Research

Providing a basis for interrogating early childhood practices in the Caribbean 

In the Anglophone Caribbean, as with many other countries, following through on the global agenda as delineated in the Sustainable Development Goals requires focus and prioritization of early childhood development (ECD) (Biermann, Kanie, & Kim, 2017). Guided by Goals 4 and 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals which speak to the need to provide quality education and reduce inequities within and between countries, there has been great urgency in low and middle income countries to address issues which directly impact on their ability to follow through with achieving the global agenda while meeting national needs (Kinkead-Clark, 2017). 

The way forward for ECD has not necessarily been easy for the Anglophone Caribbean. Faced with a number of socioeconomic and demographic challenges, the region has struggled with the articulation of targeted solutions germane to the real issues they face. Admittedly this is not unique to the Caribbean region. Despite this, and similar to many other countries, the Anglophone Caribbean has been driven to engage in deep introspection to assess what they have been doing, what needs to be done and what they can financially afford to do in order to ensure the continued development of ECD within the region. In this regard, research has been held at the nexus of sector development. 

The exchange of knowledge, as a key feature of globalization, has certainly been critical in supporting global development. In the Caribbean, though we too have benefited from this, the exchange of knowledge has not necessarily been reciprocal. As suggested by Mwaanga and Adeosun (2017), the frequent practice where ‘northern experts speak on behalf of the south’ has certainly been the experience of the Caribbean. In this, we are frequently seen as receivers of knowledge rather than producers of it. This has been problematic at times because, in many instances, much of the research about ECD has either irrelevant or unreflective of the realities of the region. For instance, historically ‘lumping’ the Anglophone Caribbean with Latin America has been a very dangerous practice because with the exception of a few geographical similarity and economic similarities (in some instances), the two spaces are very different. 

Practices such as this, among others have stymied the region’s ability to ensure quality of practice and equity of access to sound ECED that is built on ‘a culture of evidence’ grounded in empirically validated, culturally relevant research (Peck & McDonald, 2014). As a region, a complex interplay of factors including, but not limited to; narrow 

understandings of child development, low teacher quality, minimal resources, socio-cultural practices and other social issues, have impacted on the state of the ECED. In order for sustainable change to take place, it requires that collaboration between diverse stakeholders (including researchers) be held at the nexus of this effort. With the understanding that in order to add value to the discourse surrounding the provision of quality ECD within the region, this special issue is grounded in an awareness that a contextual focus on the factors which affect the region must be addressed. This special issue features the research of eight researchers which seek to do just this. 

In the first article, Semple-McBean and Rodrigues (2017) address a timely issue affecting many Caribbean countries; teachers’ heavy dependence on corporal punishment as the dominant classroom behaviour management strategy. In this piece, the authors explore teachers’ language or ‘smart gaffs’ when ‘disciplining’ children in Guyanese classrooms. In the second article, written by Lewis-Fokum and Thomas (2018), the authors also address the particularly important issue of literacy in schools. © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2018.1482516 

In this piece, they examine how literacy is taught in early childhood classrooms in Jamaica. This particularly timely piece represents one of the first steps to interrogating how literacy instruction is approached by teachers. As the authors suggest, the preparation of teachers is a determining factor in the skills they develop to meet the literacy needs of early years learners. 

Following up on a review of teacher quality presented by Lewis-Fokum and Thomas (2018), the third article written by Burns (2017) addresses how the lack of trained specialist early childhood teachers in the Eastern Caribbean has had implications on the quality of educational offerings in many pre-primary schools in that part of the Caribbean. 

The fourth and fifth articles written by Kinkead-Clark (2017) and Spencer-Ernandez and EdwardsKerr (2018) respectively address the issue of children’s transitions from pre-primary to primary school within the Caribbean context. In Kinkead-Clark’s (2017) multi-national qualitative study, she sought to understand how Caribbean teachers perceive readiness with a goal to highlight the socio-emotional skills they believe Caribbean children need in order to seamlessly transition from pre-primary to primary school. Likewise, in their piece, Spencer-Ernandez and Edwards-Kerr discuss the early literacy skills needed by pre-primary school in order to be ready for primary school. Their findings highlight the significant issues Jamaican children face with literacy. They note the need for early identification and early intervention for such children. These findings provided a strong basis for the sixth study written by Abdul-Majied, Figaro-Henry, and Suepaul (2017). 

In their submission, the authors address teachers’ use of data to inform classroom and school practices in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. With the goal to generate theory on practice, the authors make suggestions for how the findings can be used to inform policy. 

In the seventh article, Casey and DiCarlo (2017) examine how teachers in Belize perceive and define quality. These finding have implications for policy and practice decisions driving professional development in the country. Likewise, in the final piece by O’Sullivan and Minott (2017), they also address an issue which has implications for practice decisions across the region. In their review, the authors ‘sought to identify comprehensive parent support programmes and policies in the healthcare sector’ in the Anglophone Caribbean. Their findings draw attention to trends in parenting programmes and practices across the region. 

I take great pride in having had the opportunity to serve as guest editor for this special edition of the journal, Early Child Development and Care because very liitle is known about ECD in the Caribbean. This special edition marks a giant step in the goal to deepen contextual knowledge about the factors shaping how Caribbean children develop which will be useful in providing a basis to determine policy decisions and programme outcomes. It is hoped that readers of this special edition will find resonance with the research and gain an understanding of how the research may be generalized to their context as well. 

References 

Abdul-Majied, S., Figaro-Henry, S., & Suepaul, N. (2017). A multiple case study of data use practice in eight early childhood centres in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Early Child Development and Care, 13, 1–15. 

Biermann, F., Kanie, N., & Kim, R. E. (2017). Global governance by goal-setting: The novel approach of the UN sustainable development goals. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26-27, 26–31. 

Burns, S. C. (2017). Achieving quality in early childhood education in the eastern Caribbean depends on teacher preparation. Early Child Development and Care, 1, 1–14. 

Casey, E. M., & DiCarlo, C. F. (2017). Early childhood education teachers’ constructs of teacher quality in Belize. Early Child Development and Care, 11, 1–15. 

Kinkead-Clark, Z. (2017). Early childhood care and education in Jamaica. Stakeholders’ perceptions of global influences on a local space. Early Child Development and Care, 187(10), 1484–1495. 

Lewis-Fokum, Y., & Thomas, J. (2018). Exploring how teachers teach literacy at grade one in Jamaica: A pilot study of three classrooms. Early Child Development and Care, 19, 1–12. 

Mwaanga, O., & Adeosun, K. (2017). Decolonisation in practice: A case study of the kicking AIDS out programme in Jamaica. Journal of Sport for Development, 5(9), 58–69. 

O’Sullivan, C., & Minott, C. (2017). Parent support programmes and policies in the Caribbean. Early Child Development and Care, 188, 1–11. doi:10.1080/03004430.2017.1337007 

Peck, C. A., & McDonald, M. A. (2014). What is a culture of evidence? How do you get one? And … should you want one? Teachers College Record, 116(3), 1–27. 

Semple-McBean, M., & Rodrigues, A. M. (2017). Languages of discipline in early childhood settings in Guyana. Early Child Development and Care, 1, 1–12. 

Spencer-Ernandez, J., & Edwards-Kerr, D. (2018). Transitioning from basic school to grade one: Early identification of students at-risk for reading difficulties. Early Child Development and Care, 45, 1–16.

Zoyah Kinkead-Clark 

Faculty of Humanities and Education, School of Education, 

The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica 

Email: zoyah.kinkeadclark02@uwimona.edu.jm