Peer-reviewed article
Impact of Caregivers' Professional Development on Learning Outcomes and Child Well-Being in Pre-Primary Schools in Badagry and Amuwo-Odofin Lgeas in Lagos State.
Mafikuyomi, J. A., Fowowe, S. S., Aina, Omobolanle Oyenike, Alade, Olayinka Samson ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study evaluated how professional development training for caregivers in pre-primary schools affects children's learning and well-being in Lagos State, Nigeria. Researchers surveyed 150 pupils and 30 caregivers across two districts, measuring pupils' literacy and numeracy scores alongside caregiver practices and child social-emotional development. The findings show that when caregivers received professional development, children's literacy and numeracy improved, and children showed better social skills, emotional regulation, and school engagement. The study recommends that governments invest in continuous caregiver training and include mental health and child well-being content in training programs.
Key points
- Professional development for caregivers significantly improved their pedagogical practices, classroom interactions, and caregiving behaviours
- Children whose caregivers received training showed statistically significant improvements in literacy and numeracy
- Child well-being indicators improved, including social skills, emotional regulation, and school engagement
- Study sample comprised 150 pre-primary pupils and 30 caregivers from Badagry and Amuwo-Odofin LGEAs
- Researchers recommend allocation of funds and policy support for continuous professional development including caregiver mental-health modules
Limitations
The study does not specify the duration or content of the professional development program, nor does it describe the comparison or control conditions. The cross-sectional survey design makes it difficult to establish causation or account for confounding factors that might explain the observed improvements.
Abstract
This study examined the impact of caregivers’ professional development on learning outcomes and child well-being in pre-primary schools in selected LGEAs in Lagos State. Survey research design was employed in this study as the targeted population comprised of Caregivers and Pre-primary pupils from Badagry and Amuwo-Odofin LGEAs in the state. Multi-staged sampling technique was used in the selection of participants as a sample size of 180 participants comprising 150 Pupils and 30 Caregivers. Data was collected through a validated structured questionnaire for caregivers and pupils first term’s raw scores. The raw scores of the pupils were transforned into standard scores of T-score and Z-score respectively. His action was taken so as to equate both scores for normality with the dat from Questionnaire. Test retest and Split-half reliability forms for learning outcomes and child well-being yielded an index of .809 and .793 showing its suitable for use. Z-statistics was used to analyse the data and tested at .05 significance level. The findings revealed that Caregivers Professional Development Programme significantly improved caregivers’ pedagogical practices, classroom interactions and caregiving behaviours, learning outcomes and in turn produced statistically literacy and numeracy improvements in child well-being (social skills, emotional regulation, and school engagement). It then concluded that investment in Caregivers Professional Development is one pivotal driver of quality in pre-primary education and recommends the allocation of funds and policy support for continuous professional development and inclusion of caregiver mental-health and child-well-being modules in training curricula.