Caregivers’ Knowledge of Improvisation of Materials in Pre-Primary Schools in Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the caregivers’ knowledge of improvisation of materials in pre-primary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. Caregivers attend to the basic needs of children, such as feeding, dressing, and supervising their playtime. They also provide a conducive learning environment and a safe arena for the children. Caregivers manage and implement a structured learning environment that allows children to explore their interests and help young children learn through creative group activities. Teachers as caregivers are powerful resources for those children who feel frustrated, helpless, and angry. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised all caregivers of pre-primary schools in Lagos State. The simple random sampling technique was used to select 15 pre-primary schools that were involved in the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 90 caregivers from both private and public pre-primary schools in Alimosho and Badagry Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs). Four hypotheses were tested in the study. A 20-item questionnaire for caregivers’ knowledge of improvisation of materials was developed, validated, and used for the study. The statistical tools used to analyze data comprised of mean and standard deviation, t-test ANOVA, and Scheffe’s post hoc analysis was also used at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that caregivers have knowledge of improvisation of materials. The study recommends that training and retraining of caregivers should be intensified inform of workshops, seminars, and capacity building on improvisation of materials from local environment. Also the head teachers and proprietors should encourage caregivers to continually improvise materials from local environment to facilitate learning in the classroom and use the materials frequently in teaching to enable children acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote lifelong learning opportunities in them.