Die psigososiale omstandighede van opvoeders betrokke by die Vroeë Kinderontwikkelingsprogram van die Studente Jool Gemeenskapsdiens in Potchefstroom

Abstract

BACKGROUND The study deals with the psychosocial circumstances of the educators involved in the Early Child Development Program of the Student Rag Community Service (SRCS) in the Tlokwe district and the influence these circumstances may have on the implementation of such programs in créches. The Student Rag Community Service which already exists for 30 years on the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University is managed as a student-driven welfare organisation. The Student Rag Community Service has financed a project for the period 2011 – 2014 where educators from the source-impoverished areas underwent training in a specific Early Child Development Program in order to implement it in their various créches. This training has, however, not been evaluated formally up to now, and the facilitators of this training have identified the need to determine the psychosocial circumstances of the educators who have undergone the training. PURPOSE The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the psychosocial circumstances of the educators involved in the Student Rag Community Service’s Early Child Development Program and to determine the influence of such circumstances on the implementation of the Early Child Development Program. METHOD This study was exploratory and descriptive in nature. Target group sampling was utilised to involve participants in the study and 13 participants declared themselves willing to take part in the study. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methodology was utilised in order to understand the phenomenon. The quantitative component of the study consisted of a standardised questionnaire which measured the psychosocial circumstances of the educators, while the qualitative component of this study focussed on the determination through interviews how the educators experience their own psychosocial circumstances and to what extent the educators’ psychosocial circumstances influence the implementation of the Student Rag Community Service’s Early Child Development Program. RESULTS It was found that the psychosocial circumstances of the educators involved in the Student Rag Community Service’s Early Child Development Program have an influence on the implementation of the Early Child Development Program in their créches. Participants experienced their psychosocial circumstances both positively and negatively and these circumstances have a positive and negative influence on their welfare. If their welfare is influenced negatively, participants struggle to implement the programs in their respective créches.