Rural Early Childhood Educators’ Perception of Music-Based Pedagogy in Teaching Communication Skills to Children

Avosuahi Deborah Arasomwan ORCID iD & Glynnis Daries ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.4  No.12 Special Issue Article 21 pp.254 – 268
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202341222 |   Published online 20th January, 2024
© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Early childhood care and Education is an important phase for impacting communication skills to children for building a strong sense of identity and belonging. The South African National Curriculum Framework (NCF) regards communication skills as one of the six early learning and development areas considered for Early Childhood and Education (ECCE). Caps Grade R admonishes educators to support learners with interpersonal Communication Skills and to develop their Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency by engaging them in activities that focus on rhymes. Thus, South African children need skillful educators to employ developmental implementation strategies to support their acquisition of these skills. Research shows that subjects like Life Skills, English Language, Civic Education, and Mathematics are successfully implemented using music-based pedagogy. However, because ECCE is relatively new in South Africa, there is no strong structure to support the ECCE/ECD (Early Childhood Development) educators in employing music-based pedagogies to teach communication skills to the children. This article focuses on the rural ECD/ECCE educators’ perception and experiences in employing music-based pedagogy to support the children’s acquisition of communication skills. The study was conducted at two ECD/ECCE centres in Northern Cape province, South Africa.This is participatory visual research where Six ECD/ECCE Educators were engaged in semi-structured interviews and reflective activities on how they facilitate communication skills using music. The study was informed by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. The educators supported music-based pedagogy, however, inadequate musical training, non-availability of musical resources, and non-inclusion of music as an independent subject in the CAPS/NRF documents are their constraints. In their pre-service teacher education programs, almost all South African institutions include creative arts training; the course is typically taught over one semester, and music is merely one of the various creative arts subfields. As a result, the pre-service teachers lack the necessary musical background to implement music-based instruction. In conclusion, the study recommends musical intervention training to empower ECD/ECCE educators.

Keywords: Early Childhood Development, Rural Context, Music-Based Pedagogy Communication Skills.

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Arasomwan Deborah holds Ph.D., M.Ed., and B.Ed. Honours, and B.Ed. certificates in Education. She received her Ph.D in Early Childhood Education from the prestigious University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in 2021. She has been engaged in teaching (different Education modules) and research activities in institutions of higher learning for about 7 years, especially in the discipline of Foundation phase/Early Childhood Development and Curriculum. Arasomwan Deborah is currently a postdoctoral research fellow and lecturer in the School of Education at Sol Plaatje University Kimberley South Africa.Before joining Sol Plaatje University, she was an ad hoc lecturer at the University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal in the School of Education. Her research centres around three goals: (1) Conducting an action participating research to empower the ECCE educator practically with rudiment of music to use music-based pedagogy in ECCE classrooms (2) Investigating challenges of foundation phase lecturers in conducting digital formative assessment and (3) Investigating students’ view on virtual learning. She also engages in Community development programmes such as empowering the Foundation Phase rural first-year students with effective reading skills and empowering the Rural ECD educators with rudiment of music to aid their productivity in teaching activities.

Glynnis Daries (Ph.D.) is a senior lecturer in Foundation Phase Teaching at Sol Plaatje University. She is the acting Head of Department in Education Studies. In a career that spans over 14 years, she has played the role of a teacher, facilitator, manager, academic, researcher, mentor, and advocate for the early years. She completed her Ph.D. in early childhood care and education in January 2017 at the University of the Free State. Her Ph.D. focused on the ‘funds of knowledge’ of practitioners and young children at community and privately owned early years centres. The study contributed to a deeper understanding of the sources of knowledge and the daily practise of practitioners with very young children. She contributed to new thinking about the professionalism of early childhood practitioners. She is currently part of two inter-university research projects that focus on Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). The first project focusses on how teachers, principals, parents,university lecturers, and Department of Education subject advisors work successfully as a Community of Practise (CoP) to stimulate change for Foundation Phase learners and parents. The Family Maths project incorporates the use of mother tongue instruction and the manipulation of concrete Teaching and Learning aids to develop mathematical knowledge and skills in Foundation Phase. Parental involvement, homework support and, the use of concrete manipulatives is emphasised. The second research project in ECCE centres is designed around a Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR) approach to family and community involvement. Different community stakeholders and participants come together and use hands-on activities to promote the perceptual development and emergent numeracy skills of young children in early childhood centres. The aim is to work with participants in ways which will sustain contextually relevant and age-appropriate early education amongst practitioners, children, and parents.

Arasomwan, Avosuahi Deborah & Daries, Glynnis.“Rural Early Childhood Educators’ Perception of Music-Based Pedagogy in Teaching Communication Skills to Children.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 4, no.12 Special Issue (2023): 254 – 268. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202341222

© 2023 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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