Peer-reviewed article
The Early Childhood Educator: A Career of choice beyond the 21st century in Africa
Philomena Jepkemboi Chepsiror ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5This paper is a literature review arguing that investing in early childhood education (ECE) in Africa could help address youth unemployment by creating jobs for early childhood educators. It links global goals for decent work to the growing demand for ECE across the continent. The authors call on policymakers to invest more in ECE and promote it as a viable career path. The paper is conceptual rather than based on new data collection.
Key points
- SDG 8 calls for full and productive employment for all, but jobs are shrinking globally, especially in Africa.
- Early childhood education is described as a growing sector in Africa.
- The paper analyses existing literature to argue ECE could help reduce unemployment.
- It calls for policymakers to increase investment in ECE and promote it as a career choice.
Limitations
The paper is based on a literature review without new empirical data, so it cannot demonstrate actual employment or child development outcomes.
Abstract
Sustainable Development Goal 8 calls for full, freely chosen and productive employment and decent work for all. However, Evidence from statistics shows that employment opportunities have continued to diminish world over and that the shortage of jobs is expected to continue in the near future. Africa bears the brunt for this unemployment situation. The good news however, is that early childhood education in Africa is growing in leaps and bounce and is expected to continue growing as awareness around it intensifies. By making a critical analysis of pertinent literature, this paper sought to establish evidence to the fact that development in the early childhood education might be the magic bullet for the unemployment menace in Africa. It was expected to inspire policy makers to step-up investment in early childhood education and mark it as a career of choice for the 21st century and beyond.