As Early Childhood Development (ECD) shifts to the Department of Basic Education, concerns have been raised about qualification requirements for many of the carers in the sector.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in 2019 that ECD would migrate from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education.
In the Western Cape, there are 1 559 registered nursery schools and crèches and 2 905 unregistered facilities on the database.
The Department of Basic Education announced that it had partnered with the World Bank and National Treasury to do an expenditure and institutional review for funding requirements.
The department said the ECD census would help with providing information to understand where additional support was needed most.
Spokesperson for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) Bronagh Hammond said the functions and service delivery of the sector would not change for the first two years.
Hammond said the department would officially take over by April 1.
“The WCED will be taking responsibility for registration, funding and programme implementation. The functions of offering Grade R and ECD (0–5 years) will reside in one directorate,” she said.
She said the education department would also assume the co-ordination and leadership role in the ECD sector.
Spokesperson for the Western Cape Department of Social Development Joshua Chigome said that on April 1 the transfer of the budget would also be made.
He said a steering committee had been established in the province to manage the shift and the transition would be coordinated by the premier’s department.
Chigome said the department would continue to render childcare support and protection services.
The director of the Centre for Early Childhood Development, Eric Artmore, welcomed the migration to regulate the sector and improve the education of children.
“It is a good idea because it will put an emphasis on the education outcome for young children.
“Basic Education would be better able to provide future training and more influence than Social Development,” said Artmore.
The principal of Happy Valley Daycare, Chantal Braff, whose centre has five staff members and 45 children, applauded the move and was hopeful that their work would be appreciated.
“We hope ECDs will be acknowledged now and the importance of what we do as the ECD facilitators. They say we are not teachers but the practitioners or carers, even though we teach the children,” she said.
Principal of Fairways Educare Sylvia Prezens said she was concerned about the qualification requirements, as many senior carers did not have certification.
“The majority of the ECDs have a lot of working practitioners that are experienced but not necessarily having a qualification. The move to the department will be detrimental to those people. Some of them are more than 50 years old and they will not be able to go back and study and acquire the qualification,” she said.
The department said it did not require all carers to be qualified before April 1. However, it encouraged nursery school teachers to continue with their studies to obtain a course under at least the National Qualifications Framework level 4.
Research chairperson in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society at UWC, Professor Nicolette Roman, said the shift was a good move, but the concerns might be the lack of specificity to the funding framework and lack of sufficient water for children.
Roman said the positive aspects of the shift were that it reduced unregistered ECD centres and ensured the quality of the education outcome.
“Improving the qualifications of practitioners will always have a positive effect on the outcomes for teaching and learning.
“The education improvement for practitioners will mean that they are able to register with the South African Council for Educators (SACE), which may provide the potential of salaries at a professional level,” she said.
The department said the majority of ECD centres were owned by non-governmental organisations (NGO), citizens and private institutions and that ownership would not be affected by the shift.