Factor Analysis of the Perceptions of Prospective Teachers on Early Child Development (ECD) Functionaries

Evidence S. Matangi^1, , Adwell Mhlanga¹, Phoebe Kashora², Jenneth Musiyiwa³ and Tendai Chakarisa⁴

¹Department of Statistics, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

²Department of Communication Skills, Women’s University in Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe

³Department of ECD, Women’s University in Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe

⁴Child Sensitive Social Policies Department, Women’s University in Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe

Cite this paper

Evidence S. Matangi, Adwell Mhlanga, Phoebe Kashora, Jenneth Musiyiwa and Tendai Chakarisa. Factor Analysis of the Perceptions of Prospective Teachers on Early Child Development (ECD) Functionaries. American Journal of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. 2013; 1(6):128-133. doi: 10.12691/AJAMS-1-6-4

Abstract

This research seeks to investigate perceptions of student teachers on nurseries and housemaids on Early Childhood Development (ECD). Six factors were extracted on nurseries and five were extracted for housemaids accounting for almost the same amount of variance. The main factor for nurseries functionary importance in ECD was stimulation of the mental and social emphasis of the children; and for housemaids it was on the moral development of the children and their complimentary role to nurseries. Housemaids were more paramount in ECD in terms of their ability to fill in for time-poor parents unlike nurseries due to the varying financial requirements, they were also more flexible on the space requirements for children’s development. Overall, factor analysis was more pronounced for the perceptions on housemaids than nurseries on ECD, which suggest the presence of extraneous variables especially economic ones that influence more the latter’s viability than the former.

Keywords

early child development, housemaids, linear combinations, nurseries, perception

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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