CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT OF THE STUDY             Introduction

This chapter highlights the background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitations and limitations of the study, theoretical framework, conceptual framework and operational definition of terms.

            Background to the Study

Good quality Early Childhood Development and Education contributes to the quality of education system as a whole. Children have a right to an environment which facilitates their physical development, cognitive, emotional and social skills. The outdoor play activities have been a crucial part of children’s lives. Therefore, there is need to give children allowance to play freely for enjoyment and relaxation outside the routine curriculum areas. Through such activities children gain a lot of experiences during their early years (Hughes 2009, Morita, 2004: cited in Waithaka, 2009).

According to Mussen (1983) cited in Waithaka (2009), play refers to an act of engaging in an activity for enjoyment and recreation especially among the children. It can also be defined as a young one‘s form of learning. During play, young ones normally get information from the environment they are living in, which they later use it during their physical and psychological growth. Through play, kids also gain knowledge and grow as individuals and as members of the society. The most beneficial aspects of play include creativity and imagination, ability to work out problems, invention and reasoning,

figurative thinking and capacity of working together with others. Children learn through play and playgrounds are among the most important natural environments that enhance participation in both the structured and unstructured outdoor activities. Children therefore use the playground as a learning environment with corresponding behavioral consequences that enable them to digest both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. They do this by freely using their senses of taste, smell, touch, sight and hearing.  Consequently, they start to take control of their feelings related to the experiences (Sheridan, 2001; Wolfgan, 2004 in Olgan and Kahriman-Ozturk, 2011). School playgrounds are the designated outdoor areas located in the school where children play or participate in sports and games with or without stationary and manipulative equipment (Johnson, Christie & Wardle, 2005). Moore (1996) views the playground as conceptually a pedagogical space centered on outdoor play.

For young children, safety involves feelings of security that is freedom from physical and emotional fear and all dangers. It also involves stability which means regular healthcare and nutrition for physical and intellectual development and finally safety involves regularity and predictability within the environment children live in and learn (Seifert& Hoffnung, 1987). School playground safety can be defined as strategies put in place by the learners, teachers, parents and other school stakeholders to either curb or eradicate unsafe conditions in the playing fields. These unsafe conditions may lead to accidents, body injuries, emotional and mental suffering to the young children while playing (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2010; Ministry of Education (MOE) & Church World Service (CWS), 2008). Playground should have various signs showing safety measures put in place in the play spaces while

pre-schoolers are at play. Among these indicators, one of them is enhancing the rights of children involvement in play. These include; provision of adequate, appropriately segregated and fenced play spaces with organized security, availability of play equipments and materials which are well maintained and are in good condition and enough surfacing that is fall-absorbent. Good supervision of the children while engaging in play and well organized outdoor activities are other indicators of safe playground.

Playground safety for young children is an individual and legal rights matter whose objective is to strengthen preschoolers’ engagement in outdoor learning activities. According to Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), safe playground are very crucial element in a child- friendly learning environment. This concept is also supported by other policy frameworks such as the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA, 1990), the World Education Forum (WEF, 2000), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000), International Conference on School Safety (ICSS, 2007) and for African states the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Children (ACRWC, 1999). These frameworks require the government to make sure that preschoolers play in a pleasant/ child friendly environments. The policy also highlights that the playground should be child centered, comprehensive, gender equitable and effective in enhancing excellence in acquisition of physical (or motor) and psychosocial skills.

Kenya is a signatory to the various international frameworks that uphold the inalienable right of the child to safe and secure school environments. The legislation of the rights on young children’s safety can be inferred from the country’s Constitution (2010) Bill of Rights (Cap 4). The GoK has also translated and enacted the recommendations of the

global frameworks into the Children’s Act No. 8 of 2001 as a legal instrument to safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of children in Kenya. Article 23:2(a) and

(b) of the Children’s Act, for instance, emphasizes the critical importance of safe and secure environments to enhance participation in learning activities that include outdoor play.

To operationalise the Children’s Act, the MOE in collaboration with the United Nation’s International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) and through the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP 2005-2010) developed the Early Childhood Development Service Standards Guidelines for Kenya (ECD SSGK, 2006). The guidelines recommend outdoor play spaces that are big enough compared to the number children enrolled in the pre-school, including those with special needs (the vulnerable and disadvantaged), to play and run around safely. The play spaces should contain adequate age- and developmentally appropriate equipment and materials (also adapted for children with special needs), safe play area surfaces and servicing and maintenance of play materials once in a term.

The ECD SSGK (2006) also sets standards for ECD curriculum and pedagogy and recommends child centered and holistic approaches to teaching and learning where all learning is activity based and participatory using play (especially free choice activities) as the main learning method. As a result, the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) has designed an ECD syllabus that outlines children’s structured activities. These include warm up exercises, body movement without apparatus (both loco motor and non-loco motor), body movements with apparatus, games, dances (to music, rhythm and instrumental) and swimming. Children are involved in these activities for thirty (30)

minutes every day and are supplemented by the unstructured ones during recess. The policy also recommends that children’s individual progress in the activities should be based on the Development and Readiness Progress Assessment tool to measure cognitive, physical, emotional, social and moral development (ECD SSGK, 2006).

It is therefore very crucial for ECD teachers and parents to provide space and opportunity for children to experience outdoor play activities especially in this era of creativity/innovation where individual talents can be developed and recognized, (Waithaka, 2009). Regulated play environments are advocated by some parents and teachers but according to Hasluck and Malone (1999) this involvement may cause negative long term consequences of outdoor play deprivation on cognitive, social and emotional competence to children. The importance of quality of outdoor play environment for children total or holistic development therefore cannot be ignored and hence the need for this study. Furthermore, in another study conducted in Lari Sub- county, Kiambu County, by Githuthwa (2011), the study results showed that most of the ECD centres had inadequate physical facilities and instructional materials compared to the number of children enrolled. The study also established that most of the staffs in sampled ECD centres had inadequate skills of using standardized teaching methods and also lacked skills of handling children. These findings imply that most of the  ECD centres in Lari sub-county were ill equipped with both physical facilities and resources, meaning they were not adhering to the ministry of education ECD SSGK. As a result most of these centres were not according children opportunities for cognitive development which is normally acquired through engagement in play activities. It is therefore against this background the current study sought to find out determinants of

quality outdoor play environment in early childhood development centres in Ng’enda zone, Kiambu County, Kenya.

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