Peer-reviewed article
Disability-Inclusive Early Childhood Care and Education in Tanzania: Exploring Challenges of Quality Nurturing
Juhudi Karugendo Cosmas ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined challenges in providing quality nurturing care within disability-inclusive early childhood care and education programmes in Tanzania. Researchers conducted interviews and focus groups with 25 participants to understand barriers to effective inclusion. The findings showed that nurturing care was inadequately addressed in these programmes, and there were no effective inclusive practices to help children with disabilities develop to their full potential. The study concludes that disability-inclusive ECCE in Tanzania operates in a challenging environment requiring immediate interventions from school administrators and stakeholders.
Key points
- Nurturing care was inadequately addressed even when disability-inclusive ECCE was offered
- No effective inclusive practices existed to help children with disabilities reach their full potential
- ECCE programmes for children with disabilities operate in a challenging environment
- School administration and stakeholders need to overcome obstacles to nurturing care
- Disability-inclusive ECCE requires immediate interventions to become a feasible procedure
Limitations
This is a qualitative study describing challenges rather than measuring outcomes or testing solutions. It does not provide information on the scale of the problem, the effectiveness of any specific interventions, or comparative data from other countries or regions.
Abstract
Background/purpose.Globally, early childhood care and education (ECCE) has become a national priority.In addition to fostering physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development, nurturing care in disability-inclusive ECCE helps shield young children from the harshest consequences of hardship.The purpose of this study was to examine the main difficulties in providing nurturing care in disability-inclusive ECCE.Materials/methods.A collective case study design served as the foundation for this qualitative study.A purposeful sample of 25 participants was selected.Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data.Data was analysed in several stages using content analysis.Results.The findings showed that nurturing care was inadequately addressed, even when disability-inclusive ECCE was offered.In ECCE programmes, there were no effective inclusive practices to help children with disabilities reach their full potential.Conclusion.It was concluded that ECCE for children with disabilities was provided in a challenging environment that required immediate interventions.To make disability-inclusive ECCE a feasible procedure, school administration and other stakeholders should overcome the obstacles to nurturing care.