Class Size and Caregivers’ Management Planning and Organization of Early Childhood Classrooms in Public Childcare Centres in Rivers State

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of class size and caregivers’ management planning and organization of early childhood classrooms for educational development in public childcare centres in Rivers State. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised of all the 1,119 caregivers in 521 early childcare centres in Rivers State. A total of 295 caregivers (171 handling large class sizes and 124 handling small class sizes) participated in the study. A validated structured questionnaire titled, “Class size and Caregivers’ Classroom Management Planning and Organization Questionnaire” (CCCMP and OQ) was used for the study. The reliability of the instruments was established using the Cronbach’s alpha reliability test and a reliability coefficient of 0.71 was obtained. This study was guided by 2 research questions and hypotheses each. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested using the independent t-test.at 0.05 level of significance. Results of the study revealed significant differences between the influence and large class size and small class sizes on the planning and organization of childhood classroom in public childcare centres in Rivers State. It was therefore recommended that, the Government should make haste to provide adequate classroom facilities to ensure that early childhood classrooms are not over crowded. Caregivers’ should endeavor to begin the management of early childhood classroom with adequate planning and organization as well as ensure that the physical structures of the early childhood classroom are properly positioned for better management to ensure adequate teaching and learning.

Keywords: Class size, caregivers, classroom, planning, organization and childcare centres