Stakeholders' views on engaging fathers in early childhood care and education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explored stakeholder views on the engagement of fathers in early childhood care and education (ECCE) provisioning in one educational district in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. A descriptive-survey research design was adopted for the study, with a sample of 309 respondents. The Principals and Teachers' Views Questionnaire and the Fathers and Mothers' Views Questionnaire (PTVQ and FMVQ, respectively) were used for data collection. The internal consistency reliability indices of the items of the instruments were 0.94 and 0.96 for the PTVQ and FMVQ, respectively, using Cronbach's alpha. The mean and the t-test were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that stakeholders have positive views on the engagement of fathers in ECCE. Conclusively, fathers' engagement in ECCE is paramount in ECCE. It is recommended that fathers should be engaged to shoulder their responsibilities by discussing the importance of good education with their children.