In The Bahamas the concept of early childhood education refers to learning activities designed for the benefit of children between the ages of 3 -5 years. This stage of development is generally categorised as pre-primary or pre-school. The provision of care prior to this age is normally managed by day care centres and other types of custodial facilities.

Programmes designed to impact positively the education and development of pre-school children had long been recognised by the Government of The Bahamas as being of great consequence to the harmonious educational development of the Bahamian citizenry. As early as 1974 for example, the Government expressed its determination to become more intentional about this area of education and once again include kindergarten classes to the structure of the primary school (White Paper on Education, 1974). These intentions laudable as they were failed to find expression in policies and plans because of attention to other urgent priorities. The Government’s inability to act expeditiously on its desires and intentions in this area resulted in the following:

• The provision of early childhood care and programmes by independent bodies many of which paid inadequate attention to sound educational and developmental theory and practice in programmes, provisions. activities and staffing;
• The development of unregulated care facilities many of which failed to conform to minimum health and safety standards;
• An uneven participation in meaningful and pedagogically sound early childhood educational experiences by all groups comprising the society.

During the decade of the eighties, the Ministry of Education established a Pre- school unit to guide, co-ordinate and monitor the development of pre-school education in the country. By this time, however, the pattern of operating without the knowledge and consent of the authorities had become entrenched such that it became difficult for the unit to execute its mandate.

Fuelled by the United Nations declaration of Education for All, the educational agenda of the governing party and the recommendations of the National Task Force on Education, the Government of The Bahamas sought to bring structure, coherence and legitimacy to the area of early childhood education in the decade of the nineties and articulated an initiative which had the following objectives:

• Increase the participation of the relevant population in approved early childhood care programmes by:

1. establishing Pre-school Centres at all Government maintained Primary Schools by the year 2000;
2. encouraging civic groupings such as churches and unions to establish day-care and pre-school Centres;
3. providing subsidies to those centres which care for the children of low-income families so that no child need be refused admission solely on the grounds of inability to pay, and
4. extending subventions to a limited number of approved private establishments involved in the delivery of pre-school programmes.

• Devise processes and structures that will establish minimum standards and monitor quality by:

1. promulgating legislation to govern the operation, regulation and standards employed in pre-schools and infant care facilities.
2. licensing all Early Childhood Care Centres according to an approved grading system.
3. implementing an early childhood education curriculum that would guide the activities of all child care centres;
4. developing policies and establishing guidelines for Early Childhood Care Centres.
5. establishing a support system to include health, education and social welfare specialists to provide guidance and assistance to and evaluation of Early Childhood Care Centres.

• Institute an approved training programme for all proprietors and operators of early childhood facilities to ensure minimum standards of care.

The direct involvement of the State in the provision of early childhood education programmes began in earnest around the beginning of the decade. At that time two pre-schools, fully maintained by the Government and offering a total of 30 places to four-year-olds were opened in the capital, New Providence. Around the same time the Government began to advance subventions in the form of providing teachers, to three independent facilities. Since that time there has been a gradual increase in the number of places made available by the Government. These places add to the number offered by private entities which proliferated as a result of the void created by the failure of the Government to become more actively involved, earlier.

In its attempt to increase the number of places for early childhood education, the Ministry of Education has taken three approaches:

• Constructing/refurbishing facilities for the exclusive use as a pre-school/early childhood centres;
• Appending kindergarten classes to existing primary schools, and
• Extending subventions to particular independent institutions to facilitate the attendance of under-privileged children.

One refurbished facility is to be found in New Providence. It operates exclusively as a pre-school.

Three schools in New Providence, four in Grand Bahama, and two in the Family Islands have had kindergarten classes added to their structure.

Private institutions, which receive subventions, are to be found in New Providence and in Grand Bahama.

The completion of a standardised curriculum and the licensing of facilities were the major achievements realised in the area of standardisation and quality assurance development.

In the absence of Government intervention, entities offering education and care services for pre-school children proliferated throughout the country. A number of these entities particularly those associated with religious groups traditionally involved in education, follow a pedagogically sound programme and operate in appropriate facilities. On the other hand, there are those, some of which exist without the knowledge of the responsible authorities, whose understanding of the relationship between programme design and psychological and physical development, is limited. In order to reduce the debilitating impact of an inappropriate grounding and introduction to school and to assist these institutions, the Pre-school unit of Ministry of Education began the process of designing a curriculum, subsequent to the recommendations of the National Task Force on Education. At this time the curriculum called The Readiness Programme is available in New Providence schools having been introduced in September of 1996. It is expected that it will be introduced in Family Island schools located in Grand Bahama, Eleuthera and Long Island, within the school year 1999 – 2000.

Licensing and Monitoring

All organisations offering educational services to children of pre-school age are expected to register with The Ministry of Education. These institutions are monitored by the pre-school unit and may benefit from the unit’s professional expertise. The staffing situation in the unit, however, has worked against the full impact of this facility being experienced. Many institutions still are not registered, and those that are registered are not monitored as closely as the unit would wish.

The passage of legislation, the draft of which is currently in progress, and the employment of additional professionals are seen as efforts which will positively affect the supervision of pre-schools.

The involvement of persons not suitably qualified, in the delivery of early childhood education precipitated the development of several training programmes by tertiary institutions. In 1990, The College of The Bahamas introduced an Associate Degree and Teacher Certification programme in Early Childhood Education. Designed for persons having the academic qualifications that would satisfy the entry requirements into the Associate degree programme, it excluded the vast majority of persons operating and working in Early Education Centres. As a consequence, The Centre for Continuing Education, a department of the College of The Bahamas (COB) collaborated with the Teacher Education Division to develop an Upgrading Programme that would improve academic efficiency, provide exposure to necessary skills and enhance understanding of child growth and development. The first intake into this programme was in 1993.

Subsequently in 1994 the Teacher Education Division developed and implemented the Pre-school Auxiliary Teachers’ certificate programme as a preparatory one for persons who with some remedial assistance would be able to pursue a college level programme. Successful completion of this programme would, therefore, enable matriculation into the Associate Degree programme, which leads to an academic credential and professional certification.

In more recent times, the Bahamas Baptist Community College, a private denominational school, began offering a certificate programme for operators of and workers in pre-schools. This course of study is at the pre-college level and employs a flexible, open system of admission. Other private tertiary institutions are also offering short-term training programmes for operators of pre-schools and child care centres.

Since 1990, therefore, programmes designed to positively affect the skills of persons engaged in the delivery of early childhood education, have increased noticeably.

The available data on early childhood development programmes do not account for all facilities in the country. Such data as exist indicate the following:

• 200 private facilities operating in The Bahamas were registered with the Ministry of Education during the 1998 –1999 school year;
• Government maintained facilities numbered 15 and offered places at that time to four-year-olds only. Students enrolled equalled 505 with the average school population being 33;
• Table 1a provides data for a sample of institutions that offered pre-school education during the 1997/1998 school year. It shows that the average number of places offered by registered schools for both three and four year olds is 59;

• 200 Private schools and 12 public schools each offering 59 places yield a total of 12508.

• The population of the official age group in this category for the years 1990 - 1999 is reflected in Tables 1. It shows the population of the relevant category to be 12494 in the 1997/1998 school year;
• The GER for the year 1997/1998 is, therefore, 100%.

Given, the Government’s commitment to the provision of Pre-school education

(Government owned pre-schools increased by three between 1997/1998 and 1998/ 1999), the presence of schools that are not registered, and the need for parents to have care for children while at work, it is likely the resulting GER is not unrealistic. This conclusion is confirmed by principals of primary schools in the capital. They say that few pupils who have not been exposed to pre-school experiences, enter grade one. Nevertheless, it is recognised that counted among the enrolled population are some children who fall outside the relevant age boundaries.

TABLE 1-A

ENROLMENT IN PRE-SCHOOL FACILITIES

BY TYPE OF ADMINISTRATION & LOCATION

1997/1998

TABLE 1-B

POPULATION OF 3 & 4 YEAR OLD

1990 – 1999 SUMMARY

Given the GER above and the trend characteristic of this area, it follows that

the percentage of new entrants to primary grade 1 who have attended some form of organised early childhood development programme will parallel the number who have had exposure to some form of early childhood education. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that at least 90% of the relevant population would have had exposure to a pre-school curriculum. In the established church schools, for example, where the inclusion of kindergarten classes has been institutionalised, it is highly likely that most children in grade one would have had exposure to a pre-school curriculum.

Exposure to pre-school experiences is increasing. The concern, however, is with respect to the maintenance of standards and the broad area of quality assurance. In this context, attention to the implementation of the policy regarding registration and monitoring is critical.

The structure of Primary Education in The Bahamas is defined by grades with the assignment to grades being based on age. Primary education begins in grade one and ends in grade 6 with children entering grade one at five years of age and entering grade six at ten years of age.

Primary education is compulsory. However, if the compulsion associated with school attendance is to have effect, schools or opportunities for education must be accessible and the relevant population must participate. Four indicators are used to measure accessibility and participation: Apparent (gross) Intake Rate (AIR); Net Intake Rate (NIR); Gross enrolment ratio (GER); and Net Enrolment Ratio (GER). In addition to measuring access to and participation in primary education generally, these variables attempt to assess the involvement of the members of the population who are of the official age group for primary education.

Tables 3a, 3b, 3c and Tables 3 illustrate information on the grade one population. Table 3a summarises the new entrants (intake) to grade one for the years 1991 – 1997, Table 3b provides information on the population of five year olds for the years 1990 – 1997 and Table 3c provides a summary of the population of the primary school for the years 1990 – 1997.

These data are used to compute the:

• Apparent (gross) Intake Rate (AIR);
• Net Intake Rate (NIR);

The AIR seeks to determine the percentage of new entrants in primary grade one who are of the official entry age. In The Bahamas children are expected to enter grade one at five years of age. Eligible children are those whose fifth birthdays fall by September 30^th of the entering year. As a consequence, some children will turn six before the end of the first grade. However, given that the data reflect the situation existing in September, the number of children falling outside the official age boundaries should be negligible. Where they are present it would be indicative of repetition, or late entrance into school.
When the data contained in Tables 3 are reviewed it is seen that the new entrants in primary grade 1 parallel the population of the official entrance age. One hundred percent of the new entrants in primary grade 1 are of the official entry age. This finding is supported by the policy on school entrance.

The NIR measures the percentage of five year olds in the population who are enrolled in grade one.

Like the Apparent Intake Rate, the net intake rates show that 100% of the relevant population are among the new entrants in primary grade one. This is explained by the policy on school attendance as outlined in the compulsory clause on education which until 1997 mandated all children between the ages of five and fourteen to be enrolled in an approved educational programme. Any discrepancy between the number of new entrants to grade one and the number present in the corresponding population is explained by repetition and or late registration. While these incidences do occur, their numbers are not so numerous as to affect the net intake rate, noticeably.

Late registration is a phenomenon which is more apparent among the immigrant population. In an attempt to conceal their presence immigrants living in The Bahamas without proper documentation, particularly those who are non-native speakers of English, often keep children at home to avoid detection. By the time they receive some type of status, or summon sufficient courage to venture out, children could be beyond five years. Having had no exposure to formal schooling, these children are placed in the first grade, regardless of age.