The status of outdoor environment in enhancing children's social development : A case study of city ECD centers in Kenya

Abstract

Play activities have been attested by various researchers to involve children’s total self and also balances their mental, physical, social and emotional status. Different kinds of play require different levels of cognitive, social, mental and physical sophistication, and that is why different types of play should be featured in ECD centres to cater for different stages of childhood development. In order to make sure that the early year’s curriculum is effective, the Ministry of Education in Kenya in the Early Childhood Development Service Standard Guidelines for Kenya of 2006 requires that for any ECD center to qualify for registration it should have not only an outdoor space for children’s play but also an assortment of play equipment to ensure holistic development of the children. However, it is uncertain whether these guidelines have been adhered to. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the status of outdoor play environments in Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers in relation to the social development of the children. The study was done in Kisumu city in Kenya. The city has 512 ECD centers with the majority of these being public and run by Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs). Purposive sampling was used to select all the 20 urban ECD centers within the city. Data was collected from the all the head teachers and the teachers in all the 20 selected centres by use of interviews, an event observation schedule and observation checklist. The data that was collected was mainly qualitative and thus was analyzed descriptively. Revelation from the study showed that in the majority of the ECD centers’ outdoor play environments were not conducive for children’s social development. Social play equipment and materials were few in 90% of the centres and this resulted in unhealthy competition. Props that encourage fantasy play were missing in all the ECD centers. Additionally, the study results indicated that teachers did not prepare the outdoor play environment to stimulate children to interact with each other. From the findings, the study recommends that the management of the ECD cen tres should plan for enough space, varied equipment and materials and design outdoor environment to enable children engage fully in outdoor play for their holistic development. In -service courses should also be facilitated through District Center for Early Childhood Education to refresh teachers on the role of outdoor play environment in children’s development.