Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://localhost:4000/handle/20.500.12504/71

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Enhancing teacher capacity building: strategies for scaling success in child to child model
(Policy Brief, 2024) Nandera, Miria; Nantongo, Mary; Iga, Charles; Ejuu, Godfrey
The pivotal role of early childhood teachers in shaping children’s learning and development underscores the need for effective teacher capacity building. This policy brief explores the challenges faced in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Uganda, and presents a successful model for scaling teacher capacity building initiatives.
Take home read-aloud projects: a foundation for higher order engagement and literacy development among ECD learners
(African Journal of Emerging Issues, 2024-07-31) Mwondha, Flavia; Wambi, Moses; Buluma, Alfred; Ludigo, Harriet; Kavuma, Caroline Nakidde
Purpose of the Study: The study was purposed to assess the extent to which take-home reading aloud projects promote Early Childhood Development (ECD) children's higher order engagement and literacy development. Research Methodology: The study followed a phenomenological approach, which emphasizes understanding experiences from the participants’ perspectives (Creswell and Poth, 2018). Interviews, observations, documentary reviews and audio-visual methods and techniques were adopted in data collection. For that matter, data was analyzed qualitatively and reported accordingly. Findings and Discussions: Key findings revealed that children, whose reading background had been recorded before the project, were observed after the 12 weeks and indicated improvement in reading fluency (speed and accuracy), interpretation of text and comprehension. In addition, children improved in their communication skills, relationships with their parents, being more independent thinkers than before, exhibiting improvement in observation skills, exhibiting love for reading materials, showing interest in reading, and concentration as well as positive discipline in handling reading materials; being able to return and borrow more books from the school library. Conclusion: The study results were used to conclude that home reading aloud projects contribute to improving children’s comprehension skills, which are crucial for children’s future academic success. Recommendations: schools should assign parents the role of listening and reading to their children as a strategic collaboration endeavor to improve children’s comprehension.
Scaling Deep the Child to Child Approach to Ease Transition From Pre-primary to Lower Primary in Uganda, Ethiopia and Malawi
(Journal of Education and Development, 2024-07-30) Ejuu, Godfrey; Rucecerwa, Adela; Mayeso, Lazaro; Missaye, Mulatie Mengstie; Nantongo, Mary; Audo, Jesca; Nandera, Miria
Background: Children benefit more from education if they are helped to transit from one level to another. Different strategies are always suggested and sometimes implemented to novel ideas that can promote transition, but with limited effort at scaling. The Child to Child Approach is one such approach that has been used to support the transition of children from pre-primary to early grade primary school. However, limited efforts have been made to support deep scaling, as most focus on just the interventions. Aim: This paper highlights strategies that were used to scale deep the Child to Child approach to support the transition of children from pre-primary to lower primary in selected districts in Uganda, Malawi and Ethiopia. Setting: This paper is based on the current situation where many interventions are being implemented in specific areas but are never scaled in marginalized communities to leverage impact. Methods: A reflective approach, field reports and a desk review were used to collect data. Results: Different strategies are highlighted including identifying and dealing with scaling deep concerns, engagement of relevant stakeholders at community, district and national levels and working with authorities in the area to endorse the approach worked best to settle the deep cultural uncertainties about scaling. Conclusion: Implementers need to identify scaling deep bottlenecks early and work to solve them before embarking on scaling approach. Contribution: This paper contributes to knowledge on what stakeholders who need to scale child to child programmes have to take into consideration for sustainability of their initiatives. Keywords: scaling deep, child to child, early learning, transition, home based
Design Thinking and Learning Material Utilisation Creativity in Early Childhood Teacher Education: A Case of Kyambogo University, Uganda
(African Journal of Education, Science and Technology, 2023-04) Katungi, Juma; Godfrey, Ejuu; Grace, Lubaale
In the recent past, we have seen a lot of innovations in children’s learning materials, equipment and spaces design due to the work of famous educators like Montessori, 1912 and Froebel, 1837. This has led to the development of a new landscape of how children’s learning spaces look like. Many children’s learning centers have heavily invested in spaces design and space equipment but despite all these developments, teachers in Uganda have registered limited success in the utilization of these facilities to enrich children’s learning experiences. This study was carried out to investigate how design thinking can be used to impact teaching spaces utilization creativity (Pacini-Ketchabaw, 2016; Hakim, 2017 & Masoumi, 2020). A Quasi-experimental with a mixed design approach was used with an embedded Pretest Post-test Design (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from a sample of a cohort of 64 in-service teachers studying a diploma in early childhood teacher education. Data was collected using observations, focused group interviews, and entries from the field notes. Using the Art world design thinking process, an experiment was developed to induce material utilization creativity. Alongside was a creativity observation to measure creativity indicators. This was used to measure creativity exhibited at pretest and posttest in both the control and experimental group. Data analysis used descriptive statistics for preliminary analysis and an independent group’s t-test for analyzing the difference between the control and experimental group. Findings showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the control and experimental group at post-test; this was attributed to the art world design thinking process.
“Ekisaakaate” (royal enclosure) living values-based contextual instruction pedagogy and early childhood moral learning outcomes in Buganda kingdom in Uganda
(African Journal of Education, Science and Technology, 2023-04) Sarah, Mugerwa N.; Godfrey, Ejuu; Peter, Wanderi M.
The study was prompted by the increasing moral decadence among the young children in Buganda Kingdom in particular and Uganda at large with many young people not being merciful, honest and loyal. They lack moral ethics, etiquette and are not responsible. Different approaches have been suggested as effective in promoting moral development of children, with no particular mention of one that uses a cultural value- based system. This study examined the relationship between ekisaakaate living values- based contextual instruction pedagogy and early childhood moral learning outcomes in Buganda Kingdom. Methodologically, cross-sectional research design guided the study. A sample of 159 ekisaakaate trainers were systematically selected to participate in the study and data were collected with the use of questionnaires. Descriptive and statistical analyses were used to analyze data collected. Frequencies and percentages were used to show the distribution of respondents on different items. Correlation was used to establish the relationships between the variables and in order to establish the predictor variable that contributed most to moral learning outcomes, a Simple Linear Regression (SLR) Analysis was used to establish the predictor variable that contributed most to moral learning outcomes. Results empirically revealed that active cooperative learning, problem-based approach to instruction and participatory learning have a positive influence on early childhood moral learning outcomes. Hence the study recommends that stakeholders such as early childhood education directors, teachers and parents in the respective early childhood centers should encourage the use of living values-based contextual instruction pedagogy to enhance early childhood moral learning outcomes.
Balancing dual roles in the face of missing on-site child care arrangements: lived experiences of breast-feeding student mothers at Kyambogo University
(World Journal of Educational Research, 2020-08) Opit, Elizabeth; Nabukeera, Madinah; Namubiru, Aisha
Through the use of a phenomenological approach this study explored lived experiences of breast-feeding student mothers in the face of missing institutionalized on-campus child care arrangements at Kyambogo University (KyU). Specifically, the study sought to; identify the missing institutionalized on-campus child care arrangements at the university, establish the dilemmas breast feeding student mothers experience in undertaking the dual roles of mother and student hood due to the missing institutionalized on campus child care arrangements at KyU and examine the effect of the missing institutionalized on campus child care arrangements on undertaking of academic activities by breast-feeding student mothers. A total of 10 breast feeding student mothers were interviewed and data was analyzed using themes. Results indicated that the following institutionalized on-campus child care arrangements were missing at Kyambogo University; adequately furnished baby care rooms, baby playgrounds, immunization and pediatric medical services, professional nannies, child care responsive; teaching time tables, teaching sessions, time frames for course work assignments, tests and examinations’ undertakings, and child care responsive-remedial lessons. Dilemmas of breast feeding student mothers’ in this scenario included choosing between; baby-sitting vs attending lectures, completing a lecture vs breastfeeding a crying hungry baby, undertaking child bonding activities vs undertaking academic activities, completing an exam or a test vs breast feeding a crying hungry baby, baby care vs attending academic group discussion and baby care vs completing a coursework assignment in time. Student mothers at KyU have devised means of coping and have learnt how to resolve the tension of combining motherhood and education in an academic environment without on-campus childcare arrangements so as to pave a brighter career and family future. Such strategies included; receiving child care support from family and student friends, use of privately hired nannies, ignoring one of the two roles, time tabling the activities for the two roles, creating extra time to read, and getting help from spouses. The voices of the interviewees revealed that when the two roles were in conflict, they would rather miss academic activities than abandon their babies especially in critical times like when the babies were sick. It was therefore recommended that KyU considers putting in place various instututionalised on campus arrangements as a critical resource that will enhance academic undertakings of breast-feeding student mothers in their pursuit of Higher Education.
African indigenous games: using Bame Nsamenang’s africentric thoughts to reflect on our heritage, pedagogy, and practice in a global village
(Taylor&Francis: Journal of Psychology in Africa, 2019-09-10) Ejuu, Godfrey
As we go global and begin to make early childhood practices universal, certain aspects of communities remain fixed in deep realms of their everyday living and can only be accessed by those who believe in it. Believing in it requires having faith in a practice that will always be better than what others bring as “best practice”. This is because that aspect is what defines who you are and changing it amounts to removing a piece of you with the intention of replacing it with an “artificial part”. This may be the case with African indigenous games that have been played in various settings to define the Africanness of given communities. The values that these games bring to the Africans as they try to hold on to what belongs to them, is discussed in this paper. Bame Nsamenang used such thoughts to propel the Africentrism philosophy to direct thoughts into values that are African in nature, even when there are no clear boundaries of African in Africa. This article focuses on Nsamenang’s Africentric arguments in line with promotion of African indigenous games as a heritage, pedagogy, and a practice.

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