Unsung and Underpaid

12/13/2010

A child who climbs may fall. But a child who never climbs is at much greater risk.
Betty Jones, Educator and Mentor, 1930-2022

Bonnie and I just returned from a trip to Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. While we were in Johannesburg, an article, "Unsung and Underpaid," appeared in the local Mail and Guardian (November 19, 2010). The author, World Forum National Representative Patsy Pillay, observed...

"The quality of early childhood development (ECD) programmes depends heavily on the knowledge and skills of those who work with young children. It follows that ECD practitioners require continual opportunities for high-quality training. Despite this, little has changed since the government's nationwide ECD audit in 2000 revealed that the vast majority of practitioners were under qualified (58%) or untrained (23%)....

"There is international consensus on the need for specialised training for ECD practitioners, but a career path for such practitioners remains elusive in South Africa. ECD continues to be facilitated largely by black women who are not professionally recognised, whose work is undervalued, and who are not remunerated fairly and equitably in comparison with mainstream educators. ECD practitioners are among the most vulnerable workers in the economy and the ECD sector itself remains marginalised and fragmented."

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