APPRAISING THE LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION BY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the level of participation in Early Childhood Education (ECE) by public and private schools in North-central, Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to determine: (i) the level of participation by public schools in ECE; (ii) the level of participation by private schools in ECE (iv) whether there is difference in the level of participation by public and private in ECE schools in Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was employed for the study. The target population comprised 4,378 ECE school head teachers in North-central, Nigeria. Random and proportional sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 1,531 ECE school head teachers.  A validated instrument entitled “Public and Private Schools Participation Questionnaire” (PPSPQ) with 0.72 and index was used to collect data. Mean and rank-ordering were used to answer research questions. Independent t-test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 significance level. Findings of this study revealed that public schools had medium level participation (teacher quality mean = 45.1, supervision mean = 34.5, curriculum implementation mean = 44. 5 and provision of facilities mean = 24.2). It was also found that private schools had high level of participation (teacher quality mean = 42.2, supervision mean = 65.6, curriculum implementation mean = 54.7, and provision of facilities = 56.4). It was recommended that the government should participate fully in the education of pre-schoolers and upgrade the current low level of ECE facilities in public schools. Frequent visitation of public and private schools by quality assurance officers of ministries of education should be carried out to improve the quality of ECE provision in schools.