Community, context, and culture are vital aspects of early childhood education. By embracing and valuing diversity, involving families and the community, and incorporating cultural perspectives, educators can create inclusive, empowering, and enriching learning environments for children. In this article I will discuss the role of community, context and culture when creating early childhood education programs. To help me discuss these three aspects I am inspired by the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner through his Ecology of Human Development model (1979) that highlighted the importance of systems around children. The aspects of community, context, and culture, can be seen through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s model because they are all an essential part for the development of a child.

An Exploration of Community

Growing up in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, I was raised by a community of people that formed whom I would become. When I misbehaved (quite often) I found myself being more afraid of people other than my parents because they too, like my parents, watched over all the children that lived in a certain locale. Thus, I knew punishment or reprimand would happen instantaneously. Thereafter, if my parents heard about my bad behavior earlier, which would be the case anyway, another form of punishment would follow. Whether it was in the townships, suburbs or it was at our rural village, I would find that modelling appropriate, respectful and culturally appropriate behavior was an expectation. I couldn’t therefore behave differently in these different settings because of the watchful eyes of Elders and those charged with our care. Therefore, being on the best behavior, being courteous, running errands for Elders, removing a hat or cap while talking to Elders was an expectation and not something I decided to do or not do. The values of having good morals, respectfulness, obedience, honesty, perseverance, responsibility, and resilience were never compromised.

Speaking of, I remember this one time when I was about 8 years old, I lost my mum’s goats while herding. The goats didn’t like the thunder, pouring rain, and lightning that would often accompany the heavy downpours. On this day, when it started raining the goats scattered in different directions leaving me with tears streaking down my cheeks. I had to endure the pouring rain and cold while looking for the animals. As I struggled to look for the goats along the way I suffered an unfortunate fall that left me with a permanent scar (Makokoro, 2024). Eventually, I managed to get them all together and troop back home just as the rains subsided. Early lessons coming through even then, learning through failure and perseverance was the way in which we would be taught tolerance, resilience, and endurance (Murovhi et al., 2018). I learned my lessons, to keenly observe the rain clouds, monitor the behavior of the goats because they knew that something was brewing in the air, and I didn’t read the signs. Through the pain of a bleeding thigh caused by a nasty fall, I learned when to leave the pasture before it rains and to listen to what the earth was telling me. I persevered through and got the goats back into the pen, I will take that as a triumphant win. I must confess, my love for goats was lost during this incident only to be regained decades later when I had my own family and we decided to keep some. The African child’s ability to survive against challenges and continue to learn and develop attests to these community driven approaches and strategies. The collective child rearing approaches mean the family and community including the child are partners in the process of development. Each person involved respects and is informed by the cultural norms and traditions. The extent of connectivity is not only vast but dynamic. The concrete experiences from the rich cultural environment helped me in my early years to learn and make meaning of the rich physical and human resources around. The well-informed Indigenous child-rearing practices and the long-standing Afrocentric philosophies, guiding practices, styles, and strategies are all integral to community.

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Exploring Culture and Context

Turning to culture, Pence and Marfo (2008) postulated that most Indigenous parents recognized a need for their children to have the right cultural values. This is in line with the views of Wenner and Smith (2000) who opined that child-rearing practices are embedded in a culture and determine the nurturing behaviors and expectations surrounding the child’s birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence and subsequently as parents themselves. It is important to emphasize that children in traditional African societies were perceived to be human beings in need of help and direction. Growing up in Africa my childhood also entailed a spiritual component, thus the belief in reincarnation, meaning children were reincarnated people who had lived and died in previous generations (Tchombe, 2019). On this account, they did not only deserve to be respected by members of the society, but to be protected and well socialized within the cultural group.

I recognize context as the network of individuals, families, organizations, and resources that surround and support young children and their families. The context encompasses the local community, including neighbors, community centers, libraries, healthcare providers, cultural institutions, and other community members who interact with and influence the lives of young children. When using the word context in this article I am also referring to the specific circumstances, environments, and conditions in which children live, learn, and develop. I see context as an important factor in child development. Whether in the *minority world or in the *majority world, knowing and respecting the circumstances in which children are growing up is very important when developing early childhood education programs. Understanding the context of children’s lives enables educators to collaborate effectively with families and communities. By recognizing the strengths, challenges, and aspirations of families, educators can establish partnerships based on mutual respect and shared responsibility. Involving families and community members in the educational process enhances children’s learning outcomes and promotes holistic development.

A key influencer and someone I was fortunate to learn from was the late Professor Bame Nsamenang from Cameroon in West Africa. He was a key advocate for recognizing child development in context. His seminal volume, “Human Development in Cultural Context” is still a must read 32 years after first publication. Nsamenang (1992) noted that the majority of world cultures point more forcefully to the intimacy between the human person and the universe than Western viewpoints admit or actively foster. Through his work, he cautioned that it was important to be sensitive to development in ecocultural contexts while also calling for researchers and practitioners to use theories that are attuned to the culture as opposed to relying mainly on models imported from other cultures.

Barbara Rogoff’s volume titled “The Cultural Nature of Human Development” also provides scholarly insights into the importance of understanding cultural processes that shape child development. Rogoff (2003) argued that people develop as participants in cultural communities and that this development can only be understood in light of the cultural practices and circumstances of their communities, noting that these also change. Thus, educators, policy makers and stakeholders within the early years sector must be aware of the various cultural contexts from which the children under their care come from. This will assist in creating programs and activities that are culturally sensitive and responsive.

Pathways Forward and “Letting A Thousand Flowers Bloom”

Book cover of "Letting a Thousand Flowers Bloom"As a practitioner and budding historian, I have been on this journey of revisiting the past to identify what I can learn from my community, context and culture. In doing so, I am identifying the amazing things that my own culture taught and continues to teach me. Lessons that I can carry forward into the future and pass on to the next generation through documentation. The Akan people in Ghana, West Africa, have a name for this, Sankofa. Itself a mythical bird that has its feet planted forward with its head looking back while holding some food in its beak. Looking back and carrying in our hearts and minds the good things to be carried forward. In my revisiting the past, I was inspired by the need to record our stories, culture, ways of life and being, so that there is a reference point for posterity. The first part was to invite colleagues working in the early years sector in Africa to document the stories of the work they are doing through their early learning networks. These stories are now available through my recently published volume titled “Letting a Thousand Flowers Bloom – Early Childhood Development Networks in Africa.” The book provides some insights into what different individuals and their organizations are doing to advance the right to an early education across Africa. Available on Amazon, I hope you find the book insightful, informative, and with lessons that can also be used in-context elsewhere.

Conclusion

Through recognizing, honoring, and valuing diverse community, contextual, and cultural backgrounds of children and their families, educators can create inclusive and responsive environments that celebrate unique identities. I have hopefully highlighted the importance of recognizing culturally relevant practices and perspectives into early childhood settings. It goes without saying that developing strong relationships and partnerships between families, educators, and the broader community assists in ensuring that children are supported through a network of care and support as proposed decades ago by Bronfenbrenner. Through awareness of broader contextual, community and cultural issues we become more responsive to the needs of young children and their families. Through this lens, learning does not only begin at birth but also happens within community, context and culture.

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard university press.

Makokoro, P. (2024). Nhaka Yenyu – Your Inheritance – A personal memoir. Tellwell Publishers.

Murovhi, A., Matshidze, P., Netshandama, V., & Klu, E. (2018). Traditional child rearing practices in Vhavenda families South Africa. Journal of Gender, Information and Development in Africa (JGIDA), 7(1), 21-37.

Nsamenang, A. B. (1992). Human development in cultural context: A third world perspective (Vol. 16). Sage Publications.

Pence, A.R., & Marfo, K. (2008). Early childhood development in Africa: Interrogating constraints of prevailing knowledge bases. International Journal of Psychology, 43(2), 78-87.

Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford university press.

Author, Patrick Makokoro

Patrick Makokoro, Ph.D., is a social entrepreneur with extensive experience working in community and international development. He founded the Nhaka Foundation, a charitable organization that provides early childhood development, education, meals, health care, psycho-social support, and other essential services to children in Southern Africa. He has several publications on early childhood development and continues to write in this area. He has worked as a consultant for several organizations in the U.S. and Canada. He is the principal consultant at HuUbuntu Consulting in Canada. You can contact him at
[email protected] or visit patrickmakokoro.com.

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