Integral education for early childhood development : building values through indigenous knowledge

Democratic South Africa is engulfed in violent, unethical and anti-social practices and ways of life, which collectively signify a deficit in the moral foundation of our society. These realities suggest an urgency to bring about a new order of socially responsible and civic-minded citizens, beginning in the earliest years. The Early Childhood Development National Curriculum Framework for children from birth to four (2015), however, appears ineffective in achieving this outcome. Its pedagogic approach excludes the equal and simultaneous development of all the human domains. The study, therefore, proposes a holistic Integral Education approach with Ubuntu values for whole child development. Its aim was to determine the extent to which this approach in Early Childhood Development could contribute to the development of social responsibility and civic mindedness. The study adopted exploratory, developmental and intervention designs with qualitative and quantitative (mixed method) research methodologies. The locations of the study were Umbumbulu on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast in South Africa and Adhchini Village, in New Delhi, India. Purposive, stratified and nonprobability sampling was used in the selection of the South African sample in the exploratory phase. This comprised ECD staff, parents and grandparents from six selected ECD sites, as well as key informants. This phase used qualitative research methods of focus group and individual interviews, content analysis of practitioners’ journals and their observations. In the developmental phase, an Integral Education programme with Ubuntu values was developed and implemented in three of the sample ECD sites. Finally, in the evaluation phase, qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to evaluate the implementation of the programme. Learnings from two preschools in India are incorporated in the study. The research findings indicated gaps in the ECD curriculum regarding explicit values that promote social responsibility and a lack of whole child development in its pedagogic approach. Based on these findings, a curriculum framework for integral education at the early childhood level was developed. Finally, the study demonstrated that an effective whole child approach to preschool education, as evidenced in IE with Ubuntu values, has the capacity to develop a new generation of balanced and compassionate citizens for participatory democracy in South Africa.