Following concentrated efforts towards formalising ECD programmes through the Bana Pele Early Childhood Development (ECD) Mass Registration Drive, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) partnered with UNICEF to strengthen the effective implementation of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for children from birth to 4 years of age.

National and provincial ECD experts recently attended a workshop at Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Benoni for the quality assurance of the NCF’s Curriculum Strengthening Pack. The DBE views the workshop as a turning point for home languages since official languages will be given equal attention in improving the quality of ECD programmes in South Africa. Through the workshop, the Curriculum Strengthening Pack has been translated into all 11 official languages to ensure that children, as young as age 0 to 4, have access to quality ECD programmes in their mother tongue.

Speaking during the workshop, Ms Kgopotso Khumalo, ECD Consultant, said that the workshop provided ECD experts with a platform to share critical knowledge on strategies that could be adopted in preparing children for formal schooling in South Africa. “Through this workshop, we intended to distribute quality Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM) resources that can play a vital role in transforming ECD programmes for the better. The LTSM resources have been designed to foster play-based learning, which is one of the key focus areas in the ECD environment, supporting children's holistic development through contextually relevant, age and developmentally appropriate resources. The competencies acquired will address learning gaps in children’s developmental stages, whilst providing a variety of activities that develop perceptual skills; executive functionality; cognitive skills; problem solving; and analytical skills. The pack will therefore empower ECD institutions with quality resources for promoting bilingual education at the ECD level”.

Reflecting on the workshop, ECD experts expressed their appreciation to the DBE for initiating the Curriculum Strengthening Pack, saying that the LTSM for the NCF is a cornerstone in promoting uniformity amongst ECD programmes. The Pack will also assist ECD programmes in building stronger relationships with parents by way of making sure that it is used resourcefully in promoting play-based learning at ECD programmes and at home.

Ms Lungile Mdluli, UNICEF representative, said that the Pack will assist the Basic Education Sector in its quest towards strengthening foundations for learning: “I would like to thank the DBE and the Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) for identifying relevant ECD experts who did a splendid job throughout the entire quality assurance process. Now that the Pack has been quality assured, the DBE and PEDs will consolidate all the inputs for consideration before the Pack is distributed to all ECD programmes across all nine provinces”.