A Tale of Two Childhoods: Exploring Holistic Development of Preschoolers in a Rural and Urban Community

Abstract

Rural-urban disparities are facts that have continually raised significant discrepancies in the discussion of early childhood education, which encompasses all domains of childhood development. Literature abounds, especially on how these disparities have played out in the preschool environmental resources. Still, little is known comparatively about the development of preschoolers in rural and urban educational settings. This study aims to explore the holistic development of preschoolers in Ibadan's Rural and Urban Communities. We anchored the study on ecological systems theory. One research question and hypothesis were raised and tested. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted as a total sample for the study was 33 schools and 132 children in the selected schools. The Multiple Domain Development Observation Scale for Pre-primary Children was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages were used in order to answer the research question, while inferential statistics of the t-test were used to test the hypothesis. Children in rural centers (3.40) have improved physical development when compared to urban children (2.70); there is a significant difference between rural and urban pre-primary school children’s physical development (t = -2.612; df =130, p<0.05). This study affirmed that the holistic development of pre-primary children generally varies with respect to their developmental domains and school location. It recommended that children across settings should be given equal opportunities to explore their environment for improved holistic development.