The perspective piece explores policy and
provision for early childhood education and care (ECEC) in six
English speaking countries in Southern Africa – Botswana, Namibia,
Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
The research details the current provision
in this area of education, highlights the problems faced with
current interventions, assesses the true supply and demand for
ECEC, and draws attention to the initiatives used in South
Africa, emphasising the vast difference in provision when other
Southern African countries are compared to South
Africa.
A strong need is identified for the area of Early Childhood
Education to be developed further, by providing more innovative
evidence based research that can make a contribution to the ECEC
debate across Southern Africa.