Books
Identified below are publications on ECD in SSA that relate closely to the three initiatives focused on by this website. In reviewing these selected publications you will note that we encourage the creation of Open Access (OA) materials so that they can be used at no cost to the reader. If you intend to use/adapt the material please ensure that you review the restrictions of that particular license (go to www.creativecommons.org for a full list of license descriptions).
For a larger range of SSA ECD related publications go to our related project, the searchable compendium located at: www.ecdafricaresources.org
Recent Publication
Letting a Thousand Flowers Bloom
EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT NETWORKS IN AFRICA
This book provides an insightful exploration for parents, educators, funders, practitioners and policymakers, offering a nuanced understanding of the work implemented by early childhood development networks operating in Africa. The early childhood development networks have in multiple ways influenced the foundation for lifelong learning for millions of young lives in Africa. The book therefore is a vital resource for understanding the dynamic interplay of factors that contribute to optimal early childhood development networking in diverse African contexts.
Published 2024
Edited By:
Patrick Makokoro
Books Published in 2023
Sankofa: Appreciating the Past in Planning the Future of Early Childhood Education, Care and Development (ECD) in Africa
Critical Issues In Professional Development:
Situated Knowledges From South Africa
Drawing on Nelson Mandela’s inspiration of education as the most powerful weapon for societal transformation, this book unpacks professional development with special reference to education systems in early childhood and schooling. The notion of situated knowledges as posited by Haraway (1988) is used to make the point that knowledge creation comes from somewhere the critical issue of pedagogy, educational practice, knowledge mixes, curriculum change, mentorship, leadership and teacher identity are used to explore how knowledge creation emerges from participation and contributions in a socially constructed world.
Edited By:
Hasina Banu Ebrahim
Vitalis Chikoko
Voices from the Early Childhood Care and Education Field in South Africa:
Research and Promising Practices for New Directions
This publication brings together a chorus of voices from the early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector in South Africa. We present a glimpse of the work of ECCE researchers, teacher trainers, ECCE teachers, leaders and managers, and NGO implementors. In bringing together the “strange bedfellows” of research, policy and practice this book makes a contribution to addressing the fragmentation and the polarisations that exist in the ECCE sector in South Africa. This publication was intentionally produced to be easy to understand, and expand the space for knowledge generation, debate, critical thinking, and collaborative endeavours among the ECCE actors in the variety of positions they hold. We hope that this volume will take readers on a journey about people in the South African ECCE field who present possibilities to bring change in the lives of young children in a way that respects not only who they will become in the future but who they are presently.
To Be Published
Edited By:
Hasina Banu Ebrahim
Giulietta Harrison,
Michaela Ashley Cooper
Colwyn Debora Martin
Naseema Sheik
Available Books
Pedagogies for Diverse Contexts
Diversity can be a rich source of possibility and opportunity in early childhood education. Appreciating that learning and development are shaped by culture and context, history and values, the diversity of cases found in this volume provide a useful tension in considering one’s own practices, policies and beliefs. Pedagogies for Diverse Contexts draws on the knowledge and professional experiences of actors from a wide range of countries and cultures. For some, early childhood’s dominant narratives have been influential, while others push back against universalistic orientations and the power of a neoliberal hegemonic agenda. Written to provoke, to stimulate and to extend thinking, these chapters provide insights and examples relevant not only for front-line practice and programme development, but for education, assessment, research and policy development.
Download book:
International Journal of Educational Policy….
This special issue of the International Journal of Educational Policy, Research and Practice provides a look inside an unusual initiative designed to support early childhood care and development (ECD)1 policy, research, and practice in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) brought together early childhood professionals from 10 African countries2 to address child well-being through ECD capacity building, leadership development, and enhanced networking within and across countries. Over the space of three years (August 2001 through August 2004) the first ECDVU cohort of learners had the opportunity to engage with each other and with African and international ECD specialists to learn together and to address a wide range of ECD challenges at the local, country, and continental levels.
Published: 2004
Edited By:
Alan R. Pence
Kofi Marfo
A case for ECD in sub-saharan Africa
Issues connected with children’s welfare and child development are appearing on national and international agendas with greater prominence and frequency. However, the international image of children is becoming increasingly homogeneous and Western-derived, with an associated erosion of the diversity of child contexts. This essay explores the reasons behind such a reduction in diversity, factors that are often considered to be a necessary part of progress. The authors conduct an overview of relevant critiques in the literature of early childhood development (ECD).
Download book:
Early Childhood Education and Care in a Global Pandemic:
How the Sector Responded, Spoke Back and Generated Knowledge
Published: 2022
Edited By:
Linda Henderson
Katherine Bussey
Hasina Banu Ebrahim
Download book:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment:
A Handbook on Early Childhood Development Education in South Africa
His is a scholarly text depicting a robust presentation of the tenets of Africanisation of education in South Africa. This book is:
- Endorsing a play-based philosophy for an active, competent child aligned with the South African National Curriculum Statement for Early Childhood Education;
- Promoting critical reflection about professional practice with the aim of creating “thinking teachers”;
- Underpinned by theorising in Early Childhood Education, demonstrating the shift away from a decolonised past to a transformative future reflective of a democratic South Africa;
- Shaped by national and global research relevant to learning and development of children from birth to four years;
- Peer reviewed and validated as comprehensive and deep in its treatment of various areas of educational practice in early years; and
- Written by an author team of local and international early childhood academics involved in initial teacher education.
Published: 2022
Author(s):
Ebrahim, H (Ed.);
Waniganayake, M (Ed.);
Hannaway, D (Ed.);
Modise, M (Ed.)
Download book:
Early Childhood Care and Education at the Margins African Perspectives on Birth to Three
A Handbook on Early Childhood Development Education in South Africa
The importance of early childhood care and education (ECCE) in the lives of very young children is gaining increasing attention around the globe and yet there is a persistent lack of diverse knowledge perspectives on this critical phase. This stems from dominant Eurocentric framings of early childhood research, and related theories. Early Childhood Care and Education at the Margins provides contextual accounts of ECCE in Africa in order to build multiple perspectives and to promote responsive thought and actions.
The book is an entry point to knowledge production for birth to three in Africa and responds to the call for the field to be in dialogue with different perspectives that attempt to map concepts, debates and contemporary concerns. In this book, a group of African authors, representing both Anglophone and Francophone Africa, provide insider’s perspectives on a wide range of geographic, cultural and thematic positions. In so doing, they show the breadth and depth of ideas on which the ECCE field draws. The chapters in the volume highlight a range of topics including poverty, early socialisation, local care practices, gendered roles, and service provision. They open up important points of departure for thinking about ECCE policy, practice, theory and research.
The book presents African perspectives in a globalising world. It is therefore suitable for an international readership. It includes cross-cultural comparisons as well as critiques of dominant discourses which will be of particular interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students active in the field of ECCE, childhood studies, cultural studies and comparative education.
Published: 2018
Download book:
Early Childhood Education for Muslim Children Rationales and practices in South Africa
Changing Development Narratives in Early Childhood Education, Care, and Development.
Published: 2015/16;
Author: Hasina Banu Ebrahim
Download book:
Complexities, Capacities, Communities:
Changing Development Narratives in Early Childhood Education, Care, and Development.
The term ‘capacity building’ has come into common usage in 21st century international development. While the term means different things to different people, it is often used to describe an infusion of knowledge or skills to help ‘build’ a government’s or institution’s ability to address key development challenges. However, like other well intentioned interventions from the industrialized West, such ‘capacity building’ can have destructive as well as productive impacts. This volume problematizes such activities and presents an alternative approach to promoting capacity in development contexts.
Published: 2015/16;
Authors:
Alan Pence;
Allison Benner
Download book:
Indigenous Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Curriculum Framework for Africa: A Focus on Context and Contents
The history of human childhoods and efforts to care for and educate children during their early years of life has focused almost exclusively on models with origins from continents outside Africa. These models have been advocated as the universal ideals for early childhood care and education. This booklet represents a milestone in Africa’s struggles to document the preparation of its children for life. Since the focal ‘child’ is African, it advocates for a variety of developmental practices that can run concurrently with, and/or help re-form, existing western based approaches.
Published: 2014; Open Access
Authors:
Patience Awopegba;
Esther Oduolowu;
A. Bame Nsamenang
Download book:
Locally Relevant and Quality ECCE Programmes: Implications of research on indigenous African Child Development and Socialization
Most sub-Saharan African societies display linguistic diversity, rapid social change, rural-urban contrasts in lifestyle and widespread biculturation. Planning and delivery of early childhood care and education (ECCE) services in the region have been constrained by the legacy of Western colonial occupation, low prevalence of literacy and limited institutionalization of systematic research. Some international agencies tend to construe ECCE as a compensatory intervention for children disadvantaged by poverty, primarily to prepare them for formal schooling. The design of ECCE services in Africa should focus on local strengths including indigenous games and music, emphasize community-based provision, incorporate participation by pre-adolescent children; use indigenous African languages and local funds of knowledge; and accord priority to inclusion of children with special needs. Strategies are identified to address the challenges confronting application of these recommendations.
Published: 2014; Open Access
Authors:
Robert Serpell;
A. Bame Nsamenang
Download book:
Africa's Future, Africa's Children Early Childhood Care and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
This book presents a balanced collection of articles written by African and non-African authors ranging from field practitioners to academicians and from members of government organizations to those of non-governmental and local organizations. Topics covered include the rationale for investing in children, policy trends in ECD, historical perspectives of ECD in SSA including indigenous approaches, threats from HIV/AIDS, and the importance of fathers in children’s lives.
Published: 2008;
Editors:
Marito Garcia;
Alan Pence;
Judith L. Evans
Download book:
Would you like to signup for our newsletter?
We release a newsletter with updates and details of upcoming events, projects underway, and new information concerning ECD in Africa. Our newsletter will also have the latest news articles released on our blog and partner web platforms.