PARENTAL LITERACY AS A DETERMINANT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION EFFECTIVENESS IN ABEOKUTA, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined parental literacy as a determinant of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) effectiveness in Abeokuta, Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study, where questionnaire was used to acquire necessary data for the research work. The population for this study consists all parents in Abeokuta metropolis. Simple random sampling technique was used to select three (3) local governments where parents of children enrolled in selected ECCE centres in which fifty (50) parents were chosen from the selected local governments to make a total of three hundred (300) respondents for the study. Four (4) research questions were raised and answered in this study, three (3) hypotheses were used and tested for this study, data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The instrument measured parental literacy, children‘s learning outcomes, programme effectiveness, and parental involvement. A self-developed questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. It was developed in closed-ended of agree or disagree. The instrument was moderated by experts to affirm its validity. Reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha and the value was 80% which was reliable enough for the study. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that parents possess a high level of literacy (grand mean = 4.00). The results further showed that parental literacy has a significant positive relationship with children‘s learning outcomes (r = 0.68, p < 0.05), ECCE programme effectiveness (r = 0.72, p < 0.05), and parental involvement in children‘s learning activities (r = 0.65, p < 0.05). The study concluded that parental literacy is a key determinant of effective early childhood education delivery and plays a vital role in promoting children‘s holistic development. It was therefore recommended that adult literacy programmes be strengthened and that parent–school collaboration be enhanced to improve ECCE outcomes.