue, cutting materials, thread, seeds, wood off -cuts, or decorations.
DESIGNING CHILDREN’S LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

A child’s learning environment say a lot to them. It either encourages or discourages them
from attending school. It may also make them lose interest in attending class if the class is
less stimulating. When setting children’s learning environment, the following should be noted.
 Class room sitting arrangement must be well laid such that all children are able to see the
chalk board and teacher clearly. The teacher should be able to access all the children at all
times. The children should also have enough room to be able to move freely.
Arrangement of children in groups is better because it allows group discussions, full
participation in experiments or class activities. Children with disabilities should be identified
and put in places that are advantageous to them e.g. those who cannot see well are put in
front, the physically handicapped are put where there is no passage for others to step on
them.
 The teacher must also set and establish a constant class routine and orderliness that
children follow to develop order in them e.g. when to go for short calls, where to sit, how to
collect or distribute books and learning materials.
 The class room walls should be neatly arranged with current and relevant learning aids at
the right level and height for the children to manipulate and constantly refer to them.
 The teacher must always use the children to set their own learning environment so that
they can realize its value and protect it at all times.
 The teacher should also set specific areas for children to put their school bags or food
packs so that they can be able to concentrate in class and eat at the right time.
 Classroom should be a talking class with learning materials that are educational and are
renewed regularly to arouse children’s interest instead of letting it become part of the wall
decorations that are not even noticed by children throughout the whole year.
DEVELOPING LEARNING CENTRES
Learning centres or corners of interest should be set so that children can always collect things
of interest, categorize and put in the right places. These learning centres occupy children in
the absence of the teacher. Learning centres also include activity cards or books which
children pick and read or do the activities in them according to their interests. Some of the
learning centres include: sand play area, water play area, discovery area, interest area, nature
table, Wendy house, library, shop or market, clinic, subject learning areas.
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Sand play area is an area in or outside classroom which has plenty of sand for children to
use. In the sand play area, there are also containers of different sizes and shapes. Children
use these containers to measure sand and experiment. The children also do different things in
the sand area like building/ construction of houses, objects of their own choice. The area helps
children to learn weight, measures and mass.
Water play area is an area with water for children to use for play. It also has different
containers for children to use to measure capacity. Children also learn floating and sinking
characteristics of objects from it.
Discovery area is a place in the class where children have a collection of different things that
may be considered scrap. Children use and re use these materials to do different things or
come up with new things of their own choice.
Interest area is an area in the class organized by the teacher. Here the teacher brings variety
of materials that cover a wide range of topics. These items can be used by the teacher to start
conversations or discussions on every day issues. The area can have news papers,
magazines, coins, traditional items or foreign objects.
Nature table is an area in class that has a collection things found in nature. It does not mean
that only vegetable and food items are the ones that are supposed to be in the nature table. It
can also have specimens, real objects, plants and animals, insects and birds as long as the
items are not man made.
Wendy house is an area in the class that depicts a normal house. It is a model of a house with
all its natural rooms in it but without a roof. A Wendy house should be large enough for a child
to go into different rooms within it. This is because a Wendy house is used to role play home
roles and what is done by different persons at home using different rooms.
Library is a place in the class where children’s reading materials are kept. They can be simple
teacher made readers or those that are bought. It can also be simple writings by children that
are kept for future reading. It can also have pictures, picture books, story sequence, story
books, and other subject resources at the level of the class.
Shop or market is an area in class that has a collection of items that children can use to
imitate buying or selling. It may have empty tins, containers or models of real objects that are
sold in the shop or market. Using this area helps children to learn how to use money and its
value, the language of trade, addition, multiplication, subtraction and division in a practical
manner
.
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Clinic is an area in class that children use to imitate what happens in a health centre or clinic.
These role plays helps children to understand positively the use of health centres and also
builds in them the right attitude and behaviour to use while in the clinic, hospital or dispensary.
Subject learning areas are special areas in the class particularly selected to display learning
materials that cover specific learning areas. They help children to get specialized and more
focused information about a particular area that they may be developing special interest in.
Note:
Be careful as you display medically related materials. You should use mainly
containers that do not have the real drug. Also take not that children do not
administer “drugs” to other children. Instead, you should provide them with toys or
dolls that they can use as “patients” for drug administration.
NB. As we design different learning materials for children, we should note that the approaches
in ECD are ingredients for Active Learning in children. To remember these ingredients we use
the word (MAMACHOLASU)i.e
 Materials,
 Manipulation of those materials,
 Choice by the child of what to do with the materials,
 Language from the children,
 Support from teachers/caregiver/adult
Materials for each child: It is important to provide a variety of interesting materials that are
readily available in the local environment and accessible to children.
Manipulation of those materials: Children need to feel free to handle, explore and work with
the materials.
Choice by the child of what to do with the materials: Children need to be given
opportunities to set their own goals and select materials and activities.
Language from the children: Opportunities or children to communicate verbally and non
verbal on what they are doing and what they have done.
Support from teachers/caregiver/adult: who encourage children’s’ effort and help them
extend or build upon their work by talking with them about what they are doing, by joining in
their play and by helping them solve problems that arise.
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Supportive Learning Environment
What to consider while organizing a supportive learning environment
 Large space in and out door area
 Safety of the place and materials
 Interesting materials
 Attractive
 Materials should be relevant to the level (age) of children
 Caregivers ratio 1:20cm
Suggested out door and in door materials

Besides many other in-door and out-door play materials, the caregiver can also look in the
environment and improvise different play materials. Some of them can include: Balls, ropes,
clay, sticks, Plastic bottles, Plastic bottle tops, toy cars, Small stones, Seeds, Wooden blocks,
papaw stalks, Leaves, flowers, Swings, pieces of clothes, Climbers, used slippers, tyres,
Merry-round, pictures, Sea saw, Sand play pit, small bicycles, Whoops, Water
DISPLAY OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Displaying instructional materials facilitate learning. It also and makes learning more active and
multi-sensory because the displays provide essential textual and visual inputs children need to
learn.
Instructional materials are useful if they are displayed in such a way that both teachers and
learners get to know their importance. Materials should be displayed periodically especially
when children have been given some idea about it so as to make them relevant. Displays are
supposed to contribute to learning and not a decoration in class.
It is also important for teachers to display instructional materials at a level that is appropriate
for the children to be able to touch and use them even in the absence of the teacher. The
materials should be displayed in clean well lit and secure places so that the beneficiaries are
not disrupted, or make it difficult for learners to see what is being showed on the teacher’s
illustration board. The learning materials also need to be arranged or organized in such a way
that it caters for different grades and ability of learners. Remember that when you display
materials, involve children in the process so that they can own and protect them. You can
assign responsibilities to some children who will always oversee safety of instructional
materials.
Different learning materials can be displayed for children to use. Some of them can be teacher
made or collections from the environment. These collections can be real objects, scrap
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materials or text materials like readers, resource books, printed charts, maps, picture cards,
mathematics work cards, alphabet cards, word cards, abacus and English work cards.
Collection of real objects include: Stones, seeds, fruits stick bottle tops, fibres, pencils, tree,
blocks, soil, water cups, etc.
Other objects include first aid box, radio, TV, weighing scale, paint, colours, crayons, clothes,
raffia, fibres, models, magnet, nail, buttons, wall clock, wire, scissors, woodblocks and Toys.
Note:
Be careful not to display harmful objects for children to touch. If you have very
young children, avoid displaying tiny objects that can be easily swallowed.
STORAGE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
The instructional materials that we make and use in class need to be stored very well so that
we can be able to use them another time. We can store instructional materials for present and
future use, to keep as references, to aid memory as a display in class, to create a motivating
and stimulating classroom environment and to save resources such as paper, paint, money, or
markers.
There are different ways in which teachers can store the instructional materials. Some of them
include:
Containers; different containers can be used to store a variety of instructional materials. Some
of the containers can be obtained locally from the environment, for example tins , bottles, cans,
buckets, basins, boxes, shelves, drawers, baskets, metallic boxes, wooden boxes can be
improvised and used to store seeds, counters, individual cards, stones or balls.
Pockets; different pockets can be made by the teacher or even collected from the
environment for staring instructional materials. Some of the pockets that can be used include:
envelops, wall pockets, paper, bags, sacks polythene bags.
Soft copy storage; instructional materials that are made using the computer can be stored in
the computer. If a material is not yet printed from the computer, we call it a soft copy. While the
one that is printed and you can touch it is called a hard copy. Soft copies of instructional
materials can be stored in CD’s, Flash disks, Video tapes, audio tapes, hard disk of the
computer, ipods, photo, films, diskettes, memory cards or memory sticks.
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MAINTENANCE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Maintaining instructional materials means using different ways to try to keep the already made
material in its original form for future use. It we do not maintain the materials, they will wear off
or lose their originality and change to something else which will make it difficult for us to use
again another time for its original purpose. We can maintain instructional materials in different
ways. Some ways include:
Charts; can be maintained by framing, hanging on the wall, covered with them polythene
paper, binding,
Models; can be maintained by use vanishing, painting, re-colouring objects that re fading.
Real objects; can be maintained by vanishing, painting, washing or colouring the object. If the
object is already painted then; re-paint occasionally, spraying, polishing, smearing then with
recommended oils, and dusting occasionally.
Soft copy maintenance; can be maintained by making backup copies, zipping or

compressing information, update antivirus to avoid virus that infect and corrupt the computer
system. Also use power backs to avoid losing the work in case of power failure, cover the
device to keep it free from dust or water which reduce their quality. Remember to keep any soft
copy storage device away from magnetic fields like near a TV, loud speakers, ordinary
magnets, where there are electrical wires or near fridges that have magnets. This is because
magnetic fields alter or rub the work in the devices.
USING ICT TO DEVELOP CHILDREN’S PLAY MATERIALS
 We can use computers to draw and paint pictures that can be used in picture books,
charts, dominoes, puzzles, or flash cards.
 We can use computers to print several copies of designed items to be used by

individual children
 We have computer programmes that teach children how to read, sing or do
mathematics problems. The programmes are used for self teaching and matches with
the level of progress of the child. It can encourage, or help a child to do many things.
 There are plenty of video games and computer games that teach children different skills
like concentration, creativity, accuracy, and patience. Some of the games include need
for speed, motor, fifa, pool, tank race, Collin McRae, Virtual cop etc.
 There are also programmes that are used to teach specific skills computer windows,
typing, driving or spelling that can be given to children depending on their age.
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 We can also use different ICT devices to play music, songs or rhymes for children to
listen to in the presence or absence of the teacher. From these devises, children can
learn, imitate or copy so as to perfect an intended skill.
 We can also use ICT devices to tell educative stories or show films. These stories will
be having animations that make the intended ideas come to a reality for children to
understand. For example it may be difficult to talk about an elephant that children have
never seen but if there is a video of it, it becomes easy for children to understand what
an elephant is.
 Sometimes when children are involved in a certain activity, we can use ICT to record
that activity and keep it for future reference in another learning process. For example
school end of year party, birthday party or graduation party can be recorded and later
used when teaching about important days in a year.
 It a teacher is telling children a story, he/she can use a projector to show different
sequence of the story.
 During assembly or any other out door activity, we can use ICT devices to communicate
to children. Some of them can be public address system, radios or megaphones.
Without these devices, it would be difficult for children to hear what is being said to
them.
 During children’s free time, they can be given different cartoon programmes to watch.
These cartoons have different lessons and values that they teach children yet it would
be difficult for the caregiver to give the same lesson using ordinary life situations.
 Children can watch different objects or costumes from different parts of the world show
from different ICT devices. From these experiences, children can also use them to
create or improve their own ideas and come up with new objects or costumes to use in
different situations.
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UNIT SIX
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Introduction
Administration is an integral part of any organization. It is crucial for maintaining the relevance,
effectiveness and productivity of organizations and schools.
Definition
Administration
The theory of administration is relatively new. There is therefore no universally accepted
definition of administration. Most definitions instead tell us what an administrator does for
example:
Gulick and Urwick defined administration in terms of administrative actions or functions of the
administrator.
Simon Hobot defines administration in terms of characteristics of administrator.
Guwe and Uric link administration with getting things done according to stated objectives.
Bun, on the other hand, talks of the administrative cycle as involving decision-making,
programing and appraisal. Bun simply talks of the routine rather than definition of
administration.
Newman states that in administration, the administrator directs his/her efforts in controlling the
individual activities so as to: guide constantly the performance of the group, use his/her
position to influence the behavior of the subordinates and control the individuals under him/her.
Administration is then defined as the science which involves possessing knowledge that
enables a person to understand the relationship between things, events and people so that
one can predict the results of those events.
Administration is the process or formalized system of organizing, controlling, supervising,

planning and making decisions about the various activities of the organization on the basis of
establishing first the purposes of achieving a particular goal.
It is the process by which efforts of the members of an organization are coordinated, directed,
managed and guided towards the achievements of the goals.
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Administration is also an attempt to systematically run an education system by using trained
manpower in education management skills such as leaders (Administrators).
Functions of administration in an organization/institution

Common functions of an administrator are:
 Goal and policy development
 Designing appropriate programs to achieve the goals
 Organization and coordination of activities
 Resource management i.e. accounts and manages all the resources of the institution.
 Linking the institution to the community i.e. chief mediator between the school and the
community
 Appraisal of the effectiveness and efficiency of the activities and programs i.e.
continuous evaluation
 Networking with other stake holders for the achievement of the goals.
Management
Management is a new discipline which has different definitions from different scholars,
although there is no uniform definition.
 Management is an art or technique of getting things done through and with people
 Management is a process of planning, organizing, supervising, directing and
controlling/coordinating and maintaining activities in an organization
These definitions imply that a manager plans, organizes, directs and controls all the essential
activities of the organization. Management motivates others to do the work and coordinate all
the work for achieving the objectives of the organization. Management brings “6 M’s
resources” together i.e. men and women, money, materials, machines, methods and markets.
These resources are used to achieve the objectives of the organization to the maximum.
Generally the above definitions have three essential things about management:
i. Management is about doing things together with other people

ii. Management is a process
iii. Management is a distinct activity of any organization/.institution
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Characteristics of management:
 Getting things done by through others

 Being a group activity
 Goal oriented
 A process involving a number of activities
 Adapts itself to the social changes
 Involves decision-making
 Concerned with direction and control
Difference between administration and management
Management Administration
- It means getting things done - It is concerned with formation of
through and with other people objectives, plans and policies
- It is doing function - It is a thinking function
- Decision-making - It makes the major policies
- Decisions are influenced by internal - Its decisions are influenced by
factors (values, opinions and external factors (social, political and
beliefs) legal)
- Management is widely used in - Administration is often associated
business with government policies
Education administration and management

It is concerned with educator and manager. Educator is concerned with the delivery of quality
education while a manager has many levels of administration. Education administration and
therefore be defined as a process of:
 Organizing, regulating, coordinating and supervising

 Making things happen in union with the efforts of others
 Allocating resources to accomplish responsibilities
There is coordination and effective deployment of resources like: personnel, money and time
within the educational institution.
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THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
1. To achieve optimal use of resources available so as to attain the desirable goals.
2. To integrate the activities of an institution
3. To plan for management of an institution
4. To ensure that the institution achieves the desired goals according to its objectives set.
5. To ensure cordial relationship among the workers.
6. To control the conflicts among the institutions so as to achieve the desired goals.
In summary the main purpose of educational administration and management is to enable the
right education from the right teachers, at the right cost within the means of the states and
hence under conditions which enable them to benefit from their teaching-learning process. The
right education in this concept is that which responds to the needs of the society. The society’s
demands are retained by the environment by which the society finds itself.
In Uganda, the right education is that which creates the development of modern behavior to
keep with the skills of job creation, knowledge with outstanding moral and not job seeking.
For the case of students, education administration forces students to being clients, teachers
are from a common professional background which shares the various principles and training
in different experiences.
Significance of the study of education administration and management
The following are the most notable objectives of education administration:
 There is need for student teachers to be equipped with administration and management
skills and knowledgeable; in these teachers need to know the academic basis of
schools i.e. in reaction to administration nature, its purpose, principles and how to
manage such institutions.
 There is also need for teachers to acquire skills which will help them to run departments
or head institutions in educational setting.
 Education administration will help a student teacher to clearly understand the working of
the institution and how it ought to be administered and managed. This will enable the
student teacher to fit in any school with ease and comfort.
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 Education administration will help a student teacher to identify his/her particular role in a
school administration. This is done through understanding the school administrative
structure and the school proceedings.
 Education administration will help the student teacher to identify the role of the
governing bodies e.g. the PTA, UNEB, NCDC, and ESC etc.
 Education administration will give the student teachers the opportunity to look closely to
the factors that influence school administration and management e.g. the finances,
enrolment levels, equality of service delivery, increment of teacher’ salary, instructional
materials etc..
 It enables student teachers to understand that an administrator manages and directs
the standard of an educational institution.
Functions of education administration and management
1. Planning: the institution’s objectives are determined, effective strategies for achieving
the goals are set; existing resources are reviewed and predicting possible problems and
challenges.
2. Organizing: involving developing an institutional structure to hold the positions in the
institution to avoid role conflict. It also brings together relevant capital and equipment
ready for use.
3. Directing: refers to commanding, starts and sustains the activities at the various
sections in the institution, it means putting in practice all the plans made to achieve the
goals set. Directing goes with motivation of the members to sustain their willingness to
work.
4. Controlling: is to make sure that everything runs according to the plan, roles to be
fulfilled and rules followed.
5. Coordinating: it is concerned with bringing together the efforts of individual worker, the
institution, in order to achieve the goals. It is important for efficiency of an institution.
Organization
An organization is defined by Beach (1980) as a system which has an established structure
and planning in which people work and deal with one another in a coordinated way for the
accomplishment of the organization’s goals.
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An organization is a social unit of two or more people who have come together to carry out
particular activities in order to accomplish common goals and objectives. It can also be a
collective effort and mobilization of resources in order to achieve a stated aim or goal.
The concept of education administration was developed and realized as a result of the
organization of education institutions in forms of infrastructure, size, population of learners and
personnel in the organization. With the expansion of education sector, social demands went up
which resulted into an increased demand for managers and professionals.
Types of organization
There are two types of organization
i. Formal organization
 According to David Mbiti in his book of “Foundations and Administration”, formal
organizations are those whose membership and activities are governed by certain
specific values and procedures which determine the degree of authority and behavior of
each particular participant.
 It is a system of conscious coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons. In
formal organization, there is a purpose as the coordinating principles. There should also
be easy and acceptable ways of communication, willingness of participating effectively
and maintaining integrity in the organization.
 Formal organization has both long and short term objectives. E.g. the school as an
organization is the short term objective of preparing students to pass their exams as
well as the long term objectives of preparing students to be good citizens of their
country. Examples of formal organizations are the schools, hospitals, business firms,
insurance companies etc.
ii. Informal organization
Informal organizations are those groups who are formed spontaneously without any particular
rules and regulations to help them or to be followed by people within them. In this is type of
organization many of the structures come out themselves. In a school situation, informal
organizations are mainly the source of strikes and they also appear in peer groups.
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Structure of an organization
 This refers to the pattern of network of relationship between the various individuals,
positions and roles within an organization.
 It is concerned with logically demarcating authority and responsibility. It includes
establishing work relationship that enables both the organization and realize the mutual
objectives.
 It refers to the hierarchy of authority put in place to control/guide and manage the
various units of the organization. This chain of authority helps the teachers to know
their jobs/ responsibility e.g. the origin of the organization, the top-to- bottom person.
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that there is no broken line of communication
from top-to-bottom. In this system the employee is directly answerable to the superior
above him whereby he gets the directives from the immediate head and such process
must be respected.
It can be showed by the organizational chart here below:
Head
Teacher
Deputy Head
Teacher
Director of
Studies
Senior Woman/ Senior

Man
Head of Subject Head of Subject Head of Subject Head of Subject
Teachers Teachers Teachers Teachers
Support staff Support staff Support staff Support staff
Prefects Prefects Prefects Prefects

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Student body Student body Student body Student body
FOUNDATIONS OF MANAGEMENT
1. Law of origin
This law states that an institution must operate in agreement with reasons of its establishment.
So in such a situation, for instance the school function must be student-centered that is, there
must be wholesome development of the learner academically, physically, psychologically and
technically, if the school had set that as its goal from the beginning.
2. Law of total responsibility of management

The administrator is responsible for everything that happens with an institution. This law
applies to every level of appointment and leadership (head teacher, deputy head teachers,
teachers etc). The head teacher is responsible for the whole school and when anything goes
wrong, he/she is to be blamed. When all go right, it is also the head teacher to be praised.
The Head teacher must be aware of this principle of total responsibility. The delegation of
duties does not remove the responsibility from him/her. He must help his teacher to
understand and accept the role of total responsibility at whatever level they are serving.
3. Law of top-down management

Here the leadership has a responsibility to effect policies and rules from top, down wards in
any organization. The disadvantages of this law is that, the grass root people may think of this
as lack of democracy and it appears as if there is no party in the organization, although the
grass root people give good ideas, they may only be taken as a result of good leadership of
the head teacher. If the leadership style of the head teacher is sound, he would get a lot from
the subordinates.
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According to this law, the head teacher can diverge responsibility and authority totally to a
teacher. It is also possible for the head teacher to request a member of staff to take up the
duty rather than the member of the staff assuming the role before a head teacher approves it.
4. Law of present leadership

Whenever two or more people come together, leadership is present. This resulting leadership
may be a positive or a negative force in the lives of individuals as well as to the work of the
institution. Basically there are two kinds of leadership: appointed and the emerging leadership.
 The appointed leadership is known as formal leadership. The characteristics are that,
one has a title, an office, a letter of appointment etc.
 The emerging leadership may be either positive or negative. It comes about because
there is a vacuum in an administration.
5. Law of the whole truth

People always want what they consider important. So half truth can be told even if we know
that full truth will come out later. Some leaders omit the fact and report half the truth because
the full truth may be too destructive at that moment. This does not mean that there is no truth.
6. Law of management and survival

If the management is to serve, be honest and sincere, the people it leads tend to reason on
whatever action the leader takes. Some of the subordinates rationalize because they fear to
loose their jobs. The struggles for management makes some leaders to trade on those they
lead e.g. a brilliant teacher may be suppressed because he asks upsetting questions in the
staff meeting.
7. The law of management adjustment

To effect leadership, one must adjust one’s own behavior. It’s wrong to think that others should
adjust and not you as a leader adjusting. So the higher you go in position, the more you are
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expected to adjust. The head teacher cannot always have things done in his/her own way.
Therefore he must be primary adjuster.
MOTIVATION
Motivation is the situation that increases the desire to fulfill a directed goal. When people feel
dissatisfied with their work, they get concerned about the environment in which they work i.e.:
policies and administration, supervision, international relations, money, status and security. On
the other hand, when people feel good about their jobs, it is seen in the performance of the
work.
Abraham Maslow wanted to know what factors motivate people to work. He looked at people’s
need. He came up with five common needs i.e. physiological needs, safety needs, social
needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization. He states that people’s behaviors are motivated
by their needs. To him it’s the need that motivates people to behave in a given way. E.g. he is
a person who believes in the needs of human beings, this satisfies him. Even in the classroom
situation, Maslow believes that the child can learn only if his or her needs are satisfied.
According to him, our human needs have got hierarchy that is, the needs run from lower level
of what we call basic needs to the highest level of the needs that we call self-actualization.
According to this hierarchy, it means that one’s needs cannot happen until a lower in the
hierarchy is satisfied. And in the hierarchy if the lower need is satisfied, another need emerges
therefore for Maslow “man is never satisfied”.
Self-actualization: fulfillment
Self-esteem: recognition
Social needs: socialization

(marriage)
Safety needs: security (education,

job)
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Basic needs: physiological needs (food, shelter,
water)
According to Maslow management must strive to make sure that these needs are satisfied; if
the institution is to survive. So the teachers should have the basics like the place to stay,
security on the job, upgrading etc. Social needs include looking after the family, participate in
marriages, be fully involved when in sorrow etc.
Therefore management must cater for self-improvement so that one’s self-esteem is increased
e.g. this can be done through promotion, delegation of responsibility regular training of
individuals.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human resource is the people. Human resource management is the management of people in
an organization. If the organization we are looking at is school, the human resource is
teachers, pupils, support staff and also the community where the school is found.
Functions of human resource management

1) -Human resource planning: In a school situation the management decides on where
to get the students or pupils, where they go to learn from, the time, feeding, security and
accommodation.
-Plan for teachers: Plans for teacher’s accommodations, transport and feeding.
2) Recruitment of teachers, pupils and other workers
Recruitment means choosing from a number of available candidates and the choice is
based on data and qualification.
Data is got from: - Application form
- Oral interviews
- Written interviews
- Recommendations by referees
3) Induction and Orientation
This involves appointing the individual in the organization after recruitment and selection.
The individual is made to have knowledge of the whole organization so as to get appointed
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in the various sections in the organization. The manager will provide the letter of
introduction to the individual to take to the head of section.
Orientation involves focusing on the organization objectives and positions, the person is
provided with the rules and regulations of the job i.e. job description or terms and
conditions.
4) Placement
This is choosing from the number of possible jobs pursued to suit an individual. Placement
depends on one’s qualification, however these days the following matter:
a. Experience
b. Competence
c. Specialization
d. Interest
5) Motivation of human resource
Conditions must be put in place to allow energies and direct human resource towards the
organization goals.
6) Remuneration and reward

A worker (teacher) deserves some kind of incentives for the services rendered to the
institution. This incentives can be in form of salary, allowances e.g. over time, packages,
pension etc. there is a system of giving a reward like at the end of the year, Christmas or Eid
day gifts. There should be a welfare committee in the school; here the human side of the
organization can be extended.
Here a new strength and the Weakness of the worker in the school will be measured. Like a
teacher will be rebuild from time to time i.e. there should be record for evidence for the
teacher’s services and record of work.
7) Promotion
This is the advancement of an individual to the higher level in the job. E.g. from a classroom
teacher to the head of department, director of studies, deputy head teacher or head teacher.
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8) Demotion
Here an individual is assigned to lower job due to his/her incompetence of any kind. This is
when you cannot perform according to the expectation of the appointing body. For a teacher
the following may be incompetence:
 Failure to teacher
 Absenteeism
 Non-preparation of his/her work
 Lack of professionalism
 For the head teacher, failure to conduct meetings
 Misuse of school funds and property
 Failure to represent the institution to the higher offices
 Failure to be responsible, to carry out his/her duties
9) Transfer and redrainment

Transfer is shifting of teachers from one school to another but at parallel level. Re-drainment is
transferring a teacher from one school to another; in most cases against his/her will or it can
be after an indiscipline case while being demoted.
LEADERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP STYLE

L= Loves
E= Encourages
A= Ability
D= Devotion
E= Educated
R= Responsible
S= Sacrifices
H= Humble
I= Initiative
P= Power
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Leadership is a status of dominion acquired by the ability to control, initiate or state the pattern
or behavior for others. Leadership style is the way a person leads, guides, directs or influences
the activities of others by the mere existence of his/her position in that organization. It is
therefore very important to note that proper administration in an organization depends mainly
on a sound leadership style.
The nature of leadership will usually depend on the type of an organization or society in which
a leader arises. Handling human and their affairs or is very important. Therefore proper
leadership is very important.Generally a democratic society will bring a democratic leader and
an organization that is Autocratic will require a leader that gives orders without questions.
However, the most important thing for a leader is to identify the needs of an organization, the
people within, initiate ways and direct people how best to fulfill these needs.
Types of Leadership
The charismatic leadership
In this type of leadership, the leader has his personal “magic or charm” of leadership which
influences his subjects and draw them to him. The leader commands love, faith, respect and
devotion mainly using his convincing language, and personality. This type of leader finds no
problem in leading others, since they follow what he tells them. He is the dictator of the highest
degree.
Autocratic Leadership
The head teacher who uses this style of leadership makes decisions without consulting
anybody. Directives are given which must be carried out without questioning. The head
teacher does not feel accountable to anybody and hence acts independently.
Although this style leads to low moral among pupils and the staff, may cause negative
reaction. But the leader has great sense of self-confidence, a clear vision of what needs to be
done and manipulative skills to achieve the desired outcome. The head teacher feels safe
because he/she does not have to solve problems with group of people.
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This style of leadership is task oriented workers are used as machines to effect productivity.
The leader uses power. This style is also called Coercive, Dictatorial, Directive, Domination
and Authoritarian.
Laissez-faire Leadership
This style comes from French word meaning let people do what they wish/want. This
management style sets no rules and regulations and each person is responsible for activities
undertaken. The style is suitable for mature people, committed, creative, and hardworking and
self-fulfilled. This style may lead to anarchy and chaos as everyone does what pleases them.
The head teacher may loose control over the school to the disadvantage of providing quality
education.
The leader here is merely a symbol since there is no hierarchy of authority. His role remains
merely to supply materials needed by the group. There is no clear leader and there is high rate
of unhealthy competition among the members of the organization.
Situational Leadership
In this style, the leader reacts to issues in different ways according to the situation. Therefore a
person may be an effective leader in one situation or environment but ineffective in another.
E.g. a group of students who came late on a given day may comprise of habitual or non-
habitual late comers. In this case the head teacher using this type of leadership would decide
on different disciplinary actions for the same people unless there is clear demanding why
different punishment for the same offence which may result into misunderstanding and ill-
feeling.
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
The most effective leader is the one who selects a leadership style that best fits a particular
situation whichever style is used; he/she displays the following qualities:
a) Encourages employees to share in the decision making process.

b) Informs an employee honestly whether circumstances are favorable or not.
c) Does everything possible to keep staff moral high.
d) Counsels, guides, trains and develops employees.
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e) Shows thoughtfulness and considerations
f) Willingness to support and defend employees even if mistakes are made.
g) Willingness to make changes in methods of doing things.
h) Expresses appreciation when an employee does a good thing.
i) Should have a work plan. The schedule of activities to accomplished within a given
time.
j) Productive communication. That sustains the relationship between the worker and the
leader.
k) A successful leader uses a consensus in decision-making. He discusses things with
others.
l) Should be approachable by all the people in the lower and higher rank.
m) He encourages leadership among the subordinates by delegating his responsibilities
and willingness to share the blames if anything goes wrong.
n) Should have sense of self-awareness i.e. being sensitive to the people around him.
o) Should feedback from the members in order to respond to suggestions regarding the
organization.
p) Should not postpone decision or dates proposed to him. He must go back to his
calendar, note books and the office to find out his appointments.
q) Should have administrative machinery e.g. the school management team or department
committee which runs the school.
r) Should be accountable for everything that goes on in the school e.g. academic
performance, health, discipline, furniture, structure, the staff etc.
s) Professionalism, this involves safeguarding the professional ethics and acting maturely
and shows love of the profession.
t) Should have good physical and mental health for effective performance
u) Should always stick to ethics and hold high moral standards by being trustworthy,
truthful and honest
Characteristics or traits of Leadership

Here are some of the characteristics of effective leadership:
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- Intelligence: some intelligence is needed to be able to direct others. However a leader
does not need to be a genius.
- Sense of humor: helps to achieve pleasant atmospheres
- Originality: seeking fresh and new ways to solve problems
- Judgment: leaders must make many decisions. They must consider all facts carefully
to make good decisions, and using good judgment is essential to make good decision.
- Objectivity: leaders must be able to look at all sides of the problems and not make bias
judgment or statements.
- Initiative: leaders must have ambition and persistency in reaching the goals. They are
supposed to be self-starters who plan what they want to do and then do it. They are
self-driven and motivated.
- Dependability: those who lead must be consistent in their action so that others can rely
on them. They should be where they should when needed.
- Cooperation: leaders should understand the importance of other people and to enjoy
working with them and be interested in creating good working relationship.
- Honesty: leaders must be honest and must have high standards of personal integrity.
- Courage: leaders should possess the courage to make disliked decisions and should
have courage to try new approaches in solving problems.
- Confidence: leaders should have a great deal of confidence. They should attempt to
make the best decisions possible and trust their judgment.
- Stability: leaders should not be emotional; in order to handle situations well, leaders
need to be sober.
- Understanding: leaders should recognize that the feelings and ideas of others are also
important. They should try to understand other people they work with.
- Sincere and trustworthy: counted on, trusted and recognized as sincere
- Resourceful: in seeking out and suggesting alternative ways to solve problems
- Co-operation:
- Responsible: high degree of self-discipline
- Appreciates individual differences: understanding others
- Patient and sociable: approachable with a warm and friendly personality
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- Consistent: uniform and reliable behavior
- Ability to adapt quickly to change: initiative in his endeavors
PEOPLE AND LEADERS

Every organization has a leader who is to be obeyed and respected for different reasons.
People under these leaders relate to them differently. There are three basic reasons that stand
out clearly to show why people obey their leaders:
1. Historical Traditions
Historically in human organizations there existed leaders who have had to be respected and
obeyed because of their history in the society. This normally happens in organized societies
where clans have had to follow a line of historical events. Any member of the society who
tended not to do otherwise can be considered disobedient to the leader.
2. Materialism
Some people in organizations respect their leaders as long as they can satisfy their material
needs. Such people will want their leaders to make them feel better or give them comfortable
environment. This type of obedience is very common, with this, the subordinates do not
necessarily respect the leaders. The obedience is rather superficial and once the material
needs are not given, such people express their discontent right away.
3. Legitimacy
According to David Mbiti in his book “Foundations of education administration”, authority
depends on the acceptance among people in an organization. In any organization people with
such know that it is a right thing to have a leader and even obey her/him. This however, does
not mean that bad leaders must be obeyed without question but it means that leadership has
an impersonal characteristic which must be recognized as important in an organization. And if
one person fails as a leader, the person must be opposed.
Elements of Leadership
There are basic elements as characteristics of leadership and these are, any form of
leadership must possess these ingredients:
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1. Authority
Authority means the right conferred on the administrator in an organization to make decision in
the course of discharging his responsibility, to require subordinates to accept the decision and
it is necessary to enforce them.
In any organization it is the responsibility of the leader to study the view and suggestions made
by different members of that organization and then make the overall policy of the organization.
Any decision made on this basis carries with it and vested in that leader by virtue of his office.
Anyone within the organization who refuses to carry out the decision would be liable to
disciplinary action.
The ideal of disciplinary action brings us to another point which must back the authority
referred to as power.
2. Power
Power can be defined as the capacity to use focused force. It is the force behind authority in
an administration. Where there is no power, there is very little authority and a high possibility of
things failing to be done when they should be done.
There is however need for leaders to realize that the use of any of the powers, will become
necessary only when his authority has been challenged or ignored. Power or the use of force
is employed to restore authority e.g. if school pupils go on strike against the school, the head
teacher may stop strikers by giving instructions. The head teacher uses his/her authority as a
school leader, if these instructions are not carried out by those pupils, the only alternative can
be to use power. In this way, the head teacher may suspend those who were involved in the
strike.
Another point connected to power is that a leader must know the links of his/her powers as
well as the use of such powers. A leader who does not know the limits of his/her powers may
misuse them. Just as powers can be misused, so it can also be abused. A leader may abuse
his/her powers when he/she uses such powers as license to do what he wants or feels like
doing. The use of power and authority by an officer in an organization demands a high degree
of responsibility.
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3. Responsibility
This means a display of moral integrity, loyalty to one’s employment and a sense of
professional maturity in carrying out one’s duty. In other words responsibility is the ability to
exercise one’s duty in accordance with official procedure. A good leader therefore must clearly
understand what his authority is and also how much power he has to enforce his authorities.
He/she must work within the confines of his authority and power.Irresponsible leaders are
those who disregard official procedures in order to satisfy their selfish ambitions, to achieve a
lot.
4. Delegation of responsibility
Delegation is the transfer of appropriate power and authority to colleagues to perform a task on
the behalf of the administrator. Delegation can be described as a process whereby the leader
of an organization transfers to some of his/her subordinates the responsibility of taking some
particular actions as well as making some decisions in that particular action.
Delegation of authority comes from the facts that a leader of an organization cannot do
everything alone. However it does not mean that one surrenders his power but it means to
whom power is delegated, duty must be performed on behalf of the leader and that the
ultimate responsibility or accountability lies in the hands of the leader. Delegation involves
more than simply telling a person what he is expected to do.
 Assigning work on behalf of the administrator reduces his/her the work load and
enables him/her to devote more time to other matters concerning the school.
 Tasks are performed quickly and efficiently by delegating work to the specialists who
possess the detailed knowledge for realistic decision-making.
 It enables decentralization by increasing the levels at which decisions are made.
 It helps in job enlargement.
 It helps in avoiding autocracy within the school organization.
Effective delegation should meet the following requirements:

i. The details of responsibility and scope must be defined in writing.
ii. The extent of authority and power behind the responsibility must be stated in writing.
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iii. Every person to whom responsibility is delegated must be required to account for the
accomplishments in his/her area of work.
iv. Proper communication procedures must be established between the subordinate offices
and his superior.
Disadvantages
 Stagnation of work is likely to occur because the officer to whom responsibility is
delegated may not have accounted for his accomplishment in his/her area of work.
 Some are delegated the responsibilities without being given further in-service training
and expert advice on the job from time to time to accomplish the work
 The means of carrying out the responsibility may not be provided for example the
equipments, personnel, funds which can hinder the work.
 It boasts the head teacher and makes him/her a more forward looking leader and
she/he is the one who gets the credit.
 It leads to loss of job of the person who delegated, in case the delegated person
performs well, he/she may be asked to replace the one whom he/she delegated.
 It leads to disappointment because the head teacher may delegate powers to some one
who ends up doing other things or doing nothing.
 If anything goes wrong the final responsibility lies with the head teacher which in the
end may create poor management and supervision of his/her people.
5. Decision-Making
Decision making is another significant element of administrative leadership and it involves the
act or process of defining the organization problems, collecting findings and cumulative
solutions for these problems. A problem can be defined as anything that causes
dissatisfaction. When solving a given problem a leader must be guided by the following steps:
 Define the problem

 Collect relevant facts
 Analyze the facts
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 Develop alternative solutions
However it is important to have the following at hand before deciding on anything:
1. Follow the established procedures governing that institution.
2. Consult those above you before taking action and do not rush over any issue.
3. Don’t expect to be right all the time
4. Don’t decide under emotion, rather take time to think.
5. Be firm in your decisions.
6. Don’t postpone any decision
7. Once you have made a decision, forget it because thinking over it can result into
stomach ulcers.
8. As an administrator remember that you can’t please everyone.
6. Expertise
Expertise is element is a very important element in leadership because no one can lead a
formal organization successfully, unless that person can claim an expert knowledge of what
that organization aims to achieve.
It is a necessary function for effective administrative leadership. Education for example must
be led by the educationist not by a medical expert. Similarly, public health must be led by a
medical expert if efficiency is to be expected.
The concept of expertise is the criterion of selecting people who should be fit for administrative
leadership positions in an organization that is, of specialization of a job not that of a personal
acquaintances.
DISCIPLINE
There are opposing views on discipline and these are in line with McGregor’s theory X and Y
assumptions about people. McGregor viewed the way managers dealt with employees and
concluded that a manager’s view of human nature was based on assumptions and that
managers tended to mould their behaviors towards their subordinates according to these
assumptions that is why he comes up with theories X and Y.
Theory X assumptions about discipline
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Education managers who look at discipline only as a punishment are applying theory X
assumptions about people and view them as being negative and therefore they become
autocratic. For instance there are cases where a teacher, a student or a non-teaching staff just
does not want to follow the set rules of behavior in an educational organization. Despite the
application of the various leadership skills by the administrator. In such a case a disciplinary
action should take the theory X assumption.
Discipline is thus exercised as a punishment to both the defender and the offender. This
approach is a negative view about people in their work place and is an autocratic approach to
ensure organizational standards.
Therefore, McGregor argued that there are four assumptions under theory X (negative views).
1. Employees naturally dislike work and wherever possible will attempt to avoid it.
2. Since employees dislike work they must be forced, controlled or threatened with
punishment if they are to achieve desired goals.
3. Employees will avoid responsibility and seek formal direction whenever possible.
4. Most workers place security above all the other factors associated with work and will
display little ambition.
Consequences for administrators

The theory advocate for:
 Close and careful supervision

 Detailed direction demanding full compliance from the employees
Theory Y assumption about discipline

Education managers who look at discipline as a process of encouraging workers to move
uniformly towards meeting the objectives of education are applying the theory Y assumptions
about people. Such leaders use discipline as effective by product of efficient application of
leadership skills so as to gain willing co-operation from teachers, students and other workers.
In contrast to the negative assumptions of theory X, McGregor comes up with other four
positive assumptions under theory Y:
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1. Employees can view work as being natural as rest or play if conditions are favorable.
2. Employees will exercise self-direction and self-control if properly motivated.
3. The average worker can learn to accept or even seek responsibility to do work.
4. Creativity. Employees also have the ability to make good decisions like those in
management positions if given the change.
Implications to the administrator
 Administrators should be supportive and facilitative

 They should seek information from their employees
 They should be concerned with the welfare of their employees
Theory X assumptions tend to be made by managers in organizations characterized by

conformity, bitterness and mistrust. While theory Y is based on trust, openness, concern and
respect for individuality.
PRINCIPLES OF SETTING GOOD DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS

The principles of setting good disciplinary actions follow McGregor’s “hot stove rule” i.e. before
you touch a hot stove; you have already been warned by the fire. When you touch the hot
stove, you will be burnt immediately, and this burning will be consistent each time you touch
the hot stove.
Principles based on McGregor’ hot stove rule

1. There should be prior knowledge of rules and regulations.
The educational manager must ensure that all staff members are informed about the terms
and conditions of their employment, the rules and regulations of the organization in which they
work.
This should be done during orientation or induction. They should also be well informed about
the consequences of breaking them. The rules should be clear and copies given to all.
A more useful and effective methods of communicating the rules and regulations is the use of
a handbook. Such handbooks spell out the rules of conduct, the reasons for the rules and also
the consequences of not following these rules.
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2. A disciplinary action should be applied immediately.
All the infractions should be dealt with immediately regardless of their magnitude.
Educational managers must ensure that any undesirable behavior by the person is dealt
with immediately so that the offender can see the close connection between an
undesirable behavior and its consequences. When there is a long time lapse between
the undesirable behaviors and its consequences, then the association between the two
becomes weak and this provides a stimulus for more undesirable behaviors.
3. Disciplinary action must be consistently applied.
Educational managers should ensure that similar offences are dealt with in similar ways.
If a group of workers are discontent, which may breed revolt; it is therefore important to
follow the past examples. An inconsistent application of a disciplinary action may do
more harm than good to an organization.
4. Disciplinary action must be objective.
An effective disciplinary action must be based on facts, not on rumors. An educational
manager must therefore carry out thorough research to ensure that the offence was
actually committed by the said person before a disciplinary action is taken.
5. Disciplinary action must be impersonal.
An educational manager must be aware that it is the undesirable action which is being
punished not the person. A good disciplinary action should neither be used for revenge
nor as a chance to pour out frustrations.
An educational manager should not carry the punishment over. Once a member has
been punished for an offence, normal relationships must be reinstated immediately as if
this incident has not happened or occurred.
6. Avoid entrapments
Those who break the regulations of an educational organization should be punished for
what they have done but not what they would have done.
7. Allow right of appeal
The right of appeal is a very important ingredient of a democratic disciplinary process.
Staff and students must be allowed to defend themselves against the offence for which
they have been charged. Otherwise, somebody may be punished for an offence which
he/she never committed or for something whose circumstances were unavoidable.
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THE DISCIPLINARY PROCESS
A systematic, and effective disciplinary action follow procedures like:
1. Preliminary investigations
When the worker fails to meet the standard of behavior as stipulated in an educational
organization, the first step should be to investigate the case thoroughly. This will enable the
leader to find out whether this is the first offence or another in a series or whether there are
underlying reasons for the offence like ill-health, family problems or whether this is a way by
which an employee is expressing his/her dissatisfaction with the job or the school. Skillful
interviewing is needed, not in a spirit of examination but in an effort to understand why the
employee acted the way he/she did. If the preliminary investigation does not promptly reveal all
the facts of the case which may help the educational manager to decide whether a disciplinary
action is necessary or not, then the next step is temporary suspension of the person.
2. Temporary suspension
This is important in helping the educational manager to gain enough time for thorough
investigations. During the period in which a suspect is temporarily suspended, there will be
enough time for the management to look into the facts systematically and in a calm
atmosphere.
Temporary suspension in itself is not a punishment until the verdict of the investigation is
given. When the person is temporarily suspended, he/she should promptly leave the premises
of the organization until the case is finished.
3. Oral warning and written warning

When the preliminary investigations in the first step are concluded, then the organization either
issues an oral or written warning.
i. In case of guilt, an oral warning will be called for.An educational manager

organizes for a time of discussion with the person. A favorable time and private
place should be set for this. The aim is to inform the person that the undesirable
behavior cannot be tolerated and therefore, there is urgency for improvement.
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An oral reprimand can be effective if it is given in a skillful and friendly way.
However, if it is given in an unfriendly way, for instance in public, it may provoke
hostility. In case the person is innocent, he/she should be called and be informed
as well.
ii. A written warning in most cases should follow an oral warning. If the person does
not respond positively to the oral talks in private, then written warning should be
issued. In some cases the offences committed is too strong for oral warning in
which case a written warning is administered and it should contain a statement of
the offence committed with copies of letters sent to the relevant officers, who
deal with the offenders’ employment or academic record.
4. Demotion, Suspension and Discharge from employment:
The verdict by disciplinary committee during the time an employee is temporarily

suspended could either be that the suspect is not guilty and should continue with his/her
normal work or studies or the committee may find the suspect guilty. In the case where
the suspect is found guilty the disciplinary measure to be undertaken must be
recommended by the committee, in accordance with the magnitude of the offence.
These measures include demotion, suspension or discharge from employment or
studies as the case may be. The disciplinary action recommended, should however,
take into account both the seriousness of the offence and whether this is a first, second
or third offence.
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UNIT SEVEN
CULTURAL EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION
In this unit you will be introduced to different aspects of culture. You are expected to acquire
knowledge and skills of teaching Music Movement and Drama, Art and Crafts, Physical
Education, and Religious Education.
1. The concept of cultural education

 What is culture?
 Culture-based education
2. Music, Movement and Drama
 The meanings of Music, Movement and Drama.
 Some of the benefits to children of participating in Music, Movement and Drama
activities?
 Methods of teaching Music, Movement and Drama to children.
 Requirements for Music, Movement and Drama
3. Art and Crafts
 The concept of Art and Crafts
 Benefits of learning art and crafts
 Creativity
 The role of the caregiver in creative work
 Art appreciation
 Techniques of teaching
 Child Art
 Art and Craft materials
 Arts & Crafts from Recycled Material
 Display of art And Crafts products.
 Assessment of pre-school children
4. Physical Education
 Components of developmental physical education
 Importance of physical and psychomotor activities in early childhood
 Games of low organization
 Preparing to teach physical education to young children
 Developing, storing and maintaining physical education materials and equipment
5. Religious Education
 Importance of Religious education in ECD
 How to teach Religious Education in ECD
 Songs used in the teaching of religious education
 Materials used in the teaching of religious education
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1: THE CONCEPT OF CULTURAL EDUCATION
What is Culture?
'Culture' is considered to be a complex term, and a variety of anthropologists and researchers

have defined it in various ways. Some of these definitions have been listed below.
 Culture is a well-organized unity divided into two fundamental aspects -- a body of

Artifacts and a system of customs.
 Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
 Culture embraces all the manifestations of social habits of a community, the reactions of
the individual as affected by the habits of the group in which he lives, and the product of
human activities as determined by these habits.
 Culture may be defined as a people's traditions, history, values and language that make
up the culture of a group and which contribute to their identity. Culture-based education
is intended to honour all forms of knowledge, ways of knowing and world views equally.
Culture - Based Education
Culture - Based Education is far more than the incorporation of cultural events and traditional
skills into the curriculum. The goal of culture-based education is to support all children through
affirmation of their culture. When the school recognizes and validates children’s culture, it
helps them to be aware of their heritage and to value the accomplishments of their family, their
community and their ancestors. It builds a sense of pride and self-esteem, which is the best gift
any caregiver/caregiver can give to his/her children.
2. Music, Movement and Drama
The meanings of Music, Movement and Drama
Music
Before reading further, what do you understand y the word music?
An often-cited definition of music, coined by Edgard Varèse, is that it is "organized

sound" (Goldman 1961, 133).
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A human organizing element seems crucial to the common understanding of music.
Sounds produced by non-human agents, such as waterfalls or birds, are often
described as "musical", but rarely as "music".
Movement (Dance)
Dance is a type of art that generally involves movement of the body, often rhythmic and
to music. However, definitions of what constitutes dance can depend on social and
cultural norms and aesthetic, artistic and moral sensibilities. Definitions may range from
functional movement (such as folk dance) to virtuoso techniques such as ballet. Martial
arts are often compared to dances, and sports such as gymnastics, figure skating and
synchronized swimming are generally thought to incorporate dance. In some cases, the
motion of ordinarily inanimate objects may be described as dance (the leaves danced in
the wind).
There are many styles and genres of dance. African dance is interpretative. Ballet,
ballroom and tango are classical dance styles. Square dance and electric slide are
forms of step dance, and break-dancing is a type of street dance. Dance can be
participatory, social, or performed for an audience. It can also be ceremonial,
competitive or erotic. Dance movements may be without significance in them, as in
ballet or European folk dance, or have a gestural vocabulary or symbolic meaning as in
some Asian dances.
Choreography is the art of creating dances. The person who creates (i.e., choreograph)
a dance is known as a choreographer
Some of the benefits to children of participating in Music activities
Music plays an important role in the development of child from the time he/she is born.
Some argue that music can positively affect a child even before birth. Music aids in
development, movement and communication. Music also enables children to learn
faster in other areas of development, such as language and memorization.
(i) Intellectual Development
Music can aid in the intellectual development of a child in a number of ways. First, it
helps them to remember things. For example, most children learn the alphabet and
commit it to memory by learning the alphabet song. Music also aids in teaching children
to recognize patterns. Since music, whether instrumental or vocal, is based on a series
of patterns, early exposure to music enables children to recognize patterns. This ability
helps children develop their math, science and reading skills.
(ii) Cultural Diversity
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Music plays an important role in almost all societies and civilizations worldwide.
Exposing children to music from different parts of the world will help them to learn about
other cultures and recognize differences between cultures. This can also help children
develop an appreciation for different cultures and traditions.
(iii) Physical Activity
Getting children up and moving their bodies to music are a fun and simple form of
exercise, which is a good way to fight child obesity. Teaching children dances to go
along with specific songs, such as the chicken dance and the Hokey Pokey can help
children develop their large motor skills and coordination. Songs and dances like the
Hokey Pokey can also help children identify their different body parts and learn their
right side form their left side.
(iv) Self-Expression
Music is a great way to allow children to express themselves. Singing, playing musical
instruments and dancing are opportunities for children to do what feels fun and
enjoyable to them. Allowing children to make their own music and make up their own
dances to go along with music will give them the opportunity to develop their own style
and interests.
(v) Listening Skills
Listening to music, learning songs, learning to play a musical instrument and learning to
dance all require children to listen carefully to instructions, words and melodies. This
needed focus on something the child enjoys doing will help them to develop strong
listening skills, which will aid them later in life in both school and work.
CAT scans have shown that different aspects of music activate different parts of the
brain. In fact, half of the brain processes the words of the song while the other half
processes the music. Listening to music and playing music games, therefore, helps
children to use the various parts of their brains simultaneously. Music also stimulates a
child’s frontal lobes, which are important to both language and motor development.
(vi) For aiding memory
Music is used as a memory aid for many older children because it takes several discrete
pieces of information and combines them into one larger piece of information – a song.
Processing that one piece of information is much easier than processing a long list.
Therefore, music is an important aspect of learning. Music and movement lessons
develop the innate understanding of music in children, which enables them to tap into
this aspect of music later on in life.
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Some of the benefits to children of participating in Movement activities
(i) Stimulate the brain
Just like music, movement and rhythm exercises stimulate the brain which reinforces
language concepts. The frontal lobes of the brain go through to main growth spurts –
one between the ages of two and six, and one at about age twenty-two. Therefore,
music and movement classes are most beneficial during the toddler and preschool
years.
(ii) Ability to learn
Movement causes the brain to produce endorphins, chemicals that increase both the
child’s energy levels and her ability to learn. Movement also sends oxygen to the
brain, which aids in the thought process.
(iii) Brain development
Music and movement activities that include cross lateral movement are especially
important to brain development. Cross lateral movement includes any movement in
which the arms or legs cross the midsection of the body. This can be achieved by
dancing with scarves or swaying like a tree, both common in music and movement
activities. Cross lateral movement enables both sides of the brain to work together,
which is important in strengthening brain connections.
(iv) Emotional expression, social interaction and exercise
Dance is performed in many cultures as a form of emotional expression, social

interaction, or exercise, in a spiritual or performance setting, and is sometimes used to
express ideas or tell a story.
(v) Non-verbal communication
Dance may also be regarded as a form of nonverbal communication between humans

or other animals, as in bee dances and behaviour patterns such as mating dances.
The importance of music and movement in a preschool classroom cannot be

underestimated. Incorporating the two skills can prepare child’s mind for learning
throughout his/her school years
Some of the benefits to children of participating in drama activities?
(i) Development of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills
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Drama is part of the language arts program involving listening, speaking, reading and
writing. Caregivers can use drama to support these aspects of literacy development.
In the nursery grades especially, children find drama playful and entertaining and
become actively engaged in the dramatic process.
(ii) Self expression
Drama activities develop children’s ability to express themselves as they can't always
explain what they feel emotionally in situations of anger, love, frustration, relief.
(iii) Creative thinking
Drama helps children think creatively. Many of the habits they develop during drama,
carry over to other everyday and educational settings.
(iv) Working in a team
Drama encourages children to work collaboratively. They take part in activities where
they must rely on each other and learn to trust.
(v) Interaction with literature
Drama is a wonderful way for children to interact with, and interpret literature, or text of
any sort. They get opportunities to analyze how a character’s personality, motives and
actions influence plot. This can be as simple as understanding and portraying the fear
that a rat feels when confronted by a cat. Some children who think they don’t like books
will find their way to reading by dramatizing a story or poem.
(vi) Development of communication skills
Drama develops communication skills. Children learn how to use their face, voice and
body movements to get a message across to any audience, whether it be on stage or
with a group of friends.
(vii) Development of higher order thinking skills
Drama allows children to practise many of the higher order thinking skills in a playful
context. They must think critically, apply knowledge to new situations, analyze, solve
problems, make decisions, collaborate – all skills that will benefit not just their reading
and writing, but every core subject at school.
(viii) Preparation for real life
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Drama prepares children for real life. In our rush to have children acquire academic
learning, we often forget their personal and social development. The emphasis in drama
is on being a team member and working collaboratively rather than hogging the limelight
for yourself. Children are expected to be active, reflective, flexible, responsible and
responsive – all skills that will benefit them in every facet of their lives.
(ix) Development of creativity
Drama gives children an outlet for their creativity. Not every child can wield a paintbrush
to their own satisfaction or play an instrument like a akogo. Drama is a level playing
field. Many children blossom in drama classes.
(x) Self discipline
Drama encourages self-discipline. It might look and sound messy and noisy, but it isn’t
mayhem. It’s not about putting yourself first. It’s about working as a group.
(xi) Appreciating others
Drama gives us a way to gain understanding of others. We learn tolerance by walking a

mile in another’s shoes, and drama is a way to do that.
Drama lessons, in general, teach children how to express themselves and act out freely
in an open space that allows for a full range of body motion.
Children need encouragement to enhance emotional growth
The caregiver is encouraged to build confidence in children during drama, and never to
say “No, that’s not right”. As long as children do not interfere with others, keep their own
private space around themselves, not touch or push others or interfere with another’s
improvisation, there should be no negativity felt by the child from the caregiver.
In drama every kind of movement is acceptable, even if the child wants to move in a
way that seems outlandish or different. It is this very state of openness in a drama class
that enables children to feel that they are free to express themselves.
Methods of teaching Music, Movement and Drama to children
Teaching music
Teaching music to young children is something every parent/caregiver can enjoy doing.
You do not have to be a talented musician to help your child listen and respond to
music. All you need to do is demonstrate how you respond to music and provide some
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child-friendly ways to join in. As soon as children begin to use their voices and bodies,
they are ready to learn about music. Take an active part in this learning and let the
music do the rest.
Things You'll Need
 Radio, music tapes, or records

 Children's musical instruments, bought or homemade
Instructions
i. Sing.
Young children learn best by observing and copying others. You don't have to be
a singer; you don't even have to be able to carry a tune. Sing with the radio, sing
lullabies or sing silly, made-up songs. Children who see and hear their parents
making music get the point that they can do it too.
ii. Move to the music.
Clap, bounce a toddler on your knees and join hands with your child to row, row,
row the boat together. You're teaching rhythm; it's the combination of melody and
rhythm that create music. Put on a tape and dance. Use your hands, arms, head
and feet to respond to the rhythm and you'll have an instant partner.
iii. Make music a two-way street.
Good children's songs involve participation. Even if your child cannot yet
pronounce all the words to "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," he/she can pitch in on
the animal choices and noises. "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" is a favorite
because it involves both music and movement. Preschool music caregivers use
children's names to keep involvement going; a good-morning song that greets
each child by name will get even shy children singing.
iv. Add instruments for variety.
Instruments can range from commercial products to an empty tin you can tap
with a stick. KItchen cupboards contain a lot of music: measuring spoons to
shake; bowls and pots that all make different tones when tapped. Beat a
homemade drum fast or slowly, loudly or softly. Music has been described as
organized noise. Organize your own noise to make music.
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v. Choose a wide variety of music for listening.
You may have a favorite radio station, but turn the dial so your child can hear all
the kinds of music it plays. Carry good tapes and records, letting you add other
types of music to your experience.
Note: The key to teaching music to children is your active participation in

making and responding to music. The more enthusiasm and curiosity you
express, the more your child will learn. Children are highly sensitive to
parental/caregiver preferences. As the child begins to learn about music,
expose her/him to all types--from classical to rap--regardless of your
personal preference. Your child's preferences will develop naturally as
he/she grows.
Teaching movement
Teaching a dance class for children is very different from teaching a dance class for
adults. Some children may be shy, some may not want to be there at all and some may
want to kid around the entire time. To keep the attention of your dance children, you
must hold their interest with creative and fun ideas.
Things You will Need
 Large area to dance in
Procedure
i. Choose appropriate music for the age group you are teaching. Children' songs
are great for a younger group, and popular music works well for older children.
Select a variety of songs with different tempos and moods for different parts of
the class.
ii. Always begin with warm-ups, such as free jumping. You can also instruct
children to move their bodies to imitate different objects in nature, such as a tree
bending with the wind.
iii. Once the class has warmed up, begin an activity that encourages children to
move around. Running, hopping, jumping and skipping will all get your children'
heart rates up. Similar to the warm-ups, you may want to encourage your
children to "gallop like a horse" or "hop on one leg."
iv. Put on a piece of music with a rhythmic beat. Encourage children to move to the
music. This is one of the basics of dance, and children will have to gain this skill
before they are able to dance at a higher level.
v. Challenge children to follow a sequence of movements. For example, you might
tell them to reach for the sky, bend at the waist, take two steps to the right and
then spin around. Young children may have difficulty with this task, so slowly
build up the number of directions you expect them to follow.
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vi. Help children cool down at the end of the class with a piece of music that gets
slower and slower. Encourage children to dance quickly at the beginning of the
song and to slow down along with the music.
Note: Have fun with the children! Younger children may enjoy simple musical instruments to
help them feel the rhythm of the dance. Older children may enjoy learning steps to a dance
that they all know and enjoy.
Teaching drama
Example of a Drama Lesson on feelings
Materials needed
The following props and materials are necessary for this lesson:
 Drum
 A tape recorder/cd player
 Excerpts of music with variations in beat, different styles
Lesson on Drama for Expression of Feelings
(a) Warm up: Children move around to the various excerpts of music. Turn the
music on and off, and then shuffle to the next piece. The children move
around in the space (area in which the drama class is taking place) and freely
do whatever the music makes them want to do. Young children do not
necessarily have the ability to move around in time to the rhythm, so while
some may jump up and down to a slow moving piece, there is no need to
disqualify that choice of movement.
(b) Stretching and Relaxing Exercise:
 Make children stand opposite you.
Instruct them as you do the exercises with them:
 Stretch to the ceiling. Relax.
 Stand up as tall as possible. Relax.
 Roll into a tiny ball. Now stretch out. Relax
 Turn into a robot. Hold. Relax
(c) Moving to the Beat of the Drum: Hit the drum to a specific beat. Children walk
to the beat of the drum. Alternate from quick to slow, from a double beat to a
long trill.
Then, explain that children should walk to the beat of the drum. Shout “Stop!”
and then give a word that shows a feeling, for example, “love”. The children
then freeze into a picture that depicts love. Hit the drum again, children move,
say “anger” and the children freeze into a position that reflects anger.
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This activity can continue for a while using a list of abstract nouns such as
love, hate, fear, fright, happiness, hope, for example, and each time the
children form a frozen picture with their bodies reflecting the meaning of the
words.
(d) Complete a Drama Lesson with a Discussion Circle
At the end of every drama lesson, a discussion circle is important. Ask the
children what they enjoyed, how they felt, what the nicest part of the lesson
was, what was the most fun, what was the most difficult. This evaluation will
help you and children summarize the activity.
ART AND CRAFTS
The concept of Art and Crafts
First of all we shall start by defining art. According to Herbert Read (1963) he defines art as
“everything we make to please our senses”
Crafts are objects made by hand that either have a functional or decorative purpose and are
categorized as visual arts. An individual who creates crafts, or engages in the decorative arts,
is referred to as a craftsperson, artisan, designer-craftsperson, fiber artist, blacksmith,
glassblower, etc. Depending on the specialization of the craftsperson, an understanding of
certain materials, among them clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood, is necessary. Likewise, a
variety of tools and techniques associated with the process must also be among the
knowledge base of such artists.
Benefits of learning art and crafts:
i. Motor Skills: Many of the motions involved in making art, such as holding a paintbrush or
scribbling with a crayon, are essential to the growth of fine motor skills in young children.
Developmental milestones around age three should include drawing a circle and
beginning to use safety scissors. By the age of four, children may be able to draw a
square and begin cutting straight lines with scissors. Many preschool programs
emphasize the use of scissors because it develops the dexterity children will need for
writing.
ii. Creativity: Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas,

alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with
others, and entertaining ourselves and others.
Creativity can be learnt. It begins with a foundation of knowledge, learning a discipline,

and mastering a way of thinking. You learn to be creative by experimenting, exploring,
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questioning assumptions, using imagination and synthesing information. Learning to be
creative is akin to learning a sport. It requires practice to develop the right muscles, and a
supportive environment in which to flourish.
iii. Interaction: This is mutual or reciprocal action or influence. Learners learn better when
they are in their peer groupings. Children interact when they are busy doing their art and
craft activities. They share knowledge and materials.
iv. Language Development: For very young children, making art—or just talking about it—
provides opportunities to learn words related to colours, shapes, texture, size and actions.
When toddlers are as young as a year old, parents can do simple activities such as
crumpling up paper and calling it a “ball.” By he time a child reaches primary one, she/he
can use descriptive words to discuss her/his own creations or talk about what feelings are
elicited when she/he sees different styles of artwork.
iv. Social development: socialization-—the process of learning how to get along with
others-—is not the same thing as socializing. In fact, the opposite may be true. Too much
time with peers can make children behave badly.
v. Emotional competence is the key to strong preschool social skills (Denham 1997). For
example, the better children understand emotions, the more they are liked by peers
(Denham et al 1990; McDowell et al 2000).
To teach emotional competence, talk to the child about his/her feelings. Talk about your
own (e.g., “When you don’t pay attention to me, it makes me feel frustrated and sad”).
Discuss what kinds of situations make us feel bad, and what things make us feel good.
When caregivers explain emotions and their causes, children learn how to better regulate
their own feelings.
The evidence is overwhelming. Social development builds on a child’s primary

relationship—-the bond with his parent or guardian (Sroufe and Fleeson 1986).
When learners see, on a daily basis, that they can rely on you for support, they are
emotionally secure. They adapt more easily to new social situations. They also develop
their capacity for empathy-—a key ingredient for pre-school social skills.
Discuss your child’s experiences with peers in the same pleasant, conversational way
that you discuss other everyday events. Such talk helps in several ways. It keeps you
informed and sensitive to what is going on with your child. It shows your child that you are
really interested in his/her social life.
vi. Decision Making: Art education strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.
The experience of making decisions and choices in the course of creating art carries over
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into other parts of life. “If they are exploring and thinking and experimenting and trying
new ideas, then creativity has a chance to blossom,” says MaryAnn Kohl, an arts
educator and author of numerous books about children’s art education.
vii. Visual Learning: Drawing, sculpting with clay and threading beads on a string all develop
visual-spatial skills, which are more important than ever. Even toddlers today know how to
operate a phone, which means that even before they can read, children are taking in
visual information. This information consists of cues that we get from pictures or three-
dimensional objects from digital media, books and television.
viii. “Parents need to be aware that children learn a lot more from graphic sources now than in
the past,” says Dr. Kerry Freedman, Head of Art and Design Education at Northern Illinois
University. “Children need to know more about the world than just what they can learn
through text and numbers. Art education teaches children how to interpret, criticize, use
visual information, and how to make choices based on it. Knowledge about the visual
arts, such as graphic symbolism, is especially important in helping children become smart
consumers and navigate a world filled with marketing logos ((advertisements) .
ix. Inventiveness: When children are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in
creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives.
According to Kohl, “The kind of people society needs to make it move forward are
thinking, inventive people who seek new ways and improvements, not people who can
only follow directions. Art is a way to encourage the process and the experience of
thinking and making things better!”
x. Cultural Awareness: As we live in an increasingly diverse society, the images of different

groups in the media may also present mixed messages. Teaching children to recognize
the choices an artist or designer makes in portraying a subject helps kids understand the
concept that what they see may be someone’s interpretation of reality.
xi. Improved Academic Performance: Studies show that there is a correlation between art
and other achievement. A report by Americans for the Arts states that young people who
participate regularly in the arts (three hours a day on three days each week through one
full year) are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, to
participate in a math and science fair or to win an award for writing an essay or poem
than children who do not participate.
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CREATIVITY
Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or

possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and
entertaining ourselves and others.
The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create
meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc. The products of man's creative
activities; works of art collectively, especially of the visual arts, sometimes also music, drama,
dance, and literature
The role of the caregiver in creative work
Children are creative by nature. The role of caregiver concerning creativity among children is
not to force them into a standardized box but to support their creative minds. Most of the
successful adults in the world today are creative thinkers and they think outside of the box, that
is how they became successful.
Allow the child to grow at his/her own pace instituting learning through the creative process.
When a child is given the opportunity to grow that creative part of their mind, then he/she will
be able to come up with all kinds of solutions to problems. When we teach our children to
think in a creative process, we give them the ability to formulate their own opinions and
learning style. A child's brain is filled with the innocence of no boundaries when it comes to
storytelling, drawing and making up new games. Each of these creative activities be
channeled into a learning experience for the child.
The key attitude is a desire to help every individual learner develop his/her, own particular set
of interests and talents rather than simply 'delivering' the curriculum in an innovative way. The
curriculum needs to 'emerge' from the learner’' felt concerns.
Therefore the caregiver should:
 deepen the understandings of the world of each learner;

 believe in the creative ability of all learners;
 value creative expression in learners;
 encourage empathy in learners;
 teach in ways that facilitate creativity;
 adapt the curriculum to meet learner’s individual needs.
However, caregivers will need the sensitivity to balance teaching skills with leaving their childs
free to get on with things; an appropriate mix of structure and freedom. The criteria caregivers
need to keep in mind is to always enlarge their learner’s vision and allow them to expand their
imagination.
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The creative caregivers focus must be on the learner by developing a problem solving
approach to curriculum promoting and valuing creative thinking and diversity of opinion;
mixing a blend of high support and high expectations that learners can solve their own
problems. To develop real creativity childs need the freedom to pursue question that concern
them.
What kills creativity are: inflexible timetables, intense competition, compartmentalized subject
teaching and imposed curriculum assessment practices.
Art Appreciation
To appreciate simply means to grasp the nature, worth, quality, or significance of something.
Art Appreciation simply means being able to look at works and form your own opinion. It is the
knowledge and understanding of the universal and timeless qualities that identify all great art.
The more you appreciate and understand the art of different eras, movements, styles and
techniques, the better you can develop, evaluate and improve your own artwork.
Art Appreciation Lessons for Children
Introducing young children to art can open up a whole new world that they may be unaware of.
There are various ways to teach art appreciation to young childs.
(a) Study Specific Artists
Pick a local artist (if any) and have the childs talk about him. Discuss his
background and what led to his career as an artist. Discuss the type of artist he
is. Explain to the children the different types of painting mediums including oils,
pastels, charcoal and pencil drawings. Show them pictures of the artist and of his
work. Discuss the era in which he lived and what might have been the motivation
for his drawings and his style. Some artists are realists, others are impressionists
and some are abstract painters. Discuss the colors and forms used. Tell the
children to draw a picture in the style of the artist you have been studying.
(b) Cartoonists
Introduce the children to artwork done by other children their age. Explain to
them that children can be cartoonists. When children see what other children of
their age are capable of doing, this will motivate them to do likewise. Display
completed artwork in the Art and Crafts Centre. Make copies of the artwork and
compile a classroom art album that the children can take home and share with
their parents and siblings. Have an Art Exhibition or Art Fair and invite other
children and caregivers into your classroom.
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(c) Museum
Take your learners to an Art Museum. Explain to them that there are many types
of art. Art is not limited to painting. Show them sculptures, pottery and works
made out of textiles and textures. Explain that some cultures tend to be
particularly good in a specific type of art or craft, such as the native Ugandans
who made pots and the beauty of their pottery.
(d) Killing two birds with one stone
Engage in artistic exercises that have a purpose other than the art aspect. For
example, talk to your class about emotions and what they mean to the children.
Ask them to draw a picture of an emotion -- happiness, sadness, fear -- and then
discuss their use of color. Why did they use blue for sadness? Tell them that
green is associated with envy; red is associated with fiery emotions and white
means peace. Let the children look at each other's pictures. They can compare
and contrast how the other children used color to display emotion. An interesting
conversation can result.
(e) Occasions
Pick a holiday or occasion and do an art project that is related to the event. For
example, explain to the children what a wedding is and that people wear special
clothing during this celebration because it allows them to be mysterious. Discuss
the many weddings the learners have attended. Show them pictures of various
weddings and let them draw their own pictures of a wedding. They can display
them in the Art and Crafts centre. Explain that drawing a wedding is a form of art
and that they are creating beautiful drawings.
Techniques of teaching art and crafts
At first glance, preschool arts and crafts might look like lots of mess mixed in with a bit
of chaos. However, if you introduce a little focus and preparation to your preschool craft
ideas it is possible to turn craft-time into a great learning experience for learners.
Every child learns differently and even young children will show a preference toward
visual (sight), aural (sound) or kinesthetic (doing) learning. If you are teaching your
preschooler something new, art and craft is a great tool as it incorporates all of these
learning/teaching methods and give the learner the best chance of 'getting it'.
Preschools have two basic types of teaching methods: caregiver-centered or child-

centered. However, learn more about the first two preschool education views that both
advocate play-way method.
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Play-Based Preschool
 Proponents of play-based preschool curricula believe that children learn best

through playing and choosing their own activities. Children are allowed to choose
the activities that interest them, which will motivate them to try new things, learn
new activities, build confidence and use their own creativity to learn new skills.
The curriculum is age-appropriate, and a child develops at his or her own pace
versus learning at the pace of other children or at the pace that the caregiver
dictates. This type of curriculum is more unstructured than caregiver-directed
play and active children who enjoy playing and socializing with other children,
and who don't mind noisy play, will do well in this type of learning environment.
Montessori Preschool
 Montessori curriculum proponents believe that play is a child's work, and the
curriculum is very child-centered. While the school focuses on academic
learning, the goal of the learning is for it to happen naturally through real-life
experiences at their own pace. Montessori education strives to allow children to
make their own choices and do things for themselves. Building self-esteem and
confidence by allowing children to do for themselves is a big goal of this type of
curriculum. Children that are independent, like to play on their own, have ability
to pay attention for a long time and to follow directions will do well in a
Montessori classroom.
Waldorf Preschool
 Another child-centered curriculum, Waldorf, focuses on predictable structure and

routine. Childs learn by predictability and routine, as this repetition gives children
a sense of familiarity and comfort. Waldorf curriculum also focuses on educating
the whole child, meaning the body, mind and spirit. Waldorf preschools attempt
to make a home-like environment for their children by using hands-on activities
that promote teamwork and concentration. Waldorf education is great for children
who are comfortable playing in groups, learn well through imitation and repetition
and have active imaginations.
Reggio Emilia Preschool
 Based on the belief that children are naturally curious and should be free to think
and learn on their own, Reggio Emilia is also a child-centered curriculum.
Curriculum is based on learner interest and natural learning moments. For
example, during a walk outside, a learner may comment on leaves, and the
caregiver will then make a lesson about leaves for the next day. Lessons can be
taught for a small group or the whole classroom and can last for a day, a week or
even all year. Reggio Emilia is a great curriculum for children who are creative,
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do well in a group setting, play well with other kids, enjoy art, drama or music and
love hands-on learning activities.
Academic Preschool
 One of the only caregiver-directed approaches to preschool curriculum is the

academic approach. It is a structured classroom environment, in which children
who do well at following instructions and can sit still for long periods of time will
do well. It is very structured and children in this type of setting should be able to
follow directions and pay attention to longer lessons.
 Always stay enthusiastic, especially when they are feeling a little

down, because their project doesn't look like the one in the
picture.
 Have plenty of paper towels and soap!
 Always encourage the learners to help clean up; this works
especially well after finding a special place to show case their
project/art.
 When your spouse, family or friends come over, have your little
one(s) show their projects off.
 If using paints, remember water paints and poster board paints
are best for younger children.
 Acrylics and oil paints are more for older children but be sure to
clean up spills. Use water for acrylics and paint thinner, or paint
remover for oil.
 Never insult your child's creativity, or his or her final
project/art/drawing. Remember, one word of praise travels many
miles.
 Use water to clean up for acrylics and paint thinner, or paint
remover, for oil.
Child Art
Introduction
Children explore the world around them through intellectual, physical and emotional methods.
All these factors play a part in their art. Psychological studies have established a series of
stages of development in this process. You will learn about those stages that are for preschool
children.
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A general outline (taken from
several sources)
Scribble
 around 14 months
 shapeless, purposeless
 The primitive cell from which all
graphic art grows
 wavy (like a waive of the hand)
 little muscle control needed
 sweeping movements of the
arm from elbow or shoulder
 tangled movement like a pen
attached to a pendulum or
string
a) Disordered - uncontrolled markings that could

be bold or light depending upon the personality of
the child. At this age the child has little or no
control over motor activity.
b) Longitudinal - controlled repetitions of
motions. Demonstrates visually an awareness and
Lowenfeld (1978) enjoyment of kinesthetic movements.
4 stages of scribble c) Circular - further exploring of controlled
motions demonstrating the ability to do more
complex forms.
d) Naming - the child tells stories about the
scribble. There is a change from a kinesthetic
thinking in terms of motion to imaginative thinking
in terms of pictures.
Scribble and control
 around 18 months
 Gradually change to including
circular movements,
interspersed with lines - basic
lessons are being mastered
 Initially chance, watching
another child drawing, slowly
brought under control of mind
and body Illustrations from David Lewis & James Greene
 control of muscles in hand, (1983)
wrist and arm Your Child's Drawings: Their Hidden Meaning
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 collaboration of mind and body
Scribble and Precision
 around age 2
 more demanding lines, angles,
zigzags and crosses
 use of arm, wrist and finger
muscles
 challenges to perception,
memory and co-ordination of
hand and eye movement
 building of a store of knowledge
about motions and products
with varying results
 can continue alongside gradual
increasing skill in formal,
recognisable pictures
Beginning of Precision
 More restricted - doesn’t spread

across page, isolated lines
 sometimes named - “a flower”
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Pre-Schematic Stage
 Announced by the appearance

of circular images and lines
which seem to suggest a
human or animal figure.
 During this stage the schema
(the visual idea) is developed.
 The drawings show what the
child perceives as most
important about the subject.
 There is little understanding of
space - objects are placed in a
haphazard way throughout the
picture
 The use of colour is more
emotional than logical
Lowenfeld
Human Forms
 Primitive and tentative - Head

and body only (tadpole
drawing)
 full face
 parts added as skill and
perception increase - feet,
noses, eyes, mouth
feet, arms, body and head
 Animals drawn in profile
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Symbolism and Schema
 Around 4/5 School starts -

social world broadens
 regular repetition of schema
 Circle used for heads and tree
tops
 Drawings don’t look like they
should appear to adult eyes
o figures look alike (no
differences between
male/female)
 conceptual understanding
rather than visual observation
 close attention to detail -
distortion and exaggeration
 simple geometric forms
Illustration from Kellog, Rhoda (1970)

Analysing Children's Art
Human Figures
 Preceded by consistent shapes

 Hundreds of them!
 Eventually the shape becomes
a man/mother/sister/brother
 Very individual, may vary
considerably
 Figures in the child’s
experience which impress
determine the subject matter
 people = socialising process
 lines represent arms and legs
Some Art and crafts topics for nursery class
Children in the nursery may not be the most skilled at arts and crafts but they may just
have the most fun. Whether this is finger painting, drawing around their feet, or gluing
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glitter to a Christmas card, they are sure to have a great time. Just be prepared for the
mess.
Palm/foot prints
 Most children enjoy getting messy and using their hands/feet to do it. Palm/foot
paint is an art medium for nursery school-age children that will allow them to be
creative and get messy at the same time. Dip children's palms/feet into paint and
have them press their palms/feet onto paper to make prints.
Nursery Rhyme Crafts
 Most nursery school-age children are very familiar with different nursery rhymes.
You can use these nursery rhymes to design crafts. For example, if you want to
use "Little Bo Peep," you could have children make lambs out of construction
paper and cotton balls. Or if you want to make a craft for "One, two, buckle my
shoe," Punch holes near the perimeter of each cutout. The children can take
turns lacing the shapes with long, brightly colored shoelaces. This classroom
craft will improve eye/hand coordination and shapes from most nursery rhymes
can be made. This can also become an individual craft where each child is given
the same shape to decorate and then lace. The children could take this craft
home for extra lacing practice.
Papier marshe’ Jewelry
 Papier marshe’ jewelry is an easy craft that helps work on fine motor skills in
nursery school-age children. To make Papier marshe’ jewelry such as necklaces
or bracelets, first make paper pulp. Have children mould paper pulp into different
lengths and sizes to make paper beads. Let them make holes through and dry
them. After drying, let the chilren thread their paper beads onto yarns and then
decorate with acrylic paints.
Painting
 Painting is something that children of all ages can enjoy and pre-school children
love it. Brushes will keep the toddler's hand relatively clean but they will probably
be happier finger painting. A blank piece of paper will allow them to be creative
and make whatever patterns and shapes they like. Or give them a template to try
and draw inside. Add some paint to the paper and let the child blow it around with
a straw. Children can also use crumpled-up newspaper by dipping it into some
paint and rubbing it against the plain paper. Be prepared for this to get messy,
gather an ample supply of newspapers to protect the tables and some aprons or
old clothes for the kids.
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Some Art and Crafts materials
Basic Materials
Computer printer Paint brushes
Computer paper (white & colored) Hole punch
Construction paper Paints: tempera, watercolor paints, watercolor

pencils, *tempera paints, poster, finger paints
Crayons Glue stick

erasable colored pencils or Washable glue
traditional colored pencils &
white and color chalk
Craft knife (for adults) Wood craft sticks (small and large)
Pencils with eraser and pencil sharpener Scissors:

(extras: shaper scissors)
Washable felt-tip color markers Cover up: old t-shirt
File box & files to organize

Dry-erase color markers
activities and materials
Tape & tape dispenser Stapler
Extras
Stickers Hole punch brass fasteners
Pipe Cleaners Wax paper
Paper plates Standard 9" Paints: acrylic and fabric
Easels or butcher paper Plaster of Paris
Poster board to use as a portable easel or

Liquid starch
bulletin board
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Clear contact paper or laminating sheets Used craft sticks (from Popsicles)
Cotton balls Tissue Paper (various colors)
Recyclable Materials for crafts

Note: Print black and white craft templates on scrap paper. Trace the templates over
decorative wallpaper from old catalogs or scraps, left over pieces of construction paper,
wrapping paper or foam sheets.
Cardboard tubes (sanitary, paper towel or
Catalogs, newspaper and old comic books
wrapping paper tubes)
Drinking straws Clear plastic soda bottles & caps
Paper bags: lunch size & grocery size Baby food jars
Cardboard: cereal boxes, etc. Old cookie sheets
Sand paper scraps Paper cups (foam or paper)
Styrofoam trays Old socks
Newspaper Milk cartons
Large & small boxes and lids (shoe boxes) Wrapping paper & wallpaper scraps
Yarn, ribbon or string scraps Clean sponges
Plastic containers (margarine cups, etc.) Frozen juice cans & lids
Throw-away paper (junk mail that one side is

Old sheets or old pillowcases
clean for printing)
Empty match boxes Aluminum foil scraps
Some large glass jars & jar lids Corks
Old file folders Old pasta-assorted
Tissue paper boxes and gift boxes Felt or fabric remnant pieces
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Materials from Nature
Smooth stones or pebbles Dried grasses
Fresh or dry leaves Twigs
Pine cones Nuts
Sea shells Dried beans
Sand Popping corn
Wood shavings Dried flowers
Bird seed and other seed Egg shells
Arts & Crafts from Recycled Material
Recycled materials can be reused to create sentimental art and crafts
Creating crafts out of recycled material can help you save money and allow you to spend time
with your family building these crafts. By recycling, you will not only be able to make fun crafts,
but you will help conserve national resources and reduce the need for landfills and
incineration.
Reuse Bottles and Cans
Cut a thin line in the center of the plastic top. Use paint, paper or fabric to cover the logo
on the can and use material around the house to decorate the bottle. If you are an
animal lover, you can create a backyard bird feeder by putting two wooden spoons
through a bottle. Fill it up with bird seed and tie it on a tree.
Reused Jars
Turn jars into soap dispensers or flower vases. You can create the dispenser by adding
an old dispenser to the jar and painting over the jar. The jar can also be decorated to
create a flower vase. You can also break the glass from these jars to create jewelry.
Recycled Clothing
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Fabrics can create a large range of items. You can create pillows and new clothing with
old fabrics. You can also use the items on the fabric to help style up things in your
house. Make beads and jewelry on clothing into jewelry and add them to lamps as
dangling accessories.
Fake Hair
Little girls will be excited to create their own dolls. Use old or left over hair extensions
that you have for the doll's hair. Create the body of the doll by using old clothing fabric
around the house and sew it into a doll. You can use old clothing to also make clothing
for the doll and use buttons for the eyes.
Paper
With Christmas and Birthdays each year, there are many gift boxes and paper bags that
are given, but you do not need to discard them after opening the gift. You can dress
these bags up and use them in return as gift bags by adding bows and using paper to
decorate the outside of them. You can also create greeting cards using recyclable paper
and decorate them as you want.
Cardboard
Cardboard boxes can be used to create diaries. Children will have fun creating their
own personalized handmade diaries. They just need to cut two pieces of cardboard and
wrap it with cello tape. Then glue construction paper in the center and punch three
holes through the cover and the sheets of paper and tie string through each hole.
DISPLAY OF ART AND CRAFTS PRODUCTS
Follow these tips to display your children's artwork in a creative, space-saving and practical
manner for years to come.
Instructions
i. Have your children help you decide which pieces of art they would like to have
displayed. Children can help guide you to pieces that both of you appreciate.
ii. Gather a long piece of wood, clothespins, glue and paint. Have your children decorate
the piece of wood with paint and other materials they choose. After they have finished
decorating, glue the clothespins onto the wood so that they open towards the floor. Let
the glue set. Mount the wood onto a wall.
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iii. Use the clothespins to hang your children's artwork. Hang a simple clothesline along the
edges of the Art Centre. Use clothespins to add new artwork to the line throughout the
year. Be sure to have at least 2 metres of clothesline with which to work at all times.
iv. Hang the pieces of art about 10 centimetres apart from each other. You can put the
artwork on a large bulletin board, but make sure the artwork does not overlap the frame
or hang outside the bulletin board else it will look messy.
v. Make a scrapbook or photo book with your children's artwork and put the book on
display. Make sure the artwork is contained inside the scrapbook and not hanging
outside the pages
vi. Get clipboards. Clip a piece of artwork onto the clipboard and nail the clipboard to the
wall. You may change out artwork as you please.
vii. Frame and mount particularly important artwork.

viii. ,Use digital cameras and scanners to find ways to turn your children's artwork into a
practical item. Have your children's artwork digitized so that posters, calendars, trading
cards and note cards can be made out of it.
Note:
 Try to use improvised materials as much a possible.

 Choose places to display your children's artwork.
 Keep artwork away from direct light sources. Sunlight and even artificial light can
damage your children's artwork over time.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
This unit will give you information on how to teach physical education to young children.
Introduction:
As you study this unit you will need to observe the children as they play at home and at school.
You will also reflect on child growth and development; the development of the child so as to
understand the correct requirement for activities to be offered. You will also recall some simple
games played by the children in your area and connect to the skills developed in it.
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You will need to collect some simple games and write them in a special boom for physical
education activities.
TOPIC 1: COMPONENTS OF DEVELOPMENTAL PHYSICAL EDUCATION
a) Definition of developmental physical education
Developmental physical education is a physical education that emphasizes the aquisition of

sequential movement skills and increased physical competency. It is based on the levels of
development of the individual child appropriateness of the activity and use of situations that are
fun for children to enjoy doing it repeatedly. In so doing, children develop physically, mentally,
socially and emotionally. You will need to know your children’s developmental levels so that
you sequence the activities to fit the age appropriateness.
b) Aims and objectives of physical education activities
According to the national association for sport and physical education, the general aim of
physical education is to set aside a daily portion of the school day purposefully to the
development of the large muscles. This is generally to help children Learn –to-Move and
Learn-through-movement. When they learn-to-move they acquire basic movement skills and
fitness. The learn-through-movement aim focuses on acquiring cognitive and affective
development hence helping to develop the child holistically and making an all-round physically
fit person. The child can perform a variety of physical activities and will be generally active and
fit.
As they play too they learn to associatewith others and learn to accomodateeach other’s
strengths and weaknesses. Now, ask yourself, how do children learn to move? How can I help
children in my class to learn-to-move? How can they learn through movement? You will realise
that some children come to school/ centre when they cannot walk, run or do some physical
activities well. Their muscles need regular exercises. It is therefore right to say that physical
education is needed to make the child healthily, develop strong muscles and be well-
coordinated physically. As they move they learn a lot.
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c) Components of developmental physical education
When children join pre-schools they need to refine basic skills acquired through the guidance
of a care giver. Developmental physical educationhelps to make children competent movers
and reflective thinkers. Development P.E can be divided into motor (1), cognitive (2) and
affective (3) aspects.
I. Motor development
This is the basis for the movement skills. This is where a child id able to control movement with
precision and accuracy. It is progressive change in movement behaviours leading to
acquisition of basic movement skills, which will later be used in specialised skills like football,
netball and the like.
Basic movement skills include:
a) Locomotor skills (skills involving movement such as running, walking, hopping, skipping
etc.). They involve movement from one place to another.
b) Manipulative skills (which involve using of materials such as ball rolling, throwing,
kicking, bouncing etc.). These help to develop both gross and fine motor skills.
c) Stability/ non locomotor (done while in one place such as bending, stretching, twisting,
swinging etc.). These help in development of various parts of the body.
II. Cognitive learning
This involves progressive change in the ability youthink reason and act. As children play and
carry out physical education activities they learn new concepts and refine concepts learnt in a
play setting. Because it is fun children learnwithout being bored. Children learn concepts like
fast, slow, in, though, left, right and other spatial awareness as they play.
III. Affective learning
Here is where the ability of children to act, interact and react effectively with other people as
well as themselves. It promotes socio-ecomoic development which is very important for
children. When children perform well and to their satisfaction, they develop positive self-
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concept. Caregiver need to be very sensitive in encouraging positive self-concepts so as to
encourage children to socialize positively. All these are learnt thorough movement.
Children also learn correct attitude formation, value clarification and moral growth.
Topic 2: IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOMOTOR ACTIVITIES
You will realize by now that physical education cuts across all the three main domains if a
child’s growth and development. It is therefore very beneficial to the child. As you teach
physical education you should appreciate that you are enhancing holistic child development.
Physical education is important for the following reasons:
a) Development of gross and fine motor skills

When children engage in physical and psychomotor activities at an early stage they
tend to get the basic skills for later complex ones in games such as football, netball and
others. They will improve coordination among various body parts and develop strength
in the muscles. It helps to stimulate blood flow to all parts of the body.
b) Good Health
Physical education promotes the function of the central nervous system which will help
in physical fitness. Exercise provides a healthy body.
c) Development of concepts
Children through play learn various concepts like height, weight, space awareness and
position of the body and objects in relation to space.
d) Children learn to use their language
As they play, they interact with each other and so learn to ask for things, give directions,
express themselves and respond appropriately. They also develop the language skills
of listening, speaking, writing, as well as reading.
e) Promotes relaxation
Physical education activities promote relaxation of the mind when they use up built up
energy through play. They will feel relaxed and ready for the next activity.
f) Promotes social development
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As children interact with one another they learn acceptable behavior. They learn to
share, teamwork, competition to accept both defeat and winning in a healthy way and
also develop self control, self esteem and confidence.
TOPIC 3: GAMES OF LOW ORGANISATION
Introduction
Games are very important educational tools of physical education program. They are
usually short, full of activity and tailored to the level of children, size of class, equipment
available, time and facilities. It is usually advisable to plan well before hand so that even
materials needed are prepared beforehand.
These are games sometimes called build-up games. They are characterized by:
a) Rules:
 Have simple and few rules
 Do not have fixed number of players
 Rules can change according to locality and situation
 Develop gross motor skills
b) Equipment
 Need little or no equipment
 Equipment is not often standardized and often improvised
c) Skills
 Emphasis is on the motor skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching,
kicking, dancing and so on
 Develop skills needed later for team sports
 Suitable for pupils of different levels
Name some games you know that can be called games of low organization
Importance of these games

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i. They are important for the child’s development because they serve these
functions
ii. Develop basic movement skills such as running, jumping etc.
iii. Develop muscles , endurance, strength and mental capacity
iv. Develop social skills and creativity
v. Teach children to conform to rules and team work
vi. Give children enjoyment and relaxation from studying
vii. Transmit cultural values
NB: when selecting games consider; the desires outcomes, skills needed,
materials, formation, time etc.
TYPES OF BUILD UP GAMES/GAMES OF CHILDREN

i. Basic locomotor games – games to develop skills like running, jumping, walking
etc.
ii. Running and chasing games – sometimes called @gang games@. Games that
involve running in defined areas, stopping and starting and chasing e.g. cat and
rat, chase and catch etc.
iii. Reaction games – these develop ability to respond quickly at a signal, sound or
touch e.g. relays
iv. Competitive games – these are games where a player or a team tries to do better
than the other. In competition there are always winners or losers.
Because of this competition aspect these games are not suitable for young
children
Children should be taught to compete against their own past records, trying to
improve their performance
v. Relays: e.g. shuttle-relay; go and return, wheel barrow race, egg and spoon,
tunnel relay, relays in slalom etc. they promote team spirit.
vi. Striking and kicking games: these involve striking an object such as a ball using
the foot, hand or lever-like object in order to project the smaller object
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vii. Traditional games: games: games played by various tribes in Uganda or any
country which may be used to teach physical skills.
Games of low organization always emphasize educational values like cooperation, leadership,
followership, teamwork, spontaneity, obedience and others. Remember to emphasize this as
you teach them.
TOPIC 4: PREPARING TO TEACH A PHYSICAL EDUCATION LESSON
Introduction
Caregivers/ Caregivers in pre-primary schools should plan the physical education activities
with knowledge of the appropriateness of these activities to the age level of children. It is
common to find these caregivers giving children to play on their own while she/he does
something else. As the activities may not be varied and lack serious guidance and supervision
children may not enjoy and so develop poor attitude towards physical education, yet this is a
vital activity for proper growth and development of children generally. Caregivers/Caregivers
need to note the following hints seriously:
Personal skills of a good physical education caregiver
All caregivers need to be in good health and should regularly engage in big muscle activities to
maintain their own strength and endurance.
You as a caregiver of young children should be an example of being physically active and
getting enough exercises.
Play with the children do not move around or stand like a soldier while commanding children
around.
Ensure that activities selected are interesting and to be the level of the children
Encourage and praise children so that they will want to continue with the activity. Do not
victimize those who do not perform the activity well.
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Remember that children are different, select activities that cater for all children. Special needs
children need encouragement and appreciation. Make sure to design activities to the level of
these children.
PERSONAL QUALITIES OF A P.E CAREGIVER
Personal appearance
Use clean and appropriate sportswear which allows free movement
Wear appropriate footwear
Voice
Speak so loud that you are clearly heard
Vary the pitch of your voiceAvoid negative feedback
Language
Use simple language
Do not use “back-street” language
Give clear instructions making sure they understand
Gestures
Use gestures effectively to gain children’s attention and direct activity
Use expression on your face and movements of the hands, body and head to relay messages
Clap, smile and be expressive
Eye contact
Ensure you see all children and all children see you.
Let children feel that you can see them so that they participate effectively
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Identify mistakes and correct them n a loving way
Caregiver movement
 Move round the field encouraging children

 Supervise as you move the accuracy and control of the class
 Avoid unnecessary and districting movement
 When explaining information, stand and give clear instruction and demonstration
 Avoid moving round with a stick
 Help children to be at task
Organizational skills of a physical education caregiver
When conducting physical education, you need to have a well-organized set up. You need to
pay attention to the following:
i. Gaining attention
Children need to attend to your instruction in order to follow what you are doing/saying.
Sometimes caregivers use a whistle, a clapper or a drum to gain children’s attention. Use a
signal your children are used to.
ii. Defining an activity area
You need t mark the field with ash, leaves, sticks, flags or skittles. Children should be shown
the area and encourages to play within the marked area.
iii. Caregiver positioning
The caregiver must be positioned in a position where all children can see her/him. Pupils must
see demonstration by the caregiver and the caregiver must see the children. Avoid positioning
yourself in a place where children will be forced to look at the sun, busy road or any other
distraction.
iv. Distribution of equipment
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If you are using any equipment ensure that they are safe, enough and placed in a place
children will not be destructive. You may distribute as children match round you in a circle.
Materials may be placed in a box, container till the time they are needed.
v. Collection of materials
Children should be encouraged to collect and store play materials
Teach children routines of returning equipment to specific destinations at the end of the lesson
vi. Teaching formations
Children are usually arranged in an orderly manner in order to cause maximum learning. There
are some common ways recommended for learners and some of them include
Circle Semi-circle Double-semi-circle
Double circle Single File Double file
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Scatter
Source: UNESCO Teaching Resource Materials for Physical Education, Department of Sports
Science, ITEK Kampala, march
Introductory and concluding procedure
P.E is usually a unique lesson taking place outdoors or in one large classroom. Start with
marching orderly to the play area. Follow up with a quick warm up activity, at least one or two,
so that children’s muscles are warmed up and become ready for activity.
You will also finish with a cool down activity to bring the session to an end.
Delivering P.E lessons
The following hints will help you to deliver/ teach your lesson effectively.
Attitude
Have the correct attitude to your lesson and show enthusiasm.
Be an acceptable model of a P.E caregiver and encourage children to copy from you.
Participate actively.
Stopping activities
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In case of need, activities may be stopped half way, should this be necessary you need to gain
children’s attention but:
i. Do not disrupt an enjoyable activity

ii. Project your voice so that you can be heard clearly
iii. Make sure you are in a good teaching position where all can see you
iv. Use commands e.g. “stop there” or blow a whistle
Bringing the group together
i. Use a signal to get attention

ii. Pause and give them instruction
iii. Ensure all can see you
Explaining
i. Keep your explanations short

ii. Have your teaching points and quickly state them
iii. Demonstrate rather than using long explanations
iv. Make sure you are understood, you can ask them to paraphrase what you said
Supervision of groups
i. Know who is in each group. Move around guiding them.

ii. Keep praising them and advising them
iii. If you have to talk to groups, tip them in their groups not as a whol
iv. e class. Allow them to do their thing effectively.
v. If the group is making the same mistake call the whole class’s attention and
demonstrate the skill.
Maintaining discipline
i. Be sure that children understand your rules. Discuss them and identify the punishment
together. Be consistent with rules.
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ii. In case of an extraneous disturbances e.g. passing car/plane, get back to the lesson as
quickly as possible.
iii. Do not ridicule, belittle or make the child lose self esteem.
iv. Set standards of behavior and stick to them, keep your own principles
v. Be quick to notice problems and stop them before they become worse.
vi. Do not confront children publicly. Have a conference with child in case they need to.
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SAMPLE SCHEME OF WORK FOR P.E
Term: 1
Age-range: 3-4 years
Number: 20 children
Days: Tuesday and Thursday
Duration: 30 minutes
Learning Outcome: IX Using gross and fine motor muscles
Week Period Day Competence Content Skills/activitie Methods Materials Ref
s
1 1 Tuesday Using my Tails, Running Demonstration, Bibsof Games for

body to carry instruction and handkerchi P.E by
Who Dodging
out various guidance ef for tails Robin
jumps
activities Chasing Sykes pp
better 5 ropes
12
Jumping
2 Thursday Using my Four Pulling Demonstration 4 skittles Pp 5

body to carry cornered
Pushing Instruction and 6 balls
out various tug of war
guidance
activities Gripping 2 ropes
Tigers ball
Catching
Throwing
Dodging
A sample lesson plan for games of children – Build up games

Date Age range Time Unit Number Theme Topic
5/02/2012 3-4yrs 9.00-9.30 Game 20 Basic game Game

a.m. skills tails, who
jumps
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Competences:
1. Perform basic running, jumping, dodging skills
2. Cooperate, compete in teams with others
3. Explain and follow the rules of the game showing fair play
4. Acquire pleasure and joy in playing games
Time Phase Content Details Organization
9.00 -9.03 Preparation Movement to the Children change Double file

(3 mins) filed and prepare to
move to the field in
double file, reach
the playground
.Caregiver uses 4
skittles to define the
area.
9.03 – Warm –up Here, there, Caregiver makes Free spacing

9.07 (4 everywhere children run where
mins) she/he points or jog
in place only within
the demarcated
area.
9.07 – Skill teaching Tails Caregiver stops Free spacing

9.17 (10 and warm-up activities/
mins) development games. Calls
children to centre
and explains game,
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distributes tails.
Children chase for 4

minutes within area
and stop for 1
minute to find
winner.
Repeat 4 minutes
9.17 -9.27 Who jumps Caregiver Two opposite

(10 mins) better introduces new lines move in
game. opposite
directions on
Divides children into
signal “go”
2 teams, holds rope
as children run and
jump.
Caregiver gradually
increases height of
rope from the
ground.
9.27 – Culmination Cool-down by Stop game slowly Semi-circle to

9.30 ( 3 jogging double file
Bring children to a
mins)
standstill through
jogging
Breathe in and out
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Appraise and
reorganize to return
to classroom
TOPIC 5: DEVELOPING, STORING AND MAINTAINING PHYSICAL EDUCATION

EQUIPMENT
Materials and equipment offer the best avenue for young children. As they manipulate
materials they learn through touching, playing and with them and develop responsibility
as they store and keep them. You will realize that most physical education materials are
bought and are usually expensive. Develop an attitude of improvising. Materials may be
fixed or movable; outdoor or indoor materials; large or small materials for fine muscle
development. You should encourage children to value them so that they are not
misused.
Storing physical education materials

You are the key person in ensuring that materials are collected after use and carefully
kept. Some people keep their materials in boxes at the corner of their classroom with a
clear label on the box. In bigger schools they may have a storeroom, make sure the
materials are neatly kept. In cases of wear and tear ensure to repair quickly e.g. banana
fibre balls ropes and locally made hoops ay begin to undo, please repair immediately.
Making your own materials may be an environmentally friendly activity for example
making balls out of polyethylene bags helps to get rid of the troublesome
kaveera/polythene bag.
Summary
In this unit you have learnt that young children require physical education to learn-to-
move gracefully as well as learn-through-movement. This will enable them to develop
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and strengthen their gross muscles. They also learn basic motor skills through playing
simple games known as games of low organization. You will appreciate the importance
of physical education and probably become a better caregiver of physical education.
You will also realize that you care the role model. Practice large muscle activities
regularly.
Glossary
Acquisition: Gaining or getting something such as a skill, or

knowledge
Gross motor large muscles in the legs arms and trunk
Fine motor: Small muscles such as those in the fingers, eyes, toe
etc.
Physical: This term is used to describe something required
body effort to achieve a certain objective.
Psychomotor: The skill of movement or coordination of body parts
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4) RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION:
This unit will guide you to understand how Religious Education is related to the moral
development as well as other aspects of life.
Topic 1 The relationship between Religious Education and

morality
a) Morality and society
Morality deals with knowing right or wrong children need to know from the start the right
way to do things in our society.
Morality has a lot to do with society. It is what provides guidelines within an individual
that helps him/her to conform to society’s norms. Each society has its own moral values
but in most cases they cut across many societies. They generally have such restrictions
as;
- You should not take other people’s property without their permission.
- You should not cheat other people.
- You did wrong to insult other people especially the elderly.
- You should not have sex before marriage and if married you should not have sex
outside marriage.
Can you think of other examples in your community which show those morals that have
been agreed upon. If we follow moral values of the society, we shall find that we shall
- Love them
- Trust others
- Be loyal to them
- Sympathize with people
- Respect others, yourself as well as their property.
- Be kind and considerate in dealing with them.
These and others are good morals in a society although we shall find some people who
break them. When they disobey what is agreed, you will find that they are usually
condemned. Their actions cause misery and loss to others.
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b) Morality and Religion
As you will have studied in history religions came to our country from outside. These
religions reinforced some beliefs in the society while others were discouraged. Most of
these religions expect its followers to respect oneself, others and to love their God
above all. In our country we have two major religions hence, Christianity and Islam.
They have a number of things in common and often tolerate each other. This is why we
find that on public days, both religions Christians and Moslems are often invited to lead
prayers. However in some other countries there are wars between religions.
You will realize that religion is an important source of morality because it helps to
reinforce the authority on a larger section of people. They help governments to base
their laws on them, making it easy for policies to be made.
Topic 2 The importance of Religious Education to young children
the critical outcomes of pre-primary education given in the Government White Paper
(1992) stipulates that, Pre-primary education should aim at producing a God fearing,
morally and spiritually built person who appreciates and respects other people.
Basing on this out come we can say that the children’s early curriculum appreciates the
value of religions and cultural teachings. This is why we need to offer some basic
education to that effect. Religious teachings are geared towards the continuous moral
and spiritual growth. The following are some of the important facts that children learn
during religious education.
- Laying the foundations for character building.

As children grow and develop, they need love and affection from parents and all those
around them. This helps the children to develop trust and love in response to parents’
actions. They develop a conscience which tells them what is wrong and right. This is
beefed up by the parents’ teachings as societal and environmental cultural beliefs. An
example I can give may illustrate how society’s attitudes can affect the behaviours of
children. “During the first army take over in Uganda, many parents acquired some
property through looting.
Because everyone grabbed what was not his/hers, children though looting was
permitted and was not related to stealing at all. One child one day, took his friends
exercise book, crossed the owner name and replaced with his own name. When he
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was asked to explain his acts he replied that he did not steal but he “just looted it
and did not see what was wrong there. What do you learn from this?
- Children learn to understand themselves

Children do not at times understand why they are refused to do some activities for
example parents may refuse the child to play with some other children. It is your duty to
explain why if they understand it will be easy for the child to change company, if they do
not understand they may continue being with those children and learn what they do.
Children and understand themselves will be able to control and regulate their
emotions, work confidently and have positive self image.
- Development of self respect, respect for and working with others.
As children grow, they learn self respect when they succeed in simple activities they
do daily. Caregivers should encourage children to be gentle, tolerant decent and tell
the truth whatever the situation. This will help them to respect others while they are
respected also.
Note: As a Caregiver, be patient with children, appreciate their work and be

encouraging these will support development of self confidence and self respect.
- Children learn to appreciate God’s Love, care and His creation.
Children may not easily understand God’s greatness, love, and care for us but
through teaching children using real life experiences will help them understand.
Qn. In your own experience list down some things that you can tell children which
show the greatness of God. Compare with these below.
- God’s Greatness
 Created heaven, earth and all that is therein.
 He created beautiful flowers, big trees and other natural things.
 Observe other wonderful things using pictures, songs etc.
- Gods love, kindness and mercy

 How God fed the people in the desert
 How the provides for us, beads, animals and others.
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 How God protected Moses from being killed.
Discuss how God cares focus as shows us mercy.
Help children to sing and recite simple verses both in the Bible and Koran.
Teach them to be kind, gentle, loving and merciful to others.
Develop a book for songs and simple prayers for children.
Topic 3 Methods of Teaching Religious Education
Religious Education content for young children involves understanding some abstract
concepts like the existence of God, loving God, thanking God and the like. You need to
refer to your notes on child growth and development. Puget teaches that young children
are at a “concrete operational stage” where children understand concepts through
manipulating concrete objects. In the teaching of Religious Education therefore requires
you to use simple, familiar and real behaviour examples in order to help children grasp
abstract concepts. The following methods may be suitable.
 Play
 Role – playing
 Drama
 Story telling
 Music and art work
 Question and answer
1. Play
In this play I will lead you to reflect on how children play on their own and what goes on.
Apart from children getting exercise and enjoyment, they also learn important moral
behaviours. Children will learn in a play way to follow rules, avoid cheating with
explanation as to its consequences. They will learn through imitation adult life hence
acquiring the desired behaviours. Some of these behaviours include;
- Children learn to live and work harmoniously

- Children can express themselves freely and gain experience and confidence.
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- They learn to imagine and use their skills to make decisions and plans.
- They learn fair play, taking turns showing sympathy and empathy.
2. Role playing
Through role-play children will be led to recall stories told or read then let, them play the
roles of the people in the story.
Tell the children stories with a moral behind it and let them role play. Some stories
include:
- The good Samaritan

- The boy who lied about wolf
- The mouse and the cow.
As children play different roles they will learn to get the feelings of sympathy, empathy
joy and others use this method also express feelings of love, responsibility, anger and
so on.
3. Drama
This is associated to acting plays or short scenes / skits. You may use simple ways to
dramatise actions, hand gestures, mimes or part of the story for example, after telling
the story of the God Samaritan, children can dramatise how different people passed by
the man who had been robbed. Ensure to give clear guidance to children. At the end of
the term children usually hold plays dramatization of some stories may be enacted.
Dressing children up and giving other materials makes it colourful, involve children in
discussing actions and props.
4. Story telling
All great teachers, including Jesus Christ and the prophet Muhammad used stories of
familiar life situations to teach basic concepts. Children like to hear stories and they
tend to remember characters that they like easily. Stories can help children to
understand abstract concepts. Stories as you have learnt may be used to introduce
lessons as well. Dramatization or role play may be used after telling the story.
Remember to make the story short, interesting and simple.
NB: Have a collection of your own stories that teach morals. You may ask some elders
to tell tradition moral stories and songs.
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5. Music and Art work
Music and artwork activities can be used to teach morals to children. Children love Bible
story songs and love to act them. Discuss what morals they teach and what good
practice they can learn from it. They can draw pictures to illustrate stories or songs
taught. They can model, paste pictures and colour pictures to illustrate stories.
6. Recitation
In all religious teachings to young children, recitation helps the children to memorise
and recite relevant simple concepts in all religions. As a caregiver organizes simple
songs, prayers, stories and verses which children can recite. Guide them step by step
and ensure that you help them understand the gist of the memorization. Let children put
relevant actions and even dressing if need be to make it lively.
Note: The methods named above are not exhaustive, be creative and use other
methods you know to make teaching lively.
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UNIT EIGHT
PLAY AS AN AVENUE OF TEACHING IN ECD
WHAT IS PLAY?
Elizabeth Hurlock (1964) defines play as any activity engaged in for the enjoyment it
gives without consideration of the end result. It is entered into voluntarily. It is different
from work. Work is an activity directed to a certain end and an individual may be
involved in it not because he/she necessarily enjoys it but because of its end results.
To Jean Piaget, play is a demonstration of children’s intelligence.
Froebel defines play as the purest, most spiritual activity of man at this stage
(Childhood), it gives therefore joy, freedom, contentment, inner rest and peace with the
world.
Good defines play as “any pleasurable activity carried on for its sake, without reference
to the ulterior purpose of future satisfaction.
TYPES OF PLAY
 Free spontaneous play: this is the earliest type of play. It has no rules and
mostly solitary. The child plays as he/she wishes and stops when he/she is no
longer interested. In the later childhood this type of play loses popularity and
instead competitive games are engaged in. this type of play is most exploratory
and the child derives pleasure from stimulating sense organs.
 Dramatic play: this type of play is often referred to as make believe play. To
make believe means to pretend so the child pretends that he/she is dealing with
real life situations. It is a game of illusion. This play is common during the pre-
school years but loses much of its appeal after the child has entered school. The
school age child begins to look at life more realistically during this period.
 Day dreaming: this is a type of mental play, here the child engages in more
fanciful and more remote from the daily life activities. In bright children, day
dreaming begins earlier and it reaches its peak during activity. A well adjusted
child will day dream only when he/she cannot engage in other forms of play. The
poorly adjusted child on the other hand will substitute daydreaming for play with
others.
 Constructive play: from the age of 6 years the child tends to use materials for
building drawing and construction. The child who is too realistic or too much of a
dreamer does not play creatively. The realistic child cannot imagine things
he/she satisfies him/herself with their imaginary forms.
DIMENSIONS OF PLAY
There are three dimensions of play: physical, cognitive and social dimensions.
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THE VALUE OF PLAY IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING OF YOUNG
CHILDREN
Every child needs to have the opportunity to play throughout his/her childhood. While
children play for fun, play can also be their way of learning about the world. Infants,
toddlers, and preschoolers all learn through play, and play has numerous
developmental benefits for young children.
When children play, they progress in all developmental areas. For example:
 Physical development: Play helps children to develop their fine and large motor
skills. Some examples of play that enhance children’s fine motor skills are
molding clay, cutting leaves and making pretend food, drawing a picture,
buttoning shirts, washing dolls, etc. All are helpful for developing fine motor skills.
Skipping, jumping, and moving around by running and walking, etc. help children
to develop their large body movement and agility.
 Social and emotional development: Children learn social skills through play.
For example, when they play “house” together, they learn social rules, how to
take turns, how to say please and thank you, and how to share. Children feel
good about themselves when they complete a task (e.g., completing a puzzle)
and show it to their caregiver or teacher. When they can play by themselves and
accomplish something, they feel a sense of independence and good self-esteem.
 Cognitive development: Play allows children to develop their abstract thinking
and problem-solving skills. They manipulate objects to create different things and
learn mathematical and reading skills by playing with materials helpful to match,
sort, read, draw, paint, etc.
 Language development: When children play, they use both verbal and
nonverbal signals to communicate with each other. They use words, sounds, and
sentences to explain certain situations or objects during their play. They learn
language when they play and talk with adults and their peers, listen to a story,
look at books or any print, or sing songs.
 Moral and spiritual development: Children learn about spiritual and cultural
values during activities that celebrate religious and traditional practices. For
example, imitating adult’s prayer or meal blessing, helping with chores, singing
songs and dancing, making special art activities, or pretending to be someone
else by playing with traditional dress-up clothes. They learn tolerance and
endurance and other virtues. As well they learn honesty, fairness, truthfulness
and self-control.
 Therapeutic value: play enables the child to formulate and carry out plans which
help him/her to solve problems which are important in private life as a child. It is
used as a cure to some ailments for example, body fatness that can lead to
hypertension.
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APPROACHES TO LEARNING
Children develop and learn best when they:
 Are encouraged to take initiative and make effort to explore and try out new
things using their own ideas, natural curiosity and interest.
 Are encouraged to use play materials in their own way, ideas and intentions
 Are allowed enough time to complete what they are doing
 Receive praise for their efforts
 Are asked questions that help them think of new ways of doing things
WHAT DO CHILDREN PLAY WITH?

Children can play with any kind of traditional toys and materials that are safe and
appropriate for their age. Caregivers can make different types of traditional and non-
traditional toys for children using locally available materials.
Children play by using different things: They explore through touch, feel,
examination, practice, and repeated action. As infants and young children explore and
solve problems with play materials, their cognitive skills increase. As they use their fine
motor skills, they build up their cognitive skills.
Children play by moving around and intermingling: They jump, run, skip, laugh,
scream, etc. As they move and play, they decrease weight, build muscle, and develop
coordination and self-control.
Children play with “house” materials: They play through fantasy and imagination,
they pretend being a mother, a father, a child, an angel, a doctor, a farmer, etc. During
this play, children learn social skills such as cooperation, turn taking, and playing with
rules. Art activities, exposure to environmental prints, songs, chants, storytelling, book
sharing, and adequate time to play with these materials provide opportunities for
children’s skill development and learning.
WHY FREE-PLAY ACTIVITIES ARE IMPORTANT

During free-play, children choose their own activities without being told what to do.
Teachers may think that children do not learn very much during this time because they
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are not being taught in a lesson, but in reality children make important developmental
progress through unstructured playtime, as detailed below.
During free-play, children:

 Learn to be independent when they help themselves to materials and put them
away when they have finished playing
 Take initiative when they choose what they want to play with
 Develop their imagination and creativity when they use the materials in their own
way
 Satisfy their curiosity when they are interested in what they are doing
 Solve their own problems as they explore and experiment
 Learn to share and take turns
 Use language to talk to one another
These are things that cannot be done through worksheets. Children learn when they are
actively involved and when they have many opportunities to learn through meaningful
situations.
THE TEACHER’S ROLE IN PLAY

Although children lead during free-play times, that does not mean the teacher does not
get involved in their play and help them learn. The teacher facilitates free-play time by
providing a variety of activities for children to choose from and play in their own way.
While children play, the teacher moves around and watches how children are playing
and what they are trying to do. It is important that the teacher is present and attentive
during free-play, as being there lets children know the teacher is available if and when
she is needed. There may be moments when it is necessary for the teacher to get
involved in free-play; for example, if a child:
• Finds it difficult to choose what he wants to play with
• Is using new materials for the first time
• Appears to be stuck
• Asks for help
• Exhibits behavioral problems
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• Continues to play with the exact same materials or in the same learning corner
every day for an extended period of time
Follow the child’s lead: When a teacher joins in a child’s play, she needs to be very
careful that she does not interrupt what the child is learning. Unintentionally, by
intervening in free-play, the teacher may give the child a whole lot of facts, turn the
experience into a lesson, or even tell the child what to do to solve a problem. If children
are to learn through play, they need to be able to try out their own ideas and find
solutions to their own problems.
Talk to the child: Get down to children’s eye level and talk to them as they are busy
with their activities. Ask them what they are doing and introduce new words by
describing what you see, for example:
• “I see you have drawn a picture of your house with lots of long, straight lines.”
• “You have put all the blue squares together.”
• “The leaf is floating.”
Listen to the child: Show an interest in what children are saying and give them enough
time without interrupting. Do not prompt them if they don’t answer right away. Try to
understand and see things from their point of view and let children know that you think
their ideas are important.
Ask questions: There are different kinds of questions that teachers can use to help
children think and respond:
• Closed questions have a right answer. For example, “What color is your dress?”
or
• “Do you like bananas?”
• Open-ended questions do not have a correct answer. For example, “How can
you make your building wider?” or “Why do you need such a long piece of
string?”
• Using open-ended questioning is an important part of the role teachers play in
facilitating children’s learning. Open-ended questions invite children to explain
their ideas, think more about what they are doing, and solve their own problems.
Open ended questions often start with:
• “How…?”
• “Why…?”
• “What would happen if…?”
When using open-ended questions, give children time to respond and don’t answer for
them.
Include all children: Teachers need to make sure that all children are able to
participate and learn in the early childhood care and development program. Teachers
need to get to know each child in the group and his or her individual needs. One child
might need more individual attention; another child might need less help. Some
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activities and materials may need to be adapted for children with disabilities or special
learning needs. The important thing is for the teacher to spend time learning each
child’s capabilities and work with each one in a manner that will improve child
development.
Praise and encourage children for their achievements: Children feel good about
themselves when they achieve success. Teachers should not only praise children for
successes but also when they try something new. When the focus is on the effort and
not the end result, children are more likely to become self-motivated.
Let children learn to be responsible: When teachers do things for children, children
will think that they themselves are not capable. Encourage children to take on
responsibilities according to their ages and stages of development.
• Younger children can be encouraged to pack away their toys, dress and feed
themselves, and to wash their hands.
• Older children can help with chores like sweeping, preparing food, setting the
table for mealtimes, and cleaning up spills.
The free-play activities are set up indoors (or in a space outdoors if there is no building)
during the same time every day. They are organized in the different learning corners:
• Fantasy corner
• Art corner
• Building corner
• Science and discovery corner
• Book corner
• Educational toys corner
FOSTERING PLAY BETWEEN CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR PEERS
Children who have disabilities enjoy and learn from their peers without disabilities. In an
inclusive early childhood setting, children with disabilities get the chance to play with
typical peers and make friendships. Caregivers or teachers can help children with
disabilities to play and interact with other children in the following ways:
 Consult the caregivers and families of children with disabilities and together
prepare plans and activities suitable for their child.
 Document the social skills of a child with a disability (e.g., how he/she interacts
with other children; what he/she likes or enjoys doing) and facilitate for his/her
group play with friends.
 Set up a safe space for infants and toddlers and encourage them to sit or play
next to each other with the same toys or toys of their interest; children of this age
enjoy parallel play (e.g., playing side-by-side or with each other).
 Document the types of toys and play activities that children with disabilities like
and provide these toys and arrange these play activities so that other children
can also play with the child. In this way you can encourage social interaction for
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the child (e.g., new toys that can attract children like balls in a large box, water in
a bucket, finger or hand painting on a large paper or smooth washable floor).
 Set up the space free of stumbling blocks or barriers to encourage child’s
movement and views.
 Arrange the environment with a lot of signs, labels/drawings of objects that can
easily be understood by the child with a disability; also learn the child’s way of
communicating and use them during group play. When you do this, you are
modeling for other children how to communicate with the child with a disability.
For example, initiate a conversation between the children during group play,
saying, “He said,
 ‘Hello.’ Say ‘Hello’ back,” or “She is looking at the doll. Can you give her the
doll?”
 Model inclusive attitude and behavior for children so that children with disabilities
can be accepted by their peers; comments such as, “See how Rebecca
completed the puzzle just as you did?” will instill in children the idea that children
are more alike than different.
 Plan the day’s schedule to provide extra time for the child with a disability to
complete what he/she has started and to practice his/her skills.
PLAY AS A TEACHING METHOD

Play way approach to teaching is based on the philosophical thought of Caldwell Cook.
According to him, good work is more often the result of spontaneous effort and free
interest than compulsion and forced application. This means that teaching should
characterize the elements of spontaneous effort and free interest since these two
characteristics are inherent in play.
Play way method and approach aims at introducing the elements of freedom, interest,
realism and spontaneity into the entire school work.
The Principles of Play as a Method of Teaching

The play way is based on the principle that:
 learning takes place through doing
 Learning should be adapted to life situations and not on books.
 Learning takes place in an environment of freedom
 The method should be suited to the needs and interest of the children/learners
 The child should be freed from authoritarianism
 The child(ren) should themselves take upon the responsibility of learning and
progress in studies
 Ample opportunity should be provided to children for self expression.
Educational values of play way method

 It motivates learners to learn.
 It promotes learners‟ creativity.
 It aids learners‟ memory.
 It improves learners‟ imagination.
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 It facilitates learners‟ physical development.
 It makes learners appreciate their surroundings/environment.
 It promotes learners‟ skills.
 It promotes social skills in learners, i.e. sharing, co-operation, turn taking
and patience.
Challenges of Play as a Teaching Method

 Children with special needs may have difficulties in participating effectively in
some types of play.
 Play calls for knowledgeable, innovative and active caregivers in planning and
development of materials if set objectives are to be achieved.
 Play requires space which could be limited in some early childhood development
centre.
 Children might over indulge in play at the expense of other learning activities.
 Play might lead to intimidation, ridicule, stigmatization and accidents especially to
weak children if poorly planned.
 Accidents, some fatal may results during play.
Play- way activities

 Dramatic play: dramatic play is basically an exercise of the imagination, at the
same time; it can also be a valuable learning experience. To a young child, a doll
is not just a doll. It is like a real person. A toy telephone can be used to call and
talk with someone.
 Games: games may be simple games, guessing games or more lively games
such as musical chair. Several types of inexpensive educational games are
available in the market.
 Watching the television: television programmes can be educational-cum-
recreational. Conducting of quiz programmes on a variety of topics is very helpful
in enriching the experiences of children.
 Projects: projects provide immense scope for doing and learning.
 Celebration of days: Literacy day, sports day, girl child day, Aged day mothers’
day, father’s day, cleanliness day, education day, birthdays, Republic day
(Independence) are full of providing rich educational experiences to learners.
 Educational tours and excursions: These entirely if properly planned and
executed are full of educational experience to learners. For example, Nature-
walk it provides opportunities for observing natural phenomena.
Play- way materials

The materials used during play-way include:
 Gifts of Froebel
 Sand play
 Water-play
 Wooden toys, blocks
 Rubber toys
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 Glass toys
 Plastic toys
 Pictures
 Picture book puzzles
 Cut-outs
 Card board games
 Doll and doll houses
 Play ground games
 Story books
Application of play-way attitudes

The application of the principles of play-way is found in all the progressive methods of
education and other school activities in one way or the other. In pre-school set-up the
following are the application of play way attitude:
 Kindergarten method: Froebel’s kindergarten provides a lot of action for
children. Doing, singing, acting and playing are its chief characteristics. Gifts are
given to the learners with the help of which they learn the idea of shape, colour
number and weight.
 The Montessori Method: didactic apparatus imparts training in various fields.

With the aid of this apparatus children learn reading, writing and arithmetic. The
children’s home provides an atmosphere of complete and unrestricted freedom.
Children are kept active and playing while learning.
 The Dalton plan: this method originated from Dalton in USA because it was first
used in Dalton High school. It was developed by Ms. Hellen Parkhurst (1887-
1937). In this method the children are free from the tyranny of the time-table.
They work according to their own rate and speed of learning. They are at liberty
to move from room to room and laboratory to laboratory, from activity to activity.
 The heuristic Method: this method is derived from the Greek word “ Heuriskein”
which means “I discover or I find” it is a method where children discover and find
things for themselves. It places the child in the position of a discoverer. Thus
he/she acquires and learns some of the most fundamental skills through his own
effort. The child is always mentally active as he/she wants to satisfy his/her
curiosity.
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UNIT NINE
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR TEACHERS

PROFESSIONALISM AND THE TEACHER
There have been teachers from earliest times but the pedagogues of old would have
been not a little surprised to see what a big business their profession has developed
into. Many were self appointed, unpaid or supplied by their employers with only their
most urgent needs and enjoyed nothing of the protection from the government or
teachers’ union. During this time teachers were sought out (looked for) by eager
learners. For instance, Socrates did not have to look for pupils; neither Jesus did for his
disciples. Parents are the earliest form of teachers and still survive as the most
important teachers in society.
As time went on teachers began to mourn that their profession is not respected and
complained that they are not adequately paid for the duties they are required to do. This
has made teachers to admire other professions and their conditions of service and sigh
for the better life.
WHAT IS PROFESSION?
Profession is a body that provides a special service to the community based on

accumulated knowledge, skills and wisdom. It can also refer an occupation founded on
systematic knowledge, requiring lengthy special academic and practical training; have
high autonomy and ethics or code of conduct. It controls the entry qualifications and
work standards of its members. Medicine, law, and Engineering are examples of
professions but these tend to have greater autonomy than teaching profession in
developing countries like Uganda.
Professionalism is weak in Uganda because the criteria of a true profession are not
completely met. Teachers do not hold control over the service which they offer or over
the training and work standards of their members, nor do they have autonomy in their
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work place. But much control is exercised by central and local government. So this does
not make teachers enjoy the status of real profession. Yet where there is a perfect
teacher, the vision would be where people are happy, live in harmony and
knowledgeable.
To become a professional, one must under go trainings, which occur in three stages;
i) Pre-service training which is provided in teacher’s colleges, where the student

teacher is introduced to the knowledge and skills needed to do the professional
job in teaching.
ii) Induction begins when the student teacher changes from being a part-time
teacher, visiting schools for few weeks and takes on responsibilities of full-time
professional.
iii) In-service training is a lifelong process in which the teacher is constantly learning
and adapting to the new challenges of his/her job. Much of it is done and
directed by the individual by reading books and articles on education, discussing
with colleagues issues that concerns education, attending courses and
conferences on education.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROFESSION
For any programme to be called a profession it has to have the following

characteristics:
i) It involves activities that are essentially intellectual

ii) It commands a body of specialized knowledge
iii) It demands continuous in-service growth
iv) It requires extended professional preparation
v) It affords a life career and permanent membership
vi) It exalts service above personal gain
vii) It has a strong closely knit professional organisation
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The characteristic that makes teaching a profession are the following:
i) Specialization the members must be specially prepared for their jobs by a

prolonged course of training
ii) Free practice but within the existing laws by members
iii) A code of conduct prescribed by the members to guide the profession
iv) Conditions of service must be well spelt out
v) One organisation form, an association or union uniting all members.
vi) Security of tenure in service
CHALLENGES OF TEACHING PROFESSION
The following are some of the challenges that teachers’ union and professional
associations have accounted:
i) Low status of the profession resulting from too many untrained teachers
employed.
ii) Salaries are low by comparison with other jobs that are comparable in their
educational demands e.g. nursing.
iii) Career prospects in terms of promotion and higher salaries are not
encouraging.
iv) In-service training opportunities are too few.
v) There is insufficient support in the form of resources and supervision for the
teacher on the job.
vi) Work conditions are unattractive, with buildings in poor repair and equipment
in short supply.
vii) Too little initiative is allowed to teachers; all important decisions affecting their
work are taken by administrators and politicians.
viii) Most teacher education does not prepare teachers well for the actual job of
teaching.
ix) With concept of community education and non-formal education, teachers’
work is becoming an impossibly heavy burden.
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x) There are too many teachers training simply to further their general education
and improve their chances of some other kind of employment.
THE ROLE OF A TEACHER
1. Teachers are leaders by the nature of their professions. The main qualities of
leadership required of the teacher include:
 authority
 competence
 decisiveness
 dramatic
 energetic
 enthusiasm
 humility
 humour
 imaginative
 initiative
 integrity
 loyalty
 perseverance
 responsibility
 self-control
 single mindedness
2. Counsellor: traditionally, parents entrust their children to the teachers for them to
look after on their behalf. Therefore it is the responsibility of the teacher to look at
the welfare, guidance and supervision of these children. The guidance role of the
teacher are:
 Monitoring educational progress of the child
 Advising or assisting the child in future career
 Developing confidentiality in the child.
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Supervisory role of the teacher are:
 Ensuring the safety of the children

 To make them learn the environment
 Assessing the performance of the child
3. Tutor: a teacher is an instructor, director to the learners in all ways.
4. Manager: as manager a teacher must be able to spot wherever the process is
not working efficiently or is in danger of breaking down. In other words, he
controls resources and processes in a production operation. planning and
budgeting,
5. Team member: as a team member the teacher joins hand with fellow teachers in
solving problems arising within the school. And also works towards the common
goal.
Other new roles the teachers are playing are as listed below:
 Teachers are involved in the evolution of their national systems of education

 Sharing in curriculum development
 Participating in the design and administration of new forms of educational
assessment
 Producing materials for teaching and learning
 Organising children’s learning so that more people in the community share in
the teaching.
THE QUALITY OF A GOOD TEACHER
1. Committed to the work
 Focuses on educational needs of the students
 Works with passion
 Keen to uphold the university’s values
 Enthusiastic about work and about teaching
2 . Encourages and appreciates diversity
 Does not stereotype or speak negatively of others
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 Nurtures and encourages diversity
 Seeks and encourages understanding of, and respect for,
 people of diverse backgrounds
3. Interacts and communicates respect
 Communicates effectively with others
 Encourages input from others, listening deeply and giving
 credit for their contributions
 Acts with integrity
 Provides a model of high ethical standards
 Shows a caring attitude
4. Motivates students and co-workers
 Encourages students to achieve their goals
 Provides constructive feedback
 Monitors progress of students and fosters their success
5. Brings a wide range of skills and talents to teaching
 Teaching is clearly presented and stimulates high-order
 thinking skills
 Presents difficult concepts comprehensibly
 Brings appropriate evidence to the critique
 Teaches memorably
6. Demonstrates leadership in teaching
 Contributes to course design and structure
 Contributes to publications on education
 Evidence of self-development in an educational context
 Demonstrates creativity in teaching strategies
 Committed to professional development in education
7. Encourages an open and trusting learning environment
 Creates a climate of trust
 Encourages students to learn from mistakes
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 Helps students redefine failure as a learning experience
 Encourages student questions and engagement in the
 learning process
 Encourages student growth with appropriate behavior based
 feedback
8. Fosters critical thinking
 Teaches students how to think, not what to think
 Encourages students to organize, analyse and evaluate
 Explores with probing questions
 Discusses ideas in an organized way
 Helps students to focus on key issues
 Trains students in strategic thinking
9. . Encourages creative work
 Motivates students to create new ideas
 Fosters innovation and new approaches
10. Emphasizes teamwork
 Builds links at national and international levels in education
 Encourages students to work in teams
 Encourages collaborative learning
11. Seeks continually to improve teaching skills
 Seeks to learn and incorporate new skills, and information
 teaching
 Seeks feedback and criticism
 Keeps up to date in specialty
12. Provides positive feedback
 Listens to students and discovers their educational needs
 Values students, never belittles
 Provides constructive feedback
 Helps and supports people to grow
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 Teaches students how to monitor their own progress.
THE WAYS TEACHERS CAN BE ROLE MODELS
There are many reasons why students think of teachers as role models. One of the
biggest reasons is the desire to become a role model for students to look up to, to learn
from, and to remember for the rest of their lives. Everyone has felt the power and lasting
presence of an effective teacher, who also had a bigger impact. Whether it's learning
the value of community service, discovering a love for a particular subject, or how to tap
the confidence to speak in public, teachers are the ones who light the way for us in this
world.
Teachers being role models is not a new concept, and has inspired students to go into
this field for ages. If you are thinking about becoming a teacher, good for you! We are
here to root you on and help you make the right decision. Your next step would be
speaking with schools in your area. Luckily, we have relationships with schools in every
state with education programs. Just use the simple search function at the top of this
page, or browse the listings below.
Before we start talking about things that make us thing of educators as role models, we
are well aware this list is not complete. If you have any additional ideas or inspirational
stories to share, we would love to hear from you!
Below are the important ways teachers can express by being role models to their
students or learners:
1.) Be humble. There is nothing that teaches a child or young adult mature behavior
like modeling it yourself. This isn't just true when you are right. You also have to show
your students what it is like to be wrong, and admit it. This is never easy, no matter how
old you are. Especially when you are in front of several students who look up to you.
And let's face it, there are some students who aren't going to feel sorry for you. But
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that's life. And you have to show them that right is right, and wrong is wrong – no matter
what.
2.) Encourage them to think for themselves. Treat your classroom like a group of
individuals, and celebrate their diversity. Create activities and discussions that foster
conversations and discovery about who they are, and how they can appreciate the
differences between each other. This type of focus from time-to-time will build a
stronger bond between your students. Also, an environment of trust will build, which can
relax the atmosphere and help students focus more on learning. It's also important to
help students understand the way they learn, and encourage them to explore those
parts of themselves as well.
3.) Perform volunteer work. Find a way to incorporate community service into one of
your lessons, and discuss how you contribute to the community you live in. Ask your
students to tell you ways you could perform community service as a group. Many
schools will give students a certain amount of time off if they are doing an activity that
falls into this category. See if you can organize a community service event with your
class. For example, if you are a music teacher, you can take your class caroling at a
retirement home. Or, you can have your class pick up litter on a stretch of road. There
are many ways you can instill a sense of pride in giving back among your students.
4.) Show empathy. When we think of teachers as role models, we imagine sympathetic
mentors who listen to their students. Sounds simple, right? All you have to do is show
that you care? It may sound simple, but we have all had teachers that we didn't connect
with. Students can tell when a teacher is tuned in or tuned out, and disconnected from
them. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have all had teachers who went out of
their way to show they care about us, and want to see us succeed. We all have different
personalities, and you should be authentic. But be mindful that your students are
looking up to you as an adult with life experience they don't have. As they try to figure
out how to move into adulthood, make sure they know you've got their back.
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5.) Point out the positive. Create a culture in your classroom that rewards kind
behavior. The importance of teachers is apparent in the link between positive
reinforcement and their confidence and behavior. Teach them to be constructive with
their criticism, pointing out positives before negative, or suggestions for improvement.
Practice with exercise that allows the students to be positive and critical towards each
other. This is the kind of respect that debate class exercises can teach children – how to
agree to disagree. Teaching children to get in the habit of looking for good in others is
never a bad role model for behavior.
6.) Celebrate the arts. Teachers being role models by helping students appreciate the
art isn’t the first thing that comes to people's minds. But helping children connect with
their own inner children by tapping into the arts. Even if you do not teach a creative
subject, you can incorporate music, discussions about art, and give students artistic
assignments that reflect the curriculum they are learning. Mixing it up every once in a
while will keep their minds fresh, and encourage them to look at life a little differently.
Many students are obsessed with music, art, literature and other forms of creative
expression. Give bonus points for students who pursue an independent art project that
goes along with a teaching.
7.) Send a positive note home to their parents twice a year. Showing your students
that you appreciate them in a direct way is important. But indirect forms of gratitude can
be a boost to their confidence, and model positive behavior. Most parents never expect
to get a note in their kid's bag saying what a pleasure they are to have in class. So why
not give your kids a boost and let mom and dad know you care? Every parent knows,
we just want our kids to do well and succeed, no matter where they are in life. This will
help your relations with them as well. And we have a feeling your students will
appreciate any effort you make to let their parents know they're doing alright.
8.) Fulfill your promises. Hey, remember last fall when you said you would buy the
class a turtle if they earned all those stars? Well, it's been six months since they earned
em and school is almost over… Okay, don't be that teacher. We're all busy. Even your
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students. That's why you need to follow through on your promises when you make
them. We don't want to them to think it's okay to say one thing, and then completely
disregard it. And if you fail to keep a particular promise, be honest about it. Don't make
up an excuse. And try to make up for it. Your students will see how to deal with their
own shortcomings, and will respect you more for your honesty.
9.) Dress appropriately. Look, we know how young and hip you still are. No one wants
to be uncool. But teachers being role models means remembering you are in a
professional environment. And it's not your job to fit in with the cool kids. It's your job to
stand at the head of the class and command respect. After all, you want to model
professional behavior for your students from day one. This will help with classroom
management issues. Dressing in a professional way will keep students from thinking of
you in a less respectful way. This goes for cleanliness and hygiene as well. Just make
sure you take your job seriously when you show up. This is not only good to model for
your students, but important in the eyes of your principal and other administrators as
well.
10.) Stay away from social media with students. An educator as role models on
social media is a new and important topic. Do not mix on social media with your
students. And be careful what you have out there on your personal accounts. We are all
too familiar with the stories of teachers and other professionals doing something
unprofessional and getting fired for it. Have a policy to connect with students on the
channels that your school sets up for you. Remember, parents are looking at you as
well, and know that you are in a role model position with their children. When you post
on social media, just realize that your students' parents could see your words as well.
Just be careful.
11.) Encourage physical activity. The importance of teachers extends to the physical
fitness of their students. It doesn't matter if every student is inclined to be physically
active. Encouraging physical activity is good for all groups of students. Even if you do
not teach a physical education class, you can still talk about physical activities when you
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lecturing or performing other activities. Even weaving the topic into your lectures or
conversations can help plant the seeds in students' minds that they should look for ways
to exercise.
12.) Give lectures about role models. When you are discussing a period in history, or
introducing a new subject to your students, find a way to incorporate a hero story into
the lesson. For instance, if you are going to talk about French history and the Hundred
Years War, you would talk about the bravery of Joan of Arc. Or you could find stories
about other unlikely heroes, and those who shaped history. When you do, have your
students discuss ways they can be heroes in their own lives. Even if it's just stepping up
in small ways to help others or do things they didn't think possible.
13.) Have them read Profiles in Courage. When we think of teachers as role models,
we think of the classic novels and literature they shared with us. John F. Kennedy's
Nobel Prize winning book chronicles the acts of courage by several figures throughout
American history. These characters were brave enough to make tough choices in hard
times, putting their country before themselves, and their personal safety. Other books
can be great options, such as To Kill A Mockingbird or movies like Good Will Hunting,
when you want to give your kids a break, and teach them a lesson in doing the right
thing. Being a good role model for kids means showing them how to point their moral
compass in the right direction no matter what. The importance of teachers cannot be
overstated when it comes to reading.
14.) Hold a fundraiser. Pick a local charity and tell your students you have a goal to
raise a certain amount of money within a certain period of time. You will all make a
game of raising the most money and giving it to a charity. It can even be a non-
organized charity. Let's say you hear about someone in your community who lost their
home to a fire. You could raise the money and give them a gift card or something they
may need. There are all sorts of ways you can incorporate the idea of fundraising and
charity. Be sure to include all your students in the process somehow. These types of
exercises can also help give them leadership and business skills.
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15.) Discuss world events. Every Monday, or on some kind of schedule, spark
discussions about world events. See what they know, and ask questions that make
them think. Teachers being role models includes showing students how to make sense
of the world, and express different ideas in a peaceful way. This can model for students
how they should act when they speak with others, and how to actively listen to other
points of view. Many students will not have heard about some of the events you are
speaking about. Don't let them sit back quietly. Find ways to involve them too, by asking
questions that can draw them in.
16.) Have a pot luck. Every once in a while, have a meal with your students that
celebrates you time together. Yes, food is another way students can see educators as
role models. So have fun with this one. After all, we all love food! Tell your students that
they are welcome to bring a dish from home, or you can provide a cheap set of snacks.
This can be a good way to talk about cooking with your students. Many kids aren't
involved in with the cooking at their homes. Some parents teach their kids about food,
but it's probably the exception, not the norm. So, be that teacher that shows them that
they can learn to cook and eat healthy foods. You can show them that good food can
also be good for you!
17.) Work extracurricular activities. When your students see you working outside of
the classroom to help your school function, it says you go the extra mile. It also shows
that you have a strong work ethic, and you are doing a job that you're passionate about.
That is the kind of feeling you want your students to have from their careers later in life.
Show them that you enjoy your job, and it will pay off in the classroom. And, if you were
once a star athlete and have coaching skills, you can be a role model for the students
playing sports in a similar way.
18.) Be organized and on time. You want to present yourself in a professional way as
much as possible. This means more than looking the part and acting the part, it means
being the part. The best way you can show your students how to execute their work is
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to show up on time and be ready to teach. Plus, if you have a clear vision for how you
want the lesson to go, then you will be more effective in delivering your message.
19.) Practice random acts of kindness. Here's an idea for teachers as role models:
How about you put an apple on every one of your students' desks on the first day of
school? How would that be for a proactive show of appreciation from the get-go with
your class. That would also put them on notice that you are the type of teacher who will
surprise them from time to time. This teaches children to go out of their way to show
appreciate – even if it's just for the heck of it.
20.) Ask for input. You know that suggestion box that companies sometimes have for
employees to make recommendations? These can be ideas for lectures, field trips, and
other things the students think may add to the learning environment. The importance of
teachers in showing students how to participate in conversations is essential to their
growth. Giving them a feeling of ownership and participation in the class decisions and
idea generating process will give them a sense of pride they may not have otherwise;
especially if you agree to test their idea out.
21.) Apply democratic ideals to class discussions. Just because your students may
not be old enough to vote, doesn't mean they can't get a feel for our democratic
processes. Teachers being role models to show how our democracy works can be a
great lesson for students. Hold votes on decisions that reflect discussions you are
having on topics to see where people stand. Then encourage debate and explain to
them how our system is supposed to work. No matter where your students might fall on
the political spectrum, you can set a good example by engaging them with our core
values.
22.) Invite guest lecturers. Find role models in the community that do good work, or
perform some kind of public service. This can be small business owners, individuals,
city officials, and other notable figures who can inspire the children to do good in their
lives. Plus, it's always fun for students to learn from other people than just their own
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teacher. Kids need lots of role models in their lives. Plus, whoever you invite will get to
share a personal story from their life, or show them how they work in their profession.
There are just too many reasons why this can be a great idea!
23.) Make them keep journals. You can inspire your students to understand that it
helps to keep track of your thoughts as a way of organizing your goals, connecting with
your feelings, and making sense of the world around you. Your students will improve on
their own communication skills through their writing practice, and have a safe space to
explore their thoughts, during an otherwise hectic daily routine. When you teach
students to understand themselves a little better, they will start to see educators as role
models.
24.) Start a class garden. Many schools have room for classes to start their own small
garden. If not, check with your county office to see if there is any land available where
you can make a community garden. This can teach students about growing food, and
how people have to work together to sustain our standards of living.
25.) Make them give a presentation on one of their role models. Lastly, have your
students think about what makes a good role model, and present their findings to the
class. It can be a famous example, or anyone who inspires your student to present. Try
not to create too many rules for your students to abide by. See where their minds go,
and what qualities they associate with the term.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT, ORGANISATION AND CONTROL AS A TEACHER’S

ROLE
Control is the teacher’s ability to give direction in a class; to ensure order and discipline
of both the teacher and learners. Management is concerned with coordinating and
cooperation necessary for goal attainment.
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A class is an organisation of learners who have been brought together with the aim of
being educated. The class must be directed and controlled in order to achieve its
objectives efficiently.
The teacher as a leader of a group of learners exerts influence and care, provides
advice and guidance to manage the classroom situation. Therefore, the concept of
classroom management, relating to instruction, activities and discipline should be clearly
understood and internalised if teachers are to achieve their set educational goals.
The role of the teacher in classroom management
a) Directs and controls the learners to:

 Have good discipline in class
 Positively respect one another
 Participates in and adhere to all activities
b) Administer them where necessary
c) Views order as part of the instruction
d) Listen to learners’’ problems and try to solve them
e) Guides and counsels the learners
f) Applies democratic principles while handling
Causes of learners’ misbehaviour
 Poor lesson planning

 Lack of motivation on the side of the learners (boredom in class)
 Learners lacking basics needs such as food and safety
 Lack of respect for others
 Failure to involve learners in lesson development
 Failure to vary the teaching methods
 Failure to give clear illustrations and explanations while teaching
 Failure to listen to learner’s problems
 Failure to apply the right models of discipline in class
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Factors that affect class control
 Human respect
 Personal integrity
 Self-direction
 Group cohesion
 Planning
 Methods of teaching
 The administration
 Motivation
Strategies for classroom management
1. Rhythm – ensure that the sequence of events that take place in class is well
known by the learners and is followed by the teacher.
2. Class culture- Develop a class culture which is appropriate to the learners. This
enables learners to know their roles and to play their roles well. The learners also
learn the accepted form for behaviour.
3. Teacher attention- This is the most effective way of controlling the class
behaviour, for example, the teachers’ smile, and words of encouragement,
praise, evaluation and silence: all powerfully affect the learner’s behaviour.
Systematic attention makes the teacher successful in changing the behaviour of
the learners either socially or academically.
4. Learners’ involvement- Good behaviour is achieved when learners are directly
involved in the class activities. They work in the system where they feel compiled
to be attached to it. Ensure human relations are maintained. For example;
teacher-learner, learner – learner, teacher- teacher and teacher to administration
relations as well as teacher – community relations.
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THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF TEACHING
Teaching is an essential part of education. Its special function is to impart knowledge,

develop understanding and skills. Teaching is an interactive process primarily involving
classroom talk, which takes place between the teacher and learners and occurs during
certain definable activities (Amidon and Hunter, 1967). It is an interactive process
because it calls in for both the participation of the teacher and the learners for the
achievement of the desired objectives.
According to Israel Sheffer (1966), teaching may be characterised as an activity aimed

at the achievement of learning and practiced in such a manner as to respect the
students’ intellectual integrity and capacity.
The following are the nature and characteristics of teaching:
 Teaching is giving information

 Teaching is causing to learn
 Teaching is a matter of helping the child to respond to his environment in an
effective manner.
 Teaching is helping a child to adjust himself to his environment
 Teaching is stimulation and encouragement
 Teaching is guidance
 Teaching is training the emotions of the child
 Teaching is both a conscious and an unconscious process
 Teaching is a mean of preparation
 Teaching is formal as well as informal because it can be deliberately planned,
systematic and always purposive.
 Teaching as a skilled occupation
 Teaching is art
 It is a form of social service
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 Teaching is a relationship which is established between three focal points in
education, the teacher, the child and the subject. It is where the teacher brings
together the learner and the subject together.
FUNCTIONS OF TEACHING
 Creating learning situations

 Motivating the child to learn
 Arranging for conditions which assist i the growth of the child’s mind and body
 Utilizing the initiative and play urges of the children to facilitate learning
 Turning the children into creative beings
 Inspiring children with the nobility of thoughts, feelings and actions
 Giving information and explaining it
 Diagnosing learning problems
 Making curricular materials
 Evaluating, recording and reporting.
MARKS AND QUALITY OF GOOD TEACHING
Sri Aurobindo describes the marks of good teaching in these words, “The first principle
is that nothing can be taught. The teacher is not an instructor or a task master; he is a
helper and guide. His role is to suggest and not to impose.” Swami Vivekananda (1863-
1902) describes the role of the teacher in teaching s “The true teacher is he who can
immediately come down to the level of the learner.” The following are the marks of good
teaching:
 It recognises individual difference

 It is causing to learn
 It provides opportunities for activity
 It involves skill in guiding learning
 It is kindly and sympathetic
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 It reduces the distance between the teacher and and the taught
 It is not tied to any method
 It is cooperative
 It involves careful planning
 It is progressive
 It is democratic
 It helps a child to adjust himself to his environment
 Provides desirable and selective information
 Leads to emotional stability
 It is both diagnostic and remedial
TEACHER'S ETHICS AND CODE OF CONDUCT
There is need to understand what ethics means. Some mistakenly use the terms
“ethics” and “morals” interchangeably, but they are not the same. The term “morals”
comes from the Latin meaning “custom” or “habit.” Morals are what people do.
Etymologically, The word “ethics” is from the Greek “ethos” meaning a standard or rule;
a norm. In contrast to morals, ethics communicates the idea of what one ought to do,
whereas morals are what they actually do.
Ethics is the branch of study dealing with what is the proper course of action for man. It
answers the question, "What do I do?" It is the study of right and wrong in human
endeavours. At a more fundamental level, it is the method by which we categorize our
values and pursue them. Do we pursue our own happiness, or do we sacrifice ourselves
to a greater cause?
An ethic is defined as a set of moral principles or values; a theory or system of moral

values. Ethics are principles of conduct, i.e., what is good, what is bad, etc.
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THE TYPES OF ETHICS
1. Descriptive ethics are the morals of a society. People use descriptive ethics as a
way to judge particular actions as good or bad based on the social contract of a
particular society. It is possible for people in one group to hold a different set of morals
than people in another group. Descriptive ethics also change over time. For instance,
the acceptability of racism changed in the United States over the course of generations.
2. Normative ethics imply what should be good or bad in a society. The view of what
is an acceptable ethic requires subjectivity. Normative ethics conflict with descriptive
ethics at times. An example of normative ethics is the debate concerning abortion.
3. Meta-ethics involves the examination of ethical terms, such as justice and morality,
as broad concepts for a society. It also seeks to define a middle ground between terms
such as good and evil. Emotivism, a part of meta-ethics, involves using a seemingly
objective claim as an emotional response. An example of meta-ethics includes
questioning the existence of free will in a society.
Therefore, teacher’s ethics and code of conduct is defined as a set of moral principles
or values; a theory or system of moral values that governs the teachers. It is part of
descriptive ethics.
The teachers’ code of conduct is divided into eight parts as shown as below:
Part I - Membership to the Teaching Profession
Membership to the teaching profession shall be open to a person who has successfully
completed an approved course of training as a teacher leading to the award of a
recognized certificate in teaching and whose name has been entered in the registrar of
teachers in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, 1970, and such a
person has been issued with a certificate of registration as a teacher.
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Licensed Teachers; a person who has not fulfilled the requirements of sub-paragraph
one of this code, may join the service if that person meets the requirements of eligibility
and a license to teach, in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, 1970, in
regard to a person who may be licensed to teach and whose name has been entered on
the Roll of persons licensed to teach.
Part II - The Child-Learner
A teacher's chief responsibility is towards the child/learner under the teacher's care and
the teacher shall guide each child/learner where necessary in and out of school in order
to develop the child/learner in body, mind, soul, character and personality. The teacher
shall therefore: -
 Respect the confidential nature of information concerning each

child/learner and may give such information only to persons directly
concerned with the child-learner's welfare.
 Recognise that a privileged relationship exists between the teacher
and the child/learner and shall refrain from exploiting this
relationship by misconduct prejudicial to the physical, mental and
moral welfare of any child/learner and the teacher shall not have a
sexual relationship with the child/learner: and
 Refrain from using a child/learner's labour for private or personal
gain.
Part III - Professional Conduct
A teacher shall
 At all times live up to the highest standards of the profession and avoid any
conduct which may bring the profession and the service into disrepute.
 teach conscientiously with diligence, honesty and regularity.
 teach objectively in all the matters including politics, religion, race ,tribe and sex.
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 not take advantage of his or her influence to indoctrinate the child/learner
towards the teacher's tenet, dogma or doctrine.
 prepare relevant schemes of work, lesson notes teaching aids well in advance to
ensure effective teaching and learning.
 set an adequate amount of written and practice exercises promptly for effective
teaching and learning.
 mark and evaluate all written and practical exercises promptly and carefully.
 undertake such remedial teaching as effective learning might require.
 observe regulations and instructions regarding coaching and private instruction
issued from time to time by appropriate authorities.
 seek for and obtain permission to be absent from duty from the head teacher
before the occurrence of such absence.
 not to teach while under the influence of alcohol or drugs or come to school
while drunk.
 not to eat any food while conducting a lesson except when required for the
purpose of teaching or on medical grounds.
 conduct all internal and external examinations in accordance with rules governing
such examinations issued from time to time by the competent authorities and
shall not commit any offence against examination regulations in force.
 follow the programme discussed with and approved by the head of the
department and shall co-operate with the head of the department and other
teachers in carrying out that programme.
 make schemes of work, records of work and lesson preparation books available
to the head teacher and the head of the department for inspection.
 allow the head of department or the head teacher to be present while the teacher
is teaching.
 at all times, maintain a professional attitude towards colleagues, avoiding
derogatory, slanderous and unfair criticism against his or her colleagues and
shall at the times create and maintain harmony.
 use proper channels of communication and flow of information.
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 in view of ever rising standards, strive to improve his or her own academic and
professional standard but shall not do so at the expense of the children/learners
he or she teachers; and
 maintain and keep in a safe manner records of learners’ performance in
examinations to enable him or her report factually and objectively on each
learner's progress.
Part IV- Professional Responsibility
A teacher shall
 devote such time to his or her duties as is necessary by the nature of his or her
post.
 Not engage in private or personal activities when he or she is expected to teach
or supervise learning and other curricular activities.
 not trade or transact business when he or she is expected to be on duty.
 not to bring any pet or baby or any other child not being registered in the school
to class since this will interfere with the discharge of school duties.
 not be an accomplice to any activity likely or intended to cause disturbance or riot
within the school.
 not to be absent without authority from his or her class lessons and teach without
discrimination or bias against any pupil in his or her class regardless of the
child's/learner's race, religion, tribe, place of origin or sex.
 conduct all his or her lessons and teach without discrimination or bias against
any pupil in his or her class regardless, of the child's/learner's race, religion, tribe,
place or sex.
 maintain and keep in a safe manner all records of school property under his or
her care and account for such property when asked to do so by the head of the
department or head teacher.
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Part V- The Teacher's Personal Conduct
A teacher shall
 dress appropriately and shall be in mode of dress decent and smart.

 attend to his or her personal appearance ensuring a neat and pleasant outlook
while on duty and in public places and shall avoid unkept hair and beard.
 observe the laws of Uganda particularly in matters of sex, marriages and
parenthood and shall at all times set a good example to the children.
 not write, circulate or cause to be written or circulate any anonymous letter or any
document with malicious intent and
 show respect for school rules set by the governing body of the school and shall
assist in their implementation.
Part VI - The Head teacher
As a teacher and leader in the teaching profession, a head teacher is bound by this
code of professional conduct and shall set a good example in the strict observance of all
provisions of the code.
In addition a head teacher shall enforce the observation of the code of professional
conduct on all teachers under him or her in accordance with the law, regulations and
other provisions of the education service and shall promptly deal appropriately with all
breaches of the code. In particular and without derogation to the generality to sub-
paragraphs 1 and 2 of this paragraph the head teacher shall:
 be the custodian of good educational standards in his or her school and shall
aim high in educational standards.
 enrol children into the school without bias or discrimination and within the
regulations and provisions of the laws in force in Uganda.
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 collect all school fees and receive all other school monies such as gifts,
donations and endowments according to policies issued from time to time by the
competent authorities.
 pay all salaries and wages to the rightful owners as soon as such salaries and
wages are received and due;
 account for all the money as collected and received on behalf of the school;
 keep all school records in his or her custody in safe condition and ensure that
such records contain correct information.
 not connive with members of staff or any other person so as to bring the
profession and the service into disrepute.
 not conceal any act of misconduct committed by a member of his or her staff or
by any child/learner of the school whether committed within or outside the school.
 not receive a bribe in relation to the discharge of his or her duties and ensure that
his or her staff does not do so.
 ensure that all teachers and students observe punctuality alike.
 report factually and objectively on members of his or her staff on matters required
in Annual confidential reports or when assessing a teacher's capability as to a
post of responsibility applied for when reporting any breach of the law to the
competent authorities.
 report factually and objectively on all matters concerning school children without
fear, favour, bias or discrimination.
 not carry out or transact any private business within or outside the school
premises when she or he is expected to be on official duty within or outside his or
her school.
 not take it upon himself or herself to physically punish a teacher involved in the
breach of this Code or any other regulations in force but will use all avenues
open to him or to her to report such breaches to the appropriate authorities for
action.
 be present in the school as much as possible and whenever he or she is out of
the school, he or she shall leave correct information of his or her whereabouts
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with his or her deputy or any other person authorised to act and shall always ask
his or her deputy to act on his or her behalf when he or she is on duty outside the
school.
Part VII - The Community
A teacher shall
 project a good image in the community where he or she lives by participating as

appropriate in activities of the community;
 set a good example to the pupils and the public by obeying lawful and
established authority and being law-abiding;
 attend, where practically possible religious functions of his or of other
persuasions;
 and respect other recognized religions within the school where he or she is
teaching;
 and through his or her own conduct and inspiration with his or her family, be a
good example to the community and the school.
Part VIII - Enforcement of the Code
 It is the duty of every teacher to observe and respect this Code and to report any
breach of the Code to the appropriate authorities.
 All matters or cases involving the breach of the code reported to the Committee
or Commission shall be dealt with in accordance with the laws and regulations in
force at the time of the breach of the code.
 All matters dealt with by the Committee or handled by the appropriate authorities
or all those concerned shall keep Commission confidential.
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References
 Prof. J.C Ssekamwa (1996), Professional Ethics for Teachers, published by Nets
Africa Ltd, Kampala.
 An official document from the Ministry of Education and Sports (Government of
Uganda) on the Teacher's Code of Conduct.
Implications of the policies to the teacher
 Acquire a copy of the professional ethics

 Read and understand the code and conduct
 Follow the regulations in the teachers’ code of conduct during teaching in and
outside the classroom
 Lead by example
 Be a role model to everyone
 Create awareness about the professional ethics to other caregivers, head
teachers, CMC members and parents.
Importance of the code of conduct to teachers
 The principles outlined in the code of educate teacher’s ways of excelling in the
teaching as a profession.
 It enhances teachers’ integrity, dignity self-esteem and rights
 It protects and safe guards teachers against misconceptions from other
stakeholders within the teaching and the entire education system.
 Understanding the teachers’ code of conduct assists teachers to do what is right
and avoid circumstances that may cause problems.
 It is a basis that guides and challenges the behaviour of the teacher as a
professional.
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UNIT TEN
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
This unit introduces you to different principles and concepts of Educational psychology
that can be used to promote children’s learning. The main focus here is on learning
because in the study of Early Childhood Development and Education is all about
children’s Psychology.
CONCEPTS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Educational psychology embraces the concepts of psychology and that of education.

Psychology
Etymologically the word “Psychology” is from two Greek words “Psyche” which means
“the mind, soul or spirit” and “logos” meaning the “study or science”. Therefore, literally
psychology is the study or science of the mind, soul or spirit.
Psychology is the science of behavior and mental process. It is the systematic study of
human and animal behavior with the aim of understanding how and why we behave in
the way we do. Similarly psychology undertakes to make a scientific study of the
individual considered as a unit he really is while dealing with other individuals and he
world.
Looking at the above psychology in a philosophical sense ,behavior come to appear in
its definition because in human person exist values, attitudes and behaviors this dividing
the human being into three parts: the brain, heart and body which are related to Mind,
soul and spirit respectively. The Brain which is the resident of the mind, the faculty of
reasoning where values are processed, after the heart developing Emotions whose end
result is Attitude, sparks the brain to come up with what to be displayed by the body.
Therefore, Behavior becomes the exposition of what is in the mind and soul because
actions can be seen in behavior.
Education
Etymologically, Education is derived from two Latin words “Educare” which means to
support and nurture the growth of or learn and “Educere” meaning to draw out or to
cause to come out. It is not a one day thing to know or learn, to learn it takes time. That
means it is a process.
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Education is the process of bringing desirable change into the behavior of human
beings. It is the “Process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or habits through
instruction or study”. The behavioral changes must be directed towards a desirable end.
It means that Education is the development of desired habits, skills, values and attitudes
which make an individual valuable and useful member of his society/community.
Education can also be considered as the experiences that we go through in life from the
time we are born until we die. Therefore, Education is the development and shaping of
behavior in human person.
Educational psychology
When we put together the concepts of what Psychology and Education are, we come up
with the concept of Educational Psychology.
Educational Psychology is the application of psychological principles to the practice of

education. It is the systematic study of the educational growth and development of a
child. It deals with the conditions that promote or retard the development of the child in
the process of learning (Aggarwal, 2007).
According to Durojaiye (1984), Educational Psychology is the study of the ways I which
the learner can be most effectively brought into successful interaction with the materials
to be learnt, the learning situation and the teachers who provide the learning
opportunity. To him in African context, Educational Psychology is related to the studies
of man in society as embodied in sociology and anthropology. It uses data from social
psychology which deals with social behavior; clinical psychology which studies
individual in health and disease; and Psychiatry which is the study of methods of
treating disordered minds. In short, it relates to all behavioral sciences inasmuch as
they help in our understanding of the learner, in the context of learning or learning
process.
Importance of Educational Psychology to a caregiver
 It helps a teacher to understand developmental stages of children and their

characteristics.
 It helps teachers to employ suitable methods of teaching children
 It guides the teacher in designing the curriculum
 It helps the caregiver to develop instructional materials that are appropriate for
children of different age groups
 It gives a teacher the ability to understand fellow workers for smooth
relationships which enhances effective teaching and learning processes
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 The teacher gains knowledge and skills of working with the learners, parents
and community in order to perform his/her duties effectively
 It equips teachers with the ability to identify learners’ individual differences and
hence handle them accordingly.
 Is helps teachers identify children with special needs and therefore find ways of
supporting these children to cope or overcome these challenges.
 It helps the teachers to control their emotional behavior and gives an
understanding of the principles and techniques of correct training
CHILDREN’S LEARNING
Every experience or activity that a child comes across is a learning experience.
Learning is the acquisition and retention of habits, knowledge, skills and attitudes which
empowers an individual to overcome obstacles or to adjust to new situations. Learning
usually results into a permanent change in behaviour. The way children learn is
influenced by characteristics which they are born, such as gender, attitudes, likes and
dislikes that have been introduced to them in the early years at home. They may also be
affected by the community, culture and values held in their area.
Children’s learning can be seen in many ways as shown by Kagan, Britto, Kauerz and
Tarrant (2005) to include: curiosity and interest, initiative, persistence, attentiveness,
creativity, invention, reflection and interpretation.
According to Twoli et al (2007), Learning is a change or modification of behavior or

response as a result of a form of experience. Change means that the learner goes
through a learning situation and comes out a different person. Change in behavior as a
result of learning, refers to change in intellectual and emotional functioning.
In ECDE, Learning is a permanent change in behavior, as a result of repeated

experiences offered to young children (Gichuba Catherine et al, 2009).
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING
There are nine general characteristics of learning as enumerated by Yoakman and

Simpson as below:
 Learning is growth: As the child grows in body, he also grows mentally through
the daily activities where he/she experiences a number of things. So, learning is
growth through experiences.
 Learning is adjustment: learning helps the individual child to adjust him/herself
adequately to the new situations because children meet new situations which
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demand solutions. Life is full of experiences, and each leaves behind some
effects in the mental structure. These effects modify our behavior.
 Learning is organizing experience: learning is not a mere addition of knowledge.
It is not mere acquisition of facts and skills through drill and repetition. It is a
reorganization of experience.
 Learning is purposeful: All true learning is based on purpose. Purpose plays a big
role in learning. We do not learn anything and everything that comes our way, in
a haphazard manner. All school activities given to children should be purposeful
so that the child should feel real urge for learning.
 Learning is intelligent: Meaningless efforts do not produce permanent result.
When a child learns something unintelligently, he is likely to forget it very soon.
He does not assimulate but simply commits to memory. Only efforts made
intelligently have lasting effects.
 Learning is active: learning does not take place without a purpose and self-
activity. In the teaching-learning process, the activity of the learner counts more
than the activity of the teacher. The principle of learning by doing is the main
principle and it has been recommended by all modern educationists. It is the
basis of all progressive methods of education such as the Dalton, the project, the
Montessori and the basic.
 Learning is both individual and social: Learning is more than an individual
activity. It is a social activity also. Individual mind is affected by the group mid
consciously as well as unconsciously as individual is influenced by his friends,
relatives, classmates, parents, teachers, etc, and learns their ideas, feelings, and
notions. Social agencies like the family, church, film and gangs of playmates
have a tremendous influence on the child and are always moulding and
remoulding him.
 Learning is the product of the environment: Environment plays an important role
in the growth and development of the individual. Environment should be healthy
and rich in educative possibilities.
 Learning affects the conduct of the learner: There is a change in the mental
structure of the learner after every experience.
 Others characteristics include: Learning takes place through tiral and error; it
depends upon insight. Insight has sometimes been described as the ‘Flash of
undersanding’.
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TYPES OF LEARNING
i) Affective learning: This has to do with feelings and values and therefore
influences our attitudes and personalities.
ii) Cognitive learning: This is achieved by mental processes such as reasoning,
remembering and recall. It helps in problem solving, developing new ideas
and evaluation.
iii) Psychomotor learning: it has to do with the development of skills which require
efficient coordination between our brains and muscles, as when we read or
write or carry out physical skills such as balancing, skipping or juggling.
Learning has mainly two ways it can either be inductive or deductive in nature.
Deductive learning: This is a process by which a learner is presented with a
hypothesis or general principles and applies a number of tests to it to discover whether
it is true or not.
Inductive learning: this describes the process which is the reverse of deductive
learning. In it, the learner examines related matters to see whether any general
conclusion can be drawn.
WAYS IN WHICH CHILDREN LEARN
 Play is the most important and most noticeable avenue through which children learn.
A caregiver must therefore make sure that learning activities are prepared in a play
way manner.
 Children also learn widely by doing. Children are not good at listening to adult ideas
as they sit still. This is because children have a short attention span. Always make
sure that you involve children in every activity because they learn by doing.
 Children learn better when activities given to them are repeated. It is not enough to
give a child something to learn. Always make provision for revision, practice or
repeated activity to help children master given skills.
Note:
It is also important for you to note that children will quickly acquire some habits if
you encourage or reward them and also leave them if they are discouraged.
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FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNING
i) Maturation
This means reaching the optimum level of development needed for an individual to
perform a certain task. An individual needs to be mature first in a particular area
before he or she can learn. For example a child cannot learn to sit until the back
bones have matured. Neither can he start walking before the leg bones have
matured.
ii) Ability levels
Learning of any new behaviour will depend on the ability level of the learner. If what
is to be learnt is beyond the child’s ability level then he or she will not learn for
example if you try to teach nursery children work for P.7, they will not learn because
it is not at their level.
iii) Intelligence
Learning may be influenced by intelligence in that intelligence helps a child to
capture and interpret new information so that it can be learnt.
Children with low intelligence take long to learn e.g. a child with a mental disability
might not see the need to go round the field in a running competition and therefore
take a short cut across the field to get to the finishing line. This is because he/she
does not see why he should follow the given lane to reach the finishing point.
iv) Interest
In order for one to learn, a person must have interest in what is to be learnt. If you
have no interest in something, it becomes difficult for you to learn. Caregivers must
therefore always try to raise children’s interest in something before they begin
teaching them.
LEARNING STYLES
Learning styles refers to how an individual child prefers to learn. A child’s learning style
guides the way he/she can learn. Your learning style determines the way you internally
represent experiences, the way you recall information, and even the words you choose.
Sometimes children's learning styles incorporate many learning styles especially in the
early years. But as they get older, one dominant learning style may surface. It is
important for us to recognize and understand children’s learning styles early enough so
that we can use techniques better suited for their learning. Some of the common
learning styles include:
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1. Visual Learners learn through seeing. These learners like to visualize things by
thinking in pictures and learn best from maps, charts and diagrams; they enjoy art and
drawing. Visual learners often like taking numerous detailed notes, tend to sit in the
front, are usually neat and clean, often close their eyes to visualize or remember
something, find something to watch if they are bored, and find passive surroundings
ideal
2. Auditory/Language Learners learn through listening. They learn best through

talking and listening to what others have to say. They often sit where they can hear but
without necessarily paying attention to what is happening in front. They hum or talk to
themselves or others when bored. They also spell words accurately and easily and are
often very good readers. Auditory learners enjoy listening to tone of voice, pitch and are
often musically talented. These learners often benefit from reading text aloud and using
a tape recorder. They often have excellent memory for names, dates and like word
games and remember by verbalizing lessons to themselves
3. Kinesthetic/Tactile Learners learn through moving, doing and touching.

Tactile/Kinesthetic persons learn best through a hands-on approach, actively exploring
the physical world around them and may find it hard to sit still for long periods of time.
They communicate with body language and gestures and prefer to show you rather than
tell you. They can remember what was done, but have difficulty recalling what was said
or seen. They like activities such as cooking, construction, engineering and art which
help them perceive and learn. They enjoy field trips and tasks that involve manipulating
materials. These children sit near the door or someplace where they can easily get up
and move around. This is because they are uncomfortable in classrooms where they
lack opportunities for hands-on experience. Kinesthetic learners are often good at
sports.
4. Logical/Analytical Learners learn through exploring patterns and relationships.

Analytical learners enjoy puzzles and seeing how things work. They constantly ask
questions and are capable of high abstract forms of logical thinking at an early age.
They can solve mental math problems quickly and enjoy strategy and computer games.
They like to create their own designs with blocks.
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Note:
Remember all children work well with hands-on activities and manipulative. Also, while
children can have a mix of learning style, there is no particular right mix. Everything
depends on each individual child. The learning styles are also not fixed. They can
change with time. You can develop ability in less dominant styles, as well as further
develop styles that you already use well.
MOTIVATION FOR LEARNING

“Motivation arouses interest, interest is the mother of attention and attention is the
mother of learning. Thus to secure learning you must first catch the mother,
grandmother and great grandmother.” Motivation is the very heart of learning process. It
energizes and accelerates the behavior of the learner. No learning is possible without
motivation. The intensity of motivation of the learner determines the effectiveness of his
learning.
Etymologically, the word Motivation is derived from the Latin word “Motive”which means
‘movers’ or to move. Therefore, Motivation is an internal force or drive that energizes,
accelerates, and directs us into action. It is a psychological process of arousing action,
giving direction and sustaining an activity in progress.
THE FUNCTION OF MOTIVATION

Motivation is very important because:
 It directs the behaviour of an individual towards a particular goal. Motivation gives
you a target that you will always aim to reach. For example becoming a doctor can
be your goal. This goal will make you always work hard at anything that brings you
closer to being a doctor.
 It energizes behaviour. If you have already set your goal, every time you see an
opportunity to reach your goal motivation will give you sudden energy to try to do
something even if it looks impossible to others
 It sustains behaviour. Motivation will make you work for a longer time at something
that you are interested in. for example if your interest is in mathematics, you will
always have the need to continue doing mathematics even if its time has passed.
 It regulates behaviour. This means that you always be careful in selecting activities
that match with your goal. For example if you love football, you will pay attention to
mainly football related issues and not fishing which you do not have interest in.
 It arouses the tendency to act and produce result by the learner
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 It helps in releasing tension in the learners.
FORMS OF MOTIVATION
Motivation may be in two forms which include intrinsic (internal) motivation and extrinsic
(external) motivation.
i) Internal motivation is the type of motivation which comes from within an

individual. This motivation is regulated by an individual’s pride and
belief in him/herself. The person does not rely on other people to do
something. Success or failure is usually blamed on oneself. For
example, if a child fails to do something correctly, he/she may say “I
did not try harder” or “it is my fault”.
ii) External motivation is the type of motivation that originates from outside
the individual. It encourages the achievement of learning goals. The
person works hard because of the external rewards given by other
people e.g. prizes, praises, jobs, or promotions. The child usually
blames his/her failure on other people. For example a child might say
that “I failed because that teacher hates me”.
FACTORS THAT AFFECT MOTIVATION
Even as we try to motivate children to learn, we have to take into consideration the
factors that will affect their motivation. Some of them include:
Readiness refers to the level at which an individual is set to perform an activity. It also
refers to the level of preparation that one has in order to start performing a given task. If
you are well prepared, you get motivated to do an activity. For example athletes who
train regularly get ready for competition and are motivated when they are told they will
be competing soon.
Maturation - this may mean the optimum level of growth and development of a child
that helps it to be ready to learn. E.g. a child may want to write but the fingers are not
mature enough to hold the writing materials. Likewise, a young child may want to carry
a baby but she may not have the physical strength to carry the baby so you have to
support both of them.
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MOTIVATION TECHNIQUES
Children can be motivated to learn by teachers in different ways. Some of them include:
 Use of rhymes that have actions that you can use to involve the learners for
example the rhyme shake, shake the mango tree. The rhyme has many actions
that will interest the children. Even as you teach, punctuate your lesson with
songs and rhymes to maintain children’s interest.
 Give learners opportunity to express their feelings through answering questions;
encourage free talk, role plays or reporting.
 We must understand and value the learners within the learning process. This can
be done by acknowledging every response and using the children’s experience
to teach them. Do not discourage children by giving bad comments about
incorrect answers. If you do that, it will kill their morale and they will not answer
again.
 Involve all children actively in the lesson. The teacher should be the guide. Do
not pretend to know everything. When you do not know, say so. Some children
ask questions whose answers they know. They test you to find out if you know.
Ask the same child to help tell you the answer. It will save you the
embarrassment of giving a wrong answer.
 Relate content to children’s life experiences. This will help them to continue
discussing the topic in your absence.
 Provide immediate feedback to the learners through:
- Instant answering of their questions.
- Marking their work
- Providing appropriate response.
 Reward learners appropriately for all the actions or responses they give. Small
tasks with small rewards and vise-versa.
 Provide content of the right level according to the children’s ability.
 Vary the methods of teaching to suit interest, nature of content, weather or needs
of the learners e.g. if you start a lesson with a song, the following day start with
jumping or dancing especially if it is cold. Do not ask them to jump if they are
already sweating.
 Use teaching aids that help the children to build ideas and concepts that you are
teaching them.
 Be a good role model that the children will admire. Children have a tendency to
like subjects of teachers they like.
 Use competitions and cooperation when teaching. It may be interpersonal,
groups or self competition.
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 Set appropriate goals to help the learners work harder and be guided towards the
learning out come.
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
Personality may be defined as the sum total of what a person really is: it is being a
particular person. The concept of personality implies the following characteristics:
 Personality is a dynamic, growing and changing entity
 It starts with heredity
 It involves the capacity for the maturation of physical and intellectual potential,
provided the environmental factors are right.
 It includes what we can see and what we cannot see
 It includes behavioural as well as physical attributes
 It is capable of numerous modifications throughout life.
 It grows, changes and manifests itself in the social surroundings of human group
relations.
In this sense, every individual has a personality. However, the broad areas that used in
describing personality include:
 Physical characteristics – body structure, complexion, height, and weight

 Temperament – typical emotional behaviour and characteristic mood.
 Intelligence – skills, information storing and retrieval system, creativity and
competences.
 Interests – likes and dislikes
 Morals and values – character
 Social attitudes, prejudices and attitudes towards democracy, socialism,
authoritarianism, egalitarianism and dogmatism.
 Motivational dispositions – needs and motives, e.g. achievement motive,
affilliative motive.
 Aptitude – potential for doing well in particular areas of activity.
 Expressive and stylistic traits – habitual behaviour, e.g. politeness, bossiness,
submissiveness, talkativeness, sociability, shyness, consistency and hesitancy.
The Nature of personality
There are five approaches devised to explain the nature of human personality:
i) The self-concept approach

ii) The Freudian approach
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iii) The trait approach
iv) The learning theory approach
v) The direction theory approach
i) The self-concept approach

Self-concept is how one characteristically feels about oneself. Karl Rogers,
one of the foremost psychologists in this field, says the following about self:
 The self develops out of the organism’s interactions with the
environment.
 It may take on the values of other people and see them in a distorted
way.
 The self strives for consistency
 The person behaves in a way that is consistent with the self.
 Experiences that are not consistent with what is in the make-up of the
self are perceived as threats.
 The self may change as a result of maturation and learning
 The self is learned; it is not ready-made.
 The self develops as one’s inherited potentials meet with the
experiences of everyday life. It is constantly changing as a result of
growth and varied experience.
 As the self develops, it becomes the centre point around which new
experiences gather to be given meaning, acceptance or rejection. If
new experiences are pleasant and enhance the self, we accept them.
If they are insulting, painful or unpleasant, we tend to reject them and
to forget them, even when they might help us to become better
persons.
 How one thinks about oneself affects not only what one thinks about
but what one thinks. A person who has a positive self-concept thinks
about his successes and good qualities. A person with negative self-
concept thinks about his failures and his inadequacies.
 The self-ideal is what one would like to be. The self-accepting person
sees little discrepancy between his self-concept and his self-ideal.
ii) The Freudian approach

To Freud, the human personality is made up of three basic elements which
are dynamic in personality behaviour. These are the Id, the ego and the
super-ego.
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Freud sees the id as representing what we are born with: inherited potentials,
impulses, urges, determined by physiological body processes. There are two
main functions of the id. One is sexual and creative by nature, the other is
destructive and hostile. The id leads to tension and energies which must be
released. The way an individual releases these tensions and energies
depends on the strength of the ego and the super ego.
Whereas the id craves for pleasure and satisfaction of natural impulses, the
ego is reality-oriented. It is guided by the intellect. It requires thought
processes, plans, decisions and care. Self-image and the damage one can do
to one’s reputation have to be considered before the id impulses are allowed.
The Super-ego represents the conscience. It is the moral value that each
person develops through learning processes. It is the internalized restraining
forces of parents, teachers, peer groups, other adults, churches and
mosques, and other agencies of education and moral training. The super-ego
controls the id. Without it man would not be able to control either his sexuality
or his hostility. Whether the situation is convenient or not, the concern of the
super-ego it asks the question, “is it morally right? Is it socially acceptable?”
iii) The Trait approach

The Trait approach is based on the idea that there are unique patterns or
traits which are revealed with relative consistency in everyday behaviour. A
trait is a report of an observed consistency in behaviour. For example, if a
person has few friends, avoids social contacts and rarely speaks to others
unless spoken to first, that person can be said to show the trait of an introvert
or a withdrawn person. A person, who is sociable, is interested in people and
who expresses his feelings and thoughts openly, may be said to be an
extrovert or a very expressive person. Common personality traits include
interests, sociability, emotion, self-insight and ambition.
iv) The Learning –theory approach

We have repeatedly stated that children have to learn many things:
intellectual behaviour, moral behaviour, social behaviour, emotional
behaviour. All these are aspects of personality. Personality manifestations
can thus be explained in terms of learning. Four aspects are involved in all
learning:
 Drive, needs, motive or motivation
 Response: act or thought
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 Stimulus or Cue
 Reinforcement – reward or punishment.
To explain sociability in an adolescent in terms of learning theory we might

describe her as follows. The adolescent likes being friendly with other young
persons whose company she enjoys (motivation: Affiliative motive, gregarious
drive, the need to belong). Whenever she sees other young person going to a
party (Stimulus, Cue), she puts on her party clothes, makes herself attractive and
gets herself invited to the party (response). Because she is such a good dancer,
so well dressed, so attractive, and full of nice things to say (all these she learned
before), she gets invited to other parties time and again (positive reinforcement:
reward). As a result she continues in the way that got results! Thus we now
understand how this adolescent became sociable.
v) The Direction-Theory Approach

A group of psychologists led by David Reisman in the book The lonely Crowd
proposed three directions that lead to certain personality types. i.e. The
traditional direction, Inner-direction and Other-direction.
The tradition-directed type of personality is largely determined by the

demands of customs, beliefs, mores and the sanctions of his cultural or family
group.
The inner-directed person’s personality is determined by the internalized

values and morals which have given him a strong conscience or super-ego.
Such a person no longer needs external forces, pressures and sanctions. He
can live in societies with diverse moral values without looking to any of them
for direction. He knows what to do in every situation. He does what he should
do rather than what he wants to do.
The personality of the other-directed person is largely determined by his

parents and his social group membership. He is sensitive to changing
climates of opinion and social pressure requirements. He adapts to these
contemporary external demands.
Thus, while the tradition- directed person sinks his roots in the traditional
ground for stability, the inner-directed per uses a psychic gyroscope, and the
other-directed person uses psychological radar.
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Moral character and personality patterns
Moral character is one of the most frequently used indices of personality. There are six
aspects that explain mature moral character:
i) The ability to accept and follow a moral code willingly and regularly.
ii) The ability to make accurate rational judgments, show correct insight and
appropriate feelings.
iii) The ability to exercise self-control.
iv) The spontaneous, uninhibited expression of wishes and feelings.
v) Friendliness and general warmth of feelings for others.
vi) Freedom from guilt and from fear of external hostility or punishment.
vii)
These dimensions guide us into the different types of moral characters.
The types of Moral Character
i) The Amoral
This is a person who follows his impulses without consideration for anyone,
behaviour which is acceptable only in a child aged less than two years. He
feels no shame or guilt.
ii) The Expedient

This is a person who does things only for his own ends. He behaves in a
moral way as long as it suits his purpose, or as long as a policeman, teacher,
employer, priest or anyone in a position of authority is watching. Otherwise he
behaves in a socially irresponsible manner. He has few moral values and a
poor conscience. This kind of behaviour is acceptable only in Early childhood,
before the age of six years.
iii) The conformist

This kind of person accepts the rules of his group and follows the law
correctly even if it is unreasonable. He feels a shamed and guilty when his
behaviour departs from the expected by society. Children aged 7-10 years
might be excused for this kind of behaviour.
iv) The irrational- conscientious

This person follows only what he believes to be right. He feels very guilty if he
has not been true to his conscience even when his conscience is mistaken.
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He would violate the demands of his social group rather than the dictates of
his conscience. He fails to consider the situation, the time and other factors.
This is typical adolescent idealism.
v) The rational – altruistic

This person has a high stable set of moral principles. Je assesses situations
objectively. He considers others as well as his own interests. He lets
circumstances alter cases. When confronted with a decision, he studies the
situation carefully and considers the alternatives. He takes final action
according o the finest moral principles and according to what he believes to
be morally right in the light of careful consideration of the circumstances.
The implications of Personality Development to the teacher
Describing and explaining the nature, directions and patterns of personality should put
the teachers into good stand to understand and handle young children in their formative
years well as, they are inevitably influenced by their personality.
 Teachers must treat children exactly according to their personalities. If we wish

them to be dependably stable, sincerely motivated and ethically oriented.
 Teachers should treat children in the most genuinely friendly, warmest, and
kindest ways consistently for them to be genuinely friendly for a long time.
 Teachers should provide children with the model of good behaviours and give
them the opportunity and trust for them to develop the desirable characteristics.
 Ways of learning morals should include punishment, rewards, unconscious
imitation and constructive reflective thinking.
 Good health, emotional security and wide experience are among the essential
conditions of good moral development.
 The teachers should use the opportunities they have for giving children moral
training as suggested for each level at school.
 Personality is a composite concept. It is the homogeneous development of the
various attributes of human being.
 The cultural setting and child rearing pattern obtaining in an environment
influence the personality patterns of the people form that cultural environment.
 The level of human relationship determines the extent of knowledge people in
that relationship have of one another.
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UNIT ELEVEN
GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING
THE CONCEPTS OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING

What is Guidance and Counseling?
Guidance and counseling are two sides of the same coin. The goal in both cases is to
give an opportunity for an individual to see a variety of available options and thereafter,
assist the person in making a wise choice. Guidance is the process that is put in place
at a time a choice is to be made.
Counseling on the other hand

i) helps with considering all sides of a potential choice even before the choice is
made;
ii) Takes place when a choice has been made and there is a need to modify,
reinforce or abandon such a choice.
Consider a new student in a university who is to register for courses in a programme.
The course list has two categories -compulsory and elective courses. The compulsory
courses are mandatory. The elective courses offer some choice. Your effort at assisting
the learner to select suitable elective courses provides an example of guidance service.
Assume after registration and some way into the programme, the learner has problems
with some courses. Perhaps the learner is unable to cope with the rigor of work or is
having some problems with a course lecturer. Offering informed advice on how to cope
with emerging problems is counseling. (Though counseling is far more than advice
since, among other things, it requires input from the counselee)
Definitions
Guidance is a broad term that is applied to a school’s programme of activities and
services that are aimed at assisting students to make and carry out adequate plans and
to achieve satisfactory adjustment in life. Guidance can be defined as a process,
developmental in nature, by which an individual is assisted to understand, accept and
utilize his/her abilities, aptitudes and interests and attitudinal patterns in relation to
his/her aspirations. Guidance as an educational construct involves those experiences,
which assist each learner to understand him/herself, accept him/herself and live
effectively in his/her society. This is in addition to the learner having learning
experiences about the world of work and people therein.
Guidance can also be looked at as a programme of services to people based upon the
need of each individual, an understanding of his/her immediate environment, the
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influence of environmental factors on the individual and the unique features of each
school. Guidance is designed to help each person adjust to his/her environment,
develop the ability to set realistic goals for him/herself, and improve his/her total
educational programme. As a process, guidance is not a simple event but it involves a
series of actions or steps progressively moving towards a goal.
As a service, we can isolate three major services, that of educational, vocational, and
personal and social guidance.
1. Educational Guidance
Educational guidance is so far as it can be distinguished from any other form of
guidance, is concerned with the provision of assistance to pupils in their choices in and
adjustment to the schools’ curriculum and school life in general. Educational guidance is
therefore essential in counseling service. Guiding young people to pursue the right type
of education in which, for example the right balance is met for accommodating the
human resource needs of a nation.
2. Vocational Guidance
Vocational guidance is a process of helping individuals to choose an occupation,
prepare for, enter into and progress in it. Vocational happiness requires that a person’s
interests, aptitudes and personality be suitable for his/her work. It plays its part by
providing individuals with a comprehension of the world of work and essential human
needs, thus familiarizing individuals with such terms as `dignity of labor’ and `work
value’.
3. Personal and Social Guidance

Personal and social guidance is the process of helping an individual on how to behave
with consideration to other people. Primarily, personal and social guidance helps the
individual to understand oneself, how to get along with others, manners and etiquette,
leisure time activities, social skills, family and family relationships and understanding
masculine and feminine roles.
Counseling is usually viewed as one part of guidance services; it is subsumed by the

general term, guidance, in that it is one service within guidance rather than a synonym.
It is difficult to think of one definition of counseling. This is because definitions of
counseling depend on the theoretical orientation of the person defining it. Let us
examine some of these definitions.
Counseling is learning-oriented process which usually occurs in an interactive
relationship with the aim of helping the person learn more: about the self; about others
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about situations and events related to given issues and conditions and also to learn to
put such understanding to being an effective member of the society.
Counseling is a process in which the helper expresses care and concern towards the
person with a problem to facilitate that person’s personal growth and positive change
through self-understanding.
Counseling denotes a relationship between a concerned person and a person with a

need. This relationship is usually person-to-person, although sometimes it may involve
more than two people. It is designed to help people understand and clarify their views of
their life-space, and to learn to reach their self-determined goals through meaningful,
well-informed, choices and through resolution of problems of an emotional or
interpersonal nature. It can be seen from these definitions that counseling may have
different meanings.
The aims of counseling in schools

The basic aims of counseling include the following:
i) To help students understand the self in terms of their personal ability, interest,
motivation and potentials.
ii) To help students gain insight into the origins and development of emotional
difficulties, leading to an increased capacity to take rational control over their
feelings and actions.
iii) To alter maladaptive behaviors.
iv) To assist students in moving towards the direction of fulfilling their potentials or in
achieving an integration of previously conflicting parts of themselves.
v) To provide students with skills, awareness and knowledge this will enable them
to confront social inadequacies.
vi) To help students gain some insight into the world of work, the realities therein
and the relationships to their education and specialization.
vii) To help students develop decision making skills.
ASPECTS OF COUNSELING
1. Educational Counseling
First coined by Truman Kelley in 1914 (Makinde, 1988), educational counseling is a
process of rendering services to pupils who need assistance in making decisions about
certain important aspect of their education such as choice of courses and studies,
decision on interest and ability, choices of college and high school. Educational
counseling increases pupil’s knowledge of educational opportunities.
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In ECD Centers setting, the following are some of the educational guidance and
counseling services Caregivers expected to offer to children:
Orientation guidance services: These are services that a caregiver provides to a new
child in school to help him/her adapt to the new environment. Some of the services and
activities provided to children include introducing to different people who matter in the
school, showing them other children, showing them how to use toilets/latrines, how to
get permission to do something, daily routines to be followed or what is expected of the
child at different times.
Educational guidance services: These are services given to children to help them
make the best out of what is provided to them. Some of them include how to use
different instructional materials, how to report need, how to go about given procedures
like during snack time or rules to be followed when playing with different toys.
Career guidance services: These are activities that help the child to follow what
he/she has interest and talent in. this helps the child to gain more insight into a given
field that can later be his/her career as an adult. This guidance helps the child to focus
on their talents and the best they can do with them.
Note:
As a teacher, your role is to guide the child to find his/her talents and make the best use
of it. Do not force children to take up what you want if they are not interested in it.
Orientation of New Children in Schools as a Strategy to Positive Guidance
When children come to school for the first time, it will be a completely new environment
for them. They feel very insecure or out of place. In most cases, the reaction of many
children is to cry or try to escape back home. Some may even find it so difficult to cope
such that they will hate any idea of school altogether. It is therefore your role as a
caregiver to be there for this child and make him/her feel at home while at school. This
process of making a child feel at home while at school is called orientation. We can
orient new children into school by doing some of the following activities with them:
 Showing children where to go to help themselves like toilets/latrines or wash

rooms and how to use them.
 Asking the child different things that he/she may need so as to be able to provide
for him/her
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 Talking to the child regularly in a friendly way so as to allow the child to open up
to you and be free.
 Helping a child when you see him/her try to do something
 Encouraging the child to participate in doing class activities with other children.
 Encouraging other children to come and keep the child company.
 Talking to other children to share what they have with the new child to make
him/her become part of the group.
 To discourage all other children who may try to make fun of the new child
 To be friendly to the child and keep away any form of corporal punishment.
 Telling the child stories or singing with him/her.
2. Personal/Social Counseling
Personal counseling deals with emotional distress and behavioral difficulties that arise
when an individual struggles to cope with developmental stages and tasks.
Any facet of development can be turned into a personal adjustment problem, and it is
inevitable that everyone will at some time encounter exceptional difficulty with an
ordinary challenge of life. For example;
- Anxiety over a career decision
- Lingering anger over an interpersonal conflict
- Insecurity about getting older
- Depressive feelings when bored with work
- Excessive guilt about a serious mistake
- A lack of assertion and confidence
- Grief over the loss of a loved one
- Disillusionment and loneliness after parent’s divorce.
- Failure in examinations
- Inability to make friends Conflict with lecturers
3. Vocational Counseling
Vocational counseling is defined as individual contacts with counselees in whom the
counselor’s main purpose is to facilitate the counselee’s career development process.
This definition and category would encompass counseling situations such as:
- Helping students become aware of the many occupations available for
exploration.
- -Interpreting an occupational interest inventory to a student
- -Assisting a teenager in deciding what to do after school.
- -Helping a student apply for a course in a university or technical.
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- Role playing a job interview with a counselee in preparation for the real job
interview.
Characteristics of Counselors
The following are some of the characteristics of a teacher as a counselor;
- Abiding interest and faith in students capabilities
- Understanding of students’ aspirations
- Sympathetic attitude
- Friendliness
- Sense of humor
- Patience
- Objectivity
- Sincerity
- Tact
- Fairness
- Tolerance
MAJOR TRENDS, ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES IN SCHOOL COUNSELING

Major Trends and Controversies Among the many issues facing the school counseling
profession are the following three: what the professional title should be, how counselors
should be evaluated, and to what extent counselors should work on prevention instead
of remediation.
i) Professional Title: Some professionals in the field prefer to be called guidance

counselor, while an increasing number prefer the term school counselor. The
growing trend is for counselors to be seen as professionals in a large system,
working fluidly with all aspects within the system. The expected duties are
more extensive than those practiced by vocational guidance counselors of the
past, hence the feeling of many school counselors that the name of the
profession should reflect its expanded roles.
ii) Evaluation: A major trend in education is the demand for accountability and
evaluation. School counselors have not been immune to this demand. Since
the early 1970s there has been a growing concern with this issue and
numerous criteria have been developed to help school counselors evaluate
their specific intervention techniques.
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iii) Prevention versus Remediation: A growing trend in the field of counseling is the
focus on prevention instead of remediation. In the past it was not uncommon
for counselors to have interactions with students only after some crisis had
occurred. There is now a shift for school counselors to intercede prior to any
incidents and to become more proactive in developing and enacting school
wide prevention plans. The schools, community, and families are requesting
assistance in preventing students from being involved with many difficulties,
such as participating in gangs, dropping out of school, becoming a teenage
parent, using drugs, and participating in or becoming victims of acts of
violence.
Issues that require prevention and remediation in schools, communities and

families
i) Gangs: Students as early as third grade are being taught gang-type activities.
Students are more likely to end up in a gang if family members and peers are
already involved in gang activity. It is difficult for children to leave a gang once
they have been actively involved. Anti-gang resources are often focused on
fourth and fifth graders–an age before most students join a gang. Counselors are
in a position to ascertain whether a child is «at risk» of gang-type activity. The
counselor can also be influential in working with the family to help the child avoid
gang activity.
ii) Drop outs: In many large metropolitan school districts, over 25 percent of
students do not complete their high school education. Premature school
termination is becoming an increasingly more difficult problem as more careers
require education well beyond the high school level. Counselors are in a unique
position to assist students with career guidance and help them establish
meaningful goals including the completion of a basic education.
iii) Teen pregnancy: Teen pregnancy continues to be a societal concern.

Precipitating factors are visible prior to middle school. Counselors are often the
liaison with community agencies that work to prevent student pregnancy and
assist with students who do become pregnant.
iv) Substance abuse: Drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, continue to be a

serious problem for youth. Despite national efforts to eradicate these problems,
many students still find their way to these mind altering chemicals. Counselors
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are trained to understand the effects of different drugs and can assist with
interventions or community referrals. The counselor is also essential in
developing substance abuse prevention programs in a school.
v) School violence: School violence can range from bullying to gunfire. Counselors
have training to assist teachers and students in cases of violence and to
establish violence prevention programs. Counselor leadership in making teasing
and bullying unacceptable school behaviors is a powerful way to provide a safer
and more inclusive environment for students.
vi) Diversity: Tolerance of diversity is an important goal in a multicultural society.

School counselors help all students to be accepting of others regardless of sex,
age, race, sexual orientation, culture, disability, or religious beliefs.
vii) Child abuse: Many states have mandatory reporting laws concerning child
abuse. Students in all grades are susceptible to abuse by others, and the
counselor is often the first person to discover these deplorable acts and then
report them to the proper authorities.
viii)Terrorism: Terrorism is becoming an increasingly difficult problem in the world of

the early twenty-first century. Children are affected, directly and indirectly, by
both massive and small-scale acts of terrorism. Counselors are able to ascertain
the extent to which a student or teacher may be adversely affected by terrorist
acts. In these cases the counselor can either intervene or direct the person to
more intensive interventions.
IMPORTANCE OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING IN EDUCATION
The subject of guidance and counseling has gained great importance in recent years. In
many schools well- planned efforts are made to provide assistance to individual boys
and girls in deciding upon their future careers and education, and other personal
problems. Guidance and counseling helps learners to improve their academic
performance.
Guidance and counseling is important in schools and colleges in the following ways:
 Guidance and counseling helps young people to pursue the right type of
education. Whenever any learner is confused between two career options,
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vocational guidance can help to make a choice. In this way, the individual is
motivated.
 Sometimes learners get confused while managing their time properly. Guidance
helps learner to organize their leisure hours.
 It assists individuals to make informed decisions about their education.

Individuals have to know the choices that are available in subjects, curricula,
schools or colleges to determine what exactly they want to pursue. They have to
know subject combinations or options, what the subject involves in the
classroom, available courses and what are the future prospects of following a
particular course, available schools and colleges that offer the desired
programmes, admission requirements and educational opportunities.
 It facilitates the smooth transition for children from home to school, from primary
to secondary school, from secondary to higher educational institutions and to the
world of work. The final transition from the educational system to the labor force
appears to be most important and challenging for students.
 It helps students to cope with examination anxiety. The fear of failure and a
craving for high grades are major stress factors among students nowadays.
Handling this pressure becomes difficult for children. Guidance helps learners to
overcome this fear and achieve good marks.
 It helps students to develop effective study habits. They are guided to improve
their competence in reading, note-taking and academic achievement.
Scenario
Esther is a good student. She does well in all subjects. The only problem is that she
finds it difficult to memorize factual information. She discussed this problem with her
elder sister who felt she should follow the mnemonics methods. She helped her to
devise one mnemonic based on content from the syllabus. Esther liked it very much and
found it very effective. Now she uses this method whenever she has to remember
factual information.
As given in the above scenario, guidance helped Esther to find the most effective
solution to her problem.
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 They can be informed about the methods of learning that suits them. They are
guided on how to use different methods for improving their academic
performance.
 It provides students with meaningful educational experiences. Students are able

to correlate the curriculum to occupations. The guide needs to give special
attention to females as they often find themselves in conflicting situations if they
do not follow gender stereotypes in selecting the subjects they study.
 Sometimes personal problems of a learner may hinder the learning process.

Fights between parents and peer pressure are some of the reasons that hamper
learning. Guidance may be provided on how to tackle these situations and
concentrate on academics.
 During puberty, learners often tend to get distracted. Peers influence each other
greatly at this stage. They may get addicted to bad habits. Guidance and
counseling become very important in such situations to bring learners back on to
the correct path.
ETHICS OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING

Some ethical codes of behavior should guide the manner in which we offer guidance
and counseling services. These apply to both the counselor (person offering counseling
service) and the counselee (person being counseled). Adherence to such ethical
behavior is important if successful practice is to be assured.
i) Confidentiality is one of such ethical behaviors. The identity of the counselee,
problems discussed and advice given should be within strict confidential limits. It
is out of place during a lecture or public discussion to narrate what student `A’
told you about a problem he/she had and what you gave as advice. Apart from
the public embarrassment to the student, such student and many others will
hesitate to come again to you for guidance and counseling. Tolerance is another
behavior that should be maintained by the person offering guidance and
counseling service.
ii) You must be sufficiently tolerant to hear out the counselee. As much data as you
can get must be sufficiently tolerant to hear out the counselee. By being tolerant,
you get full information and hence vantage positioned to offer good advice and
counsel.
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iii) The request for guidance and counseling service should be voluntary. It is
improper for the counselor to force the service on the counselee. On the part of
the counselor, it is the prerogative of the counselee to elect to take up the
service. This is in a way similar to selling insurance. You are not forced to take
the insurance. If you are convinced then you go ahead to buy the insurance.
iv) Objectivity is another ethical issue. We must remain completely impersonal in

proffering advice. The counselee should have the benefit of objective views on
the matter at hand. Final decision making lies with the counselee. The counselor
provides possible options, stating their merits and demerits. On the basis of the
prevailing circumstances, the counselee is then assisted to make a decision. The
counselor’s view should not be forced on the counselee.
THE PRACTICE OF INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING

Counseling involves two people in interaction. The interaction is highly confidential and
since counselees discuss themselves in an intimate fashion, it is highly private and
unobserved by others. The mode of interaction is usually limited to the verbal realm, the
counselor and counselee talks with one another. Counselees talk about themselves,
their thoughts, feelings, and action. They describe events in their life and the way they
respond to these events. The counselor listens and responds in some fashion to what
the counselee says to provoke further responses. The two think, talk and share their
ideas and feelings.
The interaction is relatively prolonged since alteration of behavior takes time.

In contrast to a brief conversation with a friend in which distortions or unconscious
desires are usually maintained and usually only temporary relief is gained, counseling
has as its goal the change of behavior. It is assumed that through the counseling
interaction the counselee will in time revise his distortions and alter his behavior.
Three stages of the helping model

1. The Present Scenario
i. Help clients tell their stories. In telling the story, clients reveal and discuss their
problem situation and missed opportunities. Some clients are vocal while others
may be almost mute. Some will be reluctant to reveal everything that is bothering
them, while others will do it very easily. The story needs to be told whether all at
once the beginning of the helping process or in bits and pieces. For this to come
out, counselors need to develop an effective relationship with clients as helpers.
They need assess rather than judge their clients. They need to assess such
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things as the nature and severity of the problem situation, limits at further
problems that are not being discussed, and the impact of client’s environment on
their problems, the personal and interpersonal resources clients have access to.
ii. Help clients become aware of and overcome their blind spots and develop new
perspective on themselves and their problem situation; Many people fail to cope
with problems in living or fail to exploit opportunities because they do not see
them from new perspectives. They lock themselves in self-defeating patterns of
thinking and behaving. Using imagination and brainstorming in the service of
problem management and opportunity development is one of the ways
counselors can empower clients. Challenging blind sports is not the same as
telling them that what they are doing is wrong. It is helping them to see
themselves, others, and the world around them in a more creative way.
iii. Help client search for leverage: The clients should be helped to identify and work
on problems, issues, concerns or opportunities that will make a difference.
Leverage includes three related activities. First, the cost of the problem has to be
screened in terms of effort and time to be spent on it. Secondly, if clients, in
telling stories reveal a number of problems at the same time or if the problem
situation discussed is complex, then criteria are needed to determine which
concern to be dealt with first. Lastly, the problem, issue concern, needs to be
clarified in terms of specific experiences, behaviors and affects (feelings,
emotions).
2. The preferred scenario

i) Help clients develop a range of possibilities for a future: If a client’s state of
affairs is problematic and unacceptable, then he/she needs to be helped to
imagine, conceptualize, or picture a new state of affairs which is alternative
more acceptable possibilities. Ask right future oriented questions like; «What
would this problem look like if I was managing it better? » «What changes in my
present life styles would make sense? » «What would it look like if it looks
better? » Clients should be helped to find right and realistic models. Another
ways could be reviewing better times or getting them involved in new
experiences. A writing approach and use of fantasy and guided imaginary has
also proved beneficial for most clients.
ii) Help clients translate preferred scenario possibilities into viable AGENDA: The
variety of preferred scenario possibilities developed constitutes possible goals or
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desired outcomes of the helping process. The client is helped to choose the
possibilities that make the most sense and turn them into agenda; a set of goals
that need to be accomplished.
iii) Help clients identify the kinds of incentives that will enable them commit
themselves to the agendas they fashion: ideally the agendas a client chooses
are on their face, appealing. If not, then incentives for commitment need to be
discovered. The goals that are set in the agenda need to be owned and
appealing to the client. It is better if they are chosen from among options. The
focus should be on those that will reduce the client’s crisis or pain. Challenging
goals should not be avoided. The counselor can help clients see ways of
managing current dis-incentives that stand in the way of goal attainment.
Contracts can also help clients commit themselves to choices and the client
needs to be helped to identify action strategies for accomplishing their goals.
3. Strategies (Getting There)

i) Help clients brainstorm a range of strategies for implementing their agenda.
Clients are helped to ask themselves questions like «How can I get where I want
to go? » Strategies tend to be more effective when chosen from among a
number of possibilities. A strategy is a set of action designed to achieve a goal.
If the preferred scenario is complex, then it needs to be divided into a number of
interrelated outcomes or accomplishments. Each of these sub-goals will then
have its own strategies. This divide and conquer process can lead to
accomplishment that seemed impossible. One reason people fail to achieve
goals is that they do not explore the different ways in which the goal can be
accomplished. Brainstorming plays a role by suspending judgment, producing
as many ideas as possible, using one idea as a take off for others, getting rid of
constraints to thinking, and producing even more ideas by clarifying items on the
list.
ii) Help clients choose a set of strategies that best fit their environment and
resources. «Best» here means the single strategy or combination of strategies
that best fit the client’s needs, preferences, and resources, and that is least
likely to be blocked by factors in the client’s environment. They should be clear
and specific, tied to the desired goal, realistic, effective, owned by the client, and
in keeping with his or her values.
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iii) Help clients formulate a plan that is, step-by-step procedure for accomplishing
each goal of the preferred scenario. A plan then takes strategies for
accomplishing goals, divides them into workable bits, puts the bits in order, and
assigns a timetable for the accomplishment of each bit. Formulating plans helps
clients search for more useful ways of accomplishing goals, that is, even better
strategies. Plans provide an opportunity to evaluate the realism and adequacy of
goals. They tell clients something their strategies. Clients are also helped to
uncover unanticipated snags or obstacles to the accomplishment of goals.
TECHNIQUES IN GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING
SUMMATIVE EVALUATION EXERCISES

The exercises presented here are for wrapping up what you have been able to learn in
Module Four: Introduction to Guidance and Counseling. You are expected to try doing
each one of them and kindly put enough effort and time in doing them. As expected, you
are going to make extra readings from the lists that have been included for you.
Introduction to Guidance and Counseling

i) Distinguish between guidance and counseling
ii) Critically examine what should be the goals of 1) guidance, 2) counseling in a
secondary school.
iii) Examine the roles of a teacher in Guidance and counseling in the school.
iv) What are some of the possible obstacles likely to be met in running guidance and
counseling in the school you are currently teaching.
Types of Guidance and Counseling in Schools

i) In your view what should be the attributes an effective guidance and counseling
teacher should have?
ii) Listening effectively during counseling relationship is very important to both the
counselor and the client. Why do you think so? Discuss the obstacles that
normally abstract effective listening during counseling process.
iii) Write briefly on the following:
- A counselor as a person
- A person as a professional counselor
Introduction to Family Counseling
i) What are some of the problems that married couples and families face in your
society?
ii) Identify some of the pressures that lead couples to seek counseling/therapy.
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iii) Can you identify causes that make couples seek for divorce in your community?
iv) (This is field work).Find out the marriage counselor that are there in your
community.
v) Who are they? Do they have any formal training in family counseling?
vi) What are the common problems that are presented to these counselors?
School Guidance and Counseling Practicum
i) Define Practicum
ii) Outline the main factors that a counselor has to consider in setting up guidance
and counseling practicum in the school.
iii) Discuss some of the practical problems likely to be met in setting up this
practicum in the school.
ANSWER KEY TO SUMMATIVE EVALUATION EXERCISES
Introduction to Guidance and Counseling

- Guidance is an act of guiding, showing, directing, and a person to find his/her
way out or to someplace/somewhere.
- Rational way or approach in helping people reach problem-solving situation,
directing, rational approach to helping people reach a goal or place.
Goals in Guidance:
- Assist one to adjust especially through learning new things
- Taking steps to help a person find a place
- Establishing effective relationship especially in higher institutions of higher
learning to benefit from educational experiences, potentials, and personal
needs
- Helping a person grow in age and experience in learning how to manage his/ her
life activities
- Teach a person to make rational decisions and assume responsibility for the
consequences
- Promoting growth in a person to attain self-direction and solve problems
- Help a person know, effect necessary changes in his/her life
- Help a person become conscious enough to know where he/she is, where he/
she is going or doing.
- Counseling is advice to another person with the purpose of making such a
person effective in life again.
- Making efforts to relieve a person of personal distress or emotional (affective), in
thinking (cognitive) discomfort or behavioral dysfunction.
285

Goals in Counseling:
- Helping a client manage his/her problems more effectively and make full use of
the unused potentials/energies
- Make interventions based on working therapeutic relationships
- Empower the student to become more effective self-helper in future
- Foster effective psychological organization.
- Develop a working model in the student’s psychological organization
- Promotion of self-understanding in the healing process, avoiding self-imposed
problems, is in position to analyze his/her problem more critically and rationally
and move away from destructive behaviors.
- Enable a student get away from putting himself/herself in dangerous environment
- Promotion of self-understanding and move away from many problems.
- Building objective news of viewing the world around.
- Acquiring new skills in conflict resolution and management and build positive
relationships
- Promotion of personal development of students.
Roles of a teacher in guidance and counseling in a school:

- Organizes the venue for interactions
- Understands the client
- Assist the client
- Assist the development of the client in terms of positive attributes, abilities,
interests and opportunities and self-fulfillment
- Provides information for consumption and comfort of the client
- Contributes towards recovery of the client
- Gets in touch with parents/guardians or relatives of the client for positive
outcomes
- Arranges records/files for the client
- Contributes towards confidentiality
- Counsels and guides the client
- Makes referrals where and when necessary
- Makes appointments with clients
Characteristics of an effective counselor in school
- Awareness of his/her needs and those of the client’s
- Is opened to new ideas, methods, approaches to counseling
- Empathy Genuineness Acceptance
- Self-awareness of limitations
- Open-mindedness
286

- Mindfulness Psychological adjustment
- Relationship building
- Sense of humor
- Competence
Obstacles to effective listening
- Noise from outside
- Pre-conceived views about the client
- Anticipating what the client is about to say or going to say
- Thinking aloud about what the client wants to say
- Personal issues that may obstruct listening
- Strong emotional reactions to client’s statements
- Environmental conditions may be hostile to effective listening, e.g. hot
temperature, poor lighting, poor aeration, pains, fatigue, disgust, personal
problems.
Why listening is important in counseling
- Understanding of client’s views important
- Sources of motivation on both sides in relationships
- Encouragement promoted
- Confidence building avenues
- Makes client delve deep into the problem at hand
- Acceptance promoted on the side of the client
- Building cordial relationships done in counseling interactions
- Expressions made clear about the problem.
A counselor as a person
- A person with personal problems
- Faces life challenges Amendable to anxieties, mood swings, frustrations etc.
- Capable of developing a s person
- Has potentials to grow
- Strives hard towards perfectionism
- Difficult person in difficult environment
As a professional counselor
- Honest with clients
- Developing counseling skills and techniques
- Capable of further growth and professionalism
- Has a pitfall in counseling profession
- Limited by conditions prevailing
- Capable of burnout
- Gives professional advice
287

- Works in collaboration with other psycho-social workers
Problems likely to faced in running Guidance and Counseling in schools
- Storage facility
- Inadequate knowledge and awareness about guidance and counseling
- Inadequate funding by school administration
- Lack of office space for counseling to take place
- Insufficient support from the staff
- Low level awareness among student body
- Timetabling may be a problem because efforts are always on teaching of
academic disciplines
- Poor perception of immediate benefits of guidance and counseling by students,
teachers and support staff
- Fear on the part of those in need of the service to come forward and open up
- Poor record keeping in the school generally
- Follow-ups likely to problematic on the part of the counselor
Problems faced by married couples or people

- Poverty
- Individual differences
- Religious based differences
- Personal interest over family interests
- Ambiguous roles within the family
- Poor and weak relationships
- Forced marriages
- Mutual distrust
- Suspicion within the family
- Level of education contrasting
- Pressures from relatives and in-laws
- Sources of incomes for maintaining the house
- Addition or misuse of drugs and beverages and medicines
- Mood swings due to inability to face up problems in the house
- Mental break-downs
- Pressures that lead people to seek counseling in a family
- Inadequacy on the sides of married couples
- Frustrations of varying magnitudes
- Problems that are heavy in terms of solution
- New ventures
- Inability to make decision
288

- Despair Loss of loved ones
- Diseases and other afflictions
- Loneliness
- Incompatibility
- Poverty or low income
- Selfishness
Sources of problems leading to divorce
- Cheating on partner
- Dishonesty and insincerity
- Incompatibility
- Peer pressures
- Age differences
- Frustrations
- Loss of passions for the other partner
- Unworkable marriage
- Unwanted or unexpected pregnancy
- Revenge tendency
- Negative pressures from relatives
- Differences in cultural background
- Religious differences
- Infertility
- Inadequate sexual satisfaction
- Poverty
- Addiction to drugs and/or alcoholism
- Child abuse
- Lack of solid family protection
289


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1

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

Success and Good luck!

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................................................................... iii

UNIT ONE .............................................................................................................................................................1

HOME MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................................................................1

UNIT TWO ......................................................................................................................................................... 45

MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION IN ECD....................................................................................................... 45

UNIT THREE ..................................................................................................................................................... 67

LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN ECD................................................................................................................ 67

UNIT FOUR ..................................................................................................................................................... 107

SETTING UP AND EQUIPPING ECD CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT ................................................ 107

UNIT FIVE ........................................................................................................................................................ 128

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY.................................................................................................................. 128

UNIT SIX .......................................................................................................................................................... 140

EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT .................................................................... 140

UNIT SEVEN ................................................................................................................................................... 167

CULTURAL EDUCATION ............................................................................................................................. 167

UNIT EIGHT .................................................................................................................................................... 218

PLAY AS AN AVENUE OF TEACHING IN ECD ....................................................................................... 218

UNIT NINE ....................................................................................................................................................... 227

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR TEACHERS ............................................................................................ 227

UNIT TEN......................................................................................................................................................... 255

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY.................................................................................................................. 255

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING ................................................................................................................. 271

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

1.1 CONCEPT OF HOME MANAGEMENT

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1.2 COMPONENTS OF HOME MANAGEMENT

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HISTORY OF HOME MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA

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1.3 IMPORTANCE OF HOME MANAGEMENT

1.4 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE HOME MANAGEMENT

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FAMILY LIFE CYCLE

(b) Characteristics of each stage of Family Life

(2) Expanding stage

(3) Contracting Stage

(4) Empty nest

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MARRIAGE AS FOUNDATION OF A FAMILY: Understanding marriage today

Modern types of Marriage

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Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

Tasks in Building a Happy Marriage

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

Controlling the work Process

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AREAS OF HOME MANAGEMENT

GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE FAMILY MEAL MANAGEMENT

Mr. Oyom Joseph Jolly, joswaldlyn@yahoo.com, 0772957506/0701702033

1.5 ESSENTIALS OF HOME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

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1.6 QUALITIES OF A GOOD MANAGER

5. Leadership. Listening to other family members problems is not sufficient. A good

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